Too small to birth naturally?

My brothers friend just had baby...she is very tiny like a size 8. She had a c section as she was told because she is so small she would need as having the baby would tear her in half? She was told of a story sbout another firend who birthed naturally and was tiny and all her insides fell out???? Can someone tell me how that happens and why?

I find this really hard to believe? So is that a decent enough reason to give someone a C section? I am just sad she didnt know about BB and didnt get fully informed :( I have watched small woman give birth to huge babies?


Please correct me if I am wrong :)

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she was told because she is so small she would need as having the baby would tear her in half? She was told of a story sbout another firend who birthed naturally and was tiny and all her insides fell out???? Can someone tell me how that happens and why?

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:shakehead::shakehead: it's stories like these that 'small' women get told, and it scares them into wanting to have C.sections!! (sometimes).....

I believe the majority of cases, many smaller women can birth their babies naturally even if they are huge babies like 11 or 12pds or so!!! There are so many stories out there where small women have done this :clap: their body is designed to carry their particular baby.
Obviously though in saying this, there are cases where some smaller women or women in general, no matter whether you are a size 6 or a size 16, have trouble birthing their baby naturally, well should I say vaginally... due to medical reasons, exhaustion from long labour etc etc.... hence why c/sections are definitely needed in certain situations and can be very life saving!! We are so lucky c.sections are around however they are definitely over -used these days and that's a shame.

Hopefully Kelly see's this as she'll no doubt attach a link to a website that shows images and info about small women, i mean tiny women who birthed HUGE babies like 12pds or more.... it's really interesting!!!! It's on BB somewhere here....

I've heard that this one is generally a scare tactic used by Obs to coerce people into caesarians... not sure of the truth in *that*, BUT I do know that a woman's pelvis is designed to pull apart and stretch right out during labour. No doctor can really predict a woman's ability to stretch until she is right there doing it! ;)

My midwife told me of a tiny woman, a size six, who looked barely pregnant. She was giving birth and the baby just kept coming, and coming, and coming - it was a whopper! 11 pounds all up. Both mother and baby were a-ok. I love hearing stories like that!

Thanks hun! I totally agree that we need C sections I wouldnt be here if it were not for them :) and I believe if you make an educated and informed descion to have one its your right, just makes me sad that she may not have know she could do it naturally....thanks goodness for BB and opening my eyes to so much :)

I am pretty sure I have seen the link from Kelly???

ETA thanks Evee! I totally think it was a scare tatic :(

My grandma was 4ft11 and her babies were all born at home with no tearing and no prolapses. 11 babies in all. And she had one that was 11lb and one that was 13lb, the rest were all at tiny 9lb :lol:

It's simply not true that women who are small can't give birth. Pelvises OPEN to allow babies out. And being small isn't a cause of a prolapse after birth, pelvic floor damage is the reason and that can be prevented with pelvic floor excercises during pregnancy in most cases.

You can't accurately predict whether or not a baby will fit through a pelvis until it's TRYING to get through it, and the pelvis is TRYING to open up.

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I've heardBUT I do know that a woman's pelvis is designed to pull apart and stretch right out during labour. No doctor can really predict a woman's ability to stretch until she is right there doing it! ;)

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I think it has more to do with the shape of the pelvis than the size of the woman. I've also read that nature dictates that most women will grow a baby that is of a size their pelvis is capable of birthing. Gotta love Mother Nature... the human body is such an amazing thing!

I thought it was all to do with Pelvis too?

I am 5ft 2 and 48kg (sz 6) and have vaginally birthed 3 children (no insides falling out).
My mother is smaller and had 6kids.

One of my boys was nearly 9lbs :o

I looked absolutely huge my last two pregnancy's and people would look at my like :o
Sounds like a scare tactic to me without knowing all the facts.

Yep I'm sub 50kg most of the time and was a size 7 with my first and had no problems. I know of much larger (framed, I don't mean weight) women that have had problems!

If a caregiver use the term "Tear her in half" then I'd be telling her to complain! That's awful!

Perhaps though she has embellished what was said because she felt she had to to justify the reasons why she elected to have a c/sect IYKWIM.

I'm 5ft and was a size 6 when I had DS and DD1 and both of them were born vaginally with no tearing or anything as already said its all to do with the uterus and pelvis nothing to do with weight/height/size etc

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Perhaps though she has embellished what was said because she felt she had to to justify the reasons why she elected to have a c/sect IYKWIM

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Thats what I am thinking...plus this is second hand talk too...my brothers GF is friends with her and told me!

I am just sad that she might have been bullied or scared into it! Make sme want to be a doula/birth educator even more :)

It is definitely to do with pelvis and not dress size. My sister has been told the same though and believes it after her first birth resulted in a c-section for maternal exhaustion after a long, posterior, labour. She is soon heading for her 3rd caesarean :wall: and will tell anyone who listens that size 4-6 women cannot birth vaginally if their baby is over 7lbs.

It sounds a bit like Chinese whispers and yep, she may have embellished.

For instance, for this one I may CHOOSE to have a caesarean because I'm scared of the damage that a vaginal birth could do to my pelvic instability (took me 18 months to recover last time). Now, if I say this to my mum, before you know it she will have turned it into, "the doctors told Fiona she had to have a caesarean otherwise she'll be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life." That's what happens with secondhand stories.

Here is the link to Kelly's thread re: size

https://www.bellybelly.com.au/forums...es-nudity.html

My Ob told me I had a very small pelvis and was having what he expected to be a large baby which made me freak. But he settled my worries when he said that women generally don't have babies that are too big for them. As it was, I gave birth a-la-natural to a 7lb 13oz baby with no epidural.

Aaaah this is one of those wonderful stories pedalled to feed the fear of birth!

The fact is that pigmies deliver babies... No obs around there... Japanese women are often tiny & they have amazingly been having babies for millenia! :lol:

It is an amazing thing that women don't grow babies too big for them almost always! (unless there is an illness like GD - or fetal issues)

It is the bodies amazing design that the pelvis opens - the coccyx scoots up outta the way - women squat and swirl and grunt to open their bodies!

It is very rare to have a pelvis too small for your baby... It is the pelvis and not the size of your jeans that matters! :hug:

argh! typing while bfing so will keep this short -

even worse!! my cousin who is very tall and big framed has been told by her ob that a big woman like her will need a csec if her baby is big. accordong to her, big women van only birth small babies! what a load of f-n crap! :rolleyes:

I'm so sick of hearing crap like this, it's just so untrue.

Like a few others girls have posted, I am 5 ft 1, and 46kg, so a size 6-8 and I gave birth to my DS vaginally with no problems at all!

It is definitely a scare tactic! Not once did anybody make mention of the fact that I am small and couldn't birth my baby, which is probably a good thing as I more than likely would have snotted them one lol

This thread is making me laugh (not at your brother's friend's possible misinformed decision but at the idea of being "too small").

Read my birth story (link in my sig) - I'm 4'11" & had a 9lb 10 baby boy vaginally, drug free & all! As several women have already posted here about their similar experiences, any problems giving birth will have absolutely no connection to the mother's size.

My Mum is 5ft nothing and gave birth to my sister breech BUM first!

I do think there is a lot of intervention out there. Especially here in Singa's the smaller asian women seem to think they don't have the ability to birth naturally (especially if there baby is mixed with caucasian (as they think we are MASSIVE)).....I just don't think there is enough education out there for women and some people just take the word of their doctors, even though some of the doctors just seem to push for c-sections coz it's Chinese new year or whatever! Geez I'm babbling!!! xo

I havent read all your replys but I am guessing they will be the same as mine...

I was 46kg( well myt starting weight, put on over 30kgs:redface:) and 165cm ( size 6/8) when I gave birth to DS he was 3.5kg all natural without drugs... it can be done...