Big baby...should I accept induction?

[Dorset555]

Hi all im 36+3 and I've been told my baby already weighs 7,2lbs. I've been checked and negative for GD and they are happy that the baby is not growing too fast, its just on the larger side - I think its 95th percentile.

At a growth scan yesterday they told me the midwife would discuss options with me as they want to minimise complications.
I feel like they are prepping me to accept an induction...I really would rather things happen naturally when my body is ready but I definitely don't want to do anything that's puts the baby at any increased risk. I've got a midwife appointment today and I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts/suggestions of questions to ask/experiences of a larger baby that they could share? I guess the whole pandemic just increases anxiety around most things!
Thank you all!

I'm in the same position as you except I'm 39 weeks. I've had a couple of appointments with consultants to chat about induction - to avoid shoulder distocia. I've told them I want to labour naturally and they have accepted that. There are risks, but these risks are also there with every baby. Do your own research and at the end of the day if your gut instinct is to labour and birth naturally then go with it. Unless you have another medical reason not to. Doctors and midwifes like to be in control and remove any risk, but for me the stress of being induced (or having a csec as one consultant tried to push me towards) was worse than birthing a big baby which women have been doing forever.

Also don't forget that growth scans aren't 100% accurate... I think they can be 10 or 15% out which means you could be having a perfectly normal sized baby.

I had no idea I was having a large baby as my bump was 50th percentile the whole pregnancy so wasn't offered scans but he was 9lb 15oz .
My labour stalled so needed the drip (got stuck at 3cm after 2.5 days of my front waters being broken, which isn't really supposed to happen the hospital was just that busy) but I pushed him out with an episeotomy and second degree tear. Baby and I had sepsis but that was because that left my waters gone so long, I recon if they hadn't done that I might have pushed him out faster I was just very tired at that point.
We aren't going to have a second but I would have tried a natural birth again with another baby his size.

You could ask perhaps to discuss not going overdue if you re concerned but if you have no complications the NICE guidelines don't agree with early inductions just because a baby is big.

Thanks @1990shopefulftm and @blueseawhitesand
Really good to hear your perspective. I had heard that scans are really inaccurate...but I've had 4 growth scans and they consistently come back with 97th percentile so I do think it is accurate. But absolutely...if I hadn't had the scans I would never have known or never have worried about it! My grannie says in her day you just had your baby..there were no scans :-)
I'll definitely research the shoulder issues further.
@blueseawhitesand can I ask how you've left it with them..Will they keep you monitored over the next few weeks and then is it induction if you've not naturally gone into labour by 42 weeks..is that the normal NICE guideline? Thanks ladies!

It's been left for two weeks to see if I labour naturally. They have booked me for an induction at 41 weeks but said I can cancel if I don't want it. After that point I would need regular monitoring and scans to check baby is ok. I think that's fairly standard though for women who go past their due date.

I recently had similar - baby was 7lbs 13oz at 36 weeks and they wanted to induce me (even though I’d had a straightforward natural birth with my first who was 8lbs 13oz). I was convinced the scan was wrong and they wouldn’t do another. I would absolutely have declined induction because the guidelines say it’s not indicated for a big baby. Anyway my waters broke on my due date and she was exactly the size predicted - 9lbs which was 96th centile. Lots of people will tell you the scans can be wrong but they are sometimes right!

It's not easy to go against what the professionals say, but you have to do what's right for you. Just make sure you have all of the information to make the best decision and if they don't support you, find a midwife or consultant who will. You can easily change.

Thanks so much and wishing you all the best for labour - I've heard eating dates ripens the cervix so I'm going to buy some dates too!

Oh and my bump measured 50th centile throughout as well so I really wasn’t expecting it!

My daughter in law had numerous scans because baby was big. Talk of a c section baby over 10 lb etc etc. Baby was 7lb 13. This has happened to lots of her friends as well. One friend told baby was too small 5lb. Baby was born at full term 9lb. Don’t let them worry you OP.

I had such a bad experience with the syntocin for my first dc that I point blank refused it for dc2. If they made noises about induction to me I said I'd refuse and wanted to book a c-sec. As it was, dc2 arrived about 1hr after contractions started and I didn't need any assistance in that way.

Would you consider a planned c Section instead?

Personally I wouldn't, growth scans were nonsense with both of mine

I measured large throughout my first pregnancy, growth scan showed on track for large baby but my consultant wasn’t concerned. I birthed a healthy girl who weighed 10lb 5oz at term plus seven.

I struggle advising you because my heart is conflicted. For what it’s worth I gave birth to a 9.10oz baby without anyone even hinting at inductions or me possibly having trouble doing this. I’m quite tall and of Viking heritage, if that matters to their judgment. But I also had to be induced with my second pregnancy as she was 2 weeks overdue and they left it that late despite them knowing she was a very big baby. Finally I delivered my daughter after an induction at 10.2oz and she got stuck at the shoulders. It was absolutely terrifying and if I’d wanted more children, I would have been terrified throughout. Apparently they only have 5 minutes to save baby’s life when that happens.

Based on first experience I’d say that I didn’t have a problem but there’s a part of me that thinks ‘why didn’t they induce me sooner when they knew how big my second baby was???’. A midwife even recommended home birth to me and thank god I didn’t because my daughter might not be here today had I gone for that option.

I’d likely listen to them. They must have good reason to say that to you seeing as I’ve never been told it, twice and both my babies were overdue.

Just to add, DC1 was 10lbs 3oz and I had a really straightforward waterbirth with him, without pain relief and with me suffering just one teeny tiny minor tear.

DC2 was only 8lbs 8oz in comparison and it was a much tougher labour (and resulted in me requiring a lot of stitches) I was induced with him and really wish I had waited!

I agree with Vallmo47, I had a big baby 10 pounds at 41 weeks, shoulders got very stuck. We both were in a pretty sorry state. I was induced st 40 with with the second, no problems, 8lb baby, all very easy and straightforward.

I haven’t experienced this personally, but the link below reviews the evidence basis for induction for big babies, which you might find useful:

evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-for-induction-or-c-section-for-big-baby/

When would they like to induce you? I certainly wouldn’t be doing it before your due date and as it’s your first you are likely to go over.
I had a nightmare induction experience with my first, it took a long time to get over it physically, but more so mentally.
With my second they wanted to induce me on my due date for no other reason than it was my due date. I refused and accepted a sweep, I went into Labour naturally a few days later.
Don’t be railroaded into accepting their suggestions, it is your choice at the end of the day. And as others have already said the scans can be notoriously wrong.

Ive had 4. First was 10lb 14 and had shoulder dystocia. The next 3 were all born at 38 weeks after being induced. Follow your midwife advice on this as you really dont want the labour i had with my first, plus she had months of physio as had damaged nerves in her arm and neck.

How tall are you?

I had loads of growth scans with my first and always measured big. He was also about 7lbs at 36 weeks. He was born naturally at 38+6 and weighed 9lbs1. It was a quick natural birth but I did have a third degree tear.

I'm 6ft and various sonographers had arguments about whether my baby was big because something was wrong or big because his parents were 6ft and 6'7.....

With my second, I had no growth scans as they accepted that I'm tall and have big babies. She was 9lbs3 and again a quick natural birth with no tearing.

DS1 was 10lb 9oz and got stuck, I had to have a emergency cs after pushing for 1.5 hours and failed forceps.

During the CS as he was so big and low an artery was severed pulling him out. I lost 2 litres of blood.

DS1 has learning difficulties now, no evidence it is linked to birth trauma but no one knows.

I'm sorry if this scares you but it happened, if they are advising starting you off earlier I would consider it.

On the flip side DS2 came 2 weeks early by planned section and spent 24 hours in scbu due to wet lungs probably from being born before he was ready, he was fine and has no health issues.

My bump measured 95th centile the whole pregnancy, when I was 38 weeks it measured 97th so they sent me for a growth scan.
Advised I needed inducing the next day which I accepted. Induction ended up taking a couple of days and she was born without intervention at 39 weeks weighing 8lb 13oz.

I think if I was to go through it again I probably would. I don't think I could have got her out without assistance if she was bigger!!

@Dorset555 I had growth scans at 32 & 36 weeks. Baby over the 97th centile at both scans. Estimated at 10.5lbs at full term. I was advised that they didn’t want me going over 40 weeks so they would induce anytime from 38 weeks. I booked in for 39+5 as it was the closest available date to my due date.
So glad I booked in...my pelvis split 3 days before induction because baby was so heavy and low, and I’ve never felt pain like it 😓
Very successful induction. Took 3 pessaries to get to a point where they could break my waters so that bit was quite long and I was having mild contractions from 1 hour after the first pessary so it was a bit uncomfortable but it was fine. Had waters broken and almost immediately contractions were 3 in 10 but was put on the drip to try and increase them further. DS was born healthy at 8lb 11oz, on his due date, 39 hours after first pessary. No intervention, second degree tear which was stitched up with no issue 😊 and managed with just gas and air for pain relief. Baby born in the morning and we were home that afternoon. Due to my pelvis splitting, I was stuck on my back unable to move. Had been mobile I know things would have progressed much quicker.

Growth scans were definitely wrong for me but as others have said, they can be right!!

I was the same as you - I really wanted things to happen naturally but the possibility of baby getting stuck terrified me so I booked the induction.

Hi OP. These are such tough decisions to make and each person's experience and outcomes for the mother/child will be different... I think it's really difficult for others to advise as we will never know how things might have progressed if the other option was chosen!

I would say the most important thing is that you feel well informed. I know it can be hard not to feel railroaded into a decision, but rather than butting heads with healthcare professionals, ask lots of questions and find out what their evidence base is. Doctors and midwives are not the enemy!

For what it's worth, I was told my first DC was off the charts growthwise. I was induced at 41 weeks due to high blood pressure and ended up with a c-section after failed instrumental (he started to get distressed) - he was 9lbs, so not a monster but he was very long! In retrospect I don't think he was ever going to come out naturally as he was never properly engaged, despite being head down... I am currently 38 weeks with DC2 who is measuring similarly large/long and also head down but "floating". I know that I could opt for VBAC but given my previous experience I am going for an elective c-section.

Good luck, whatever you decide :)

My second was a big lad (9lb 14oz). I did go for induction but not for a few days after I was due. My reason was that with my first I went to 42 weeks so I knew if he was still in there then, I might be in trouble. I had a nice easy birth with my second though. I didn’t have GD and don’t have any health conditions. They broke my waters, I meandered around for a couple of hours and then had a drip. Bit of gas an air, four stitches and home in a couple of hours. I think the really important thing when they’re big is to listen to the Midwife re push/pant and positioning. I wouldn’t change my birth experience so just to give you a positive induction story.