One of the benefits of having two – yes, two – OB visits per week is that I get an ultrasound every Tuesday.
Today, I was on the table for a long time, waiting for Shaggy Boy to move. He moved around like a madman in the car, jerking my body this way and that, but he refused to show the tech any sort of twitch at all.
That’s my kid. Totally stubborn. Just like the rest of the family.
Finally, she went and got a tiny baby air-horn, and fired the buzzer against my belly.
You should have seen the boy jump. I swear, he looked pissed off.
I got a glimpse of his cute little face, and before the tech could hide it from me, I also got a gander at his current estimated measurements.
SEVEN POUNDS.
SEVEN.
No wonder I can barely move, breathe or rise from a prone position!
I almost had a heart attack. I must’ve gone white as a sheet, because the tech patted my hand and assured me that the estimate could be off by as much as a pound.
Yes, I replied, I know. My daughter was estimated at six pounds and she was almost eight.
I waddled back into the waiting room, heart thudding. I know I’m delivering by c-section, so at least I don’t have to squeeze my giant baby out of my teeny, tiny padoodledo, but still.
SEVEN POUNDS. OF PERSON. RIGHT NOW IN MY BODY.
I warned my midwife that my blood pressure might be higher than usual, considering that I would soon be giving birth to an 11-pounder.
She talked me off the ledge, calmly explaining that he would gain only a half-pound over the next few weeks, and he would be taken from me at 39 weeks, not 40.
So he could be eight or nine pounds when he arrives.
Whew!
I was so relived. Not only did I not have to return all the newborn-sized clothing I purchased, I was no longer staring down the lens of the National Enquirer: “WOMAN GIVES BIRTH TO FREAKISHLY LARGE BABY BOY!”
All the way home I marveled at my body’s ability to actually make this person, this new person with his new body.
Not to mention the fact that I can count on losing at least seven pounds immediately on Aug. 11.
{ 20 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey! There ain’t nothin’ wrong with birthing an 11 lb baby. Even 11 lbs 3 oz!!
Four weeks before X-man was do we had the sonogram. Estimated weight 9 lbs 13 oz. I completely panicked. They said the estimate thing about the pound up or down too.
X-man was 10.2lbs. No C section. No epidural (not for lack of asking for one, mind you) = Looseyfur is an insane, wack job of a woman.
But it probably also explains why we stopped at one.
You can do it, Mrs. Chicken. Final stretch and all that business. And then you get a whole new challenge, but at least you get the inside of your body back.
Don’t you worry. I had a couple of 8.5 pounders – they’re still awfully tiny babes. And I choose to believe those who say that bigger babies sleep better earlier! That might help.
I was thanking my lucky stars that I was having a c-section when I was told, one month before my due date, that the technician’s equipment only allowed him to estimate weight up to ten pounds and my fetus was bigger than that. EEP! Ten pounds and twelve ounces later…a baby boy that looked like a 4 month old was born! But you’d never know it now! After he was out I just could not BELIEVE that whole thing fit inside me! No wonder everyone kept telling me I was HUGE. Thank God for c-sections is all I’m sayin’. My nether regions did not need that kind of abuse! (And no, that’s not why I had a c-section. There were legitimate medical reasons.)
They had me freaked out about the same thing with Peanut. Remember second babies are usually bigger *anyway*. And yeah for quick weight loss
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My doctor thought D would be more than 8 lbs. She was barely 7 (7 lbs 1 oz). She was a scheduled section at 39 weeks, 2 days.
You’re almost done!
Have 2 girls one 8 lbs 11 oz and then my 9 lb 5 oz’er I am so glad you are having a c-section as well. It might have been the huge baby factor or the fact that they shoot right out of me like some insane crazy log ride at the amusement park…but my girls tore me up!!
I emailed you earlier….hope you didn’t mind the linky love (and the contest stealer…LOL)
nice work cooking up that little turkey, mama!
When my step-sister was in the hospital as a baby, she had a roommate. He had been born at 13 pounds. THIRTEEN. At least he’s not that big!
Plus you’ll lose 2 pounds of amniotic fluid and 1-2 pounds of placenta. thats at least 11 right there! http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/eatingfortwo.html
First of all: An AIRHORN?
Does this not seem … oh I don’t know … MEAN to do to an infant who’s all happy and warm and probably SLEEPING? I hope that kid pees on their stethoscope when he comes out. They totally deserve it.
And Secondly you will not be a freak if you give birth to a big kid: there were THREE 11 pounders in the nursery with Silas. Three. My kid looked like a premie.
The tech told me Little Miss weighed in at 4 pounds and that was not good. She was born a week later weighing 6 pounds 5 ounces. I think he was OFF a little. Good Luck!!!
I don’t know why they feel the need to estimate baby size. Like we aren’t scared enough to give birth. Sheesh.
Aww, poor Shaggy – BUZZ! I’ve heard you can shine a flashlight against your belly (and/or padoodledoo) and get a reaction from babes in utero, too. Doesn’t that sound calmer?
My freakin’ OB ordered a size-estimation ultrasound while I was IN ACTIVE LABOR with Smooch. Said she wanted to “make sure he wasn’t 10 pounds.” Yeah, that *really* helped me feel better. :S He was 8-3.
Hang in there – you’re nearly done!
hehe that’s not a baby it’s a turkey!
Kidding! I kid!
The Mayor was 10 pounds. Ten pounds passing through a formerly small place.
sigh.
Six weeks before the imp was born she was an ESTIMATED 7 1/2 pounds. I delivered her prematurely by almost 5 weeks and she weighed a whopping 8lbs 3ozs! I shudder to think of what she would have weighed at I gone to term. OUCH!
Thank God for zipper cuts!
I kept hoping that my daughter would be really heavy so the weight loss would be instant. No such luck.
Both times I was told the baby was over seven pounds and both times they were well under (6 lb, 3 oz and 6 lb, 7 oz respectively).
Almost there!
Late term measurements are notoriously wrong. With TB, I had a scheduled C/S because he was breech. 1 hour before he was born, we had a scan to check where he was and all that. The tech told me that his estimated size was over 12 lbs! I joked that since he was going to be so big, that made the whole “lift nothing heavier than your baby” thing a little easier to follow. Heck I could even go bowling, since my ball weighed less than the baby would. I was pretty freaked, despite the jokes
An hour later, he was born, weighing 8lbs 10z. Still fairly big but nothing like the original estimate.
Hang in there, it will all be done soon