It’s one of those inevitable comments you get when you are pregnant. ‘Isn’t your bump small’ or ‘Isn’t your bump big’. Neither of which I have come to realise have little bearing on the birth weight of your baby.

The birth weight of the girls wasn’t really something I ever really considered. Obviously I wasn’t exactly relishing the thought of a giant 9lb baby but so long as they were healthy then that was ok.

Then when I developed Obstetric Cholestasis with Molly I started to worry a bit. She was most definitely going to be arriving early, although how early we didn’t know. As if being told of the serious risks of OC wasn’t enough they then decided that she was very small. It was too much for me to take in and having all those additional worries just made it harder. Off I was sent for a growth scan and turns out she was just fine. I just had a small bump but these sorts of comments are the one’s that make you worry.

In the end Molly was born at 36 weeks weighing a healthy 6lb 6oz. I’m guessing she would have been a large baby if I’d gone full term. She was pretty tiny though and I remember being to hold her just on my forearm. She ended up being in Neo Natal for a short while due to some complications but I have to say that compared to the other babies in there she was giant. Most babies do loose weight after birth but Molly lost a lot and at one point was down 5lb 5oz which was worrying. Luckily, once we were home she started to gain weight and steadily grew in line with her chart.

My bump was a lot bigger with Alice. I felt huge but yet again I was told she was measuring small so more growth scans were planned. Turned out that my doctor and midwife had both been measuring me slightly differently and so it was sending my chart all out of kilter.

Alice was also born at 36 weeks and weighed 6lb 12oz. Again, she was tiny but but she was the complete opposite to Molly. Despite being so small she soon piled on the pounds after birth. When she was born she was on the 25th percentile of her chart, by 4 weeks she was on the 91st!

On the flip side I have friends who have been worrying as they have been told their baby is really big only to have a teeny tiny person. I just don’t think you can tell.

I’ve often wondered if there is a real difference in giving birth to a heavier baby. Is it really going to be as hard as you would imagine versus a little tiny dot? Obviously each labour is different. However, my mum has had 4 kids (crazy!) and can honestly say she doesn’t remember much difference between the births despite our weights ranging from 6lb to 9lb 8oz (that would be my brother!!).

So what was the birth weight of your baby? Was it in line with expectations and a reflection of your bump size or a complete surprise?

Image by Anna at We Are The Clarkes.