big babies - confused...

[vmcd28]

OK, so at my 37w antenatal appt last week, I was told by the midwife that she thought the baby would be "9lb something" at full term.

NOW, what I'm confused about is, how can they possibly guess this? I know it's hit and miss, and you'll all have stories where they were completely wrong...

Anyway, I've had scans at 13w, 19w, 23w and 28w, and ALL of them have measured pretty much bang on for the dates, so how can I suddenly be having a big baby? My first DS was 8lb 12, but he was 12 days late, so I assumed this one would be smaller (given that I'm have a section 5 days early).

Yes, I do have a massive bump, but I did with DS1, and I also had lots and lots of fluid when my waters burst.
This baby is breech, so I assumed thats partly why the bump seems so massive, but clearly the size of the bump isnt all that she's basing this on.

Dont get me wrong - I'm not worried or anything, just a bit confused at it all!

when i had dd4 i was surprised that she weighed in at 9lb 2.5oz at 39weeks. i said this to my CMW, and she said wasnt aurprised. she could feel that dd4 was big as it was 'all baby'

am carrying similar atm, not much bump but solid. but sonographer last week said my babys stomache is a little smaller than expected.

But what makes it suddenly become a big baby, when it's measured normally for most of the pg?

the last stages of pregnancy is when the baby lays down its fat stores.

and no measurement inc scans is 100%

Well, don't forget that weight isn't necessarily distributed all in one way. My DS1 was 9lbs 1oz, but 49cm long so was fairly short and chunky. My DS2 was 9lbs 6oz but looked really skinny as he was 57cm long. It didn't really make any difference in the end though, because their heads were the same size to within half a cm, and I didn't tear either time. I guess people worry that the bigger the baby the more damage it'll do coming out, but since you're having a CS this won't be a problem anyway. And although some very experienced midwives seem to have knack for guessing at size of babies, the truth is she can't possibly know how much weight the baby will put on in the next three weeks between now and full term, so it is quite an odd thing for her to estimate, IMO. Hope you're not worried about it, and if I were you I'd go with the feeling that this baby is likely to be small than your first based on the fact that you'll be having a CS before you reach full term, whereas your first was overdue. Mine were overdue by 8, 10 and 12 days and I was the biggest with DS3 who was 10 days over, but he was the smallest (I had loads of fluid). The fact is, you just never know til they come out and get plonked on the scales! =) Wishing you all the best with your CS.

Mine have all measured bang on for the dates, but the 20-week scan showed that baby is long and rather, well, wide (round the middle).

They didn't mention it as he's technically still 'normal' but he's at the big end of normal. Perhaps yours is within dates but at the big end?

Otherwise, no clue.

I've heard its abit hit and miss. My friend was induced at 38 weeks, went through hell in the process as doctor insisted baby was already aleast 9 and half lbs (friend is tiny).

Baby (her fourth) came out weighing 6lbs. Out of her 5 DC he was smallest. She was fuming!

My midwife refused to play 'guess the weight of the baby' said it was all a load of bollocks anyway. I dunno maybe she wasn't very good at it or something....

They can't possibly tell! there was a thread you might find useful on here a few days ago. Try to find it, it was called something like - If you had a big baby did you know beforehand - hope you can find it and have a read to put your mind at rest.

Just look after yourself, your baby will be the size he/she is meant to be, either way you will manage.

They only usually date at the scan between 10-14 weeks as its less accurate after that. At later scans, they will only usually say if baby is problematically big or small, so there can be a lot of variation. I had a private scan at 26 weeks and my LO was measured as being on the 54th centile then. So being right for dates doesn't mean a lot - the baby can still be measuring big, but accpetably big for the dates.

I measured slap bang on 50th centile all through pregnancy and had a 91st centile baby.