HELP!!! OB Says bub will be a "fair size" - do OBs get it right???

I saw my OB yesterday and during the visit he said to me (after feeling baby's position) "Oh I think this baby will be a fair size...it wont be a 6 to 7 pounder..probably an 8 something!!!"
Now how can he tell just by feeling the baby??? He didnt measure me or anything??

We had a chat and then we looked back at my 34 week scan (4d) which measured bub at 2383 grams or 5lbs & 4 oz...according to the scan bub is right on the 50th percentile for weight at 34 weeks. The scan report said that at 40 weeks estimated weight would be about 3500 grams if weight steadily went on in a linear fashion.
I know that this is an estimate.

Anyway my scans have always shown bub to be ahead of my LMP dates.
My scans estimate a due date of 20/11/08
My LMP estimates 26/11/08

So yesterday my OB was ??? looking at me as 38 weeks +1 day according to LMP
while my scan dates have me at 39 weeks exactly yesterday.

Furthermore I have not put on any weight in the last 5 weeks???

Its probably all academic and I am probably getting all excited for nothing but :o
this is my first bub!!

Just wondering really how much attention should I give to estimated size before bub is born and how accurate are these estimates?
I mean he didnt measure me or anything??

TIA
Anna :D

p.s. Thanks for your great advice and supportive answers on this subject - I just thought I would add that my 12 week scan & 20 week scan both said EDD
to be 20/11/08 so measuring 6 days ahead of EDD according LMP. I dont think I am all that big at all - just all baby and the fact that I have not put on any weight in the last 4 to 5 weeks must say something. Anyway 8 pounds is not all that big and with all your support I know I can do it!!!
I was 8 ld 9 oz myself & DH was just over 7 pounds if that counts for anything!!! I have not really dropped and not having any pre- labour pains in any major way so I dont feel that bub will come before the 26th anyway - so I guess as each weeks goes by I worry myself that bub is getting bigger and bigger - oh stop it i am driving myself nuts!!!!!!!!!!

I would not worry yourself too much. I was told at my 20 week scan that my DD was 2 weeks behind in growth and that I would need to be monitered to ensure she was growing ok, I had another scan at 26 weeks and she was still 2 weeks behind. I went in for a scan at 28 weeks and was told that my baby was so small that it would not survive unless I delived her that day. I demanded another scan as although my belly was small I did not believe them, they kept me in all day and at the end of the day I had another scan and was told my baby was in the 'normal' size range for my date :o, so they could have delivered my baby that day for absolutly no reason and risked her life. I was told DD would be a 5 - 5.5 pound baby at 40 weeks, she was delivered 6.6 pounds or 2987 grams at 38.2 weeks.

Next time around I personally will not be getting sizing scan.

Don't stress about it too much, the further along in pregnancy you are the less accurate the scan is for measurements, the earliest scan is the most honest in size/date.

Deanne.

I had a late scan with DS and was told byt he scan dates he was due the previous day - my EDD was 4 weeks away and he was born another 10 days after that.
He wasnt a small baby, but i still felt there was no reason for them to scare me the way they did.
A friend of my had gestational diabeties, was told by "feel" she was having a big baby, they banied about words like caesarian etc, and she ended up giving birth naturally to a 7 and ahalf pound baby.
Theres overwhelmng evidence that we make babies the right size for our bodies to birth, so you be fine.

i dont think u have anything to worry about. 8 pound something isnt that big. 3500 grams is 7lb 11oz. just relax and enjoy the last little bit of your pregnancy.

Good luck

I would let him talk and not give it any thought at all. They are sooooo inaccurate.
I was told I was gonna have a small bub based on fundal height and just the fact that I wasn't huge and had only put on 12 kg. DD was 3.9kg (8lb 9oz) a week beforeher due date. My friend was told at her 36 week growth scan tha her bub was gonna be a "whopper" and already measured 4kg (somewhere around 9lb) and had her son via c/s (due to his "enormous size" at 41 weeks and he weighed 3.9kg (like my DD). So my daughter wasn't small as they thought and her son, although a good size, was by no means enormous.

An 8 lb baby sounds like a great, healthy size. Slightly above average, but not by much. Definitely nothing to worry about.
My nan had 6 babies all just over 5kg (11lb) all homebirths.

Size and date estimates get more and more inaccurate as you go along. Go by the earliest measurements.

Sometimes I wonder why health professionals even feel the need to make comments like that...

Saša

I wouldn't give it any thought either... with Izzy I was told she would be a "good size" and at 11 days OVER she was 8lb 13oz, big not huge! This time around at 41 weeks I was told that bub was "average" going off a scan and he was 10 pounds with a massive head!! :rofl: Not soemthing you can control and our bodies know how to make babies perfectly sized for us so enjoy and good luck!!!

Don't stress to much, like MatildasMummy I was told by my Ob that DD was very small and eventually he said I would need to probably stop working and rest so she could grow. He gave me a two week grace period, I went into premature labour at 34 weeks. DD was a 3.75kgs, she was one of the heavier prems in the nursery.

This time around he is saying the same kind of things but am I not so concerned this time.

At my 34 week scan the lady told me I must have mydates wrong and I was actually 36 weeks - and I would have a huge baby! But my OB did a scan in her rooms 2 weeks ago and it all measure perfectly! I think that the scans should be taken with a greain of salt! And I really dont htink they know how scraed it makes a mum to be when they say things like that!
I know you will have a perfect size baby!!!
Enjoy and relax!
Kate

I would ignore him to be honest. He cannot know, no-one can know, how big a baby is until after it is born. DP has a colleague who is just back from 3weeks leave after the birth of his second child, a 10lber, born at home, over an intact perineum.

8lb-something ISN'T a big baby, it's normal-sized baby, and teeny women give birth to big babies all the time. My scan estimate was almost spot on except that i was told DD was 7lbs 14 and she was 7lbs 14.5 nearly 2 weeks later... One of my midwives said she was "near 11lbs" based on "feel". Yeah right! FEAR is far more likely to make labour hard and birth difficult or impossible than a big baby.

Do not pay him heed and DO NOT doubt yourself - your body has grown a perfect bub and it will push it down out of your perfect vagina just fine.

Bx

It'll probably be okay!

Firstly, as others have said, it's a prediction, a guess, and as you can hear from plenty of stories, they're often wrong.

Secondly, my first bub was 9lb4oz, and it was fine. I did it drug free - not saying that to show off or anything, but to point out that at no stage did I even contemplate asking for drugs, and I thought I'd at least be tempted! The hormones my body produced at that time were so effective, they were all I needed! And really, the main part is head circ and position.

All the best, and have faith in your body's ability to birth - we're more capable than we realise! :D

I thought I'd weigh in to let you know that at 41+4 weeks I had 3 midwives and an ob have a feel and tell me that they would be surprised if my baby was bigger then 8 pounds. He was born 9 pounds 9! It is truly, truly inaccurate as it can be very dependent on positioning etc. It easily goes both ways. My good friend was told she was having an above average baby and she had a 6 pound 12!

As for big babies, I found my large son very easy to look after because he didn't seem so fragile! :D

Good luck!

Thank you everyone for telling me your experiences it is much appreciated and has put my mind at ease quite a bit. I editied my initial post and added a few more detailsthat may be of relevance. But as most of you girls have said relax and have confidence in your own ability to bring this baby into the world.

Anna:D

Based on your edited first post:
How regular were your cycles and how long were they?
Also, seeing that you had your first scan at 12 weeks and that measured 6 days ahead of your LMP, I would probably guess (and it really is only a guess) that your due date based on ovulation lies somewhere between the ones from the scan and the one from your LMP. So that means, yes, your baby measures a little bigger, but your LMP isn't 100% accurate either.
So no reason to worry at all, but if you go over your due date, you might have a few struggles on hand to convince them to hold off on inducing you, IYKWIM.
A scan at 12 weeks is at the top end of the time frame where scans are "reliable", so there could be a fair margin of error in there.
You were are "good sized" baby and DH was not tiny either. I bet you both aren't tiny now... So it would be only natural to expect your bub to be a "fair size" - whatever that means.

Saša

Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong. It doesn't really matter anyway though - there is no reason that you can't birth the baby even if it's big. Nature rarely makes a baby bigger than you can deliver. People don't give nature enough credit LOL!

*pft* I wouldn't give what your ob says too much 'weight' (:ROFL: at her own joke). My ob never brought up size concerns with me and my DD came out at 9 pounds 7 ounces (or 4.27kg) and was very surprised!
Just do this :tmi:

I was sent for a 34wk scan with dd because my fundal height was not increasing, they told me that bub was not growing!!! When I had the scan done the sonographer told me that she was perfect size and I had nothing to worry about. Then the ob told me that going by the scan that bub was going to be short and chubby...pfttt. She was long and skinny and 3.4kgs.

BTW my SIL was told that her boy would be 4kgs, he was born 2.8kgs...go figure

Don't worry about size hon as long as bub is healthy and a "big" baby does not mean that labour will be more painful at all..all the best

Not long now Annabelle, I am so excited for you. You are going to do wonderfully bringing your little bubba into this world. Take it easy hun, and have in your mind that you are going to be a mummy soon and that is the most precious thing in the world. I know as time is getting closer for you to meet you little one all the nerves amd anxiety start surfacing, I was the same even with my last. Take Care hun, and I cant wait to hear your BA. hugs

I was told from about 32 weeks "hmm bigger than average" at each visit. On the arrival of my 6lb7oz (2.9kg) 46cm DD the OB exclaimed "More petite than I anticipated!" Then said "it's all just guesswork really" so from the mouth of my very experienced OB they basically have no idea!