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Pregnancy

Talk about every stage of pregnancy, from early symptoms to preparing for birth.

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Original poster

Giant vs Dwarf OR His genes or mine!

24 replies

TheFruitWhisperer · 03/08/2010 13:40

My DP is a giant. Hes 6 and a half foot, born at 9lbs, all his family are the same.

Im 5.2, weighed in at 6.8lbs and all our family are also fairly little (exception of grandad who is also over 6 foot)

Me and SIL were comparing our 20 week scan pics. Her baby (now born, also 9lbs) was 19 cm at 20 weeks, and mine was 24cm at 19 weeks.

Am I having a whopper??? Or prays could they have my dates wrong??? Does anyone have any anecdotal evidance that fetal size at 20 weeks doesnt have that much relation to size of child at the end?!

OP posts:

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fridayschild · 03/08/2010 13:57

I thought the best predictor of infant weight at birth was maternal health?

My DH is 6'4; I am 5'2. My mother can't remember my birth weight in any more detail than "seven pounds something dear, you all were". DH was twelve pounds (oh yes).

DS1 was eight pounds eight and DS1 was nine pounds five. So DS2 was officially heavy and DS1 was not. I have a short friend with a short husband and her DCs were similar weights to mine.

DS1 is 7 and now tall (98th centile) and DS2 is 5 and about average (75th centile).

I can't remember the 20 week sizes.

Mammie81 · 03/08/2010 14:09

Thats reassuring! Thanks!

I just checked out the average lengths at 20 weeks (Head to heel) and it seems its 25cm. So it looks like Im pretty much near on!

Porcelain · 03/08/2010 14:28

Length isn't necessarily going to be a factor to worry about, my brother was really long, but only 7lb, he's still tall and skinny. The other thing to remember is that a lot of the weight a new baby carries is down to fat stores, a 6lb baby and a 9 lb baby can have the same size head, it's just one is chubbier. My NCT teacher had a really cool visual aid which was a cutout showing the "actual size" of a "normal" and a "big" baby, and in outline, there really wasn't much difference.

Egg · 03/08/2010 14:37

My DH is 6ft 2 and his dad and one brother are the same. Other brother is 6ft 4. I am 5ft 3 and fairly petite, I was 6lbs at birth I think.

I have three DCs but two are twins so were smaller (4lbs 11 and 5lbs 4), and DS1 was 7lbs 7. DS1 is now 4.5yrs and seems to be average height and weight, or if anything slightly shorter than the majority of his friends. DS2 looks like he is following same path. Both are "sturdy" lads though.

DD is teeny and despite being almost same weight as DS2 when they were born she is now approx 8 or 9lbs less than him now they are 2.5yrs old. She saw a Paediatrition when she was 5 months old due to slow weight gain and he said she is obviously just going to follow in my footsteps and not DHs.

Just remembered having typed it all out that DH and his brothers were all 5lb/6lb babies and just shot up as they got older.

So my post is probably no help at all.

Egg · 03/08/2010 14:39

Oh and giving birth to them, it was DD, the smallest, who hurt the most .

NightLark · 03/08/2010 14:53

Regression to the mean.

Or in other words, your baby is likely to be a kind of average between you and your DH.

TheBreastmilksOnMe · 03/08/2010 15:02

My MIL is 5ft and a whisper, her husband 5ft 5ins (and I'm being generous) she gave birth naturally to a 10lb 4oz baby (my DP) and a 10lb 4.5oz baby, respectively.

Now I was a bit concerned after learning this when I fell pregnant with my 1st DC. My sister and I were 'normal' weights. I am 5ft 6ins and the 10lb 4oz whopper that was my DP grew up to a modest height of 5ft 8ins. When my 1st DC was born he weighed in at 9lb 11.5oz and he was born by c-sect.

So make what you will of that! I am currently expecting my 2nd DC and I'm praying for a tiddler as I want a vaginal birth this time!

lovelymama · 03/08/2010 15:55

I was told at my 20 week scan that DS was smaller than average.

He was 9lb 10 oz at birth.

That was a bit of a shock

Mahraih · 03/08/2010 17:13

Argh, this thread worries me.

I'm 5'10" and DP is 6'2".

All I want is a little baby! It can grow as much as it wants when its OUT.

xkatyx · 03/08/2010 18:12

Im only 5ft, and my husband is 5ft 6 and my first baby was 8lb 10 big for me and second was 8lb 6 born 2 weeks early!!!

Im pregnant with third and i really hope its not to big.

peppapighastakenovermylife · 03/08/2010 18:15

DS was born the exact same weight as me, and DD the exact same weight as DH!

DS looks like me and DD like DH - is quite freaky.

Who knows what this one will weigh / look like!

4madboys · 03/08/2010 18:20

i am 5 2 and my parnter is 6ft.

all my boys have been big like their dad, smallest was 8lb 7oz and the most difficult birth. the others were 9lb 3oz, 9lb 5oz and 10lb 13oz! and no 4 who as the heaviest, was born naturally, in birth pool, in an hour.

am now expecting no 5, am hoping that it will be slightly smaller than no 4 just so that it looks like a little newborn for longer also have been told at scan that this one is a girl so am wondering if she will be smaller than her brothers?

Orangerie · 03/08/2010 18:30

I had a huge baby, he is now the smallest of his class. At birth I was no way as big as DS, yet I was always between the tallest of my class.

So I am tall, my son's dad is tall, but our respective siblings are considerably shorter than us, so I guess DS is still taking from our families. But who knows, I have know boys that were in the shorter side when young and after teenage they became taller than average.

IMO there's no way to know...

CheeseandGherkins · 03/08/2010 18:32

I had 3 dcs with ex, he was only 5ft 7.

Dd was 5lb 14 and a half (4 weeks early)
Ds1 was 7lb 12 and a half (2 weeks early)
Ds2 was 8lb 2 (couple of days early)

I'm 5ft 3 and was 8lb 2 at birth.

I'm almost 20 weeks pregnant with dd2 and dp is 6ft 3 or 4 and weighed 8 pounds something he thinks, have to check at some point.

Most painful was ds2 but he was back to back and labour was just over an hour on my notes! All three were fast though, went from 0-100 in minutes so there was no build up and very intense.

breatheslowly · 03/08/2010 18:45

I've just had a 36 week scan (not for growth issues). At the 20 week scan our baby was at or slightly below average on all of the measurements. At our 36 week scan the head & abdomen measurements were more or less average but the femur length was above the 97 centile (so looks like its height is off the scale). The sonographer took one look at my tall DH and said that seems alright then. TBH I am not too bothered as the head is the hard bit to get out, I am sure that I won't notice the unusually long legs being delivered!

Original poster

TheFruitWhisperer · 04/08/2010 10:27

Feeling slightly reassured

Alot of people have said that hes probably going to be long, rather than big as such!

So hopefully I'll have a tall strapping (fingers crossed not bald like his papa) lad to look after his little mum!

OP posts:

Allegrogirl · 04/08/2010 11:03

My FIL is 6'2 and was 5lb at birth (mum a heavy smoker though) MIL is about 5'1 and was over 10lb at birth. DH was 7lb 11 and is now 6 foot. My DD was also 7lb 11 but luckily doesn't have her father's enormous head, although it was about 75th centile. It's head size that tends to give me nightmares. I hope this one has a little one from my side of the family.

ro4chat · 04/08/2010 12:51

I'm 5'1 and my DH is 6'2. I asked the midwife about it during my first appointment and they made a note of it. I'm currently 27 weeks and I've been booked for a growth scan at 28 weeks, and possibly another at 35w so we can keep an eye on it. But I think in my case a slighly high BMI is also a factor.

Also, when they measured my fundal height last week, it was 30 at 26 weeks...Don't know how reliable that is?

What really worries me is the size of the head, my DH got his stuck at birth .

I'm hoping it's just a tall and slim baby, not tall and broad like his dad...but I guess I should have chosen better

seasister · 04/08/2010 12:55

At what point do you know what the head size will be - where on the centile? At the 20 week scan, the head was higher than the mean, but not sure whether I should be concerned? I'm 21 weeks. Will it become more apparent? How do I check?

breatheslowly · 04/08/2010 16:13

Seasister - I don't think you really need to worry about this. If you look in your hand held notes at page 14 you can see a chart showing the normal range of head circumference. At term most babies will fall in this range which at 40 weeks is between 320mm and 370mm. The graph I got with my most recent scan showed that the biparietal diameter (BPD or head width) at 40 weeks is normally 8.5cm to 10cm. Whilst obviously there is a difference between these I don't get the impression that having either would matter when giving birth. HCPs please correct me if any of this is wrong.

You can't check this yourself and I don't think it will become more apparent. If you have a further scan for any reason then they will measure this again as a matter of course, but otherwise you will just have to see what pops out.

splatt · 04/08/2010 16:34

My hubby has for months been taking great joy in telling me he was 12lbs when he was born. Didn't get it when I had a miny flip at the weekend and told him to stop whinding me up. "what, what" followed by laughter was his mere reply. His mother has since confirmed that he was 9lbs12 (eyes water!!!!) I was 7lbs8.

We're both big build so I'm not stupid, know it's not going to be a little baby but it does worry me, esepcially as I have been measuring a little large on the fundal height. Arrgghhhh!!!!!!

traceybath · 04/08/2010 16:38

I'm 5ft and DH is 6ft 4.

DS1 was 7lbs 7 ozs
DS2 was 7lbs 6.5 ozs (3 wks early)
DD was 6lbs 12 ozs

However thay all had huge heads. And I believe its head/shoulder size thats the main problem.

seasister · 04/08/2010 16:49

Thanks breatheslowly - but I went privately and didn't get any hand held notes. They said it was all within the normal range and it shows a small diagram to illustrate each of the BPD, head circumference etc - but I just wanted to know if having a slightly bigger head circumference and BPD at 20 weeks meant that it would just keep on enlarging!

4madboys · 04/08/2010 20:23

no idea if a big head size at 20wks means it will be at birth, but i can say that all of mine had big heads at birth, ds4's head circumference was 42?cm anyway it was off the top of the percentile chart, but i birthed him fine, no tear, or stitches needed etc

seriously there is no point worrying yourself over these things, what will be will be and you cant do anything about it!

most women grow a baby that is a size they can deliver, so despite me being small i have a pelvis that means i can deliver big babies, yet i saw a consultant who looked at me, looked at 6ft dp and said if you have a large baby ie 9lb you will need a c-section as you are small. i then told him that if he had looked at my notes he could see that 3 or my babies have been over 9lbs and that the last one was almost 11lbs and i delivered them am naturally with no assistance.

he looked rather and muttered something about me just being 'lucky'

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