Other than smoking...

[Aubrey]

do you know any good ways to reduce the birth weight of your baby?

 

I'm seriously considering just bypassing all the natural stuff & seeing if I can be induced. ;)

 

My 1st 2 were 8.8lbs, next 2 9.8lbs. Mw says diet & exercise, & while I don't discount those, my healthiest most active pg was w/ one of the 9lbers. Dh's family is huge, & I tend to think it's genetics.

 

Current baby is already measuring in the 97th percentile (nearly 2lb at 23 weeks). :svengo:

[Truscifi]

No, but I sympathize. I, like most of my family, am small. DH, like most of his family, is quite tall and broad shouldered. While I was pregnant with ds he was fond of saying "great danes don't have chihuahuas". :glare:

 

Good luck. :grouphug:

[Aubrey]

No, but I sympathize. I, like most of my family, am small. DH, like most of his family, is quite tall and broad shouldered. While I was pregnant with ds he was fond of saying "great danes don't have chihuahuas". :glare:

 

Good luck. :grouphug:

 

I'm 5'3"...the babies in my family are never more than 7 or so lbs. Dh is about 6', but he's the smallest guy in his family (asthma). The rest are HUGE, on both his mom & dad's sides. Even mil is nearly 6'.

 

BUT at her size, mil still only had 8lb babies. Not. fair. :lol:

[Random]

I was in the same boat! My biggest was 10 lbs 3 oz. :tongue_smilie: I actually had a doctor high-five me, when he read in my chart I'd had a 10-3 lb baby at home.

 

My midwife told me to cut out milk (I had reflux and was drinking a lot of milk.) to stop the plumping of baby.

 

I remember a study that seemed to support maternal exercise and healthy diet increasing baby weight.

 

The only things I know about are things you wouldn't want to do...drug use, malnutrition, smoking, etc.

 

Maybe you could start training for a marathon right around week 37?

 

Good luck!

[FaithManor]

Commiserating here! My largest baby, 9.5 lbs, came with a pregnancy weight gain of only 26 lbs. and I was retaining a LOT of water too. My babes were big boned and to look at all my kids now, know one would ever know it. Ridiculous! The ds that weighed 9.5 lbs came on his due date without induction in three hours of labor (only one hour of hard labor and only minimal, non-regular contractions prior to the three hours of actual labor I count) and was 23" long!! Seriously, he was supposed to be so pudgy because of his weight and yet, there he was, kind of skinny looking because of his lanky body.

 

I don't have any answers. I had morning sickness for the first 4 months and vomitted a lot. Acide reflux for the last five months. I'd say at least six lbs. of my weight gain was water and I wasn't gestationally diabetic or at least the test came back negative. I sometimes wonder about the veracity of the one hour test because the labor nurse kept insisting I just had to be gestationally diabetic because of his size and yet my bloodwork said NO.

 

I wish I had good advice. I don't. It happened to me and there wasn't a good explanation for it.

 

Faith

[clarkacademy]

I am 4ft 11" I weighed 90 lbs when I got pregnant with number 3. I weighed 198 when he was born and he weighed 10 lbs 8 oz and was 24 in long. There was no medical reason for his size an ultrasound taken during labor due to pain in my side said he was almost 8 libs :001_huh: Getting out a big baby is no FUN

[Veritaserum]

It's the bone/frame size and not the fat/weight that really makes a difference. Fat squishes. ;)

 

My lowest birthweight baby had the biggest head and shoulders out of all the others. Her chest measured the same as her head and her head was bigger than anyone else's. I think she was also the longest. She is built like dh (6'5, broad), but she still fit through my pelvis just fine once she turned into a better position.

 

So, I don't think there's anything to be done about it. Doing something to prevent proper growth would be dangerous. Genetics are what they are. :)

[twoforjoy]

Mw says diet & exercise

 

My midwife told me to cut out milk (I had reflux and was drinking a lot of milk.) to stop the plumping of baby.

 

 

To *lower* the birth weight of your baby? Unless you are diabetic, in which case watching your diet will affect birth weight significantly, I just don't think that's true and I'd really question that advice. AFAIK eating too much during a pregnancy might make you gain too much weight, but not your baby (again, unless there's an issues with GD). And I've never heard of exercise being linked to low birth weights unless the mother was malnourished.

 

My DS was 9 lbs. 3 oz. and my DD was 8 lbs. 3 oz. She looked teeny tiny to us. My DH is 6'5" and was 10-1/2 lbs. at birth, and my dad is 6'4" and was 10 lbs. when he was born, so I feel like I've gotten off pretty easy with the sizes my kids have been.

 

FWIW, I'm not sure there's any link between pregnancy weight gain and baby size, either. I've known women who've gained tons of weight during a pregnancy and have had very small babies. I gained 12 lbs. total with DD, and she was on the larger side. A friend of mine who has terrible HG throughout her entire pregnancies and doesn't gain much at all has big, chubby babies.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I agree with Laura that trying to slow down the growth of the baby is very dangerous.

 

My biggest baby was almost 12 pounds and born at home. The middle two were each 10 pounds, and the youngest was 8.5 pounds (he was born early).

 

They weren't fat babies and I wasn't diabetic. With baby #2, I did everything I could to try to prevent another almost-12 pound baby and still be healthy. I walked miles every day and followed a sugar-free, high-protein, entirely vegan diet. He was still 10 pounds!

 

We are just freakishly big and tall people, and my husband's family is tall, as well. My just-turned-13yo son is now 6 feet tall.

[Truscifi]

It's the bone/frame size and not the fat/weight that really makes a difference. Fat squishes. ;)

 

My lowest birthweight baby had the biggest head and shoulders out of all the others. Her chest measured the same as her head and her head was bigger than anyone else's. I think she was also the longest. She is built like dh (6'5, broad), but she still fit through my pelvis just fine once she turned into a better position.

 

So, I don't think there's anything to be done about it. Doing something to prevent proper growth would be dangerous. Genetics are what they are. :)

 

:iagree: Sadly, ds has always been long and skinny but broad-shouldered. And with big feet. The labor nurses all came in after he was born and talked about how big his feet were, because his footprints touched the top and bottom lines of the box on the form. I remember thinking "His feet were the least of the problem!"

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

.

Edited July 8, 2011 by Dulcimeramy

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

:iagree: Sadly, ds has always been long and skinny but broad-shouldered. And with big feet. The labor nurses all came in after he was born and talked about how big his feet were, because his footprints touched the top and bottom lines of the box on the form. I remember thinking "His feet were the least of the problem!"

 

:lol:

 

My firstborn had tremendous hands. We used to marvel at them! He turned out to be a musician.

[emeraldjoy]

Having just given birth.....all I can say is :grouphug: :grouphug: and :grouphug:.

[Veritaserum]

My big frame baby had/has large hands and feet! She was like one of those puppies you see with huge paws and you know it's going to be giant.

[MelanieM]

It's the bone/frame size and not the fat/weight that really makes a difference. Fat squishes. ;)

 

 

I remember our childbirth educator telling us this when I was pregnant with our first. She also made a great point about how much easier it can be to care for a heavier baby and honestly, after seeing some wee tiny ones, they seem so itty bitty and fragile to me! I think the chubby ones lead to a much less stressful newborn period (for me).

 

I am just barely 5'2" and my babies have been 8lb12oz, 9lb15oz and 9lb11oz. Both of the boys (the heavier babies) were born at home. In all of my pregnancies I gained 50-55lbs, with no real change to my non-pregnant eating habits and no medical issues. This one is on the same track, it seems... I'm almost 36 wks and have gained about 45 lbs so far. We do have a history of big babies in my family, on my mother and father's side.

[Imprimis]

I exercised throughout all three of my pregnancies----walking, pregnancy videos, golfing (with my first).

 

I drank coffee, as it helped with my pregnancy-induced headaches. (My ob gave this the ok, even though some claim it can contribute to low birth weight).

 

I ate healthily (sure, there was the occasional indulgence such as a Dunkin' Donuts' chocolate cream-filled donut, or a Taco Bell chalupa ;)).

 

All that to say, my babies were 8lbs 9oz, 10lbs 15oz, and 9lbs 1oz. They were all extremely healthy at birth, which, of course, was the goal.

 

And, I'm almost 5'3"....

[justamouse]

Man, you are basting a turkey!

[HappyCrazyMama]

Would you feel better if I told you birth weights don't always go up.:)

Here's mine-

7lb 13oz

10lb 7oz and first vaginal birth :eek::svengo:(besides pushing forever it wasn't that bad really, of course I was delirious by then :lol:) No tearing, I'm 5'4.

8lb 13oz

9lb

8lb 7oz

and

8lb

So you never know I guess and I didn't do anything to to try to have smaller babies and gained about 50lbs every time. Good luck.:D

[Impish]

No, but I sympathize. I, like most of my family, am small. DH, like most of his family, is quite tall and broad shouldered. While I was pregnant with ds he was fond of saying "great danes don't have chihuahuas". :glare:

 

Good luck. :grouphug:

Smack him. :lol:

 

As far as birth weights increasing, I have to agree. My first was 9.6 lbs. Diva was 9.1. Tazzie 7.15, Princess 7.5.

[bluemongoose]

My MW says it is not about how big you are or how big the baby is. It is about how big your pelvic opening is. My mother delivered a nearly 10lb baby and a couple of 8lbers just fine. Unfortunatly, I didnt get her good birth canal genes:lol: My babies have all been under 8lbs, and this is a very good thing for me! They all had very coned heads from trying to squish through my tiny pelvic opening. They all have been born with tiny heads too, so it was not the case of the gargantuan head.

 

If you have already delivered large babies without much trouble, it will probably be just fine.

[CAMom]

Well, my smallest baby was 9lbs. 8oz. and my biggest baby was 11lbs. 4oz. so, obviously, I don't know the answer.;)

[MelanieM]

Another thing... Using ultrasound to determine baby's weight is largely guess work. Just ask all the mothers that are induced for "big" babies only to find themselves with very average 7lbers.

[FaithManor]

No, but I sympathize. I, like most of my family, am small. DH, like most of his family, is quite tall and broad shouldered. While I was pregnant with ds he was fond of saying "great danes don't have chihuahuas". :glare:

 

Good luck. :grouphug:

 

Ageeing with Imp! This is grounds for justifiable violence.

 

Faith

[Geo]

All I can recommend is low-glycemic foods. If you are eating wisely but still have a big baby...it's just genetics.

[AngieW in Texas]

I had much bigger babies than I expected. Nobody in my family had ever had a baby over 7 pounds before. Mine were 8 lb 11 oz, 7 lb, and 7 lb 13 oz. I'm just 5'1.75". My first actually broke her collarbone during the birthing process.

[Aubrey]

Yes, mine are heavy AND long--23" range. Labors have definitely been slower w/ the bigger babies. So 3 hrs w/ #1, 19 min w/ #2 & then about 5hrs w/ #3 & I don't know w/ #4. The actual pain was probably 5-8 hrs, but from the time my water broke was 26-30 hrs.

 

Mw was in a really, REALLY bad mood yesterday. I've never seen her like that. But she decided to tell me what she's really thought of me for the past 10 years. (She delivered all 4 of mine so far.)

 

Life has been SO hard lately. Dh's pay has gone down to the point that we can't pay all of our bills on time. The water was almost turned off this week, he was robbed last week, we keep getting to the point that we can't afford groceries. (There's always stuff still in the house, but it gets random, you know, like a sweet potato for lunch--nothing terrible, just sometimes odd combinations.)

 

Having mw behave like she did yesterday...it was like the cliff edge finally. I can't take all of this any more. But, of course, there's no way to FIX it, or I would have already. There's nothing to do to change it (for the foreseeable future), or I would. And there's really nothing I can do about being pg, although I'd sure like to ignore the fact right now instead of dealing w/ ANY kind of prenatal care. Esp the kind that's an hour away when it's 100+ outside & the air on the van has stopped working & leaves you in tears for the next 2 days.

 

Baby was cute, though. Already looks like his brothers.

[Lawana]

The way to avoid having big babies is to cut out that last month of pregnancy. Both mine were born at 35 weeks: 6lbs 1 oz and 6 lbs 8 oz with nice small heads. Of course, I didn't actually plan it that way.:glare:

[Veritaserum]

:grouphug: I hope things improve soon. :grouphug:

 

Yes, mine are heavy AND long--23" range. Labors have definitely been slower w/ the bigger babies. So 3 hrs w/ #1, 19 min w/ #2 & then about 5hrs w/ #3 & I don't know w/ #4. The actual pain was probably 5-8 hrs, but from the time my water broke was 26-30 hrs.

 

Mw was in a really, REALLY bad mood yesterday. I've never seen her like that. But she decided to tell me what she's really thought of me for the past 10 years. (She delivered all 4 of mine so far.)

 

Life has been SO hard lately. Dh's pay has gone down to the point that we can't pay all of our bills on time. The water was almost turned off this week, he was robbed last week, we keep getting to the point that we can't afford groceries. (There's always stuff still in the house, but it gets random, you know, like a sweet potato for lunch--nothing terrible, just sometimes odd combinations.)

 

Having mw behave like she did yesterday...it was like the cliff edge finally. I can't take all of this any more. But, of course, there's no way to FIX it, or I would have already. There's nothing to do to change it (for the foreseeable future), or I would. And there's really nothing I can do about being pg, although I'd sure like to ignore the fact right now instead of dealing w/ ANY kind of prenatal care. Esp the kind that's an hour away when it's 100+ outside & the air on the van has stopped working & leaves you in tears for the next 2 days.

 

Baby was cute, though. Already looks like his brothers.

[Aubrey]

I hear you. :grouphug:

My first was 10 lbs .6 oz. :eek: He was 2 weeks overdue and they were about to induce when I went into labor. They "measured" him on the ultrasound and estimated (more like guessimated) 8 lbs! He was turned wrong and after 22 hours of labor, they finally gave me a c-section.

 

My next one was only 7 lbs and I had borderline gestational diabetes. I was able to control it with diet alone, but that seemed to really be the key.

 

Now that I compare the two boys side by side I can see clearly my oldest inherited my dad's body type (large stature, wide waist, broad shoulders, big round Charlie Brown head) while my middle inherited dh body type (tall, thin, long legs, narrow head). I'm sorry to say this, but it really may just be a genetic thing and there's nothing you can do except hope it's a girl that takes after your body type. :grouphug:

 

Never had GD, but babies being girls hasn't seemed to make a difference: the 1st one seems to have mil's body type & was 8.8; the 2nd looks like she'll be my size but was 9.8. :001_huh: The boys were split, too.

[vonfirmath]

do you know any good ways to reduce the birth weight of your baby?

 

I'm seriously considering just bypassing all the natural stuff & seeing if I can be induced. ;)

 

My 1st 2 were 8.8lbs, next 2 9.8lbs. Mw says diet & exercise, & while I don't discount those, my healthiest most active pg was w/ one of the 9lbers. Dh's family is huge, & I tend to think it's genetics.

 

Current baby is already measuring in the 97th percentile (nearly 2lb at 23 weeks). :svengo:

 

Our family's babies tend to be big too. I understand!

 

My mom was 11 pounds (and her mom's first! She went on to have two more kids. And this back before C-sections! Yikes) All three of my sister's kids were over 10 pounds

 

My 1st (boy) was induced at 40w and thus "only" 8 lbs 15 oz

This one is not measuring quite as big (And she's a girl). But I'm still glad my doctor is not going to insist on going to 42w before inducing! (We also have a history of not going into labor. My mom was 11 pounds, but their best guess is she was a 44-weeker. My sister was induced at 42w with the first because of not going into labor yet, etc.)

[vonfirmath]

I don't have any answers. I had morning sickness for the first 4 months and vomitted a lot. Acide reflux for the last five months. I'd say at least six lbs. of my weight gain was water and I wasn't gestationally diabetic or at least the test came back negative. I sometimes wonder about the veracity of the one hour test because the labor nurse kept insisting I just had to be gestationally diabetic because of his size and yet my bloodwork said NO.

 

i'm not convinced the test catches everyone with GD. I think we have some silent GD going on in our family.

[twoxcell]

Well the pregnancy that I was the sickest and gained the least weight was my biggest baby 10lbs 7oz. I have also had a 9lbs 7oz, 8lbs 10oz, and a 7lbs 9oz. The smaller two were induced 2 weeks early. Honestly I had to work to get all my babies out, three of them were posterior. My 10lb 7oz baby really was not that much tougher except for her shoulders getting stuck for a bit. My first was the 9lb 7oz and he was posterior and I had to push for 4 hrs for him. I was induced for all 4 because my body just wants to be in labor off and on for weeks, and I had cholestasis 3 times, but the actual labor deliveries were natural as far as no drugs and no episiotomies(sp). Honestly I wouldn't worry about it at this point because ultrasounds this early are fairly inaccurate anyways.

[Lawana]

Yes, mine are heavy AND long--23" range. Labors have definitely been slower w/ the bigger babies. So 3 hrs w/ #1, 19 min w/ #2 & then about 5hrs w/ #3 & I don't know w/ #4. The actual pain was probably 5-8 hrs, but from the time my water broke was 26-30 hrs.

 

Mw was in a really, REALLY bad mood yesterday. I've never seen her like that. But she decided to tell me what she's really thought of me for the past 10 years. (She delivered all 4 of mine so far.)

 

Life has been SO hard lately. Dh's pay has gone down to the point that we can't pay all of our bills on time. The water was almost turned off this week, he was robbed last week, we keep getting to the point that we can't afford groceries. (There's always stuff still in the house, but it gets random, you know, like a sweet potato for lunch--nothing terrible, just sometimes odd combinations.)

 

Having mw behave like she did yesterday...it was like the cliff edge finally. I can't take all of this any more. But, of course, there's no way to FIX it, or I would have already. There's nothing to do to change it (for the foreseeable future), or I would. And there's really nothing I can do about being pg, although I'd sure like to ignore the fact right now instead of dealing w/ ANY kind of prenatal care. Esp the kind that's an hour away when it's 100+ outside & the air on the van has stopped working & leaves you in tears for the next 2 days.

 

Baby was cute, though. Already looks like his brothers.

Oh, Aubrey, you poor thing. Why do these things keep happening to you?:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

[prairiewindmomma]

Brewer diet, but emphasize the veggies. South Beach phase 2 is pretty close. Walk for an hour every day.

[Tarreymere]

My babies tend to be big, especially in head circumference. They also got bigger as I got older. My biggest was my fifth, at ten pounds but the sixth was induced at 37 weeks for a number of reasons and ended up a c-section because of a head circumference of 15 1/2 inches. He weighed 9 lb 7 oz, but there was no way that head was coming out the original opening. :glare:

The big head thing weirdly persists too....I remember being measured for my hat size in the Army and the other girls giggling over how big my head was.

 

I guess you may want to consider your options for delivery, since you refuse to take up smoking and using illegal drugs :D

 

Seriously, if you normally home birth and this baby is going to be huge you might want to think about seeing if you can find a midwife to do a hospital birth, since transferring to a hospital in transition with a stuck baby is a really painful experience. I almost had to do that with number five, and I refused to consider it only because it hurt too much to move at that point. That one came out, I think, only because I was able to stand the entire labor. I'm glad she did, because I think I would have died from the pain if I had to move at that point.

 

Good luck to you, whatever you choose. Just remember that a section or a hospital birth are options and sometimes we NEED options. And it sounds like your midwife isn't exactly your friend right now from your last comment.

[MelanieM]

My babies tend to be big, especially in head circumference. They also got bigger as I got older. My biggest was my fifth, at ten pounds but the sixth was induced at 37 weeks for a number of reasons and ended up a c-section because of a head circumference of 15 1/2 inches. He weighed 9 lb 7 oz, but there was no way that head was coming out the original opening. :glare:

The big head thing weirdly persists too....I remember being measured for my hat size in the Army and the other girls giggling over how big my head was.

 

I guess you may want to consider your options for delivery, since you refuse to take up smoking and using illegal drugs :D

 

Seriously, if you normally home birth and this baby is going to be huge you might want to think about seeing if you can find a midwife to do a hospital birth, since transferring to a hospital in transition with a stuck baby is a really painful experience. I almost had to do that with number five, and I refused to consider it only because it hurt too much to move at that point. That one came out, I think, only because I was able to stand the entire labor. I'm glad she did, because I think I would have died from the pain if I had to move at that point.

 

Good luck to you, whatever you choose. Just remember that a section or a hospital birth are options and sometimes we NEED options. And it sounds like your midwife isn't exactly your friend right now from your last comment.

 

We are a big-headed family as well, and my second was 9lb15oz with a 15.5" head circumferance at birth. I was discussing this with my midwife the other day and she made an interesting comment about how the size of the head doesn't matter as much as the position of the head. She said that the goal is to support the best positioning so that baby's head can easily mold itself properly, making for a faster/easier birth experience. Makes a lot of sense, really. And sadly, it's something that can be very difficult to accomplish in hospital when policies have care providers forcing a woman to birth in a particular position. (Mind you, I'm one of those weird people that birthed my babies on my back pretty much by choice.)

[Impish]

Yes, mine are heavy AND long--23" range. Labors have definitely been slower w/ the bigger babies. So 3 hrs w/ #1, 19 min w/ #2 & then about 5hrs w/ #3 & I don't know w/ #4. The actual pain was probably 5-8 hrs, but from the time my water broke was 26-30 hrs.

 

Mw was in a really, REALLY bad mood yesterday. I've never seen her like that. But she decided to tell me what she's really thought of me for the past 10 years. (She delivered all 4 of mine so far.)

 

Life has been SO hard lately. Dh's pay has gone down to the point that we can't pay all of our bills on time. The water was almost turned off this week, he was robbed last week, we keep getting to the point that we can't afford groceries. (There's always stuff still in the house, but it gets random, you know, like a sweet potato for lunch--nothing terrible, just sometimes odd combinations.)

 

Having mw behave like she did yesterday...it was like the cliff edge finally. I can't take all of this any more. But, of course, there's no way to FIX it, or I would have already. There's nothing to do to change it (for the foreseeable future), or I would. And there's really nothing I can do about being pg, although I'd sure like to ignore the fact right now instead of dealing w/ ANY kind of prenatal care. Esp the kind that's an hour away when it's 100+ outside & the air on the van has stopped working & leaves you in tears for the next 2 days.

 

Baby was cute, though. Already looks like his brothers.

His? I didn't realize you knew it was another boy (or if I did, I forgot, sorry). Congrats!

 

And as for the rest :grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

[AnitaMcC]

Not sure, but I figured I better not have anymore babies after my #4.

 

My kids kept getting bigger.

Ds#1 and DD are twins... they were 4 lbs 7 oz and 5 lbs 1 oz. And they were a month early. Before pregnancy I was only 5 ft 2in and 95 lbs.

Ds#2 was 7 lbs 8 oz and he was two weeks early.

Ds#3 was 8 lbs 8 oz and he was right on his due date.

 

I figured the next one would have been a 9 1/2 lber and be over due!!!!! :svengo:.

So I stopped-LOL

[FaithManor]

We are a big-headed family as well, and my second was 9lb15oz with a 15.5" head circumferance at birth. I was discussing this with my midwife the other day and she made an interesting comment about how the size of the head doesn't matter as much as the position of the head. She said that the goal is to support the best positioning so that baby's head can easily mold itself properly, making for a faster/easier birth experience. Makes a lot of sense, really. And sadly, it's something that can be very difficult to accomplish in hospital when policies have care providers forcing a woman to birth in a particular position. (Mind you, I'm one of those weird people that birthed my babies on my back pretty much by choice.)

 

This is my experience. The 3rd child had shoulders, big, wide, football playing shoulders. Now, to look at him today...he has NO shoulders...he is the least "built" child ever. But, he had hulking shoulders at birth. I had a midwife birth in the hospital and thankfully, one that really didn't interfere with the midwives...they pretty much did what they wanted. When she realized he was luckly to get "stuck", she had me roll onto my hands and knees, with dh pushing up on my belly and providing complete support along with the labor nurse. According to her it shifts the head and shoulders a little plus it provides 2 cm more room! That was the ticket and I birthed him easily after that.

 

Howver, had I had the OB, well...you can bet I'd have laid flat on my back with feet sticking up in the stirrups and would have ended up with a c-section.

 

I agree with Rainefox....options are a very good thing! I'm really sorry your MW was a real putz today. Is there another midwife in your area that you could switch to?????

 

Faith

[blessedwith7]

I don't know how to make a baby smaller - besides things that aren't healthy for you or the baby, but if it makes you feel any better, my almost 10 lb baby was a much easier delivery than the ones who were almost 7 lbs.

[KidsHappen]

It's the bone/frame size and not the fat/weight that really makes a difference. Fat squishes. ;)

 

That's what my midwife told me. She then went on to explain that I had been graced with a birthin' build. She said that my pelvis was large enough to sling a cat in there. :glare: I think that was supposed to be reassuring. Anyhow, my first was 9 lbs even, and my runt (who was early was 8.8) but the rest were between 9 and half and 10 and a half lbs. I labored with the last five exactly 3 hours and 45 minutes each with only about an hour and 45 minutes of each being really rough.

 

My mother had large babies as did my grandmother. My SIL and all of his siblings were very large and my dd is 5'11 and probably a good 30-40 lbs more than me and her son was 7 lbs. - something. His frame was about the same as my kids. He was just very thin.

[Barb_]

do you know any good ways to reduce the birth weight of your baby?

 

I'm seriously considering just bypassing all the natural stuff & seeing if I can be induced. ;)

 

My 1st 2 were 8.8lbs, next 2 9.8lbs. Mw says diet & exercise, & while I don't discount those, my healthiest most active pg was w/ one of the 9lbers. Dh's family is huge, & I tend to think it's genetics.

 

Current baby is already measuring in the 97th percentile (nearly 2lb at 23 weeks). :svengo:

 

It really has to be genetics. I was obsessive (literally) about healthy eating and exercise and only gained 24 pounds with my first. She swam in a different gene pool than the rest of my kids and weighed 9-14 at birth. The rest were 7.5 to 9lbs even. Most were around 8ish. I gained 34-39 pounds with them. I think you're just going to have to make peace with it, Sweetie :grouphug:

[happypamama]

My SIL (who is 6' tall and was like an 11 pound baby herself) had her first baby -- 10 pounds even, at about 38.5 weeks (induced). Then because her second was a stillbirth (cord issue) at 36 weeks, they induced her at about 37 weeks for her third, after keeping SIL on a gestational diabetes diet (even though she hadn't tested positive for GD), in hopes that the baby wouldn't be quite as large as her first. Baby ended up being a bit over 8 pounds, so yes, even though she was earlier than baby #1, she was quite a bit smaller, so the GD diet did apparently help. Otoh, I have a friend who stuck to a low-carb diet, in hopes that her baby would be smaller than a previous one; she apparently didn't gain much weight herself, but the baby was born a few weeks earlier than the older one, but was on track to be the same size if he'd waited until the same gestational age. So who knows?

 

My MW says there is a difference between babies who are big because that's how Mom grows them and babies who are big because of too much sugar in Mom's diet. I have no idea though. I feel your pain. I am barely 5' tall (and was a 37-38 week 6 lb. 5 oz. baby myself -- all of my mom's and MIL's babies were early without induction and were pretty tiny) and have tested negative for gestational diabetes in two pregnancies (and skipped the testing for #3 and #4). My first three all came 5-8 days after their official due dates, and my smallest (#1) was 8 lbs. 11 oz. DS1 was just under 10 pounds, and he and DD were 21" long, with 14+" heads and chests. I am anxiously waiting to see if this baby matches the others in terms of gestational age and size!

[Lacie]

I don't have any advice for you. Just :grouphug:.

 

My first was 7 lbs 2 oz at 35 weeks. My second was 6 lbs 8 oz at 37 weeks. They said my first would have been a 10 pounder if we had gone to 40 weeks.

[FrogMom5]

Well, undereating will cause low birth weight but, I wouldn't advise it. My sympathies to you though. Ds #1 was 9lbs. 14 oz. at 36 wks. DD was 9lbs. 4 oz. at 35 wks. Yep, it's genetic.

Denise

[Audrey]

It'll be what it'll be. :001_smile:

 

I was told ds was going to be "a big one" -- suggesting 10lbs and upwards. Every doc and nurse I saw kept asking "how tall are you? 6 feet? You'll be fine." As if THAT was supposed to make me feel better. :001_rolleyes:

 

 

Whatever.

 

 

Anyway... ds was 6 lbs. 3 oz. but... he was 24" long. He never wore baby booties. He had feet like long skinny bananas. He still does, and he's still much taller than his age would suggest.

[Sara in AZ]

Were the deliveries of your 9 pound babies harder? I'm 5' 1" and birthing my two 9 pound babies was actually better than my 7 and 8 pounders. The last (9 lb. 14 oz) pretty much pushed herself out of there as opposed to the 2 1/2 hours it took to push out my 6 lb. 13 oz the first time around. How accurate are those estimates, anyway? At least you can tell yourself that you've done it before and you can do it again!

[happypamama]

Yes, mine are heavy AND long--23" range. Labors have definitely been slower w/ the bigger babies. So 3 hrs w/ #1, 19 min w/ #2 & then about 5hrs w/ #3 & I don't know w/ #4. The actual pain was probably 5-8 hrs, but from the time my water broke was 26-30 hrs.

 

Mw was in a really, REALLY bad mood yesterday. I've never seen her like that. But she decided to tell me what she's really thought of me for the past 10 years. (She delivered all 4 of mine so far.)

 

Life has been SO hard lately. Dh's pay has gone down to the point that we can't pay all of our bills on time. The water was almost turned off this week, he was robbed last week, we keep getting to the point that we can't afford groceries. (There's always stuff still in the house, but it gets random, you know, like a sweet potato for lunch--nothing terrible, just sometimes odd combinations.)

 

Having mw behave like she did yesterday...it was like the cliff edge finally. I can't take all of this any more. But, of course, there's no way to FIX it, or I would have already. There's nothing to do to change it (for the foreseeable future), or I would. And there's really nothing I can do about being pg, although I'd sure like to ignore the fact right now instead of dealing w/ ANY kind of prenatal care. Esp the kind that's an hour away when it's 100+ outside & the air on the van has stopped working & leaves you in tears for the next 2 days.

 

Baby was cute, though. Already looks like his brothers.

 

Awww, that is adorable!

 

I am so sorry you've had such a hard time lately. If it makes you feel any better, we've been in very similar situations during this pregnancy; it has definitely been stressful, and while I generally like being pregnant, it's definitely not been nearly as carefree and easy as my first one was.

 

It is possible to do your own prenatal care and maybe just limit visits with a MW to a handful, rather than the usual bunch. A fetoscope is pretty inexpensive off of ebay, and you could monitor your own blood pressure and blood sugars if you wanted. I have done more limited MW care with my third and fourth pregnancies than I did with my first two, and while I obviously haven't seen #4 to make sure he/she is healthy, my third baby was super healthy, gorgeous, amazing placenta, etc. And it was a really enjoyable pregnancy. Without the frequent MW visits, I found that I really paid attention to my body and my baby (and the Lord's promptings to my heart as well), and focused on the particular issues that were most important to our situation, so it was a real blessing.

 

Also, if you qualify, and if it will help you with a healthy/more comfortable pregnancy, I do not think you should feel badly if you use things like WIC or other help for food, even if you have not used them in the past. (I don't know your personal feelings on such things.)

 

:grouphug:

[LittleIzumi]

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug::grouphug: Not fair. A midwife should be supporting you as much as inhumanely possible, NOT stressing you out more. Is she going to continue being your midwife after this?

 

As for genetics, well, you can't really change that. My first two were about 5 1/2 and 6 1/2, with my build. My third has dh's build, so he was 9lbs even and 22" long. Huge feet, as mentioned by a couple of other posters, lol. And he came out easy as pie (well, now that I'm not in the moment on that one :lol:), even posterior. Super quick. (Uh, midwife didn't make it sort of quick.)

 

That's what my midwife told me. She then went on to explain that I had been graced with a birthin' build. She said that my pelvis was large enough to sling a cat in there. I think that was supposed to be reassuring.

 

I've gotten the "birthing hips" comment too. I mean, I suppose it's true, but still. :glare:

[Sara in AZ]

It is possible to do your own prenatal care and maybe just limit visits with a MW to a handful, rather than the usual bunch. A fetoscope is pretty inexpensive off of ebay, and you could monitor your own blood pressure and blood sugars if you wanted. I have done more limited MW care with my third and fourth pregnancies than I did with my first two, and while I obviously haven't seen #4 to make sure he/she is healthy, my third baby was super healthy, gorgeous, amazing placenta, etc. And it was a really enjoyable pregnancy. Without the frequent MW visits, I found that I really paid attention to my body and my baby (and the Lord's promptings to my heart as well), and focused on the particular issues that were most important to our situation, so it was a real blessing.

 

Yes, this. You already know the baby is fine, and you've been down this road before so you'd know if something didn't feel right. Maybe you could go every 6 weeks. I didn't even choose a midwife with this last one until I was 29 weeks. My mother was a stress case, but the baby was fine.