I have a client who is 37 weeks and her mw just told her that she thinks the baby is already 8lbs (wtf?!?! If I had a nickel for every time a medical person suggests a baby is large, and then the baby comes out 7-8lbs, I'd be a rich woman) and that she doesn't want her to go a day past her due date.
I'm still rolling my eyes. Seriously! So what if the baby is 8lbs now? Then in 3 weeks he or she will be about 9lbs... big deal! It's not about the weight of the baby, it's about the freakin' size of the head/shoulders, which weight alone cannot predict -- not to mention the mw is just guessing based on LOOKING at my client. It's not even from a stupid u/s.
Yeah, I rage over this too. My first baby was 9 pounds 4 ounces, she was born at home after only 3 hours of labor. No problem. I'm TRYING (via proper nutrition) to grow this baby even bigger than my last one, just to see if I can beat my record
People think I'm crazy, but if wanting a big healthy baby makes me crazy, then I'm darn proud of it!
I just think it's odd. Since when did 8 and 9 lbs become HUGE? Seriously growing up all I ever heard about in my family were all the huge babies they have (and they weren't kidding, both my bro and me and my mom and uncle were 10+ lbs) and they were all vaginal. So that's the norm in my family. When I had Jake he was only 7 lbs 11 oz and they could not get over how tiny he was! lol. Then I go and tell other people and they all say, "wow! What a big baby! I can't believe you had him vaginally!" Well why on earth wouldn't I?
It just seems so completely odd to me. I know I already said that but I just can't stop shaking my head at it. It's just strange. I guess it's because they do so many inductions now that 5 and 6 lb babies are the new normal/average.
Oh and on a side note. My best friend, when she had her daughter, she weighed just at 8 lbs. She said as soon as she was delivered and weighed they nurses and doctors all exclaimed, "Finally a good fat healthy baby!"
My #2 was 10lbs 1 oz... it is so amazing the looks of horror when I say his weight people give me. He was WAY easier than my 7lb 14oz baby probably because she was induced and he wasn't. I'm trying for a 12 pounder this time!! LOL!
it makes me bang my head against the wall when people say things like 'good thing you had a cesarean' when i say dd#1 was 8 lbs 2 oz...41 weeks 6 days
and i was soooo hoping to grow a truely massive baby and vbac her so i could throw it in thier faces. i know, how noble of me
and alas my vbac baby was a mere 7 lbs 14 oz... 39 weeks 2 days
im considering her a natural induction though, i dont think she was quite done. i ended up carrying and nursing dd#1 for hours. she was having a cranky day. and then dp and i had sex... next thing i know im having contractions and my water broke... ooops...
next time ill know better, and ill have my 'big' baby...bwahahaha
It is so frustrating...dd comes from a long line of big babies...she was 8 13 and everyone is shocked how big she was. I was not. Big deal.
I get the c/s comment too, and it bugs me beacuse I wanted a homebirth and we needed a c/s for transverse lie. I get people telling me how big their babies are now at one month or so and they are like 7 lbs...yeah well mine was 8 13, and that's nothing really. Sheesh.
How big was your baby at birth?
Oh, 14 cm.
What?
Her head was 14 cm around <holding hands up> about like this.
No, I mean how much did she weigh?
Who cares? The head's the part that hurts.
(Is 14 cm a typical baby head size?
I have nooo idea, it just sounded a bit bigger than 10 cm)
How big was your baby at birth?
Oh, 14 cm.
What?
Her head was 14 cm around <holding hands up> about like this.
No, I mean how much did she weigh?
Who cares? The head's the part that hurts.
(Is 14 cm a typical baby head size?
I have nooo idea, it just sounded a bit bigger than 10 cm)
im going to have to use that one!
i dont know what the head average is but my vbac baby's head was 14.5 ...it didnt hurt anywhere near as much as i was expecting though...
When my clients start getting worried about having big babies I remind them that women usually don't grow a baby that is too big to birth vaginally. Bigger babies tend to be healthier too, they fit into their NB clothes better, overdue babies are fully developed and don't generally have immature lung issues, and chubby babies are just adorable!
Weight estimates are just that - estimates. My son was estimated to be 7 lbs 10 ozs when I was 32 weeks preg, they said he would be just under 10 lbs at birth. He was born at 39 weeks weighing 7 lbs 5 ozs, he never even weighed the 7 lbs 10 ozs that they "estimated" him at!!
There was a thread here a while back about birthing large babies naturally and some of the mamas here had babies 11 lbs and up! Born naturally! 9 lbs is a walk in the park
I made my mw guesstimate, just cuz I was curious, but she was very careful to tell me it was JUST a guess and that we could both be laughing at how far off she was once the baby was born. She guesstimated about 8 and a half pounds..which didnt scare me, my first baby was 8'15, so I figured I could go nine, nine and a half no problem whatsoever (this was just a couple weeks before I was due). Well, my ds2 had to be the only one of my three to go past 40weeks (I was terrified they were gonna try to induce me, my mw said if he wasnt born by 42wks, I had to go get a stress test and all that).
Point is, I had a 10'6 lbs 22inch baby vaginally with no pain meds at all and went home two hours later. People look at me like I just fell off the moon when they hear that.
My dd was just 7'5 and I couldnt get over how tiny she was!
Now, when I see a newborn I'll say, "Wow,it doesnt seem like ds was ever that small!" and Dh says, "Um, he WASNT!!"
Originally Posted by Anglyn
Now, when I see a newborn I'll say, "Wow,it doesnt seem like ds was ever that small!" and Dh says, "Um, he WASNT!!"
I can't get over how much bigger Luke is to his brothers were...he's only a week and a half old and I swear he makes me think of a one month old!! My mom told me that a lady from church had called her to ask her about how we were doing, then she whispered, "That was a REALLY big baby!" To me, though, he doesn't seem HUGE, especially when I hear of the moms who had even bigger babies....
DS was only 6'8, so I never got the "Good thing you had a C-section" comments, but, strange as it sounds, I'm actually hoping for a big baby next time just so I can thumb my nose at the doctors and say "Nya, nya, I had a big baby unassisted at home after having a C-section!"
I was guesstimated by my MW for dd to be around 7lbs...due to what she felt, my size, family history of babies, how much weight I lost first trimester, gained back towards the end.....She also thought I'd go about 5ish weeks early bc I started dilating and effacing so early but then just stuck around 4cm for weeks and ended up a week late...
DD was 8 pounds 15 ounces at birth.........the biggest baby on either side of the family by a good pound and a half (2 on my side).....I am still bewildered at how she got that big bc I lost so much weight and only gained back about 13lbs of it but she grew and grew and was healthy and that's all that mattered......She got stuck coming out, was facing the wrong way and turned a bit late and ended up with dystocia but is fine now.....MW was outstanding...
I love her to pieces but secretly envied all my friends with their "tiny" babies....All my friends who were 5"8 or taller had tiny babies and all of my friends who are shorter like me had big ones like me......LMAO....
The nurses didn't bat an eye....neither did my MW.....
Bigger babies ARE easier to birth... just wanted to point it out incase it wasn't obvious to everyone... when you're pushing there's typically a 2 steps forward, one step back pattern. The bigger the baby is, the less he/she slips back.
I know this dainty woman who was barely 5 feet tall. Both of her boys were born naturally and they were both over 11 pounds. After hearing that I was never worried about having a big baby. If she can do it with her tiny body, then my 5'7" 145 pound body can surly handle it!
I'm sooo worried this baby will be small (i.e., under 8 pounds). I was 8.4 when I was born, but dh was only 7 something, and so were both of his brothers. Like I said before, Juels was 9.4, but she has a different biological father. Also, dh is half asian, so I'm scared I'll have this puny asian baby, and I want a buddah!
Babies grow to the perfect size for their Mamas pelvis! I birthed my 10 lb 1 0z boy without a problem. Maybe you should print out some of our stories and give them to your client for encouragement. You can't guess a baby's weight by looking at the Mum anyway, we all carry differently! It saddens me this misinformation and instilling fear is happening, especially to 1st time Mums.
Originally Posted by doula and mom
"....not to mention the mw is just guessing based on LOOKING at my client. It's not even from a stupid u/s.
Gah! And by those reasons of deduction (snark) she would have me cut open because I AM SO BIG I'M OBVIOUSLY HAVING TWINS. There is a woman on my DDC board who is having triplets and I swear we're the same size.
I hope your friend isn't too worried. My last MW told me that women are always better at predicting the size of their babies than any OB, MW or u/s. In my case, she was right. The OB (that I left) said 8 lbs when I was 36 weeks, but I said 7.5 lbs, and she was 7lbs 7oz. And she was actually shorter than I expected (19 in vs 20 in).
Ya know, I always thought my 6lb 2oz and 7lb 7oz babies were SMALL. I mean, most of my friends have 8lb babies and one friend had a 9lb ?oz baby (horrific episiotomy turned 4th degree tear), a 10lb 9oz posterior baby (no tears!
) and then a 7lb 11oz baby (again, no tears) just fine.
It's sad that even many doctors and some midwives don't have faith in our bodies anymore.
I truly believe I could birth a big baby no problem, but since my mom's only 8lber was a 43 weeker and my MIL only had 6-7lb babies I don't really expect to grow a big'un.
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