I’m about 6’2" tall. Recently my mother had been teasing me about how I ought to marry a short woman. After wondering “Does she just want more normal sized grandchildren?” another question popped into my head. Namely, can having a large man father children by an unusually small (say, under five feet tall) woman result in pregnancy or childbirth complications from the baby being too large for its mother?
On a related note, would such a couple also be likely to experience sexual problems from the sizes of their anatomy being too different?
well, no matter the height/weight/body size, sex organs come in all different sizes that don’t necessarily match the outward size/appearance of the person. (most folks are aware of examples of this), so that probably doesn’t factor into what you’re talking about…
[QUOTE=MadScientistMatt]
I’m about 6’2" tall. Recently my mother had been teasing me about how I ought to marry a short woman. After wondering “Does she just want more normal sized grandchildren?” another question popped into my head. Namely, can having a large man father children by an unusually small (say, under five feet tall) woman result in pregnancy or childbirth complications from the baby being too large for its mother?
[QUOTE]
IANAD, but from what I recall, that can be a problem. Of course, parental height is only a single factor in fetal size.
No problems with it from my experience. My dad was 6’4", mom is 5’1". But it doesn’t always result in “normal-sized” kids. I am 6’2", and my sisters are all at least 5’8".
Good friend of mine is 6’6" and is seeing a woman of 5’0", and no problems there.
Well, my friend, all 6’3" of him has two kids with his 4’11" wife. His son who is 22 and the oldest took after the mother and squeezed out about 5’4" of height.
His 18 year old daughter is about 6’1" and plays volleyball.
So, ya might want to think about marrying a very short woman.
My Dad’s 6’2", my Mom’s 4’11", and I am 5’7" and take after Mom’s side of the family…ie short and stocky. No problems with the delivery as far as Mom says.
My cousin is 4’9" and her (now ex) husband is 6’2". She vaginally delivered 4 children with no major complications (except for very long labors, which I don’t think is something that is effected by the size of the baby). The first child was 11 pounds !!! :eek:
They’re all still kids, so I don’t have any data for you about their adult heights, but they are all average to above average in size (three boys, one girl).
If the baby is too big for the mother to deliver vaginally, she can have a c-section. You can’t have a million c-sections without there being complications, but I think 2 or 3 is pretty common.
Thanks for the responses, everyone. I guess that’s one less thing to worry about being tall; car roofs, clothes shopping and chandaliers can sometimes be enough. I’m not sure I would have even bothered asking the second question if it hadn’t been for one of Cecil’s columns on little known sexual injuries. Right now the question’s pretty much accademic as there aren’t any short available women in my life, but it may be useful for future reference.
My sister is 5’ 3", my brother is about 5’ 8" and I am 6’ 2".
Height is not dictated absolutely by genetics. I have heard explanations from people appeared to know that all one can inherit is an elastic potential or range for height; hence the observation that some Asian populations have grown taller on average in recent generations on account of changes in diet. Figuring what genetic traits you will pass on is generally a more complicated matter than merely looking at yourself anyway; a trait may be influenced by the interaction of more than one gene, and you may not guess what recessive traits you carry but do no personally manifest.
There seems to be relatively little relationship, if any, between a person’s height and the size of their baby at birth. Nor does there seem to be a reliable connection between a baby’s size at birth and his or her eventual height. One of my neices ranked at the 97th percentile for length when she was born. After a healthy childhood and adolescense, she eventually grew to a full height of 4’ 10".
As for sexual problems - there is a reason why the average-sized penis is 5"-7" long. It’s because the average distance from the labia to the cervix is about 6". Neither height nor girth of an individual affects that in any meaningful way (that I know of).
When I was in hospital in Japan, having my first kid, a tiny little woman came in the day after me for a scheduled cesarean two weeks before her due date.
She was about 150cm tall, and absolutely petite in all respects. She was about as wide as she was tall, and having trouble walking.
When the baby was delivered the next morning, she weighed 4444g (over 9lbs), and had the hugest round moon face I have ever seen. When proud Dad came in to visit Mum and babe we saw the reason - he was built like a brick you-know-what! Well over six feet tall and very muscular, and with a huge, moon face. Poor little girl took after her Dad!
Well geeze, Richard Kiel (“Jaws” from the Bond flicks), all 7’ 2" of him, has 4 kids (IMDB), I read somewhere that Andre The Giant had a daughter, and here’s an article about Akebono (over 500 pounds) and his wife. From the photo I’ll hazard a guess that she’s “unusually small” compared to her hubby. Yes she was pregnant by him.
I’ll look up the greatest height/weight differential in a married couple if anyone wants but as a number of folks have pointed out, size of the parents doesn’t predict size of the kids and generally speaking women can either deliver naturally or have a c-section if the kid is really huge.
For the record, my Dad is about 6’ 4", my Mom is maybe 5’ tops. My sister is a bit over 5’, I’m 5’ 10". Mom delivered us both naturally and I was a pretty decent-sized kid I’m told.
Re: “sexual compatibility” - dude, unles your penis is larger than the average baby, the woman’s vaginia should be able to accomodate it, regardless of your respective heights.
69’ing, however, may present some difficulties when there is a large size difference.
OK, looked it up last night. Unless something has changed dramatically since 1986 (my Guinness Book)…
Biggest weight difference: John Minnoch, who weighed between 1000-1400lbs, was married to a 110lb woman who bore him two children.
The biggest height difference was for a young couple in England (both about 23), he was 6’ 7" and she was 3’ 11" when they married. No word on kids but evidently plumbing incompatibility wasn’t an issue.
At least for massive weight differences I can see that BECOMING pregnant might present some challenges but it doesn’t look like the pregnancy and delivery are troublesome.
I’m not sure I would have even bothered asking the second question if it hadn’t been for one of Cecil’s columns on little known sexual injuries. Right now the question’s pretty much accademic as there aren’t any short available women in my life, but it may be useful for future reference.