Meredith's Baby-Birthing Post is up!

[Grace]

Big baby! 9lbs 8oz. But it sounds like she had a fairly easy time of it and labor and birth went quickly.

alexanderadventuresfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/welcome-margaret-alice.html

[treemom]

They look very happy. I only hope that Maggie is allowed to pursue anything she wants and isn't held back by being raised to believe women have to be X and X only.

[MissSeptember]

Aww they look so happy. The picture of Steve and Meredith in the hospital bed make them look so normal, and she still looks so pretty even after giving birth naturally!

I've never had a baby (not for lack of trying) but is it common for the midwives to be wrong about things like the due date and almost 3 pounds off from the baby's weight?

[clibbyjo]

This is the "most normal and not crazy eyes" I have seen Steven. Meredith looks great in the white dress picture especially. I cannot believe she is sitting on that couch in jeans without a donut after an almost 10 pounder for her first baby.

[maybeizfundie]

It's common for midwives and doctors to be off on weight. Ultrasound can be off by 2 lb or more.

What an adorable chubs of a baby. :) And Merideth looks great!

[Alcyone]

The thing that stuck out for me is that the baby has great-great-grandparents who are still living. If they all had their first baby in their early twenties, of course, it is very possible that the double greats are only in their mid- to late eighties. I guess this is such a surprise to me because in my family, late-in-life babies are more the norm. This little one sure does have a lot of love surrounding her.

In the pic of Meredith on the couch, isn't she sitting on something? I think I see something under her and she is leaning at an angle. It is hard to sit normally for a week or two after the first baby, even after the best of births.

[helloemi]

Well, wasn't she pregnant very shortly after they married? Perhaps the VERY big baby girl and off due date mean that the honeymoon baby was conceived a bit earlier than they want to admit?

The baby was EARLY and the baby was 9lbs 8oz...Hmmm... She didn't have gestational diabetes which would explain this.

I have never given birth...but is it odd to be 4-5mm dialated at your midwives visit 3 weeks before giving birth?

[Guest Anonymous]

Well, wasn't she pregnant very shortly after they married? Perhaps the VERY big baby girl and off due date mean that the honeymoon baby was conceived a bit earlier than they want to admit?

The baby was EARLY and the baby was 9lbs 8oz...Hmmm... She didn't have gestational diabetes which would explain this.

I have never given birth...but is it odd to be 4-5mm dialated at your midwives visit 3 weeks before giving birth?

She married in early-mid December and I don't think she saw much of Stephen before the wedding, so it doesn't seem like an oops baby to me. Also, her due date was Sept 10th and she was a few days late, not early.

[emmiedahl]

She was sitting sideways in that pic, a pose I remember from my own huge baby nightmare. Ugh, I swelled up so bad it felt like I had a basketball between my legs.

It is unusual with your first baby to be that dilated, that early. It's also unusual for a first baby to be so big and not way overdue. But it's within the realm of possibility. I'm betting they pulled a Lina and fudged it a little bit. Really, no one cares once the baby is born anyway.

That is one fat baby! I have big ones, but they have never been little chunky monkeys like that.

[desertvixen]

She definitely looks like she's sitting on a white pillow - and it's possible those are her maternity jeans. I wore mine home from the hospital just because I wanted to wear real clothes again.

She looks great and the baby is very cute.

[Koala]

Farmerdaddy? That would be a no.

[Beeks]

Farmerdaddy? That would be a no.

Yeah for some reason that name creeped me out. Sounds skeevy.

[haveapicniclife]

Well, wasn't she pregnant very shortly after they married? Perhaps the VERY big baby girl and off due date mean that the honeymoon baby was conceived a bit earlier than they want to admit?

The baby was EARLY and the baby was 9lbs 8oz...Hmmm... She didn't have gestational diabetes which would explain this.

I have never given birth...but is it odd to be 4-5mm dialated at your midwives visit 3 weeks before giving birth?

It's not odd to be dilated that much before giving birth. I walked around 4cm dilated with child #2 for about a month before he finally popped out at the end of his 36th week. He was just ready (or else my body was just plain done). I was 5cm dilated with my 3rd child before even noticing I was in labor. It was a surprise (she was also a good 3 weeks early). It makes for a much faster, easier labor IMO.

Oops, meant to add that my first baby was also my largest of my 3. It does happen, especially going postdates like that. Meredith looks great and the baby is cute. I bet she went into size 1 diapers right away!

[Cannelle]

I was 3 cm when the nurse-midwife checked me the day before I had my son. And due dates can be off. When I tested positive for pregnancy, I sat down with a calendar, counted the days, and told my mom, "The baby should be here sometime around Aunt K's birthday (June 21st)." Went to the doctor, he took out the spinny wheel thing, and told me my due date was July 5th.

Baby was born June 22nd. BOOYAH! :D

Editing to add: My son had a great-great grandmother until he was 3. :)

[oolong]

Yeah, it is totally normal for weight estimates and due dates to be way off. I had an ultrasound the day I went into labor that said my baby was 7 1/2 pounds and I was estimated to be 38 weeks pregnant... I was actually 42 weeks pregnant (and my dates were indisputable because there was only one time she could have been conceived!) and she weighed 6 1/2 pounds. Actually really bothers me, because if I had gone with an OB instead of a midwife, they would have induced labor early and I could've had a barely 6 pound baby.

And yeah, she isn't sitting normally. It looks embarrassingly and painfully obvious that she has just given birth the usual way. I bet Margaret will laugh at that photo someday!

[justakitten]

It's very possible for baby weights to be off. My second daughter was 11 lbs 2 oz. I remember asking my nurse at my 38 week appt if she thought the baby was going to be big. "Oh no, ____, your baby won't be big at all."

Whoops.

[Jessica]

This is totally unscientific and just my observation with all my friends, but everyone I've ever known who was told they'd have a "really big baby" and "might need a c-section because the baby is too big" has ended up having a 7-8 pounds baby. If you read "The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth" there's more information on that.

My midwife estimated somewhere between 7 1/2 and 8 lbs. My boy was 7 lb 11 oz. :)

Unrelated - I didn't think Meredith wore/wears pants.

[antifundie]

Maybe I'm a giant prude, but I would be PISSED if my mom posted that much info about any pregnancy/childbirth I experienced! Granted, she doesn't blog, and I'm sure permission was given in Meredith's case, but ew.

[duplessis3]

Farmerdaddy sounds like the title of a gay porn film. And he isn't that baby's daddy anyway. What is wrong with Grandpa? Papa? Grampie? Grand Dad? Collossel asshole? (CA for short.) Hopefully the baby will end up choosing the names for her grandparents herself. (My parents are Mema and Papa.)

And awww...I love a big fat baby. My second was fat like that.

[emmiedahl]

I love fat babies too! Especially little girls, with their big roly legs hanging out of little baby dresses. None of my babies have been that fat. :(

[titus2_4u]

I like her name choice!

[browngrl]

just some info about due dates:

In the first trimester the gestational age usually has an error margin of + or - about 5 -7 days (depending on the gestational age and depending on what reference charts you use). By the third trimester the gestational age estimated by ultrasound has a margin of + or - 3 weeks. So if you have a dating ultrasound early in pregnancy the dates are pretty accurate but if the first dating u/s is in the third trimester the dates have a pretty wide variation.

[Beeks]

just some info about due dates:

In the first trimester the gestational age usually has an error margin of + or - about 5 -7 days (depending on the gestational age and depending on what reference charts you use). By the third trimester the gestational age estimated by ultrasound has a margin of + or - 3 weeks. So if you have a dating ultrasound early in pregnancy the dates are pretty accurate but if the first dating u/s is in the third trimester the dates have a pretty wide variation.

Yes! I remember with my first I had an u/s at 5weeks and then some testing done in the third tri. The doc who did the third tri u/s was SO gung ho to change my due date based on the baby measuring so big, but luckily my doctor said no, she saw the fetus at 5 weeks and it was definitely a 5wk fetus! I also happened to know exactly when I got pregnant, and knew that the other doctor was wrong, but he never backed down and just kept insisting I and my OB had to be wrong. Silly.

[NurseNell]

I like her name choice!

Me too. It was my great grandmother's name.

Nell

[keeperrox]

Unrelated - I didn't think Meredith wore/wears pants.

I'm pretty sure she wears what Stephen tells her she can wear. I've held all along, that Stephen might actually be good for Meredith, though, because he isn't from a fundy upbringing and is very well educated, even if he is a staunch conservative. I really think that their relationship might be one where her idea of submission is not as damaging to her as others. Who knows... they could grow out of patriarchy together?