33 weeks - big baby

[TealDreams]

Baby is measuring quite big. General centiles say 77% but my growth chart says 91.
33+2 and weight is 5lb 6. They've made me doubt my abilities to have a natural birth and say I should be induced. Any positive stories welcome, I'm very scared she will get stuck now as I'm quite small.

Congratulations Op 😊

Growth charts can be wildly inaccurate. I measured above 100 consistently from about 28 weeks. Growth scans every two weeks up to 38 weeks put baby at 95th centile overall so I was induced at 40+1. Three sweeps at 39 weeks first and then they broke my waters at 40+1. No other intervention needed, I gave birth vaginally and baby was actually 75th centile, so much smaller than they predicted. I am also quite small which is why they suggested due date induction, but several midwives told me bigger babies lead to easier births (generally) as gravity helps out!

@Cdoc Thank you for that. Just what I needed to hear! I guess it's all come as a bit of a shock!

I had a 9lb 11 week early and a 10lb baby naturally, both fine

At around 31 weeks I also had a scare that baby was in their words “off the charts” and they referred me to fetal medicine and I had sleepless nights.
Turns out growth scans and fundal chart measurements aren’t as accurate as you think so take it all with a pinch of salt.
They mentioned induction to me and now at 36 weeks I’ve been told to plan for a birth as I wish- so no mention of induction.
I do have extra amniotic fluid too so I did feel “on the bigger side” but even then they’re happy for me to plan as usual

My boy was 9lbs14 at birth, I was only small but managed to have a vaginal birth. I needed stitches afterwards but my birth was ok. It's amazing what our bodies can do

Thank you everyone, it's so nice to hear positive stories. It does seem mad they've scared me so much over a baby that could be a mid 8 pounder!

Definitely take it with a pinch of salt! My baby was born at 8lb 3oz so a big boy but definitely not the 9.5 pounder they predicted :)

When I was pregnant I found this website very useful:

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

I was offered induction early for my ‘big baby’. I declined and he was born at 39+6 at 8 lb 6 ounces. They can be very inaccurate x

Thank you, my fundal height doesn't measure big, small if anything! I think she's going to be long as dad is very tall.

mine measured big throughout last trimester and k was told to have a section. I’m 5ft 1 and very petite and baby was predicted to be 9.5lbs. In the end she came out almost two weeks late at 7.7! I had loads of water which they said I didn’t on scans which is why my bump was huge. The scans clearly weren’t accurate in measuring her either :/

@AnonyHB that sounds very similar to my story! My fluid is 'normal' in scans. Fundal height measures normal. Midwife doesn't think she feels like a huge baby. They're pushing induction/CS and I'll be gutted if I do and she comes out 7-8lbs!

I Measured big throughout and had extra growth scans because of this - baby (boy) also measuring 90+% on scans. Was induced at 39w because of this and DS was born at 39+1 (forceps) at only 7lbs 15oz. He was very skinny but long and with a big head.

Now he is 98% for length and 91% for weight. (Head size is still above 99%)

I do sort of regret my induction but also often think if I had gone a couple more week he may have become a lot more stuck as his head wasn't going to get any smaller! Also my family have a history of big babies with many 9 and 10lb ones 😬

@DogsAndBirds was your induction ok? They said about induction because of shoulder dystocia but I read being induced increases your risk of SD!
My husband was 8lb 6 and I was 6lb 6 (10 days early)

I had a balloon that fell out within hours and then the drip the next day. From starting the drip (maybe 1cm dilated) to pushing was 8 hours 20 mins 😅 It was all a bit of a blur to be honest. His head got stuck and I needed forceps but he was fine.

They kept mentioning SD as well to me and my nhs trust are very pro induction if baby is measuring big 🤷‍♀️

I had a scan at 40 weeks + 1day for my bump measuring too big, measurements from the scan estimated baby at 8lb 10oz.

I went 8 days overdue and DD weighed 8lb 1oz.

Measurements can be very inaccurate!

@Topez2
I've heard so many stories of this being the case! X

I commented further down about having my boy who was 9lbs 14oz but reading all these comments makes me wonder. When I was pregnant they never once mentioned my baby was going to be big and let me go to 41+2.
I'm currently pregnant with my 2nd and scared to death I'm gonna have another big baby 🙈

I was big throughout, baby was big throughout. Induced at 41 weeks as they didn't want me to go any further due to her size. Scanned on the day of induction and they estimated 10lbs. Induction failed (one midwife thought as her head was too large to descend) but fortunately I couldn't feel the contractions I was having. Baby was born by a very calm EMCS, they needed forceps to get her out even in the section, she was 9lb 7oz.

All very calm, all very positive and I have no regrets or ill effects, but they were right about her size and it did cause some issues.

Her younger sister was a few oz bigger when born at 39 weeks, she was transverse so both her size and position caused a few niggles in the ELCS.

Agree scans can get it wrong. I had the opposite experience to a lot here and my supposed barely 6lb-er was actually 8lb3! Had to send DH home for the 0-3 month clothes as his legs wouldn’t fit in the newborn babygrows.

Are you going to get additional scans to keep an eye on things?

@JenniferBarkley thanks for that. It's nice to hear a positive EMCS story! I don't think I want to be induced, if baby isn't in a good position etc i just know it'll be a failed induction 🙈

@TropicalTrama yes, got another at 36 weeks

What I can't work out is that my fundal height measures on the smaller side!!