Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Sep
21
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“Your Baby Is Almost 9 Lbs, We Have To Induce Already.”
“Your baby is almost 9 lbs, we have to induce already.” – OB to mother at 38 week appointment.
There are 38 comments to this post.
No. No we don’t.
Since I’m not in labor, he must not be done yet.
Duh.
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Kristin Reply:
September 21st, 2011 at 7:45 pm (Quote)
Oh yeah. They guessed my son would be “no more than 8lbs.”
That “8lbs” turned into 9.5lbs three days later when he was born.
Nice guess there, Nostradamus.
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Julie Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:13 am (Quote)
This just happened to a friend, only the opposite. They estimate, a little over a week ago, that her baby was already over 8 lbs. So of course she was a freaked out first time mom.
Based on this, they convinced her to induce at just over 40 weeks. And, of course, after the baby arrived via c-section (I was not surprised), he was 8 lbs. even. Glad it turned out ok, but I was definitely shaking my head at the medical “professionals” there.
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Julie Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:15 am (Quote)
by “turned out ok,” I mean that mom and baby were ultimately healthy. If it were me, this outcome would not have been “ok,” but that’s me. She seems happy with how it went.
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Kristin Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 3:23 am (Quote)
Yeah, I heard a nurse in passing say that if they had known he was going to be THAT big, they would have sectioned me.
My reply? I wouldn’t have LET you!!!
[insert nurse eyeroll]
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Renai Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:48 am (Quote)
Same here. My hbac turned hospital vbac, and what a surprise – 8lb 10oz (I’m 4’11″ with no record of 8 lb babies on either side of the family). I know if they had done a “sizing ultrasound” they would have tried to section me. I wouldn’t have let them. Funny enough, just yesterday while leaving the ER (for dh, he’s ok), while checking out me and the check out woman were talking. I told the lady of my vbac (baby is 8 mo old now), and she was surprised, and said the baby was too big for me. I told her, obviously not since I pushed her out! duh!
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jess Reply:
September 23rd, 2011 at 4:01 pm (Quote)
I’ll never understand those comments (I’ve it several times.) Why in the hell, after a woman just successfully pushed a baby out of her vagina, say that if you’d have known the baby was going to be that big you’d have sectioned her?! That’s one the STUPIDEST things I’ve ever heard. It’s unethical! C-sections are supposed to reserved for medical necessity. Ad OBVIOUSLY, if the baby came out without one, it wasn’t necessary. So why would you walk around talking about how you’d have done it anyway? If a doctor ever admits to that, he ought to lose his license. I’m not kidding.
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When compared to the size of the national debt, seven pounds is “almost” nine pounds! We should induce everyone.
The unspoken antecedent of this sentence is “because you can’t push out a big baby” which makes two unproven theories in the same sentence.
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But the March of Dimes has a no inductions or scheduled c-sections before 39 weeks campain because so many premature babies end up in NICU because of alarmists like this one. Read my lips doc. I’m going to 42 weeks. If you had a problem with MY policies for my body and my baby you should have spoken up during the interview process.
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Jena Lohrbach had this to say,
Sep 21, 2011 @ 3:24 pm (Quote)
I’m reading Ina May Gaskin’s Birth matters and am just on the section about the importance of not giving over tried and true manual techniques (like feeling the mom’s abdomen) completely to technology like ultrasound. I’m disturbed that some places apparently don’t even teach feeling the abdomen (Leopold’s Maneuver) anymore. That’s the first thing my GP did when I told her I was pregnant.
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Lisa Reply:
September 21st, 2011 at 8:23 pm (Quote)
When I switched from my OB to the MW, I was surprised that she felt the abdomen to feel the baby. My OB had never done that. My OB never touched me at all (even the initial exam was with the NP), just came in after all the vitals were taken and asked if I had any questions. With feeling the abdomen, my MW says she’s always within a pound when predicting weight. She predicted close to 8lbs, my son was 7lbs 8oz.
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SculptorAlison Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 1:07 pm (Quote)
It really makes you wonder what a lot of these OBs spend their time doing because it seems to me that it’s all about not listening to women’s questions and bullying them into doing things their way. It must be nice to get such a large paycheck for spending 5 rushed minutes with each patient and getting to play the hero a whole bunch of times. Geesh.
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Billie Jo Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:45 pm (Quote)
I don’t trust palpatation much either. My oldest daughter the CNM did the normal palpatation (had happened at every appointment) and then again while I was in labor.
“Oh your baby is around 7lbs”
She was born and they weighed her 4 or 5 times thinking the scale was broken. She was 9lbs 4oz
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Jessica had this to say,
Sep 21, 2011 @ 3:35 pm (Quote)
Nine pounds does not mean “ready.” And it doesn’t mean mom can’t birth her baby. Even feeling the abdomen can be inaccurate; three days before my youngest was born my midwife said he was about seven pounds. He was born spontaneously, twelve days early, weighing nine pounds, eight ounces.
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My friend’s 9-pound daughter ended up in the NICU with breathing problems after a scheduled 38-week C-section. “Big” does not equal “ready”.
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Mama Wrench Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 2:39 pm (Quote)
Almost the exact same thing happened to my friend’s baby — 9lb, 38-week scheduled c-section, baby was in the NICU for almost a week because his lungs were underdeveloped. Her whole pregnancy was managed so irresponsibly.
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first time mommy had this to say,
Sep 21, 2011 @ 5:33 pm (Quote)
My aunt pushed out a 12 lb baby boy 13 years ago. I hate the c-section card. I’m waiting some OB to comment “vaginas weren’t meant for giving birth”.
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Sarah Reply:
September 21st, 2011 at 6:19 pm (Quote)
I can hear it now, “Your vagina is for your husband, why would you screw it up by letting a baby stretch it out so he can’t enjoy it anymore?” Followed, reluctantly, by “Well, if you insist, then I’ll just have to give you an episiotomy and a husband stitch to make it like new again.”
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Ashley Bean Reply:
September 21st, 2011 at 8:36 pm (Quote)
My friend’s OB told her that in basically the same words, so she had a c section at 38 weeks =[ She had complications, but if you ask her “it was all worth it so she didn’t ruin her vagina”. When I told her my husband actually prefers my after baby vagina, she said he was lying to me. The trust women put in every word their OB spits out is just beyond me
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Renai Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:52 am (Quote)
My husband prefers post-baby vag too. But, what do husbands know over OBs, right?
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ashley bean Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 9:58 am (Quote)
Oh trust me, my hubby would LOVE a few minutes alone with the OB who delivered our son. He definitely had the “I’m the OB, I know best” attitude and my husband didn’t appreciate it. thankfully I won’t be delivering with them again
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My 9 lb, 12 oz’er came on his own terms at 39.5 weeks. Just sayin’…
FWIW, 38 wk growth u/s put him at 8 lb, 15 oz. Riiiggghtttt… 
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ashley bean Reply:
September 22nd, 2011 at 10:04 am (Quote)
Wow, I can’t believe he gained that much in a week!! Someone was eating their wheaties. lol. Oh wait, I know what happened, your son found the wt my son “lost” between his 38 week u/s and his birth. Yea that’s it 
It wouldn’t suprise me what some OBs would think.
Suppossedly my son was over 8 lbs on his 38 week u/s (which is a u/s I’m refusing for this one), but funny that when he was born 2 weeks later, he was 7lbs 4oz. My midwife wasn’t worried when he showed so “large” on the u/s because she recognised that it could be very off and she kept thinking that I was going to deliver anyday because of how dilated I was. When I delivered him and made a comment about the u/s being wrong, one of the labor and delivery nurses said it was because I didn’t eat enough to sustain his wt >.< I didn't even try to argue with that one
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When I had reached my EDD with my daughter, my (pretty awesome) OB said at the ultrasound, “This baby looks to be around 10 lbs. But I don’t induce big babies, that leads to C-sections. She’ll come when she’s ready.” And I was happy to wait. He was pretty right-on though. She was 9lbs 5oz. and born vaginally 10 days past my EDD – perfect. Some docs need to get with the times and read up on the new info instead of relying on crap information. Believe it or not, my OB was an oldie and has since retired from delivering babies. FWIW.
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Heidi had this to say,
Sep 22, 2011 @ 10:45 pm (Quote)
I had a U/S to check position at 38 + 2. After saying the baby was head down, the tech said the estimated weight was 8 lbs, 7 oz. She ALSO said U/S is not very accurate for weight at that age and that the range was “plus or minus 19 ounces, so you’re looking at a 7-9 lb baby.” And he was born 5 days later–10 lbs, 2 oz! (a mere 27 oz more than the U/S guessed).
Btw, I am SO glad they are not more accurate. 7-9 sounded fine to me, because my daughter had been 8 lb, 11 oz. If I had known I was trying to deliver a 10 pound asynclitic baby vaginally with no drugs, I would have “quit” and demanded a section. My 1st and 3rd births, I totally believed in myself, but that asynclitic position threw me for a loop. When he finally got out of that position, he was out in 30 minutes, though.
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I’d love to know if this was due to the almighty ultrasound machine, or if the OB has the Powers of Prediction…
Oh, and by the way doc, my SIL’s 5’2″ mom pushed her out naturally…and she was half an ounce shy of 11 pounds.
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