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??

No one noticed much out of the ordinary with DS, apart from one scan where his tum was off the scale, all others he was bang on for dates - and even in an early scan, too small so they pushed my dates back two weeks. In one appointment my bump measured two weeks two big - it was ridiculously big - but the next week it was normal.
He turned out to be 9 lb 6 but wasn't chubby, he was over 55 cm long - the top 2 per cent of all boys born for height. He got himself well and truly stuck in my pelvis (I'm pretty titchy) and eventually came out through the sunroof.
However I had my dates put back two weeks in an early scan, incorrectly I think, and he was very obviously overdue (dry peely skin no vernix etc) even though he was supposedly only two days over my due date.

They still look newborn and do all the newborn stuff, though -- the little wrinkly newborn faces they pull and the clenched fists and the Superman sleeping and the Moro reflex and so forth. They are just a bit bigger.

1st baby 9lb 5oz. No one suggested it would be big but I 'knew' she would be at least 9lbs.
2nd baby- had about 8 growth scans as bump measured large,tested negative for Gestational Diabetes.Final scan (4 days before he was born) said 9lb 8oz and he was 10lb 6oz.

His arm and leg length was way off the scale on the scans which was correct.He was skinny and very very long but his head wasn't big or anything.Not that it mattered as I had a C section.

CreeperSutherland you don't work at east Surrey hospital by any chance?

My DS and I were somewhat famous on the ward after his birth, everyone wanted to see the monster baby. Can't say I minded that though :o

A friend of mine recently had twins, delivered at 35 weeks by c-section after a diagnosis of vasa praevia, and she had a constant stream of hospital staff coming in to look at her placenta (and then, after the original had been removed, to look at photographs of it).

Even though she was only 9lbs3 I did feel a bit like I missed the newborn bit. Not to mention I had spd so really wasn't up to the task of carrying a bit weight around so soon. I see pictures of friends' babies now when they were the same age as her and giggle. She was never tiny, and she was born able to hold her own head and kick with such force that it bruised. She was 55cm at birth too. Within the first two weeks she was in 3-6 months clothes. She's 5 months now and already very comfortable in 6-9 months. She's not chubby at all, just very very "tall".

During last pregnancy MW kept saying I was small for dates, etc. Really had me worried. Scans showed she was ok for the dates.

She was 9lb 14!!!

Ther first was a 7lb 12 oz and I was constantly told she would be "over 10lb". I think they just have a laugh at our expense!!

stayfrosty at the fact they get it wrong so often. Glad to hear your DS is ok now.

had midwife yesterday and explained my obsession/fears with her. I am measuring 37cm @ 37+4 so just right and she had a good feel and said he would be between 7 and 8lb at term. but ... having read all these replies i just can't believe her, I wonder if she was just trying to get me to stop worrying. nothing i can do now, but if they knew more babies were big before the births we could stop situations like yours occurring.

Both my bumps were neat. Was told both were going to be 7lbs odd. Both were 'overdue' based on 12 week scan (totally inaccurate dates - I think my boys were just big from the get go).

DS1 - 8lb 6oz
DS2 - 9lb 13oz

Both easy natural births

Was told with DS2 at scan at 39 weeks that it was going to be a 6 lber 3 weeks later birthed a nearly 10lber

Hello!

I had my DS 3 weeks ago and he weighed in at 9lb 15. I measured small for dates throughout my pregnancy and the midwives were predicting something in the region of 7lb. However, I just had a feeling that he was going to be huge and became a bit obsessed with it. I paid for a private scan at 38 weeks which estimated him to be about 8lb 6 at 38 weeks. I had a huge panic but then was reassured by a thread on MN in which loads of people commented that growth scans aren't always accurate. He was born at 40 +6 and so the scan was pretty much bang on for me!

I took the results of the scan to my midwife and said I was really worried. She told me not to be "silly". Well, he was born by EMCS and even the consultant was a bit shocked that no one had listened to my concerns!

If you are really worried, then ask for a scan. But I am sure you will be fine.

StayFrosty - I have so much sympathy for you! No one listened to my concerns either and as a result DS's birth was horrible. It was only 3 weeks ago and people keep telling me that I will forget but I bloody well won't. Never again! Sorry to hear that your little one had problems but glad all OK now.

DD always measured ahead & I had a growth scan at about 36wks & was told she would be about 9-9.5lbs at term, as it turned out she was only(!) 8lb8.5oz (39+4)

DS always measured ahead & I had a growth scan at about 36wks & was told he would be about 9-9.5lbs at term, (can you see a pattern here? Of course I didn't believe them as DD had only been 8.5lbs...) as it turned out he was 10lb 10.5oz (40+10)

I looked/felt roughly the same size with both...

I'm currently 29+4 with dc4 - and I know this baby's going to be a biggun. I'm struggling with the weight of baby already when it's only normally the last 4 weeks that I struggle, my maternity tops already don't cover my bump, and if one more person tells me I must be ready to drop and then looks when I tell them I've still got over 10 weeks left...

DD (first baby) was a huge baby. She was born at 34+5 (induced due to pre-eclampsia)...She was 6lb12oz! She's the only other pregnancy I've struggled with like this.

The ds's were 7lb7 and 8lb2 each. I think this one is on course to be a 9/10lb-er.

my first was 9lb 3oz, one midwife towards the end of pregnancy said he was a big one, and to expect about and 8 pounder.

because of large first baby was monitored closely with second pregnancy, extra scans and tests for gestational diabetes (which I didnt have!) but he was only 8lb 7oz!

Third pregnancy was not monitored at all closely! when I said I was having trouble walking towards the end because of pains in my pelvis I was told it was just my age (36!) and no one suggested I might be carrying a larger than average baby. He was 10lb 14oz, and my mother in law had to go home for some 3 month old baby grows to put him in because all the newborn stuff I brought into hospital wouldnt fit.

He was the easiest birth by far!!!

Honeybee 79 just read your post. I was horrified after ds1 birth...said I would never ever do that again...It was truly awful!

Now have 3 beautiful sons and ds1 is 14 and gorgeous.

2nd and 3rd births, whilst not being my finest hours, were much better than 1st...you may find you can do it again, and it would be worth it xxxx

DD1 was 7 lbs 5 ozs and when I went for a late scan with DS the doctor said "It looks as if this one might be as big as 8.5 lbs!" I was horrified because delivering DD1 felt like pushing out a paint can.

DS turned out to be 9 lbs 4 ozs; the doctor nearly fell off his stool at the bottom of the bed where he was stitching me up when the nurse called out the weight. After that I felt I could deliver a baby elephant.

You can look much bigger with second and subsequent babies because your abdominal muscles have lost a bit of tone from the first pregnancy.

I thought I knew in advance - my measurements indicated a 10lb baby (eeek!) but she was actually 6lb 10oz. But she did have a big head, so she might as well have been enormous...

No I had no idea (9 lb 15 - forceps delivery), the midwives who examined me on the day thought he was going to be big but felt it best not to tell me!

mind you in retrospect the final few weeks of the pregnancy were bloody hard work so I should maybe have guessed.

My first was 9lb15 at 39 weeks, was estimated to be 10lb on scans so quite accurate really. Second baby I was told by midwife she thought around 8lb7, he arrived weighing 10lb7 on his due date.

Currently 40 weeks with dc3, scan at 35 weeks estimated 7lb10 so probably another big baby. Feel enormous and very uncomfortable at present.

sort of, I measured biggish (but have fibroids as well) and the mw was spot on both times. ds "tiny" 7.10 (two week before dd), dd 9.1 one week after.

stayfrosty no need to apologise - good to hear all experiences

having said that I may stop reading this thread for my own sanity and channel thoughts of 7 and half pund babies with small heads!