big babies...

HappyNurse2005, RN · Jul 24, 2010

I had my DS at 10lbs 4 oz over an intact. Maybe I shouldn't tell people that, lol. No GD for me, either. Just big babies.......smallest was 8lbs 10oz. The largest I've seen personally was 13lbs 1oz, mom did have GD with that one. The sickest baby I've ever seen was a 10lbs 36 weeker. We shipped him to a bigger hospital and I often wonder if he made it. He was a sick kid.

criss ---

I had a 10lbs 7oz son over an intact perineum :) which leads toa funny story. an ob came out of a delivery and said "that was a big baby" so we asked how big. she said "3800g" i said thats small, mine was 4731g. and my friend said "with an intact perineum" to which the ob said, while cupping her hands around her mouth "hellloooooo, hellloooooo in there"

nitenite · Jan 23, 2011

My fourth baby was 10 pounds 7 ounces, born lady partslly with an intact perineum. I'm only 5'1.
I did have a shoulder dystocia, and my baby had a fractured clavicle from it. (no treatment required, healed perfectly) though, could this have been from delivering flat on my back? passed GD test (BS=121) at 28 weeks, was 41.2 weeks pregnant at delivery. was i undiagnosed DM? maybe. Baby's BS was normal after delivery. (3 previous babies were all 41 weeks, and all 8-8.75lbs)
people freak out about large babies. short people can have large babies, lady partslly. big babies can come out lady partslly, and they wont rip you into a million pieces. they can, and are, born safely lady partslly. The only reason i've love to have a smaller baby next time is so my labor is faster! it was so long with my macrosomic baby. several hours at 9.5cm (3-4hrs)
THe largest I saw lady partslly was 10#11oz-a woman's 11th baby, born with passive second stage (non instrumental delivery).

The lithotomy position is the WORST position for birthing. Somebody said "that's why God invented C-sections" in regards to big babies and I'm angry about seeing that. A woman's body is made to birth, but people get in the way by making her stay on her back in bed. A huge baby can be born lady partslly if the mother is allowed change position and work with her body, and barring a bad presentation or an abruption any woman can deliver a baby lady partslly if nature is allowed to happen with minimal interruption.

If I have kids, I'm avoiding hospitals like the plague! :uhoh3:

klone, MSN, RN · Jan 23, 2011

A woman's body is made to birth, but people get in the way by making her stay on her back in bed.

I have to take issue with this statement. I totally agree with you that lying flat on one's back during labor and second stage can really cause problems (but most times, IME, it's not "making her stay on her back" but rather, woman in lithotomy due to decision to have epidural).

However, the "a woman's body is made to birth" doesn't take into account the fact that women, in general, are a whole lot bigger than they were in days of yore. Obesity is at epidemic proportions, and obesity can cause fat dystocia as well as macrosomic babies.

Not to mention the evolutionary aspect of childbirth - since C/S came along, we're no longer naturally selecting for women with "childbearing" pelvises. That will have an effect, over time, on the idea that "a woman's body is made to birth."

Our interventions have interfered with that notion, and IMO, it no longer absolutely holds true.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Feb 7, 2011

We just had a 14lber...mom pushed that kid out, he came to the NICU and she came over an hour later like nothing happened. She is a goddess in my eyes lol She said all her babies (she has 4 others) were all 10lb and 11lbs. Her hubby is a big linebacker kind of guy lol