Large baby!

[Cheesychop]

Hi, I'm having a bit of a panic as my consultants told me I'm having a large baby. Baby apparently weights 6lb 14 and I'm only 35 weeks! I know they can get it wrong but I'm still worried.

I'm frightened of birth anyway
I'm terrified of needing forceps
I'm frightened of tearing my bits up!

Any advice or words of wisdom

Please don't panic! You will be fine. I had 2 big babies and came away relatively unscathed compared to many of my friends who had much smaller babies.

Your experience of giving birth is dependant on so many variables, size of the baby is only one of them.
That is if you are even having a big baby - these things aren't particularly accurate.

And I loved having big babies - they were really sturdy and strong - not so scary as a tiny one! They also fed well which I put down to them being big - but I may have just made that up!

Ultimately, childbirth is quite painful whether you have a 6lb baby or a 10lb baby - I'm not sure you'd be able to tell the difference pain wise! Just do your best to keep upright and active during labour and let your body do the rest.

Congratulations and good luck.

Babies have growth spurts at different times . . . I know you don't have so long to go, but I was told at my 20 week scan that my baby was huge with a large head (panic!) and by 32 weeks my baby was averaged sized. He'd clearly just grown a lot right before my 20 week scan and then slowed right down. I think it's pretty well known that babies don't grow so fast in the last few weeks anyway.

Also, I totally second what Doreta2G says . . . my friends who had big babies have not had particularly difficult births compared to my friends with small babies (I took a straw poll after my 20 week panic!) and they all said that once the baby was here, they fed and slept much better than smaller babies. Don't panic!

My 11lb 3 baby was a much easier birth than the nearly 9lber - yes, my bits hurt afterwards, but labour was less than 3 hours start to finish.

So good luck and don't worry too much!

I was told multiple times that I was having a large baby with DS2. I was totally freaked out.

He was 7lbs 11oz, hardly massive.

Don't let it panic you.

Thank you, I'm slowly calming down, sorry I should of added they also think I may have polyhydramnios - excess fluid, was anyone told that too?

My smallest baby gave me the worst tear (had her hand up by her ear as she came out).

And biggest (9lb 15oz) was the quickest labour. This whopper had a huge head, too.

So don't panic.

Everyone I know who was told they'd have a big baby around 35 weeks had a much smaller one than predicted (incl one who was '6.5lb' at that stage, but was under 6lb 4 weeks later.

My own DS was well over 9lb, with a 99th centile head. I had a 2nd degree tear, no instruments. Big doesn't necessarily mean instrumental delivery.

I hear you on forceps, though. For DS2, I've included in my birth plan that I do not consent to the use of forceps if EMCS is still a viable option.

I had similar feedback from growth scan and have decided position is everything. Do you know what position baby is in?

Apparently the baby is in the right position, head down end so that's ok.

It's the excess fluid that seems more scary now though?!

Mine was predicted 8lb 3oz at 36 weeks, he's measured big since 20 week scan, dd2 was 8 11 born but I'm still terrified of the birth, he seems too good to huge. I have low fluid but enough to be in normal range.
Good luck, hope you get some answers over fluid levels

I've had 3 big babies and extra fluid once. It often has nosoecific cause, but they'll probably check you for GD and possibly do a TORCH screening to double check for infection. You need to be extra vigilant about checking for movement as it can be harder to feel. You'll also get very big by term, and they might want to induce before you go overdue as the risk of cord prolapse of your waters break spontaneously is clear.

Don't worry about baby's size. Extra weight tends to be either in length or in squashy fat and neither of those make birth more painful - it's baby's position that makes all the difference. Big babies are lovely. Sturdy and full of fat rolls. Delicious.

They really can't tell very accurately at this stage. I read that in the last few weeks babies can put on an ounce a day, so that would still only take you to around 9lbs. That is not that big. I had big babies and I was tiny (at the time) it was fine.

It's an utter guess. I had elcs because they told me dc1 could be 10lb.13oz.
She was 8lb.6oz.
I vbac 2 bigger babies (I don't believe a word of sizing scans).

It's a guesstimate.

They will keep a closer eye on you and monitor more frequently, check for GD etc. But ultimately the size scans don't guarantee anything, and it's impossible to tell until you give birth.

I had big babies and excess fluid in both my pregnancies-no cause was found for the fluid and both babies fine.

My friend kept being told her bump was 'off the scale' by her midwife and that she was having a huge baby. She had a beautiful 8lb 7oz boy at 39 weeks. I think unless they've done a scan and the checked size that way that a lot of it is guesswork. Don't panic!

Sorry - 7lb 8oz! In my defence, t's 6am...