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Pregnancy

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

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Original poster

Help-big baby

35 replies

puglover · 23/10/2007 20:42

hi everyone.Im 32+1 weeks with my 4th pregnancy but just have the 1 child. I had a growth scan at 28 weeks which showed 98th centile for all measurements apart from abdominal cicumference which was off the scale.Seen midwife today and im measuring fundal height 38 cm and baby engaged 3/5.Glucose tolerence test normal. Midwife has booked me in for another growth scan on friday.I`m starting to panic abit about being able to deliver this one and just what size she is going to be.Does anyone have any advice and do you know what the management is of big babies.Any comments much appreciated.

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SpawnChorus · 23/10/2007 20:50

I'm sure someone will be along soon with some proper information, but if it is any consolation DS was 10lb 9oz and I had an easy peasy labour. I did tear, but not badly (not as badly as with DD (firstborn) who was about 2 lb smaller).

And it's quite nice having a big baby. Less fear of squishing them by accident when you're holding them

fingerwoman · 23/10/2007 20:51

hi puglover, what size were your other babies?
I have little faith in the ability to tell the size of a baby tbh, so don't worry too much about it
My first baby was biggish (9lb 5) and this one is expected to be the same or bigger, but it's very hard to tell.

I will just say though, I know someone else online who had a baby of 11lb 12oz (naturally), her next one they were adamant was going to be bigger and worried her incessantly about it- he turned out to be 9lb 2. Which just goes to show how wrong they can be. I believe she was subjected to growth scans ad nauseum as well.

For some reason health professionals get all weird about big babies. But plenty of people have them, and there is no real risk that I can find that can be 100% related to having a bigger baby.
Trust your body

Habbibu · 23/10/2007 20:56

Puglover, my daughter was very similar to you on growth scans, and was 10lb 11oz born. Active phase was long and sore, but nothing like as bad as people think - little tear, 4 stitches, healed really well. Not sure what you mean about the management of big babies - are you wondering if they'll induce you? I was told this wouldn't happen unless there was a medical reason. Looks like you're doing a cracking job of growing your baby! My daughter is now one, still 98-99 centile for all measurements, and just lovely. The only thing that still makes me cringe about her birth is the flaming thing they put in the back of your hand...

Also wanted to say I'm sorry about the losses of your two little ones. I hope the rest of the pregnancy goes well, and that you can relax and not worry too much.

Habbibu · 23/10/2007 20:57

Similar to yours, I meant...

fingerwoman · 23/10/2007 20:58

oh god, I totally didn't read your post properly about only having one child- am so sorry I hope I haven't upset you.

Original poster

puglover · 23/10/2007 21:00

thanks everyone.My son was born 2 weeks early at 8lbs8.I feel like im ready to pop!I just keep reading about big babys and shoulder dystocia and couldnt bear for anything to go wrong with this one. I was wondering whether they may give me an elective c-section if very big?

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Original poster

puglover · 23/10/2007 21:01

no worries fingerwoman

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Boogalooblue · 23/10/2007 21:06

Are you sure you want a section??

I have had a couple and know how debilitating they can be

I have also birthed a 10lb 12oz baby naturally and found it a lot better than the sections .

I have heard many times how the medics get it wrong as to the weight of an unborn child.

Go with your instinct

Habbibu · 23/10/2007 21:09

I did read up on shoulder dystocia, so I'd understand what they'd do. My daughter's shoulder did get a bit stuck, I think, but the midwife just reached in and grabbed her arm. According to my husband, anyway. I had no idea...

Plus side - you've already given birth to a good-sized baby, and so will maybe be a bit more flexible (unless you've been just awfully zealous with your pelvic floor exercises). The sonographer told me that general women have babies of a size they can deliver. It really wasn't too bad at all, and a big baby is really fun to cuddle.

Habbibu · 23/10/2007 21:10

Ooh - boogaloo - you beat me!

POTC · 23/10/2007 21:11

ds1 was 9lb 3oz, he was not expected to be big, and even when I went into labour the midwife estimated my baby would be around 7lb.

ds2 was 8lb 7.5oz and they spent my entire pregnancy telling me he wouuld be bigger than ds1 and they predicted over 10lb.

all complete tosh as you can see

Original poster

puglover · 23/10/2007 21:13

boogalooblue i must admit im starting to prefer the idea of a section.My mum has scared me abit about bad tears etc and she said her section was less of a problem afterwards than a bad tear she recieved(she has 5 children). I guess ive gone from being positive about labour and into hypnobirthing, to losing all confidence.I`m having nightmares about the baby getting stuck and dying.Morbid i know,but thats how i feel at the moment

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Original poster

puglover · 23/10/2007 21:16

I had a horrible labour with my son.Very long, tore badly,had forceps then needed a catheter in for 6 weeks post birth as i couldn`t wee.

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FlossALump · 23/10/2007 21:17

My 1st was 7.7. When i was being induced with my second the midwife palpating my tummy said 'oh big baby!' She asked after the size of DS and then said 'same father?' err yes!! She was right though - DD was 10lbs 7. I found labour more painful this time, although I'd love to be able to tell you that was because of the induction I will probably never know!! Good luck and try not to worry. The scans will offer some reassurance I'm sure.

Original poster

puglover · 23/10/2007 21:17

POTC-what made them think your babies were gooing to be big? did u have growth scans and what did that show?

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Habbibu · 23/10/2007 21:18

Puglover, I'm not sure how much bad tears are related to big babies - I came off much better than most of my friends with smaller babies. I also had morbid thoughts - lost a little girl at 21 weeks before we had my second daughter - and I think it's quite natural. Talk it over with your MW and also consultant if you can - get the information and the stats, and see what you think then.

Habbibu · 23/10/2007 21:20

Oh, x-posted, puglover. I do see now why you're especially nervous. I think you need to talk over all the options. Do you have a nice consultant? Might be worth arranging an appt with him/her.

Original poster

puglover · 23/10/2007 21:21

I`ve worked out that if she carrries on growing like this she will be over 12lbs at 40 weeks. I hope i give birth early. Thanks again everyone for your reassuring stories.

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Original poster

puglover · 23/10/2007 21:24

Habbibu-sorry about your loss.I also lost a baby boy at 24 weeks and then a miscarriage.I just cant actually believe that this time im going to have a normal live baby.The nightmares are awful. DH also very scared. The closer its getting the worse it is.

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FlossALump · 23/10/2007 21:25

Second labours are much better though - as a rule. Much quicker. I tore worse this time around - but I have actually found the whole post birth recovery sooo much better this time around. I've felt fab physically from about 3 days post labour. I think arnica helped a lot this time. I'm guessing you had the catheter because you went into retention? That was most probably because of such a long labour? Your labour is likely to be much shorter this time.

Olihan · 23/10/2007 21:26

I agree with the others. The growth scans are notoriously unreliable and fairly hopeless in terms of predicting weight.

My first 2 dcs were 8lbs 8 and 8lbs 4, dc2 was 5 days and 12 days late and when I was pg with dc3 I had to go for a growth scan at 34 weeks because I was measuring 38cm. The consultant made it very clear that they would not induce early purely because of possible size - there had to be a medical reason and I imagine they would hold the same view wrt a cs.

I was paranoid that dc3 was also going to be very late and I'd have a 10lbs+ monster baby! In the end, he was only a day late, I had a 2.5 hour labour with only 13 mins of pushing and he was 10lbs 2.5oz. I had a small tear along the scar of my previous tear but nothing else.

I know how scary this part is, and I imagine it's worse for you as being pg must be very stressful but remember that it's very, very unlikely that your body will grow this baby larger than you could deliver. I am certain that my body knew ds2 was as big as he could get and that's why I wasn't late. Please don't worry yourself unnecessarily, you have given birth before, your body knows what it is doing, the path has been laid so to speak and even if this baby is bigger, your body will manage it. Have faith in your body, you will be fine.

Flo23 · 23/10/2007 21:27

A v good indicator of how big baby is is how you feel compared to previous pregnancies.You delivered a good size baby before, but this one is showing signs of being far more than that!

I recently had 2nd ds by elective cs as had previously had normal delivery of an 11lb er. Growth scan at 36 wks showed baby to be on 98th centile, and estimated weight of 7lb 5. Baby was born at 39 wks weighing 9lb 2oz, so scan was actually pretty good indication. Have to say the elective section was marvellous compared to normal delivery of ds1!(diff delivery,nasty tear and long recovery afterwards) I didnt decide on section until 38 wks, so you still have time to consider your options. Finally, I wasnt offered early induction due to risks assoc with poss failed induction so it was either section or wait to go into spont labour.

Good luck whatever you do, and try to enjoy the rest of your pregnancy and prospect of new baby rather than getting too anxious about how you will have it.I wasted a lot of time and energy doing exactly that!

Habbibu · 23/10/2007 21:30

Oh, puglover, you poor thing. It is so so scary. Have you a support network? I spent ALL my time on the Next Pregnancy section of the SANDS forum - saved my sanity, and I passed on good news stories to my husband, who lapped them up!

Keep us posted, please.

Original poster

puglover · 23/10/2007 21:32

Well thankyou im feeling more positive now.Im going to carry on listening to my hypnobirthing cd and try to get some confidence back.Cant help thinking all these scans are just making me panic.Why on earth do they do them if they dont do anything about it? My DH doesn`t help-keeps googling scary things and looks tense all the time.

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lilyfire · 23/10/2007 21:35

Hi my first baby was 11 3oz. Pushed him out myself, with an episiotomy, which didn't cause problems. His size wasn't predicted at scans, or by fundal height. Later scans are very unreliable for predicting size and Nice guidelines say shouldn't be used for this. Second baby was predicted to be average weight (I thought, yes right) he was a home birth, gas and air only, did tear but didn't cause me problems and he was 9lbs 10oz. Shoulder dystocia happens in small babies too and midwives can deal with it. Have heard lots of stories about scans showing big babies and average size pops out. Good luck.

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