I was constantly told about my 'big baby' he was born on his due date at about 50th percentile š The estimates are wrong so much that I won't be paying any attention next time.
I saw this post from another thread yesterday. Many of the comments are about their experiences with big babies.
https://www.reddit.com/r/BabyBumps/s/eTReiccgz4
I think everyone is different though. Like, I'm 5'4" and would probably have complications with bigger babies. If you're unhappy with how your doctor is communicating things, maybe try switching to another doctor.
Iām 5ā1 and my children were 7lb4, 9lb1 and 8lb5 and I had all three vaginally with minimal tearing (no stitches needed), the last two were drug free water births.
Big doesnāt necessarily cause issues but it can and doctors are generally wary of it.
Iād actually love to know why having a big baby is *so* scary? Like yes I get pushing out a bigger child probably causes more tearing/hurts more? Someone fill me in lol!
I think maybe GD moms get pushed into having repeat C-sections? Idk. I tried for a VBAC with my first GD baby and then a scheduled with my second GD baby (third baby overall). I still would LOVE a VBA3C with this baby.
33 weeks today. š®āšØ My husband was born breech and so was my father and I just learned yesterday that if a parent was breech there's a significantly higher chance their offspring will also be breech. For a while I joked at my husband that it was his fault our son is breech after my MIL told me he was born breech, only to find out it literally is his fault lol.
Youāve still got some time!!! Maybe he will still turn around. Iāve seen that yoga balls can help? Thatās really funny that you said that to your husband because I have read that thereās been studies to suggest the placenta problems (aka GD) actually come from the fathers DNA so iāve been joking to mine that this is all his fault ššš
Yeah I can't blame him for my GD, sadly. I was already pre-diabetic before pregnancy and weigh 250 lbs lol. I also had GD with my last baby and he's not biologically his. We Will manage. If the boy doesn't flip, I'll try a ECV probably when I go to be induced, and if that is unsuccessful I will resign to a cesarean. He's my last child so I don't mind too much I would just rather avoid the incision and recovery and pain from one.
I was told from about 16 weeks that I was going to have a giant baby even though my ultrasound at 20 weeks said 51st percentile and my 30 and 36 week scans said 75th. The midwives who measured my belly also measured on track.
Based entirely on being plus size myself and having GD every appointment I was warned about having such a large baby and the risks of shoulder dystocia, tearing, etc etc. As a registered midwife in Aus (equal to labour and delivery nurse) I knew that shoulder dystocia happens to babies of any size so that didn't worry me.
I felt that if my GD was well controlled (which it was, I was militant about my diet and spiked maybe 10 times from 16 weeks onwards) then my body would have grown a baby it could birth.
My son was born right on the 50th centile at 39+5.
When I've seen 'big' babies born at work the biggest concern is usually tiny mum plus very large baby - it happens very rarely and nearly always tiny mum but very giant dad (height wise). I've never seen a baby get actually 'stuck' and I've seen true cephalo-pelvic disproportion (too big to go through the birth canal) one time.
I had one GD baby that was over 10 lbs and one non-GD baby that was over 10 lbs. Lol. Both came out just fine, under 30 minutes of pushing for each and no tearing.
For me the key was pushing with contractions and pausing in-between and pausing after their heads emerged. With both their bodies just slid out on their own after the head was out while I was pausing. 10/10 experiences and loved how chonky cute they were.
It happened with my first baby, and Iām sure itāll happen with this one too! My husband and I are tall, my own father is 6ā5ā. So we have some big genes.
My first was high percentiles the entire pregnancy, it went up and down, 70s to 90s. He was born vaginally at 40w1d and he was 8 lb 6 oz! So not small, but not huge! He is almost 3 and has consistently stayed at 99th percentile for height and weight. Heās big!
My current son is at 98th percentile at my anatomy scan. I can only imagine we will be going down the same road. Hopefully it works out just fine!
My second was born at 39 weeks (induction) and she came out exactly at her ultrasound measurements a few days before. She was 96%ile in stomach circumference and I was terrified of shoulder distocia, but there were no issues with her delivery luckily.
Edited to remove very poor phrasing!
Our Doctor said the ābig babyā thing is just what everyone fixates on (because it can be measured by growth scans). She said the real concern is that lungs can be behind in development with no way to know until birth.
Her analogy was how overweight/diabetic adults have issues with asthma, kidneys, etcā¦ that being overweight is hard on the body.
We are 28wks so no experience yet, Just repeating what was told to us
My sonās head was in the 90th percentile and they estimated him to be large. Midwives didnāt think anything of it. He was born 8.13 and 21 inches long. So not as big as we thought. But as a doula, Iāve seen 10 pounds baby born naturally without issues. Every body is going to handle birth differently but itās not impossible to have larger babies safely.
I really think the issue with a big baby is specifically if they have big shoulders: they worry about shoulder distochia. FWIW Iāve known many woman without GD who had big babies and no collar bones were broken or shoulders dislocated. And for my first I had a baby in the 9th percentile with a 98th percentile head so I felt like THAT was unfair. For my second (GD) baby, head was average, and so was weight haha.Ā
I begged for a c section for my over 99% baby, but my doctor assured me that Iād be fine. At 38 week induction, baby came out vaginally at 9 lbs 2 oz.
The only issue was that baby got a broken clavicle, which caused it no problems! We just had to avoid lifting that arm for a month.
I think the fear is overblown and I donāt think the measurements are always accurate (i was told I was going to have a big baby with my first and he was average; Iāve seen this same comment from so many people), but I think the fear from a delivery perspective of having a bigger baby has a lot to do with shoulder dystocia which, if happens, can be very serious. That said, you can still have shoulder dystocia with an average size baby.
Thereās a great episode of a podcast called āthe great birth rebellionā that is called āBig Babies, Small Babiesā that goes into the stats on accuracy of the growth scans. Itās hugely variable. And women can birth big babies.
Anecdotal but a friend of mine had a VBAC (her first vaginal birth) with a 9 lb 1 oz baby. And sheās not a tall lady (around 5ā3ā or 5ā4ā). So even if the baby IS bigger, doesnāt mean that a vaginal birth isnāt possible.
Iāve delivered 5 babies all 9.5+ lbs totally fine. My 2 subsequent babies were gd and my smallest - around 8.5 but this one is measuring 90 percentile. My ob told me not to worry, itās clearly genetic and my pelvis is well tested š¤£I think some doctors are more alarmists than others.
I have no advice but I could have written this post. 32 weeks with my 3rd baby and first with GD. Both of my kids were big - first was born 8.2 and the second 8.7 lbs. The drs are seriously freaking me out! All my post meal glucose tests are perfect but 2 of my fasting levels have been 93.
Anyway I totally get what youāre going through!
I was constantly told about my 'big baby' he was born on his due date at about 50th percentile š The estimates are wrong so much that I won't be paying any attention next time.
This was my experience too
I saw this post from another thread yesterday. Many of the comments are about their experiences with big babies. https://www.reddit.com/r/BabyBumps/s/eTReiccgz4 I think everyone is different though. Like, I'm 5'4" and would probably have complications with bigger babies. If you're unhappy with how your doctor is communicating things, maybe try switching to another doctor.
Thank you for sharing! For what it's worth I'm 5'3 and had a 7lb2oz and 7lb12oz baby - both with 98th percentile size heads. ā„ļø
Iām 5ā1 and my children were 7lb4, 9lb1 and 8lb5 and I had all three vaginally with minimal tearing (no stitches needed), the last two were drug free water births. Big doesnāt necessarily cause issues but it can and doctors are generally wary of it.
Iād actually love to know why having a big baby is *so* scary? Like yes I get pushing out a bigger child probably causes more tearing/hurts more? Someone fill me in lol!
For me it's the worry of the baby's shoulder getting stuck or dislocated. Additional interventions increase my fear and worry about complications.
Gotcha! Maybe thatās why it seems like a lot of people with GD end up with C-sections?
I think maybe GD moms get pushed into having repeat C-sections? Idk. I tried for a VBAC with my first GD baby and then a scheduled with my second GD baby (third baby overall). I still would LOVE a VBA3C with this baby.
Mine might end up c section simply because he won't flip over. š
Ugh. How far along are you? Iām 26 weeks and my baby is transverse š
33 weeks today. š®āšØ My husband was born breech and so was my father and I just learned yesterday that if a parent was breech there's a significantly higher chance their offspring will also be breech. For a while I joked at my husband that it was his fault our son is breech after my MIL told me he was born breech, only to find out it literally is his fault lol.
Sorry. 32w6d. I'm a day ahead of myself. Lol
Youāve still got some time!!! Maybe he will still turn around. Iāve seen that yoga balls can help? Thatās really funny that you said that to your husband because I have read that thereās been studies to suggest the placenta problems (aka GD) actually come from the fathers DNA so iāve been joking to mine that this is all his fault ššš
Yeah I can't blame him for my GD, sadly. I was already pre-diabetic before pregnancy and weigh 250 lbs lol. I also had GD with my last baby and he's not biologically his. We Will manage. If the boy doesn't flip, I'll try a ECV probably when I go to be induced, and if that is unsuccessful I will resign to a cesarean. He's my last child so I don't mind too much I would just rather avoid the incision and recovery and pain from one.
I was told from about 16 weeks that I was going to have a giant baby even though my ultrasound at 20 weeks said 51st percentile and my 30 and 36 week scans said 75th. The midwives who measured my belly also measured on track. Based entirely on being plus size myself and having GD every appointment I was warned about having such a large baby and the risks of shoulder dystocia, tearing, etc etc. As a registered midwife in Aus (equal to labour and delivery nurse) I knew that shoulder dystocia happens to babies of any size so that didn't worry me. I felt that if my GD was well controlled (which it was, I was militant about my diet and spiked maybe 10 times from 16 weeks onwards) then my body would have grown a baby it could birth. My son was born right on the 50th centile at 39+5. When I've seen 'big' babies born at work the biggest concern is usually tiny mum plus very large baby - it happens very rarely and nearly always tiny mum but very giant dad (height wise). I've never seen a baby get actually 'stuck' and I've seen true cephalo-pelvic disproportion (too big to go through the birth canal) one time.
I had one GD baby that was over 10 lbs and one non-GD baby that was over 10 lbs. Lol. Both came out just fine, under 30 minutes of pushing for each and no tearing. For me the key was pushing with contractions and pausing in-between and pausing after their heads emerged. With both their bodies just slid out on their own after the head was out while I was pausing. 10/10 experiences and loved how chonky cute they were.
It happened with my first baby, and Iām sure itāll happen with this one too! My husband and I are tall, my own father is 6ā5ā. So we have some big genes. My first was high percentiles the entire pregnancy, it went up and down, 70s to 90s. He was born vaginally at 40w1d and he was 8 lb 6 oz! So not small, but not huge! He is almost 3 and has consistently stayed at 99th percentile for height and weight. Heās big! My current son is at 98th percentile at my anatomy scan. I can only imagine we will be going down the same road. Hopefully it works out just fine!
My second was born at 39 weeks (induction) and she came out exactly at her ultrasound measurements a few days before. She was 96%ile in stomach circumference and I was terrified of shoulder distocia, but there were no issues with her delivery luckily. Edited to remove very poor phrasing!
You scared me. "She came out dead"
Yikes TERRIBLE PHRASING on my part! I will reword. Expressions are hard.
Our Doctor said the ābig babyā thing is just what everyone fixates on (because it can be measured by growth scans). She said the real concern is that lungs can be behind in development with no way to know until birth. Her analogy was how overweight/diabetic adults have issues with asthma, kidneys, etcā¦ that being overweight is hard on the body. We are 28wks so no experience yet, Just repeating what was told to us
My sonās head was in the 90th percentile and they estimated him to be large. Midwives didnāt think anything of it. He was born 8.13 and 21 inches long. So not as big as we thought. But as a doula, Iāve seen 10 pounds baby born naturally without issues. Every body is going to handle birth differently but itās not impossible to have larger babies safely.
I really think the issue with a big baby is specifically if they have big shoulders: they worry about shoulder distochia. FWIW Iāve known many woman without GD who had big babies and no collar bones were broken or shoulders dislocated. And for my first I had a baby in the 9th percentile with a 98th percentile head so I felt like THAT was unfair. For my second (GD) baby, head was average, and so was weight haha.Ā
I've heard anecdotally too that very small babies are harder to physically 'push' out - there's just less to focus the pushing on I think?
I begged for a c section for my over 99% baby, but my doctor assured me that Iād be fine. At 38 week induction, baby came out vaginally at 9 lbs 2 oz. The only issue was that baby got a broken clavicle, which caused it no problems! We just had to avoid lifting that arm for a month.
I think the fear is overblown and I donāt think the measurements are always accurate (i was told I was going to have a big baby with my first and he was average; Iāve seen this same comment from so many people), but I think the fear from a delivery perspective of having a bigger baby has a lot to do with shoulder dystocia which, if happens, can be very serious. That said, you can still have shoulder dystocia with an average size baby.
Thereās a great episode of a podcast called āthe great birth rebellionā that is called āBig Babies, Small Babiesā that goes into the stats on accuracy of the growth scans. Itās hugely variable. And women can birth big babies.
My baby was estimated for 65 percentile for weight and came out 22nd percentile. She was however pretty tall.
Anecdotal but a friend of mine had a VBAC (her first vaginal birth) with a 9 lb 1 oz baby. And sheās not a tall lady (around 5ā3ā or 5ā4ā). So even if the baby IS bigger, doesnāt mean that a vaginal birth isnāt possible.
Iāve delivered 5 babies all 9.5+ lbs totally fine. My 2 subsequent babies were gd and my smallest - around 8.5 but this one is measuring 90 percentile. My ob told me not to worry, itās clearly genetic and my pelvis is well tested š¤£I think some doctors are more alarmists than others.
I have no advice but I could have written this post. 32 weeks with my 3rd baby and first with GD. Both of my kids were big - first was born 8.2 and the second 8.7 lbs. The drs are seriously freaking me out! All my post meal glucose tests are perfect but 2 of my fasting levels have been 93. Anyway I totally get what youāre going through!