ADVICE PLEASE! OB trying to force sister to have ECS

[marquess78]

my sisters baby is suspected to be huge. u/s(unreliable at best) estimated nugget(baby knickname) to be 9'4. she has had two other births both vaginal. so she has a proven(i hate that term but i cant think of another one right now) pelvis. the docs will try to scare her into a c/s she doesnt need or want. i will be there during the consult so that she has a voice that is slightly objective. not really but i want to prevent an unneccesary surgery. any CPD/macrosomic mommies out there that had c/s for the same but delivered larger babies vaginally after the c/s? do you mind if i share your stories with my sis and her OB(want to go with ammo against having a c/s)?

thanks
shannon

[AnditheBee]

I don't have experience in this area, but 9 lbs 4 oz. isn't really "huge." There are recent threads here about vaginally birthing large babies--and some of those were really big kids! From what I've read, it's a good thing that this is her third child--her body will know what to do and the size probably won't be an issue at all. Just remind your sister that gravity will help--stay upright as much as possible! :thumb

[Raynbow]

Well, I'm not one of the mommies you mentioned, but I can testify for u/s being WRONG regarding size. My ob even told me that the u/s can be off by up to 2 lbs! They kept telling me my son was over 10lbs at 37 weeks... he was born at 40weeks weighing 8lbs 15.5ozs.

My grandmother gave birth vaginally to my 14lb uncle... :) (of course back in the day, she was drugged into oblivion, but it was still vaginal!)

[ancoda]

I am not sure if this is what you are asking for or not, but I was pressured into having a EC/S with my first son. Then had a successful VBAC with my second and delivered a 9lb 6.5oz baby boy.
Also my aunt has large babies none who have had to be C/S. She just gave birth on the 6th of January to an almost 11lb baby girl with only about 5 hours of labor. So big babies can be vaginally born without any real problems.
Given the chance your body will almost always birth any baby it grows.

[turtlewomyn]

Hey, you just posted this on the ICAN yahoo group too, right?

In October I had an "elective" c-section because my first baby was estimated to be 9lbs, 10oz at 40 weeks. She came out (via section) at 9lbs 8.5 oz at 41 weeks. My doctor told me that if I had already had a baby they would have let me go into labor because I would have already proven that I could have given birth. They refused to induce me because he said I would have just ended up with a c-section anyway (my body wasn't ready, not dilated at all).
I regret letting them do the c-section every day, but I wasn't armed with enough info, our families were yelling at us to do the c-section because they thought our baby was going to die, and I was stupid and listened to the Medwife and OB.

I am sorry but I don't have a story about VBAC'ing a larger baby YET! (Give me a few years and I will!) But I really encourage you to support your sister and avoid this. Every person I talked to about this (doula, friend who is a PA, etc) Said "WHAT!" when they heard that they wanted to do an ECS because my baby was too big. This is a new trend it seems like and it has to stop!

[marquess78]

thanks for the support. yes i do post on the ICAN group. its no longer a concern becasue last night at 9:11 pm noah xavier was born. he was exactly what they said he would weigh. 9lb 4.1oz and 21.5in long. strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. hes perfect and doing well. nursing has been a task because he is still trying to get rid of excess mucous in his tummy and has bee spitting up a ton. so my sis is upset. she is seeinng a lactation consultant for advice. the pediatrician told her not to feed him as much because he throws it up with the mucous. but that doesnt make sense. she was feeding every 3 hours but they had her take it to 4 hours. to me thats not enough. but maybe its just my opinion. thanks again

[infraread]

Peds are not experts when it comes to BF babies.
I'm no expert either, but I would think any nourishment he can absorb from the milk before he spits up is a good thing.
Maybe check out the BF board here on MDC... and definitely have your sis talk to a lactation consultant (the hospital may have one on staff?) or find a local LLL chapter. 4 hours is much too long for a newborn to wait between feedings.

[Cyneburh]

Peds often don't know squat about breastfeeding. My dd spit up a lot for quite a while. I always looked at it this way... Breastmilk is free and you have a virtually unlimited supply (within reason but your body will create to meet the demand) so it didn't matter if the baby is spitting up half of what they drink. If the baby is spitting up half of what they're nursing, the mom's body will start making 2x as much as the baby needs so that the baby can afford to spit up all that milk. And with breastmilk, you don't have to pay extra for the extra milk!

[turtlewomyn]

Congrats on the new nephew!

Pediatricians are a horrible source of breastfeeding advice. Mine told me not to feed more often than every two hours, and DD was eating all the time (because she was tongue tied and not getting milk effectively). Every four hours is way too long for a newborn to go without food!
Glad she is seeing an LC.

[saritabeth]

Congrats on your nephew.

The spitting up of mucus is normal. She should not be restricting the feedings. New babies ought not have a feeding schedule. It will ultimately be better for them both if she feeds him whenever he wants.

I don't get the issue with the spit up. My babe was spitting up brown stuff after my section but no one ever told me to restrict feedings....

Congrats again

[marquess78]

well, my sister is still having latch problems and her nipplesa re sore and bleeding, so noah is getting his yummies from a bottle and my sister is pumping with a medela pump in style. she still has at least a month of breastmilk from me for him, so she can save up whatever she gets and use mine first since i started pumping in november. he is spitting up the formula the hospital gave her and breastmilk stays down just fine, so she will at least pump for him. he is on demand feeding now. now all we worry about is his lovely jaundice. we've been taking him out in the sun whenever its out anyway.