Who delivered a big baby at home???

[Raven67]

I am planning a homebirth for my first baby. I had an ultrasound yesterday to confirm a breech presentation. She is breech, so now we can work on getting her to turn. That's a whole other story. Anyway, my concern is that they did all the measurements, and she is measuring very big, in the 93rd percentile, almost six pounds already. They were predicting a 9-10 pound baby at term. Ok, now I know these measurements are notoriously off. Although, she was also very big on the 20 week u/s, too. So, it is at least consistent. There is no way my dates are wrong, either. I have to admit, that I did get a little scared. I am only five feet tall and petite. I never imagined myself having a big baby. Can anyone reasure me that I will be able to birth a big baby with no medical intervention??? I know there must be a lot of little women out there who pushed out big babies. I really need to hear about that.

[lazra]

Hi!

I gave birth to a 9# 4oz, 22 inch baby girl at home in water. Also, her head was about 14.5 inches, so i guess she counts as on the large side. She's my first baby, and I'm about 5 foot 3, so I'm hardly a large woman.

Aside from my hip labor, which my midwives think was related to her position before she began descending through the birth canal, I don't think my labor would have been much different even if she had been smaller. I did have a small labial tear, but otherwise had a relatively easy labor and quick recovery. My midwives predicted that she would be large and never expressed any concern about my ability to deliver safely. In fact, later that month, three of their clients in a row gave birth to 11 pounders with no problems!

As I see others say on these boards all the time - other than really rare circumstances, your body will not make a baby that is too big for you to push out! Big babies can be and are delivered safely without drugs or medical intervention!

Best wishes.

[Aloe]

My babies were homeborn, but both under 8lbs. My good friend had her 11lb 2oz, 23.5in long baby boy at home! Parts of it were tough but she was glad she had him at home (her 1st was an unpleasant hospital experience).
You can do it!

[sassitap]

Not me personally, but my grandmother, 5' 2" had my dad at home with a midwife 51 years ago. He was 11 pounds, 24" long and breach. She was in labor 17 hours and says that she just did what felt right and kept everyone out of her way.
My mom's mom 4' 11" had my mom 10 lbs in the hospital unmedicated (the md decided that nana looked pretty serious when she told him she'd shove the shot to knock her out up his a#@ if he came near her with it again) She was also kicked out of the hospital after 3 days because she wouldn't stay in her room alone waiting for the sceduled visits with her baby, and HORROR OF HORRORS insisted on breastfeeding against all medical advice. She had her my aunts and uncle at home after that with no prob. All between 8 and 10 lbs.
My husband was 12 lbs at birth (he's 6' 10" now) and was born in a hospital without any meds. And suprizingly I had big babies too: My first daughter was 9 lbs and my 2nd was 10lbs. I had them in the hospital with a midwife and no meds. My labors and deliveries were both easy -- 4 hours start to finish, and I didn't even tear.

You can do this. Your body is stronger and wiser than you can even imagine. Visualize your body opening and streching fluidly for the task. Pactice squatting and sit indian style as much as possible to help strech your pelvis.

oh--I was breach until 1 hour before my mom's contractions started. They had tried everything to turn me and then I just flipped around all by myself. I was born 7 hours later. Also no meds and 8lbs 14 oz.

[Aloe]

What great stories of birthing! Those made me feel proud and full of power and I'm not having any more babies! Thanks for sharing sassitap !

[Carolinamidwife]

Personally I don't consider a 9 or 10 pound baby all that huge. Call me crazy but I would not give it another thought. For one thing, u/s are always wrong and for another thing there is no reason to think you'll have any harder of a time birthing a 10 pounder than you would an 8 pounder. How tall you are or petite you are has absolutely nothing to do with the capacity of your pelvis or your body's ability to stretch to accomodate your baby. You're not going to make a baby that is too big to come out of you so try not to have fear.

Seriously, you can do it! You need to overcome this fear and start thinking positively. You don't want to be in labor and having thoughts that your baby is too big. You're gonna do great!

Amy

[georgia]

Raven,

Good for you to have your first at home. I wish I'd been where you are with my first. I had my second son at home---all 9 pounds of him! No tears, no stitches....you get the idea. My first son, born in the hospital, was seven pounds---every intervention in the book. I swore I'd never have another baby. My second birth was the most wonderful experience I've ever had--and I was ready immediately to have more It doesn't matter how much they weigh. I have a friend who had her daughter with my mw a week after me--ten pounds--at home and at peace. I've another friend who birthed a 12 lb son at home, and last year, my mw attended a mom with a not-quite 14 lber. Yes, 14!!! No drugs, just love

Birthing is hard work, but nothing that you cannot handle. Fear is not our friend---so I'm so glad that you're looking for support here!!! Just keep an open mind and listen to your body. My dh's co-worker just had a C-section for a reportedly HUGE baby. Baby was actually 6 lbs 4 oz. Hate the typical dependence upon U/S technology

Go deep. You can do it!!!

Amy

[Spark]

Applejuice wrote this on another thread on this board:

"Frank Sinatra was born at home in New Jersey with the help of a midwife in 1915.

Frank Sinatra was fifteen pounds at birth. His mother was a tiny immigrant Italian woman. He was born with great difficulty naturally (i.e., vaginally), however he did not breathe immediately, so the midwife and the attendants feared after the very difficult birth that he may be stillborn. The midwife tired many measures to get him to breathe, and finally put him under cold running water, which got him going. As you know, he did live a long time and many people enjoyed his many talents during his long life."

I highly doubt your babe will be a 15 lb crooner, but that's certainly an interesting fact about homebirth and big babies!

I was told at my one u/s during my last pregnancy to expect a big baby. You know what...I had a healthy 7# 2oz, 21 in. baby born around my EDD.

I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about the size of the baby you're growing. I agree, your body is going to make the perfect size baby for you to birth. And, home is the best place to birth him. You won't be stuck in bed or tied to machinery. You can go where you want, sqaut how you want, stomp how you want and moan how you want. Yeah for choosing homebirth! Wishing you an easy gentle birth no matter what size your babe is!

[pamamidwife]

Earlier this year, I had a first time mom have a 9lb 12oz baby at home, standing at her bathroom sink - only pushed for 40 minutes.

Then, I had a 13lb 6oz baby born to a 9th time mom.

My practice sees alot of 9lb+ babies. They all come out.

[lorijds]

We are at a birth center, and we see alot of 9 pound babies (at least as much as we see 6# babies, if not more frequently). Every year we have several 10 pounders and a couple of 11 pounders. Our latest 11 pounder was with a first time mom who pushed for less than an hour.

Your body is growing just the right sized baby for you. The best thing about those larger babies is that they seem to get the hang of nursing a little bit better. I think they are just a little stronger, or maybe their mouths are just a little bit bigger!!!!

Also, their heads don't seem to be any bigger than "normal" sized babies, for the most part. So, really, it doesn't matter if you have a 12 pound baby; it's all fat on the baby. The heads still mold nicely and come out pretty much the same size as 7, 8, or 9 pound babies.

[candiland]

My first child, who was born at home, weighed 8.3.
My second, also a HB, was 9.4.
I pushed for three and a half hours with #1.
I pushed 20 min. with #2.
Try not to worry. Women have been making babies that perfectly fit their bodies for millions of years. Don't let an extremely paranoid medical profession that makes its money convincing women that their bodies are dysfunctional instill fear in you. You will do grrrrrrrrreat!

[JesseMomme]

My third birth, first homebirth, first UC, was my biggest baby - 10 lbs First time that I didn't tear (although I think that had a lot to do with birthing in the position I wanted to, for once) I pushed for perhaps 5 minutes (wasn't quite counting but it was pretty quick)

[firefly]

Hello Raven,

All these stories are so amazing; I had my first child in the hospital. I'm 5'2 and am generally a smaller person. My Noah was 9lbs 6ozs. I birthed him vaginally. I wish I could say I did so with out interventions, but I ended up with an epidural, this was not because of Noah's size though, in fact our midwife had predicted that he was about 6lbs, the ultrasound said around 7. I am absolutely confident that if I had, had more support I could have birthed him without the epidural. Our bodies are so amazing; they know just what to do. I recently finished reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, and I am so glad I did. I really look forward to birthing my next baby at home. My new midwife has told me that she is confident that I could deliver an even bigger baby at home. I think for me confidence is the key word.

Wishing you well,
Noah's mama

[Katana]

Hi Raven.

My first, ds, was 10lbs 8 oz and 23.5 inches long. Born at home. I wasn't that big, he was all curled up, my midwife predicted about 8 lbs, although he decided to stay in there two weeks past my due date.

I'm tall, 5'8, but I have no hips. I've never had hips. And I've always been very slender. No extra cushioning, anywhere. Anyway, the hardest part for me was getting his head over my cervix. My midwife helped out with that part a lot, thank goodness. Once that happened, I only had to push for about 45 minutes, if even that long. And it took that long because I was tired.

But I did it, and I made it, and everything was okay. And I don't think I have that huge of a pain tolerance. I'm just really stubborn when I have to be.

I also want to say that I know both my kids grew at different speeds. Ds did most of his growing in the last two months, and dd seemed to grow the most between months 4 and 5. So I think that applies to others, that each baby is just going to grow at his/her own speed. And that your body will be able to get the baby out.

Good luck to you.

[hotmamacita]

hi raven

hello, i was at a birth a few weeks ago where my friend birthed a 9 1/2 pound baby.

my twins were 8 pounds 3 oz and 8 pounds 10 ounces

peace,

[halah]

Check out the I'm Pregnant forum--one of our October moms (Amywillo) just birthed a 11 lb 6 oz girl--at home!

[Sara29]

My dd was born unassisted at home.She was 9.6 pounds.I forget how long.I think 20.25 inches and the head was 13.5 around.
My ds was also born at home mwsb and was 9.8/21/14.
With both I stood next to the bed.Pushed standing,squatting,or on one knee(with dd).Pushing stage was 10-20 minutes.Oh and I am 5'6,PPW was 140,gained 60 each time(lost 40 after dd).And no I must admit I wasn't big on workout out.

Sara

[mum2lillie]

10 pounds with mw hb. No tears. It was a long pushing stage for me, but that had much more to do with emotional stuff than size. Two weeks after dd was born, my friend birthed an 11.6 baby at home with no problems and a short labor. Good luck.

[3 little birds]

Raven,
My son was almost 9 lbs and he came out with his hand and arm against his head, into the water. No tearing, just a scratch from his nails. I am 5'3 and petite.
Enjoy your homebirth!

[HomeBirthMommy]

My second dd was a hb baby. I am 5'3" and dd was 10 lbs and 22 1/2". Her head and chest were both 15 1/2 inches. I pushed her out in 30 minutes and did have some tearing along an old episiotomy line.
I used to think she was a big baby (and many people still do), but I've heard about so many bigger 11 and 12 pounders who were born at home, my 10 pounders just doesn't seem that "big" anymore, kwim?
Although, whenever someones skeptical about hb, I love to tell them how much she weighed and see this: