Big baby...possibly a c-section!!

[biglips]

Last week i had a scan to check if the placenta had moved which it had. (im 34 weeks pg) Also the sonographer told me that the baby is above average (Did expect that as my DD was a 9lb 1oz baby). i found in my notes later on the day that this baby is breech olique (it always had been head down since 2 weeks ago) which they never mentioned it to me (poss could its too early to worry about that).

i just seen my midwife today and she said that its looking that i could poss have a c-section and not a natural birth (i had a emergency c-section with my DD). i was hoping for a natural birth. i even asked if this baby does head down will i able have a natural birth?..she said 50/50 cos of being a big baby.

ive got myself a ball to bounce on - how long for?? and also im doing the position too....is it worth doing them???

am I really evil for actually wanting another C-section?

ds was 9lb7oz, born by emergency c-section after 3 day labour.

I am 5'3 and medium build.

He had a giant head that got stuck in my pelvis, meaning I only dilated 3 cm despite excruciating pain.

I know I'm having another boy and the second child is hardly going to be smaller now is it?

Fraid I don't buy the idea that women don't make babies they can't give birth to because I did and would have died in childbirth in a less medically advanced era.

mslucy, how can anyone had made a judgement on your individual experience when no one here knew you were reading this thread before you posted on it?

This is Biglips' thread and she is currently anxious and looking for answers to calm her down not aggravate her nerves. She had recently posted that she would like a natural birth. Her expressing that desire has no reflection on any wish or desire of the other 20,000 women who will click on MN today. It is unkind to come along shortly afterward and take umbrage based on your experience. She doesn't have a clue who you are! It would have been kinder to start your own thread somewhere else, under a different title since her thread has got you thinking.

others can come on this page and give the diametrically opposed outcome as yours in a very similar set of circumstance. So really, anecdotal evidence on its own is not valuable.

FWIW, Without medical intervention, I am sure my dd and I would have both been dead. It does not mean that this time round won't trust my body and proceed a home birth or a natural birth as long as it is medically safe to attempt one, however.

Biglips, I hope you get the birth experience you would like, good luck!

Wt estimations by ultrasound are notoriously inexact and can be 20% wrong either side. I am with other posters on this thread that weight of baba no indication for CS alone - it is the size of head that matters ! All the squishy parts will follow as soon as the head had popped out.
Good advice already posted on here regarding doing all you can to encourage head-down positioning of baby.

I had brilliant vaginal birth after emergency CS so do not be put off unless there are sound medical reasons. Check out web info on VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean section). Association of radical midwives has great information (not that "radical" nowadays as they were in the 60s when they suggested not every woman MUST have an episiotomy..)

At the end of the day a healthy baby with a healthy mum is all anybody should worry about.

LOL

err I wasn't taking umbrage, just expressing a point of view that I knew would be shot down in flames.

and I certainly wasn't undermining someone else's point of view.

I knew posting that would get a big hiss - should have kept my thoughts to myself.

and isn't mumsnet based on "anecdotal evidence"?

by all means express your thoughts and opinions. on your own thread. not one where someone is looking for support and possibly evidence based information with which support her intentions or choice.

Mumsnet is based on lots of things. Anectodal evidence being only one.

I am very interested in any evidence based information which supports your anecdote in your first post.

I think biglips may find it useful too.

anecdotal evidence does help to reassure though - it helped me thinking if other people have done this then so can I.

Ds2 was estimated at 36 weeks to reach between 11 and 12lbs. He was induced on due date arrived very quickly at a tiny 9.7lb (less than ds1). He was also breech and turned at about 38 weeks. The sonographer told me that they only measure bone and then work on average fat coverage, so can't account for tall skinny babies.

Try and relax and enjoy the last bit of your pg. See how things go and make up your mind closer to the time. Good luck.

Well heaven forbid that I question the sacred cow that is natural childbirth for all, regardless of medical history or personal choice (preferably on all fours in a mud pool with scented candles and whale music).

fyi I did not WANT to have a c-section when I had ds and had attended numerous NCT classes which showed you how to "breathe your way through pain" etc etc.

Sadly they did not work for me, although they do for others.

I had one because of a genuine medical emergency and my crime was to relate this on a thread about c-sections and big babies (I had both).

I am now pregnant again and was voicing a genuine desire to avoid a difficult birth.

I'm sorry if this upset anyone. Genuinely sorry.

Mslucy, since this thread is not about you, I won't respond anymore to you.

there is however another thread in AIBU which is currently addressing some of the issues you are relating to in your posts. you can find it here

or feel free to start your own. you are raising geniune concerns. I simply think that you are going about it in the wrong place and in the wrong tone.

Holy crap loler! 11-12lbs I would have been yelling for the CS then and there. Totally in awe that you went to your due date and did it naturally

MsLucy, it is totally possible that you could have a natural easy birth this time round, and likely you wouldn't die in childbirth because of the size of the baby.

It's the medical intervention of many births that leads to CS's, not the size of the baby.

I hope your birthing experience is a good one this time around.

mslucy, if you feel that a c.section would be better for you and your baby this time, then that is your informed decision to make.

fwiw, a lot of things can make a difference to the way your labour goes..for example, a larger baby might struggle to descend through your pelvis if you are lying or sitting down. standing or being in a supported squat can open your pelvis by up to 20 % more. thereby giving your baby more room to manouvre.

having an immobile labour or an epidural can affect the way the baby rotates for birth leading to intervention and possibly c.section

having had one bad experience would make you more likely to want to control how things go the next time.. i.e by planning a c.section rather than a trial of labour,

i can understand that

but IMO a big baby should not automatically mean a woman has to have a c.section.

if you choose to have one, then that is your choice.

but a lot of women can and do birth big babies

and my second was smaller than my first and had a much smaller head!

I know this is "biglips' thread" (I didn't know there was ownership of threads on MN but there you go) but I think you have all been really harsh and unfair on Mslucy

VictorianSqualor - I had an almost identical experience to MsLucy with my first baby and if anyone had written anything like that to me when I was pg with DD I would have fallen to pieces .

MsLucy - if you would like to have a chat on another thread about this without being set upon with pitchforks then let me know. I know exactly what you are going through {{{}}}

Biglips - it is true that a big baby alone doesn't necessarily mean a c-section and if any midwife tells you you need to be induced or have c-section merely because you MAY be having a big baby then that is wrong and you need more information to make that decision and choice. At the end of the day an elective c-s is your decision ... There are millions of people who manage big babies naturally so I hope it all goes well for you and try not to worry {{{}}}

Fallen to pieces?
I was telling the truth and wishing her luck!

Though I'm not for the 'this is so-and-so's thread' normally, biglips reading that the size of a child could kill her isn't exactly a good thing is it?
Especially when it's not true!

You know what, I was going to leave it at that, but you've really pissed me off.
How dare you make out people have jumped on MsLucy?
There aren't pitchforks out for her at all.
Personally, I think kiskidee may have taken the post more harshly than it was meant, but she was just trying to help biglips, apart from that no-one has jumped on her.

i think my post was very reasonable and constructive.

i think VS is right, mslucy's comments about dying in childbirth needed an alternative view

childbirth is not as simple as big baby..c.section or die.. there are so many variables and working through all the options and all the different points of view can be really helpful.

carrying over fear adn trauma from one birth to another is not healthy and needs dealing with via one of the birth trauma organisations

thinking you might die in childbirth is horrific and those feelings need looking at

Yes, but she was talking about her own experience (which was maybe one negative anecdote in a whole heap of positive ones) She wasn't saying that it could happen do biglips was she? She was saying why SHE has chosen an elective c-s and a valid reason for her situation IMO.
I just think you have all jumped on her and I think it was unfair.

please do point out where i jumped on mslucy

i clearly said that elective c.s was her informed decision to make. and offered some other info.

Yes, lulumama - which is why I went to the 'trauma after birth' group in NZ to get counselling when I was pregnant with DD as I carried those fears for 4 years and was rigid with fear about having her.
But MsLucy may not be aware that there are such organisations and she is clearly very upset about her first experience and scared for her second.

I am leaving this thread too. I wish I had never opened it.

By saying she could've died in childbirth due to the baby's size it insinuates the anyone could, which just doesn't tally with medical fact or opinion.
As lulu said it is terrible she feels this way, and would be good for MsLucy to get help with her birth trauma, but it is very unlikely baby size will kill her!
I didn't jump on her at all.
FGS, I'm perfectly aware of how dreadful birth trauma can make you feel, I'm still terrified that when I have my fourth child I'll have to have another CS, and I've had a positive experience of one only 4 months ago!

in taht case, i hope mslucy is reading this thread..

i had severe PND after my em. c.s to the point that there are virtually 6 years between my DCs

i had a very positive VBAC and found it very healing.

i volunteer for the birth trauma association and the way you felt and possibly how mslucy feels is normal after a trauma

there is also the sheila kitzinger birth crisis line

both can be found through google, or there is a thread on ehre called 'birth trauma' which i started ages ago with links to both organisations

I did think you were a little bit rough on mslucy.
I am not sure I agree, with VS's view that women do not make generally big babies they can not birth.
But agree ,that scans are only estimate. Ds was predicted to be quite big, over 10lb they said, but was only a little tiddler @ 6 lb 13 oz.

Hopefully you will see another mw next time, who is more understanding, more in tune with what you want.

ghosty, i am sorry you are so upset

Ghosty, I'm sorry you too have suffered but I feel you're projecting your own fears and worries and seeing things that really aren't their in mine and Lulu's posts.

Lulu works in birth trauma and is a doula, and I hope to do doula training after my next baby, we have both suffered birth trauma ourselves and neither of us would ever want to upset someone, just pass over facts and offer support and advice. (I hope you don't mind me speaking for you there Lulu!).

Maybe start a thread in childbirth about birth trauma ghosty? Sadly there are enough of us to fill it.