big babies (9lb +) - did you know in advance?

[lainey1981]

question for you ladies who have given birth to bigger babies (9,10, 11lb) did you know in advance? ie had midwife given any indication that baby was larger than average.

I am just saying this as for most of my pregnancy I have been obsessed with the fact that I am growing a giant baby. I regularly dream that it comes out at over 12lb.

20w scan everything seemed within normal range and the one midwife who commented on baby's size a few weeks ago said it felt 'normal' anyone measured bang on dates and not had giant bump etc go on to deliver unexpected large baby??

Midwife kept saying, all through pregnancy that baby would be tiny and we'd be lucky if he "barely scraped 7lbs". He weighed in at 8 lbs 9oz so another one here who thinks they just don't know...

DS was 10lb 5oz, I was bang on for dates throughout the pregnancy. I had a private scan at 20 weeks (because my area didn't offer any scans other than the 12 week one) and it showed DS was up to 4 weeks ahead of dates in terms of leg length, head etc. Midwife said that was rubbish and DS was an average size. Even in labour the midiwfe was saying possibly 8lb max. I had an emergency section in the end as DS was in an awkward position.

After the birth the midwife who had seen me during pregnancy came to my home, she said my stomach muscles were so strong she'd never really felt DS properly but assumed he'd be average.

I knew he was big because I could feel he was large! Also DH was over 9lbs and his dad was over 13lbs so I didn't expect a small baby!

With DD she felt much smaller to me. A scan at 38 weeks indicated she was off the scale so we had another section. As it turned out she was 8lb 4oz, which is a good size, but felt really small after DS!

So, I don't realyl trust scans for sizing!

Although by the sound of things your scan for your DS was bang on and the problem was that the mw ignored it...

DS is still quite big at 14m, though I stopped getting him weighed quite early as soon as BFing had settled (had a few probs due to jaundice and low blood sugar) as I could see him growing and as hes my 2nd I'm much more relaxed. According to the wii fit recently though he is now around the 75th centile I think.

I felt really awful at the idea I'd made him so big and therefore caused the early problems but the dr reassured me it wasn't my fault. I may have had GD later on but anyway I was hardly eating anything. I was a bit annoyed that on a card a family friend had written 'well done for feeding him up' - um, that's not quite how it works...

My midwife for my first pregnancy said "well it's not going to be small" and "it's a good size!"
she didn't appear unduly worried tho, so i wasn't either.
i was 9lb 4 myself so was kind of expecting a biggish baby

i measured spot on for dates through each of my pregnancies. i looked smallest with ds3 although he was my biggest baby, and everyone thought he would be smaller.

i had 9lb 1oz, 9lb 5oz and 9lb 11oz

I had a small bump, measured small all the way through pregnancy, and was even sent for scans as they were a bit worried about it. While I was in labour, the consultant guessed DS would be 7lb. He emerged, the midwife asked how much I thought he weighed, and I thought 'hmmn, looks bigger than 7lb to me'. We put him on the scales and I remember the numbers just going up and up ... 10lb 7oz. Boy, was I glad I'd had an epidural

DS2 was 9lb 4oz when he was born at 39 weeks (I had an elcs)...I hate to think how big he would have been if I had gone full-term or even late

And no, not one midwife ever commented that he was a big baby - measurements were always as they should have been. However, my bump was HUGE (or certainly in comparison to my bump with DS1 who was a teeny 7lbs 14oz when he was born at 41 weeks) that I knew he was going to be big. Seriously, my bump was so big that maternity tops would not even cover it

During a 38/39/40 week scan I was told DS2 was 7lb. I thought that sounded a bit small for me, but I was happy for my vagina.

The day before I was induced the consultant said "It looks to be about 9lb."

He was 9lb 1oz.

There was an 11lb 14oz baby at my work last year. He was the talk of the postnatal ward.

you'd think in this day and age they would be able to tell more accurately? oh well as long as baby is healthy.
both DP and I were 7lb7 and 7lb11 respectively. I'm sft9 and DP just over 6ft, but seems to be a bit more random.
don't have GD (well not that I know of) haven't had a GTT but no indicators in my urine tests etc so am guessing not.

btw - yes have 'only' put on 12lbs but as i said my BMI was too high before pregnancy (31) so have really made sure my weight gain didn't get out of control as had just started on diet before I got pregnant.

GuyFawkes - that's true, the reason the mw ignored it is because she said bump size and feeling the baby were the only accurate ways to tell the size. Of course the fact that she had never been able to get a good feel of DS should maybe have made her take more notice of the scan.

I saw a consultant a few weeks before DS1 was born who sent me for a growth scan as he thought baby was big. It estimated him to be 9lb at birth. My midwife just rubbished what the scan had said and said 'you'll be lucky if he's over 7lb, he's not going to be big at all' and then came to see me all smugly on the post natal ward an said 'how big'. I replied 9lb and she just walked off! (he was born at term)

DS2 was 10lb and two weeks early. I knew to expect him to be big as I was scanned monthly from 20 weeks onwards for something unrelated.

My first two Dc were 7lb 4oz and 7lb 15oz, I just had a gut feeling that Dc3 was going to be big!

My MW did a sweep for me on my due date with Dc3, she had a good feel of my bump and guessed 8 1/2 pounds, she said she was usually pretty spot on! My growth scan had guessed the same too...

I text her the next morning to tell her that Ds2 was born weighing 10lb 10oz!
A very straight forward, fast, drug free delivery, but dear god was it painful!

Bubba was 9lb 5oz and we knew cos had loads of scans, as had a 2 vessel cord which could of meant a small baby! Was obviously gonna be big though as I had a HUGE bump and put on 4stone, also tested for diabetes but cleared..

Induced 2wks early cos of size, but induction lasted 5 days and ended up with forceps and episiotomy, sorry to scare op, didnt feel a thing tho thanks to great epidural and spinal! Its all totally worth it though obviously! Also my dd wasnt a porker, just incredibly long, 23inches! Good luck, try not to worry, will be so so very worth it!

Incidentally, all growth scans were off the scale, 95th to 100 + percentile! So, they do know and can tell!

I was induced at 38 weeks as DS3 had an estimated weight of 9lb 11. He was 10lb at birth so they were spot on.

DS4 was supposed to have been bigger, induced at 40 weeks because of it and he was only 8lb 5!!!

previous babies had been 8lb 11 and 8lb 14 and was told my measuring tummy that they were on the big side.

My biggest set of twins were 7lb 5 and 7lb 12....now that was a HUGE bump!

As far as delivery goes.. the 10lbers shoulders were very sore to deliver...but the 8lb 5er's birth was the most painful and prolonged. So big baby doen't always mean worse birth.

With DS1, I had a feeling I was going to have a big baby, simply because I was soooooo HUGE! However, whenever the midwife/GP examined me, they were always like "Yeah, it might be a big one BUT it's hard to tell - you might just be carrying a big placenta etc" blah blah.

But when it came time for an emergency C-Section, the surgeon who examined me had her hands on me for roughly 5 seconds and said "Ooh, it's a very big one!"

And he was. 10lb 15oz.

Not quite within your weight range (ds was 8lb 15oz) - but I was told, right up until the birrth, that ds was going to be small becasue my bump was so "neat"

Ds was born on his EDD (or two days late according to my dates and allowing for the leap year)

I had a tiny bump (am pretty tall though) and was told all along that DS would be small, around 7lb. Out he popped at 9lb 2oz, only a day late!

Good luck with everything !

I was huge during pregnancy. Put on about 4 stone and didn't eat any more than before. Was sent for a growth scan at about 37 weeks because my bump was a lot bigger than it was supposed to be, they worried huge baby or too much water. Everyone I saw commented that I looked like "octomum" but I was convinced I was having a small baby as I was a small baby and have continued to be a small person (5'2). They said she was a completely normal size and estimated at my scan that she was 8lbs and would be less than 9lbs at birth. She ended up being 9lbs 3oz.

They have absolutely no way of knowing in advance - DS was 9lbs 10. Have lost count of the number of women who have said they've been told it's a big baby, but then delivered average sized ones. Bigger babies don't necessarily mean healthier either, I can't stand this competition to see whose puts on the most weight. But I agree with an earlier post, DS was my second and was much easier to get out than DD (8ilbs 2). SIL had prem twins, second with forceps - they were very small and midwife said that small ones can be harder to push out.

A college had a conversation with a sonographer recently and he said that growth scans can be as much as 50% out!

My DC2 was 9lb 11oz, and easy as punch to birth (and he was OP). More importantly than weight is head circumference.

My DC2 had a smaller head circumference by a good 1 or 2 cm than my niece who was 2lb lighter!

i just wanted to add that out of my 3 dc (9lbs4, 10lbs 13 and 8lbs 6) it was definitely dc2 who was the biggest and the easiest birth!

but to answer the question - do big babies stay big? well dc2 wasnt fat just a very long baby and he's now a very, very long 6 year old. he was weighed and measured this morning for an assessment - he's 134cm and 29kg! not quite the average height of a just turned 6 year old!

Mine were 9lb2, 8lb13 (probably due to 'aging' placenta) and 9lb10. DD, at 9lb10 was the easiest by far. All my measurements were completely normal, and each time they estimated an average sized baby (what is average anyway? 7/8lb?)

Births aside (and all of mine were fine, even the induction which I like to whinge about on occasion!) I actually enjoyed having larger babies - I felt a lot more confident handling my sturdy newborns than when I hold smaller ones. I always got the impression mine would bounce if they were dropped (weren't chubby babies, but were all overdue, so had muscle and were supporting themselves from a relatively early age)

I'm tall (5'9"ish) and come from a tall family (my Dad was 6'1" and my brother is 6'5") so I wasn't surprised to have big babies.

ds2 was 10lb 12 at 38 weeks by elcs. It was c-section as he was so big. Had growth scans so he was known to be big.at 32 weeks his weight was estimated to be 6 1/2 lb. At 37 weeks fundal height was 50 and he had his own swimming pool so had a mahoosive belly.
He is 2.4 now and tiny still wears 12-18m clothes.
But he was a brilliant sleeper!!
Oh and he wasnt long just very very fat

wow some impressive sized babies on here - big respect to you all
i think that aside from the labour part, i am worrying that having a 10 or 11lber would mean missing out on that 'newborn' stage as they would be the size of average 2 or 3 mth old?