Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
Dec
11
Posted by My OB said WHAT?!?.
“It’s Not The Little Babies That Scare Us, It’s The Big Ones.”
“It’s not the little babies that scare us, it’s the big ones.” – OB to mother pregnant with her third, when mother stated that her first two weighed more than 8 pounds.
There are 26 comments to this post.
What’s to be scared of?
They don’t bite!
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Rachel had this to say,
Dec 11, 2011 @ 7:57 pm (Quote)
…is that ob implying that “over 8 lbs” is big? I mean it COULD be. 15lbs is “over 8lbs” but I’m guessing the op meant between 8 and 9lbs. If I ever am honored with a baby in that range, I will marvel at and be in awe of my TINY baby.
25 days ago I birthed via 2hbac an 11lb baby boy, 15 inch head (which was born unmolded) with a nuchal arm without tearing even the teensiest bit. Labor was 6 hours. I’m 5’2″ and 115lbs not pregnant. His birth was my smoothest of the 3, and he also was the one who did the best immediately after birth. Not the slightest bit of “gurgly”ness or wet sounding lungs, came out with excellent color and so alert! Asolutely perfect!
The sweet little boy sleeping on my chest isn’t scary at all!
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Bonita Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 8:02 pm (Quote)
Congrats! I am also the mama to big babies, 8lbs would be tiny compared to my giants. 
Unfortunately I’ve heard that some drs define Macrosomia as over 8lbs 10oz. :-/
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Kasondra Reply:
December 12th, 2011 at 7:14 am (Quote)
LOL What do they think about LONG babies? I don’t have heavy babies but mine were both fairly long. First was 7lb 15oz and 21in (38w) and my second was 7lb 8oz 22.25in…at 37w
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Laurel Reply:
December 12th, 2011 at 4:46 pm (Quote)
I just had my third baby, and macrosomia was defined as anything over 8lbs 13oz at that hospital. Any babies over that weight “had” to do the 24 hr blood sugar tests.
My midwife without skipping a beat, after the pediatrician told us this, said “oh, is it that LOW now?” winning.
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Amy Reply:
December 12th, 2011 at 7:20 am (Quote)
After my daughter was born, my OB (who had decided well before I even went into labor that my baby was huge, despite my measuring right on track) asked how much she weighed. When I told her 8 lbs, 2 oz, she said, “Oh, so she WAS pretty big, then,” in an I-told-you-so voice.
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adrienne Reply:
December 12th, 2011 at 9:35 am (Quote)
yep, me too. when I called up my midwife to announce my recent pregnancy, her exact words were “let’s have a 10-pounder this time.” by which she meant, let’s shave off a pound or so from the previous birth weight. this one was 10 lb 4 oz, down from 11 lb 6 oz last time.
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If a baby is too big, it means that it’s growing much faster than normal. This means that it’s one of those vampire babies. It will eat the mother and the doctor, too, if he/she doesn’t get away fast enough!
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When I delivered my 9 lb, 12 oz baby in the hospital (completely textbook vaginal birth), so many of the nurses came by to see me and say “Oh, you’re the mom that gave birth to the big baby” like I was some kind of curiosity (not in a mean or derisive way, just more of a “WOW” way). DS was big, but not huge by my standards (my dad was 11 lbs at birth!) but with all the planned c/s and inductions in my area (metro NYC area – too posh to push, I guess) I think seeing a baby that large in the nursery was a rarity for the nurses!
My doc, while a bit hesitant because my fundal measurement was term when I was 35 weeks (and it was an IVF baby, so conception date was 100% certain), said “let’s just see what happens.” Well, what happened was I went into labor on my own at 39.5 weeks and had my baby in my arms 13 hours later. I really liked what happened! LOL!
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Usually, what they’re afraid of is not the big babies, but the *shoulder dystocia* that erroneously gets associated with big babies. Shoulder dystocia is indeed scary, and it is normal and human for even the most experienced midwife or physician to feel at least an adrenaline rush when it arises during delivery. I’ve had two 10-pounders and thankfully dodged that bullet.
But according to the American Academy of Family Physicians, weight is not an adequate predictor of shoulder dystocia. http://www.aafp.org/afp/2004/0401/p1707.html
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Cari Reply:
December 12th, 2011 at 4:22 pm (Quote)
I agree that the nurse probably meant she’s afraid of shoulder dystocia. Still, the average full term newborn is 7lbs 8 oz and 8 lbs is not that far off. Hardly “big,” if you ask me.
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Rachel Reply:
December 13th, 2011 at 12:13 am (Quote)
I had shoulder dystocia with my 1st vbac baby. He was 10lbs 2oz. My midwife was able to handle it just fine at home. He needed some help getting started but no transfer needed and he was perfect and no nerve damage or anything. baby #3 was 11lbs and NO shoulder dystocia this time size aint everything!
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RAWR! Big baby’s gonna get you! RAWR!!!
sorry, couldn’t resist!
Seriously, I’m much, much more afraid of the small babies than the big ones. I’m afraid of the prematurity that often results in their size. I’m afraid of their little mouths trying to breastfeed if they were my babies (let’s just say I’m rather well-endowed). I’m afraid of holding them and wearing them because they’re just so tiny – let alone any medical procedures that need to be performed on them.
Of course, my smallest was a 7-pounder at 37 weeks. My body seems to be optimized to make 8.5-lb-ish babies, from what I can tell – which are not by any means big! We’ll see what happens with this fourth one in the spring. But even my 7-lb 37 weeker didn’t look that scrawny, because she was only 18.5″ long (as opposed to my 20.75″ and 21″ 8-8.5 lbers, born at 38.5 and 39.1)! When she came out, the nurse said she was “squat.” I retorted that she was PERFECT!
But I LOVE the big babies – their rolls, their seeming maturity, everything about them! Easier to birth and easier to parent IME.
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Yeah, my big giant babies would terrify you then! It was quite fun in the postpartum unit to have all of the nurses come in though. DS was a 10lb natural VBAC baby with no tearing. They had “never heard/seen such a thing!”. One nurse actually wanted to double check that there was no tearing, but she didn’t press the issue when I said no.
Because of my big healthy babies I’m actually terrified of “normal sized” babies. They look so fragile!
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Add Your Comment.
Fear has no place in this operation, Doc.
BTW, midwives love big babies. Big babies are easier to deliver, don’t give moms the same tears as little ones (assuming moms are allowed to push with their urges), are less prone to cord prolapses and in general are just easier deliveries.
But they’re not afraid of little ones either. If you’re afraid of delivering babies, you should be a podiatrist.
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Bonita Reply:
December 11th, 2011 at 7:36 pm Bonita(Quote)
My first midwife with baby number 2 didn’t love big babies, she lectured me alot about any sugar I ate (including the hamburger buns I ate with a hamburger) and admitted that when she saw that my friend brought me starbucks while I was in labor that she knew I was going to have a big baby (10lbs 4oz)
My 2nd midwife with baby number 3 doesn’t *love* big babies, she’s “ok” with them. She seemed to purse her lips quite a bit when she would palpate my belly and feel my big baby in here, but she never said a thing and told me that since I have delivered 2 big babies before she wasn’t worred.
y 10lb 6oz baby decided not to wait for her and was born 5 minutes before the midwife could get there. lol
Point is, I’ve had two midwives so far that weren’t thrilled with my big babies, but never really said anything to make me doubt my ability to deliver them.
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Jane Reply:
December 12th, 2011 at 4:41 am Jane(Quote)
I’m sorry for the generalization. The midwives I’ve spoken to and heard from have all loved big babies.
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