fetal weight in correlation with maternal weight gain

So this has been on my mind lately and maybe its just the hormonal I cant sleep thoughts but what is the real correlation. Of course you have to take into account placenta weight, uterine weight, increased breast tissue, blood volume, and all the rest of that good stuff and subtract it out of your weight gain or at least the suspected average. But what does that leave for fetal weight? I gained 11lbs with DS and he popped out a perfect 7lbs 2oz with me having gestational diabetes. So it would stand to reason had I gained more weight he would have been heavier? The hospital here has been saying the dreaded C word since my early pregnancy, and the nutritionist was a huge slap in the face too. She actually said the words "just because you stuck to your diet last time doesn't mean you will do it again" EX-FREAKING-SCUSE ME?! They intend on doing a growth scan "sometime" (32 plus weeks) which of course diminishes with accuracy the closer to the end you get because baby is so cramped up and harder to measure. At my old hospital they told me DS was HUGE and you can see how wrong they were. I know U/s weight can be off 1-2lbs in either direction. I don't want to be pushed into a c-section they seem hell bent on for no valid reason. God knows with my SPD as bad as it is I could probably fit two watermelons between the gap.

So long book aside I have gained 10lbs total thus far including losses and gains. But if Im roughly the same weight gain I was then compared to what I have gained now doesn't it stand to reason DD is the same size give or take? She was the standard average of 11oz at the 20 week mark.

I can only share my experience as I don't know if there is a correlation or not.

With my 2 pregnancies I gained the exact same weight with each (although I started heavier the 2nd time so that could make a difference too). Each time I gained 20kg (44lbs) and my first was 7lb 7oz and my 2nd was 9oz. My 2nd is a bigger kid now, he is 3 years younger but almost the same weight as his brother so I think the reason he was bigger was more to do with the genes he ended up with.

I don't trust Drs or growth scans to give good estimates of weights, I read so often how they are wrong. Anyway if the baby is bigger it doesn't mean you can't still birth them vaginally. Despite my 2nd being bigger he was much easier to birth and I had no stitches.

I'm sorry they are so discouraging of you. Stay strong and remember you don't have to do anything you don't want to.

I gained 25lbs with both of my boys. I was 10lbs heavier starting out with DS2 and developed late onset GD at 36 weeks. I too followed the diet and never had high numbers every time I tested. I believe my GD was due to starting out heavier and gaining the same weight. Big difference between an ending weight of 150lbs and 160lbs! DS1 was 6lbs 11oz and DS2 was 6lbs 12oz.

I figure I'll probably gain 20-25lbs with this one too, but I started out 5lbs skinner than with DS1 and 12lbs skinner than with DS2. I haven't gained any weight yet, I'm only 6 weeks, but I had already gained 2-4 lbs by this time with both boys.

FX and GL to you! I'm sure you will avoid the C-section. I can't believe they have been acting so unsupportive of you! GD is hard enough without people acting like nothing you do can avoid it! That is simply untrue! I'm rooting for you Nahri! Prove then SOB's wrong!!!


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I gained between 60-70lbs with each of my 3 pregnancies but birthed average size babies between my smallest was 7lbs 1oz and biggest was 8lbs, if weight gain had anything to do with baby's weight my kids should. Have been born toddlers!!My sister inlaw who had GD with her first gained 30 lbs and he was born weighing only 6 1/2lbs and her second which she did not have GD with, was born 8lbs and she was born 3 weeks early and she gained less weight with her, because she was afraid of getting GD the for a seconds time she was really strict with her diet from the beginning.

I think it has a lot to do with what types of food you gained the weight on.The kids I ate lots of diary and ice cream and carbs like potatoes weighed more than the ones I ate a lot of candy and meat and veggies.My third child and fourth child I gained the same amount of weight but ds3 weighed 9 pounds 2 ounces (mmm mashed potatoes and cookies and cream ice cream!) and DS4 was 7 pounds 4 ounces (mmmm peanut butter M&Ms and BBQ chicken and sugar snap peas!)

Is there any way to go to a different hospital?? That is not good care advice and I personally don't think it's good to have any pregnancy where you only gain 11 lbs. I think you're getting absolutely nutty advice if they are telling you yo'll need a c-section when you'e only gained 10 lbs by this poing. Gestational diabetes or not. That is utterly insane. I gained 70 lbs with a pregnancy and they were like eh whatever. In ALL my pregnancies except one I had gained 10 lbs before I was out of the first tri! (and interestingly the one I did not gain that much in the first tri was my second biggest baby)

Babies seem to grow to a certain size regardless. I think it has a lot to do with the size of the placenta and also genetic factors. My smallest baby is still my smallest kid. YOu can't go off what happened in your prev. pregnancy. I have had pg where I gained quite a lot and some where I gained a more reasonable amount (but still a lot LOL) and my babies were between 7 13 and 8 9.

I am a bit skeptical of gestational diabetes anyway. I feel sometimes that it is overdiagnosed. With 4 of my 5 I failed the first glucose test and had to come back in for the next one but never had it. (Ironically the only one I ever felt "bad" with, like getting really sleepy after eating sugary stuff, was the one I passed right off the bat) One of them I had to do the 3 hour test twice. :/ I think some of us, it just may take our blood sugar levels a little longer to drop after we have the test done than it does others.

I took and failed the 1hour GTT by a wide margin and I'm not active because of my disabilities so that has a big factor to play in the high numbers. I started immediately testing 4x a day after that and certain things that shouldn't have registered high did. So I declined the 3 hr GTT because I wasn't going to sit there hungry and miserable over an amount of sugar I would never consume in my lifetime and end up throwing it all up like I did my first pregnancy. That revelation to the diet team I think is what ticked them off the most. In this area its not common to challenge the docs and the c-section rates at just about every hospital in the area are insane. I was a 10lb baby and the dietitian wouldn't let go of the fact that my mother was just not diagnosed diabetic because back then they used higher numbers compared to today. never mind the fact my mother is 6ft 1 and most of my uncles are 6ft 8. Its big babies for everyone. DS coming out at 7lbs 2oz was a shock for everyone but he was a long baby. My other choice is 45 miles away and with me having to drive myself most likely I probably wouldn't make it. Their numbers are not promising either. With the exception of a "sudden" 5lb increase over a month Its been about a consistent 1-2lb gain per month. I stick to my diet just like I did last time and come DD's birthday my advice to most of the staff will probably be "shut up and catch" but its just one more irritation I don't need right now. They are focused on my SPD giving me problems when it was no issue the first time. If anything its an advantage because I have more room to push out a potentially large head. But how dare I use science and logic!!

Thank you for all your support ladies its nice to see there is still hope!


I keep detailed track of what I eat what my sugars were and my weight. I started the day of my LMP and continued on.


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:agree: I should have declined it too!! Esp. with my last pregnancy.

I would bet dollars to doughnuts this is a punishing thing. With any luck you will be in the situation you were the last time and they'll just catch the baby for you. :) Sorry for the annoyance though!

Why Oh why must you say doughnut... lol I got the Snider comments from insensitive techs at the last hospital with DS too. But it was nothing more than sarcasm of OMG he's huge might be having a csection. Still not funny guys.. but all this you won't stick to it, you've got it therefore baby will be huge no matter what you do is such bull it's an exhausting fight. And to make matters worse that day as I was leaving there was a woman about 8 weeks behind me with a larger bump and her husband checking to see if I was watching him leans to her and says don't worry honey at least you aren't fat like that one is. Not what I needed and my hearing is better than you think jerk

I got that with my 3rd after I slipped and fell and had to have an ultrasound at 38 weeks. "Oh he's so huge, 9 pounder to be sure, blah blah blah" and was my smallest baby at 7 13. :/

I hope that a$$hole ends up with sympathy labor and also sympathy hemmorhoids. Grr.

Nahri I'm not catching all the detail right, was your 1st c/s? Why do they want to possibly c/s the second because of babies size? or a medical condition you have? :)
In my experience my boys have been on average 2lb bigger than my girls, both genders getting slightly bigger each time itms:) So I wouldn't be surprised if your girl weighs in similar or smaller even to your son, do not be talked into a c/s on the grounds of weight ok:)

My first was born vaginally with a TINY forceps assist. I say tiny because I could reach down and feel the top of his head he just didnt pop past the skin because of my bad hip I couldn't exert enough pressure so they pulled like less than half an inch to get him out. I was also GDB the first time as well. (born at 7.02 when they said he was monsterous)

THIS TIME. My SPD is worse which just makes a baby head that much easier to deliver, but they assume Im not going to control my GDB and hes going to be this huge child that I cannot birth due to the SPD and the GDB.

I have no problem telling them to shove off based on an u/s weight that I know can be off by 2lbs or more in either direction, Im just worried about what they may say or do to push me into it. The more info I have to shut them down with the better. They seem like the kind to pull the medical endangerment and who am I to argue necessity for any reason besides suspected size. At the 20 week U/s she was 11 oz which is the perfect average. I dont know when they plan the next ultrasound but I am 31 weeks in a couple days so the accuracy will be highly diminished.

I think they have no idea what size your baby will actually be. When I was pg with DD, I was tiny, they told me I would be lucky if she was 5lbs. I didn't even buy diapers I was so unsure of what size she would be , she popped out at 7lb2oz with me gaining 21lbs. A friend of mine was also pg and gained 40lbs, they told her to prep for a huge baby (10+lbs) her kid ended up being 6lbs! This pg my stomach is def bigger, but at the DR in Tuesday I was 3lbs lighter then at the same time as my DD, I don't even ask when they discuss Babies size, because I know they don't really know! 10lbs is nothing for weight gain, were you overweight to begin with?

Sheesh how insane to advice a c-section just because of a slightly bigger baby? With my first son I gained 25 kg and he was 7 lbs at 38 weeks. My second son I gained about 20 kg and he weighed 9 lbs at 41 weeks. As horrible as my pregnancies had been (I was HUGE and has horrible SPD as well) my labours was easy. My second one literally popped out in less than 2 mins! Thanks to the SPD I think, as it was very loose. I do hope my next baby will be a bit smaller, so my belly doesn't look like a mountain. Would be easier with the SPD. But I def think you should try and find another hospital or doctor. I found a lovely midwife who went to the hospital with me, had a great birthing experience because she knew what I wanted. Didn't see a single doctor! Also gave birth in a big bath, was so relaxing (when I wasn't having contractions of course ;) ) and I think it made it easier to give birth as well. As my skin seemed more flexible, I didn't tear. Good luck!

I wish I had the options to choose in this small area. I'll be lucky if they have a birthing bar for the bed which I'm going to ask at Thursdays appointment. To show how behind the times this place is, they are all thrilled to announce as of last year that babies stay in the room >_<
DS I had a ball, a bar, my doula and I was content. I'm going to hand them my birth plan in 2 weeks and this hospital will probably wonder wtf one is.

I am overweight to begin with and was last time too. You would still think I'm just fat until I eat something then I look pregnant but not 31 week pregnant

Sounds awful that you don't have many great choices for your birth. I think 10 lbs isn't too shabby if you were overweight to begin with , and good for you not going overboard on the weight gain. I've gained 16lbs, at 32 weeks, I was borderline underweight at the beginning. A girl I work with CONSTANTLY talks about when she is prego she always loses weight, and maybe gains 10lbs max. She brags that when she's prego, the babies just eat her up. She's overweight to begin with, but it is frustrating to hear, especially because I'm not one of those people. I know two other people who lost 20lbs while prego, obviously that situation wouldn't happen for me, but I can only imagine how much more enjoyable being prego would be if you lost or only gained a small amount. But weight has always been a thing I've had an issue with, and being prego just makes it that much worse.

Ive never been a big eater, Im just not a big mover which is the most contributing factor to my weight. With a bad hip I spend most of my day reclined or laying and light walking around the house when I can handle it. With pregnancy weight and the SPD I'm even less mobile so I am practically religious about what I eat. I force myself to eat every 2-3 hours with the diabetes when pre pregnancy I would never eat but 1-2 meals a day. And then of course there is the genetic factor. You can eat like a small canary but end up 30lbs heavier regardless! Pregnancy is a beautiful thing except for the weight gain, the morning sickness, the aches, the RLS, and whatever else our hormones decide to throw at us LOL!

If I am smuggling a potential large baby. I'd LOVE to know where. Hopefully I will get more information at my appointment today on when they plan on the growth scan etc.

20 weeks vs 31 weeks

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Nahri! You look fantastic! I see absolutely no reason there your weight wise at all! for a c/s. Honestly just stick to your guns, smile and say no thanks I want to try deliver myself. If it comes down to an emergency then so be it but I would bet good money on tha not happening. Also don't let them talk you into that go faster juice picotin?? Just let baby come at her own pace for you, like I said my girls were all on average 2lb smaller than my boys so I would put my money on 7-8lb for you, perfect little round head, out like a bullet :bigsmile:

Oh good grief! I looked bigger than that at the end of my first trimesters!! YOu are doing great, keep up the good work and I hope that they listen to reason!!!