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

big baby last time - what about next one?

15 replies

beepbeep · 26/10/2008 09:47

My 2nd baby was born a week early at 10.1lb, the fact that he was on the larger size was not picked up on by midwives (thankfully) so went on to have lovely, quick birth at birthing centre, waterbirth and no stitches. Afterwards I got call from doc to say tests i had showed up strep b - too late by then as had had baby and all was fine.

Am worried about having another baby, as a friend's baby was picked up as being big and they wouldn't leave her alone, scaring her with c-section talk etc and loads of scans - turned out smaller than mine! Don't want to have all this interference and also, what are possibilities of having strep b next time and i take it if i did i would have to go to hospital?

anyone have any answers?!?! at the moment it's putting me off trying again.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Sazisi · 26/10/2008 09:55

My babies have been bigger each time, i.e. DD1 6lb3oz, DD2 7lb2oz, DD3 8lb1oz. It is the norm I'm afraid.
Given that you coped so brilliantly last time with a bigger than average baby, I'm sure you'd cope similarly next time

Group b strep I think you carry forever once you carry it, so they'd probably want you in hospital to give antibiotics intravenously during labour (this is what I was told would happen if I tested positive)

chequersandchess · 26/10/2008 09:57

Am interested in this for the opposite reason - had a terrible time with my nearly 10 pound baby and would consider a c-section if I'm likely to have another big one.

Rubyrubyruby · 26/10/2008 10:00

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

smellybunion · 26/10/2008 10:01

my first baby was a nice 8 lbs, my second baby was a chunky 10 lber....my third was a more dainty 8 lb 9 oz...

i was scanned etc having my 2nd..i was HUGE! but there were no concerns at all about my third...no one was looking out for a big baby. my consultant with my 2nd said that tyhere is no reason why i shouldn't be able to deliver a big baby...i'm of average height and build....

be confident!
i'm sure if you deliverd a big baby once, you can do it again.....

one lady i know had two home births...one baby weighed in at over 11 lbs, and the 2nd was an eye watering 12 lbs!!!

BabiesEverywhere · 26/10/2008 10:05

You can treat Strep B with garlic during your next pregnancy and you can choose to have a private Strep B test at around 35/37 weeks pregnancy.

If that comes back negative you will be clear for labour and can be treated as such, if it comes back positive you can decide whether you want antibiotics or not.

I had Strep B last time but treated with garlic and was negative this time around and tried a home birth (but failed, nothing to do with the Strep B)

Re Large babies I had a lot of pressure during this last pregnancy to go for growth scans etc. Which I didn't want to do as they can be innaccurate and I also knew if the baby was showing big, then they would be pushing for inducement/early C-section and not the home birth I wanted.

In my case I ended up with an EmCS but due to the baby's position not size, though he was a big boy at 10lb 1oz.

If I had another baby, I would still want to avoid growth scans, hospital and interventions but with two big babies to date, I suspect I would be pressured to do the hospital intervention route

MrsMattie · 26/10/2008 11:18

Hi there. Can't asdvise on the Group B Strep thing, but on the baby size issue:

My first child was 10lbs 2oz. Wasn't picked up that he was going to be so big. I had a c-section (not for reasons related to his size).

This time around, I am going for a VBAC. I have had a lot of ill informed comments about birthing a big baby from all sorts of people - friends, midwives, even a consultant. However, there have been a few really fantastic people ( a great community midwife and the latest consultant I have seen) who have been extremely reassuring. Both agree:

No need for growth scans unless there is a specific problem (e.g. gestational diabetes)

Growth scans / fundal height measurements are notoriously bad at picking up a baby's size accurately anyway.

'Big baby' (as you know from your first birth) does not necessarily equal 'difficult baby'.

The fact that you had a straightforward vaginal delivery with your first (big) baby bodes fantastically well for your next birth. You have no complications that would justify any intervention that you don't want.

Good luck!

MrsMattie · 26/10/2008 11:19

sorry should have said - 'big baby' does not necessarily equal 'difficult birth'.

beepbeep · 27/10/2008 08:34

Thanks everyone, i think i'll go and speak with my midwife who i get on well with and chat it through with her also.

Babieseverywhere you say about treating strep b with garlic - i've never heard of this, is it a matter of just eating a lot of garlic??!

OP posts:
rolereversal · 27/10/2008 08:43

I started with a big un 9lb 4oz, and the delivery was long and arduous, consequently had quite a bit of interference with 2nd pregnancy, ie tests for gestational diabetes (which I didnt have) and lots of scans and talk of c sections. As it turned out he was only 8lb 8oz but was still delivered by ventouse as the first one was.

Last pregnancy there was no mention of large baby, no extra scans no interference and I went into labour naturally and had best delivery of all, just gas and air and no other help, and he was 10lb 14oz

big baby not necessarily difficult birth.

cant help with b strep, no experience of that

mamaspanx · 27/10/2008 09:01

first baby was 7lb 3oz, second was 10lb 8oz (that was a shock!) and now 20wks with third but no one has mentioned anything yet. both were straight forward deliveries though. every so often i get the 'fear' when i think that this baby could be bigger...i just remind myself that its really worth it!...i must stay away from crunchy nut cornflakes

CookieMonster2 · 27/10/2008 10:04

If you have already proved you can deliver a big baby without any problems no one is going to pressure you into a c-section. They might want to do growth scans etc but you can refuse these if you wanted to, but I don't think there is any harm in being monitored more.

With regards to the strep b, you don't have it for life, it will come and go like it does in everyone else, but I had it first time round and they just said they will give me antibiotics before the birth. I think this is fine and certainly preferable to the experience I had first time round.

mabel1973 · 27/10/2008 10:37

My 2nd baby was dead on 10lb. I am 37 weeks pg with no.3 at the moment.
My midwife didn't pick up that DS2 was a big baby, she assumed he would be about the same as DS1 (who was 8lb 6oz), i tried for a pool birth, but had to get out as he was almost back to back and was a bit stuck, but other than that I had a normal birth with him.
This time round, the only interference I have had, due to having a large previous baby has been an appointment with the consultant, who's general feeling was 'well you delivered normally last time, so we'll leave you alone',
she did refer me for a GTT test, which is procedure if you have had a previous large baby, as they can be associated with diabetes,but that came back as normal, as expected.
I will have to see the consultant again if i get to 40+ weeks, in case the baby gets really large, but TBH, I think if you did a perfectly good job of delivering normally yourself, they wouldn't consider a c-section, unless absolutely necessary.
According to my midwife this baby is not measuring particuarly big, but then she said that last time!

mabel1973 · 27/10/2008 10:39

oh god just read that back...i didn't mean he was dead...i meant he was exactly 10lb !!!

BabiesEverywhere · 27/10/2008 18:46

Garlic protocol:

Break a fresh, hard clove from a bulb of garlic and peel off the paper-like cover. Cut in half. A whole clove will NOT work. A crushed clove releases more allicin, but is harder to insert. Sew a string through it for easy retrieval.

Put damaged garlic clove in your vagina in the evening before you go to sleep. Many women taste garlic in their mouths as soon as it is in their vagina- so it is less pleasant to treat while awake.

In the morning, the garlic may come out when you poop. If not, many women find it is easiest to take it out on the toilet. Circle the vagina with a finger, till you find it. It cannot enter the uterus through the cervix. It cannot get lost- but it can get pushed into the pocket between the cervix and the vaginal wall.

Most people will taste the garlic as long as it is in there. So if you still taste it, it is probably still in there. Most women have trouble getting it out the first time.
For easy retrieval sew a string through the middle of the clove before you put it in- You don't want to get irritated in the process of getting rid of the GBS. Be gentle. Dot scratch yourself with long nails. Repeat this for 8 nights (around week 36). Or for 2 nights on, 1 night off, for 5 times (8 nights in 15 days)
After the eight night of treatment, get cultured at the health care place you go to. Before you go to get the culture, wash perineum and rectal area with soap and put on clean cotton underwear. GBS usually lives in your large intestine, and from there contaminates the vagina. A Rectal/Vaginal culture is done with a cotton swab inserted into the vagina and then into the anus.

When women are treated with antibiotics, the GBS returns soon after antibiotics regime is finished. The same is probably true with garlic. Therefore, if you culture positive and then use garlic to get a negative culture, you might consider inserting garlic once a week until you deliver the baby.

The level of garlic "smell" is a very poor indication of the real amount of allicin (active ingredient) that is generated. The olfactory receptors of the average person are so sensitive that even 1 mg of allicin molecules in the air will saturate the receptors so our nose and seem the same as 100 mg.

Allicin is gradually produced in the crushed clove for about 2 hours after the clove is damaged and simultaneously degraded. Once in contact with the mucosa or bacteria it degrades rapidly. No one knows how long it can be active when in contact with mucosa. We know that if you drink pure allicin within 5 minutes you can not detect it anymore because it all got adsorbed through the mucosal lining.

Bacteria are about 30 times more sensitive to allicin than human cells but at high concentrations also human cells suffer so in conclusion it would be more effective as an antibacterial and less toxic to the mucosa if women would use smaller amounts of crushed garlic with more frequent changes.

If you decide to try this protocol, please email me with as much information as possible: [email protected] and put GBS in the subject line:

  1. History of GBS on previous pregnancy or is this your first pregnancy?
  1. Garlic treatment = _ nights? Half clove? Full clove?
  1. Date of culture- was it urine culture? recto-vaginal swab? Vaginal culture?
  1. Results of culture after garlic treatment.
  1. Please describe any adverse/untoward events

I will publish the results as soon as I have the results of 300 women who have used the protocol. No personal identification information would be kept ? your information will be combined with others and hopefully published in tabulated form in a medical journal, so that future patients would benefit from your efforts.

Read more:

www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/RR/RR5111.pdf

http:

References:

  1. Prevention of fumonisin-induced maternal and developmental toxicity in rats by certain plant extracts. J Appl Toxicol Nov-Dec 2004;24(6):469-74.
  1. Emergence of Long-Term Memory for Conditioned Aversion in the Rat Fetus. Dev Psychobio 2004; 44: 189?198.
  1. Protective effects of garlic juice against embryotoxicity of methylmercuric chloride administered to pregnant Fischer 344 rats. Yonsei Med J. 1999;40(5):483-9.
  1. The effect of garlic on plasma lipids and platelets in primips with high risk of preeclampsia. Eur J Obstet Gynecol Reprod Biol. 2001 Dec 1;99(2):201-6.

PS. In case you were wondering: Garlic ingestion by pregnant women alters the odor of amniotic fluid. Chem Senses. 1995 Apr;20(2):207-9."

hypnobirthingmummy · 05/11/2008 10:44

Hi, have a look at www.bigbaby.org.uk I'm sure it will put your mind at ease!

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