Wednesday, February 2, 2011


So, I'm a little scared. I come from a family of cute and sweet little 6 poundish babies, whereas Joe (pictured left) came into the world at a whopping 10 pounds, 2 ounces. And let's add that his sister (center) weighed, well, a little more. His brothers, although not in the 10 pound category, were still of the larger newborn variety. So, where does that leave our baby? Two weeks ago at our ultrasound, the tech informed us that the baby was currently measuring a week big. I instantly turned to Joe and gave him that, "you better have not put a giant baby in my belly" look. Now, when someone finds the need to comment on my size, I find it more unnerving than offensive. I know that babies grow at different rates, and there is a possibility that our baby had a recent growth spurt and can still be not so big at birth. I've been keeping my fingers crossed all along that my birth weight combined with Joe's birth weight will somehow even out in the end. Obviously, that's just me having no clue as to how this all actually works. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'm not the tiniest person in the world, but at the same time, I'm definitely not 10 POUND BABY material, if you know what I'm saying.

14 comments:

  1. look at all those cuties!

    i don't think you have anything to worry about. my midwife says, in her experience, woman with bigger babies don't really have it much more difficult.

    also i am convinced yours in coming before mine. like you have a slightly earlier due date, in reality.

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  2. holy cow. this scares me. one day, we will probably have babies. (that day is far away). but my husband was also a giant baby with a giant head. (his head is still giant... we can't find hats to fit him).

    so... i understand your fear.

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  3. This is definitely something to bear in mind when having kids - thanks for the honesty. I'm awaiting the day we get pregnant, and am always jealous of mums to be sitting smugly with their nice round bellies. It's good to know that, although I'm further away from having kids than some people, I am also further away from squeezing a watermelon out of my nether regions. Silver Lining...

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  4. If we have babies, I'm looking at a similar situation. My husband comes from big stock...he's 6'5" and he's the little one. My family, on the other hand are 5'5" folks and shorter. But, honestly, I think you'll be OK. I don't imagine that pushing a 6-7 pound baby out would be a picnic either...

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  5. I hear ya, sister. My husband and his brother were both OVER ten pounds. My husbands mom birthed those giants and she is only 5'2". This gives me hope. She also swears she had undiagnosed gestational diabetes but, um, both my husband, his brother and their father are over 6'5". That causes dread.

    So does the fact that I was over 8, so big + slightly big = a nervous me. Luckily I'm 5'9" and the first change I noticed was my hips getting wider - so much so that none of my pants came even close to buttoning at 6 weeks. I'm hoping my body knows what its doing.

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  6. I'm there with you - not that my husband was a big baby at 7 pounds, but he has this massive head... at our ultrasound the other week the baby's looked massive and I gave him that same look! but at this point all we can do it go with it, there's no backing out now!

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  7. I cannot believe you posted this picture! You're so dead.

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  8. I have the same fear for when we finally get to the having-babies stage, only I was the big baby (9lbs 6oz), not my husband. And big babies run in my family (baby cousin was 10lbs 4oz, a couple older cousins were over 11lbs), so I'm pretty much terrified.

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  9. Please do not fear.

    My Bean's mother is teeny tiny but he is/was big (like his 4 siblings). You will be fine.

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  10. I have heard many stories of people who were told they were "measuring large" and did not ultimately have big babies. Apparently it's quite common to tell people that now. My friend who is a nurse-midwife said that the greater gestation you are, the less accurate those measurements become. So while it's perhaps useful info, it's not necessarily predictive. (It also seems to occasionally be a tool for urging women to induce/have C-sections)

    But regardless, I'd be scared too! But you'll be okay.

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  11. I second the comment about how inaccurate late-term ultrasound measurements are. Also it's been my experience that belly-size and baby-size are totally unrelated. Don't be scared. Eat well, get lots of exercise and trust your body to do what it was made to do.

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  12. And I'll repeat, just for fun, ultrasound sizing is notoriously inaccurate, so don't lose all hope yet :) And I've always believed that it is more the size of the head that is important, because that's the hard part to get out :)

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  13. So glad im not the only one with this fear! Im due in Aug and keep thinking about how i was a 9 1/2 lb baby whose linebacker shoulders got stuck ( my poor mother...) and my fiancee has like the biggest head ever - they honestly thought he had hydrocephlus because it was so huge ( my poor FMIL...) im not even close to my due date yet but its still giving me nightmares.

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  14. I was gigantic when pregnant and both my husband and I are tall people (5'10'' and 6'5''). The baby was 8 lbs and it was fine. Your body is meant to birth and it will do what it's supposed to. My friend (who is tiny by the way) had an almost 10lb baby. Her labor was quick and easy. So size doesn't predict anything in my opinion. Don't let anyone scare you!

    And I hear you about the dumb pregnancy comments people make. I got the same ones. My favorite (ugh!) was "are you having twins? No... are you sure?" Yes, I'm sure! I think I would know something like that, thank you very much.

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