BIG BABY!

we had our 34 week sonogram on Tuesday to see how big the baby is and see her position and where her weight is distributed. As soon as the sonographer put the wand on my belly she said "wow, this baby is scrunched up tight in there", which I kinda knew because she doesn't ever change position and her movements are really just stretches at this point. We got to double check that she is in fact a girl. The tech guaranteed us and told us she'd come redo the nursery for us if she was wrong. We then got to see that she has some hair on her head, see that she is head down and watch her suck on her wrist. She's so smashed up in there that her feet are tucked and squished up underneath her butt. The fluid level is good and all anatomy still looks normal and healthy and after taking measurements she is estimated to weight 5lb 8oz right now. THIS IS BIG. My nephew was estimated at 5lb 5oz at 35 weeks and came out 8lb 12 oz at 39 weeks.

My doctor came in and said that yes, this is a big baby, but nothing to panic about. She said my blood sugars have been perfect and the babys torso is not measuring large, which is what they would look for in a diabetic baby. She said that she's not large because of the gestational diabetes or because of anything I'm doing, she's just genetically on the big side and would be no matter what. She said the largest part of her is her head which is good/normal because the head is made to mold and shape through the birth canal, but the torso is not, so when they run into trouble, it's because the head comes out, but then the torso gets stuck and that puts the baby in distress and causes an emergency situation. Whereas, if the head is the biggest part, we would know if it wasn't going to fit long before it was a crisis. She just wouldn't come out at all.

So, with this information my doc decided not to induce me early, but to induce me on my actual due date. She said that inducing early in a first time mom greatly increases the chance of needing a c section because my body is less likely to respond to the induction, which would require more pitocin which can cause distress to my uterus and the baby and I may not dilate. But, she said the further along I am, the better an induction will act like a "trigger" for labor and not "forcing" labor that wasn't ready.

So, it looks like I may be having a 9lb baby on my due date. But, I'm hoping I'll go in to labor on my own before that :)