Does it hurt more to birth a larger baby?

[nellnell]

Weird question I know, but I get hassled whenever I get asked about my births. Apparently I had it 'easy' and 'of course I wouldn't have needed drugs'.

DD - 6pd, 9oz (HC was 33) Active labour total 4.5hours (45mins 2nd stage)
DS - 5pd 14oz (HC was 31) Active labour total 5.5 hours (10 mins 2nd stage)

Bit of background - I chose to have drug free labours and both were induced (ARM and Synto). I did sustain 2nd degree tears with both, even though I birthed on all fours.

Saying that though, I know that most babies are the perfect size for your body (I'm quite tall, but not overly small - approx size 10)

So what I really want to know is, IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, does it hurt more to birth a larger baby?

[Tinks]

I have never birthed a big baby but I wouldn't imagine it would be any different. Of all my friends, the ones who had bigger babies (i'm talking 9-11lb here) didn't have stitches. All of us who had babies under 7lb had stitches.

[~clover~]

Mine were 7lb 5oz - 8lb 9oz. I don't think it hurt more at all.

[Bathsheba]

In my experience; no. I've vaginally given birth to 3 babies: 7 pounds, 8 pounds, 9 pounds (in that order). All felt pretty much the same pain wise. I didn't tear with any. Had minimal pain relief, minimum dose pethidine mainly. All were considered long births but that's only according to the very time constricted hospital system. My 3rd baby came out with his arm up over his head... but like I said, all felt the same. Labour was hard for me... 2 were induced. The best pain relief is having caring people around you... stressed/annoyed hospital staff are the worst thing for making pain worse.... worse than a bigger baby IMO (in my opinion).

[meow]

I was just thinking about this the other day. I used to think it would hurt less to have a smaller baby. I had an almost 10 pound baby drug free and sure it hurt. I tore but I think that was because of positions (I was on birthing stool and he was on an angle).

But what is the pain from? Contractions- you're going to get those regardless of the size of your baby and Crowning- pushing a lemon out would hurt so a 20cm, 30cm, whatever head is really not going to feel all that different. So all birth can feel the same regardless of the size of the baby. I would agree that bigger variants to pain would be the mother's mental state, position of the baby, position of the mother etc.

[Emma1979]

for me, i judge how hard/painful a labour is by the duration of it..... i can get my head around being in incredible pain for several hours, what i wasn't prepared for was being in incredible mind blowing pain for in excess of 24 hours....

i feel like i can get a grip on the pain if it isn't never ending... if i could have my second baby in say 10 hours or under, then i know i will think of it as the 'less painful' of the two labours, no matter what happens this time around... does that make any sense at all?

my first was 8 pounds 7.... i'm hoping for a healthy baby this time, but smaller would put my mind more at ease, but you don't find out the size until they are out so i guess its all irelevant!...

[Butterfly Child]

my dd was 10lb, it was a pretty tough labour but only because it was induced imo... i didnt have any tears or stitches, the labour was 10hrs of full on labour too i havent got anything to compare it to though x

[Pandora]

mine were both within 20gm in size but significantly different pain-wise.

first birth, DS was 10lb 4oz induced at 9 days over, and i was having very painful contractions for a 6 and a half hour labour. Being allowed int he bath helped somewhat but i got out with intolerable leg cramps (from my toe to my hip, both legs doubled over and I couldnt stand.sit.kneel, I was lying down with a midwife on one side and dh on the other stretching my legs out. I had gas for the last 1/2 hour before pushing. Pushing seemed excruciating
Second stage 2+hours
First degree tear that was sutured.

Second birth, bub was 10lb 3oz. I wasnt sure until my contractions were coming 4 in ten minutes, that it was the real thing, becuase I hadnt gone in to spontaneous labour with number 1. I drove home from my aqua class about a haf hour after they started at 4 per 10 mins.
They were painful and I knew it was the real deal byt he timing of them, but didnt want to freak DH out so stayed pretty quiet for the 30min drive to hospital.
was in transition byt he time we got there so the usual (for me) no im not pushing anymore i'll go home now thanks very much..
5 min second stage.
3.5 hours all up, significantly less pain leading up to the birth, and i think the shortness of the pushing stage is making me remmeber it as less painful than it was, but in all I was much happier with this birth than the first.