It Can Be Done!

Ya know.... seems more and more women are being given c-sections these days because "they're baby is too big". Their obstetrician may encourage an early induction, perhaps as early as 37 or 38 weeks. They're estimating the baby being a 10 pounder if baby is still in womb at the 40 week mark! WOW. That's huge isn't it!? NOT. But still.... the get em out early or get em cut out later card is played. Even when a woman chooses to get em out early, there's that chance the induction will fail or cause complications which leads to the knife anyways.

Now, I personally, didn't birth HUGE babies, at least they weren't huge to me. My brothers were both just shy of 10 lbs, one of em said to be 3 weeks early. Of course, typically, when I tell someone that both my girls were 8.25 lbs they immediately respond with "You had big girls!" Granted, they say average is 7.5 lbs... you've gotta consider that because of the increased number of elective inductions and c-sections, especially those taking place before the 38th week, that number has to be skewed.

My girls were born at 40w4d & 41w0d, so they had plenty of growing time. My 2nd weighed 2-3 oz. more than my first, but she baked 3 days longer. Makes sense, right? With my 1st I gained all of 45 lbs, but didn't even hit the 10 lb mark with my 2nd thanks to healthier eating habits and some exercise... and morning sickness. However, my gain appeared to have no impact whatsoever on theirs. (Gals, if you think "dieting" during pregnancy is gonna help you give birth to a smaller baby, it won't. So, eat right!)

Some women just naturally have smaller babies, some naturally have larger babies. Either way it goes, their body was designed to birth the babies they conceive. There are some exceptions, like when a mother was malnourished as a child/teen, perhaps due to an eating disorder, and her body doesn't develop properly. However, most of the time, this is not the case.

I said I didn't think my girls were big, so what is big, to me? A 10 lb+ newborn, in my opinion, is a big baby. However, not impossible to birth vaginally. A friend of mine recently birthed a 10.5 lb girl in her 41st week of pregnancy. It was a long, hard labor, but she did it..... she birthed that baby naturally..... in her home! She's an all-star! So is this blogger's wife. The birth story of their 4th child is not one that typically follows the birth of an almost 11.5 lb baby. There's no hospital involved, no cutting, and no stitches. Their story is a prime example of how amazing the human, especially female, body is. They allowed her body to take the time it needed to do what it was supposed to do and it did it, quite well, too.

Note she says she didn't have a bit of tearing. Alot of you are wondering how that's possible? Well.... like I said, her body was allowed time, she wasn't giving birth flat on her back, and for the most part, she pushed when her body told her to, not when a nurse was shouting in her face to hold her breath and push while that nurse counted to ten (which is what most of us have experienced or is familiar with. ugh.) Purple pushing or directed pushing, most often seen in the hospital, is not kind to our babies or our bottoms, especially the latter of the two. Purple pushing or pushing when you don't feel the urge (before your body is ready) will not only exhaust you, but possibly rip you a new one. Women should be encouraged to push at their pace, not their doctor's or the nurses attending. Mother directed pushing is going to be the most effective and comfortable form of pushing. It's also going to allow the woman's body to slowly stretch and accommodate the emerging head of her newborn. Of course.... mother directed pushing isn't always gonna spare a gal stitches, but it will always help; Laying flat on your back is not the ideal position for a woman to push a baby out for SEVERAL reasons. However, it is what's easiest for the physician who is "catching" the newborn babe.

Women's bodies were made to give birth, naturally, even to 11.5 lb babies, without it ripping them a new one and especially without going under the knife. But again . . . the typical American woman, giving birth in a hospital, is physically restricted and on a time limit, not for her, or her baby's benefit, but her obstetrician's.

gag.