# That's ... that's a big baby **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 14, 2009, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077 "2009-09-14T20:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/21 "2009-09-15T18:43:27Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > My mother is only 5’3" and very slender at the time. My Brother, her first child, was 10 pounds. She ahd very little trouble, but then this was the '60s so goodness only knows what drugs they pumped into her. Anyhoo, it was a normal delivery. My mom was the same size when she had my brother, who was 9 lbs and change. He was born in 1964. They completely knocked her out and TIED HER TO THE BED! Literally! She had cut her hand not long before she gave birth (with a kitchen knife - nothing too major) and they were worried she’d thrash around or something, so they tied her arm to the bed rail. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/22 "2009-09-15T18:57:14Z")
> [@lee](#): > > baby insisted on being butt down at the end probably because the cord was wrapped around his neck three times :eek: But he ended up OK? ---
**Author:** ![lunar\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lunar\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lunar_elf)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/23 "2009-09-15T19:59:17Z")
At 38 weeks my OB rushed me off for an u/s because I was measuring several weeks behind in an otherwise normal pregnancy. (Mind you I was 2 weeks ‘off’ everytime they measured me). He was concerned about the size. I go, everything is fine on the u/s and the reason I was measuring behind was our daughter situated herself so low in my back. She was born a few days later at a healthy 7lbs. Good luck delivering a healthy baby 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/24 "2009-09-15T20:03:46Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > :eek: But he ended up OK? Having the cord wrapped around the neck is not as bad as you might think. Remember that until the baby is fully delivered, it’s still getting its oxygen via the cord/placenta. I believe that usually the practitioner will just “de-loop” the cord quickly after the baby is born, and it’s usually not a problem. I measured 4 weeks ahead for my entire pregnancy with Whatsit Jr. Third-trimester ultrasounds predicted that he would weigh 9-10 lb. He weighed 8 lb even. Also, it’s really not total weight of baby you want to worry about. It’s _head circumference_. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/25 "2009-09-15T20:10:44Z")
My aunt, Dad’s sister, is not exactly what you’d call a petite woman. I learned recently she was 14 lbs. at birth. This was near 70 years ago so a ‘natural’ childbirth. My grandma, no question about her toughness. ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/26 "2009-09-15T20:20:00Z")
If it makes you feel any better, the baby’s head is the only difficult part. The weight of the child is in the body, which molds and slips out easily. So, whether 6 lbs or 10 lbs after the head, it’s pretty easy. BTW, big babies can be the result of [gestational diabetes](http://www.diabetes.org/gestational-diabetes.jsp). If your healthcare provider has mentioned it, the estimate may be close. The baby might need to be watched in the hospital for a day or so for low blood sugar. It doesn’t have any long-term effects on the child, as long as it’s dealt with right away. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/27 "2009-09-15T20:35:13Z")
My wife’s surro-baby was a bit over 10 pounds. [The kid knew how to fill out a basinette](http://www.sirblah.com/photo/view.php?dispsize=1024&album=Surrogacy/Welcome+Maya+Lynn&pic=wml01.JPG&start=0&picindex=0&mode=). ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/28 "2009-09-15T20:37:06Z")
A couple of years back a coworker of mine brought in his 2 month old daughter. Pretty much all I could think of to say was “Wow! She’s huge!”. I’ve learned my lesson since then 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/29 "2009-09-15T21:01:26Z")
If it makes you feel any better, I once met a girl who was just over 5’ and no more than 100 lbs soaking wet… she opted for natural childbirth when she had her son, who ended up weighing just under 12lbs. Talk about a whopper. Of course, she also swore up and down that kid would be an only child, because there was no way in hell she’d ever do that again. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/30 "2009-09-15T21:58:55Z")
Ultrasound are, at best, estimates. Guessing, at worst. I had high blood pressure at the end of my pregnancy, and was closely monitored since I was 35 weeks. By then I had been diagnosed with suspected macrosomia (tests did not reveal gestational diabetes), and my husband had been born at 10 lbs to his mom who smoked throughout his pregnancy. So I went for emergency c-section at 38 weeks expecting to meet my 9 lb. kid, like the doctor told me. She was 11.75 lbs. :eek: I wonder how much bigger she would have got if could have carried her to term. She was born perfectly normal, and came out squirming and screaming bloody hell. My blood pressure came down right away and I was home less than 24 hrs. after surgery. She was not only heavy, she was very long, nobody believed she was a newborn, and all the newborn clothes that had been bought had to be given away. We had nothing that would fit her when she was born, so they cut off some of her onesies, Hulk-style, while a friend brought some clothes as a gift. So, whichever way your baby goes, she/he’ll probably be OK. Big babies are not so rare anymore, it seems to run in families, and it doesn’t necessarily mean there is something wrong with you or the baby. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/31 "2009-09-15T22:17:49Z")
> [@Hal\_Briston](#): > > My wife’s surro-baby was a bit over 10 pounds. [The kid knew how to fill out a basinette](http://www.sirblah.com/photo/view.php?dispsize=1024&album=Surrogacy/Welcome+Maya+Lynn&pic=wml01.JPG&start=0&picindex=0&mode=). Wow, she looks so much like my daughter, and she seems the same size as mine too. Is she also doing fine? (my daughter is healthy as an ox, and quite smart, if I may say so). ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/32 "2009-09-15T23:47:54Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Having the cord wrapped around the neck is not as bad as you might think. Remember that until the baby is fully delivered, it’s still getting its oxygen via the cord/placenta. I believe that usually the practitioner will just “de-loop” the cord quickly after the baby is born, and it’s usually not a problem. Thank you for mentioning this. The whole “cord around the neck” hysteria in our culture is one of my biggest pet peeves. TV and movies use it as shorthand for a life-threatening emergency, and OBs even use it as justification for intervention, when it is _almost always no problem._ I swear, it is at the level of urban legend. As for big babies, in addition to ultrasounds being so inaccurate, from my experience and reading, it seems the weight of the baby is not nearly as influential as positioning in making labor hard. Both my children were posterior, compound deliveries, and it made it a stone bitch to push them out. Chloe only had one hand up by her cheek, but Claire had both arms crossed right in front of her neck, and it sucked bigtime. So rather than freaking out over big baby ultrasounds, mothers should be investing their energy in exercise and forward-tilting postures to encourage the baby to swing anterior. (Yeah, I lounged in comfy chairs late in my pregnancies, and I paid for it.) ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/33 "2009-09-16T06:36:14Z")
My elder son was 4.7 kilos, or about 10 pounds, 6 ounces at birth. Nobody had any clue he was going to be that big - I’d had an ultrasound to rule out placenta previa just a month before and the technician didn’t think he looked unusually large then. The birth was normal and easy with no epidural. His little brother was four kilos on the nose and I thought he looked teeny tiny. The nurses thought I was a little weird for that 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/34 "2009-09-16T08:40:35Z")
I always think reconsidering “no epidural” decisions are good. In fact my advice, if during your labor they suggest Pitocin, counter with epidural. They took an ultrasound of my son (who was breech) while I was in labor and guessed he weighed 5½-6 pounds. He weighed 7½ pounds. They can only see the baby, can’t really weigh it. And just FWIW, I had 4 babies, and the easiest delivery was the largest baby. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![MerryMagdalen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@MerryMagdalen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MerryMagdalen)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/35 "2009-09-16T08:44:31Z")
Heh. One of my coworkers is 4’9", 80 lbs and in the sticking-out stage of pregnancy. She’s dealing with it really well and hoping to have a vaginal birth but…I have no idea how she’s going to do it. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/36 "2009-09-16T10:46:01Z")
> [@Arglefraster](#): > > I’m 37 weeks pregnant. After reviewing my recent ultrasound images, and measuring and poking my great big belly, my doctor says the baby is currently about 8 pounds. > > He said this means if I go all the way to 40 weeks, the baby could be over 10 pounds. :eek: > > I am now reconsidering my “no epidural” decision. That’s pretty much word-for-word what my doctor told me at 38 weeks. He said she was at least 8lb and would gain roughly half a pound a week until she was born, making a 10 pounder a definite possibility. She was born at 40 weeks 6 days weighing 7lb 4oz. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/37 "2009-09-16T13:28:32Z")
For God’s sake. GET THE EPIDURAL. There is no honor in experiencing pain and no shame in doing something to help relieve it. ---
**Author:** ![C3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/c3/32/3108_2.png) [@C3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C3)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/38 "2009-09-16T13:56:46Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] For God’s sake. GET THE EPIDURAL. There is no honor in experiencing pain and no shame in doing something to help relieve it. [/QUOTE] There are risks and side effects involved with epidurals. Women don’t generally choose natural childbirth because of emotion, but because they’ve weighed the risks and decided epidurals and other interventions don’t work for them. I’m hoping you didn’t mean it this way, but it’s a bit insulting to think women are making the decision to forgo the epidural because they’re worried about their honor or they think it’s shameful, rather than that they’re making a rational decision based on the facts they’ve gathered. (I had an epidural with my first and had planned to with my second, but the anesthesiologist didn’t get to me in time.) ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/39 "2009-09-16T13:56:59Z")
> [@Mighty\_Girl](#): > > Wow, she looks so much like my daughter, and she seems the same size as mine too. > > Is she also doing fine? (my daughter is healthy as an ox, and quite smart, if I may say so). Yup – we went to visit a few weeks ago, and she’s doing just fine. Bright, happy, healthy kid…can’t ask for much more than that. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077/40 "2009-09-16T14:00:37Z")
> [@C3](#): > > There are risks and side effects involved with epidurals. Women don’t generally choose natural childbirth because of emotion, but because they’ve weighed the risks and decided epidurals and other interventions don’t work for them. I’m hoping you didn’t mean it this way, but it’s a bit insulting to think women are making the decision to forgo the epidural because they’re worried about their honor or they think it’s shameful, rather than that they’re making a rational decision based on the facts they’ve gathered. > > (I had an epidural with my first and had planned to with my second, but the anesthesiologist didn’t get to me in time.) QFT. I had a C-section with my first, an epidural vaginal birth with my second, and a no-painkiller birth with my third. (I had tentatively thought I would try for a non-epidural birth with the 3rd, but then the choice was made for me when I failed to realize I was in active labor until the baby was practically crowning, and arrived at the hospital 35 minutes prior to delivery.) All were fantastic experiences; however, I had the quickest recovery time and (obviously) no anesthesia side effects, with the third. Very nice, when you’re taking care of a newborn. Nothing against the epidural, of course. I was very appreciative when I got it with my first two labors. But that third birth was better without. IMVHO, of course. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thats-thats-a-big-baby/510077.md?page=3)