I had an appointment with my midwife yesterday and when I arrived she was just finishing up an appointment with a friend of mine. She made a comment that her baby was probably going to be a big one since she was measuring 1-2 weeks further along and our MW made a comment about her thinking is that the larger babies come out easier because our uterus doesn’t have to work as hard squishing the baby out (although I am pretty sure she didn’t use the word squishing…).
So last night I was tossing and turning in bed thinking about this and I can related it best to a bottle of ketchup, so let me try.
When you have a full bottle of ketchup you have to turn it over give it a little wiggle and then squeeze and you will get a nice amount of ketchup before you need to let the air bubble rise to the top so you can continue squeezing. Right?
Well when you have a bottle that is only ½ full or less you have to wiggle and shake and tap that ketchup down and SQUEEZE. The air bubble doesn’t rise as easily and then you have to tap, tap again and SQUEEZE. You following me?
So if you are pregnant and delivering a larger baby (let’s say 8lbs +) your uterus doesn’t have to contract in as far to ‘grab hold’ of that baby and squeeze that baby out. Now if you have a smaller baby your uterus has to contract more each time, then let up then contract down further again making it work more and more.
Maybe that is why some women with smaller babies have longer labors? I don’t know, but I am curious and I think I might start paying attention to this a little more. My kids (including surro’s) have all been between 8lbs5oz and 10lbs4oz. My labors have been (start to finish) 45minutes to 4 hours long. Correlation?
Does my theory make sense to you? Can you follow it? ….next time you are fighting with that bottle of ketchup you’ll probably chuckle to yourself imagining that your uterus is contacting to get that last bit out!!
By the way, I *love* ketchup. I don't like mayo, mustard, BBQ sauce or things like that; add ketchup to my sandwich any day! Thanksgiving? Please pass the ketchup for my turkey.
Bwahahahahaha, this is hilarious!!!! Best post ever! :D Totally going to think of that when I eat ketchup now, which is actually an improvement. Normally, I associate ketchup with Uptain Sinclair's, The Jungle.
ReplyDeleteFWIW:
R-6.lbs., 8 oz.-11 hrs labor, 15 mins. pushing
L-6 lbs., 15 oz.-9 hrs labor, 3 pushes (1 set)
H-7 lbs., 15 oz.-induction...but I pushed once and they told me to stop so they could get the cord unwrapped and then poof, she was out. :)
We might get to find out :)
ReplyDeleteHannah was 8 pounds and my labor was 22 hours. Natalie was 9.8 and my labor was 15 hours. I like your amusing comparison, but don't think it works like that, at least not in all cases. I'd hate to see how long my labor would be with a 5 pound baby, if that were the case....
ReplyDeleteI like Ketchup too!
Ketchup and contractions, never thought I would see those two words used together; interesting thought though
ReplyDeleteGross, ketchup on turkey.
ReplyDeleteOkay I don't technically agree only based on my personal experience. I have small babies in my opionion and quick labors.
Kennedy 6 lbs 7 ounces 4 1/2 hours
Madison 5 lbs 11 or 14 ounces 2 hours
Wrigley 6 lbs 5 ounces Idk how long, but was 1 hour from 5cm to delivery.
And I agree interesting thoughts, I think you are hilarious!
Maybe is does correlate, it just depends on the size of the Ketchup Bottle....:)
ReplyDeleteGenifer
Heather you crack me up! I guess I will have one more reason to look forward to my bigger babies. Although this one seems to be a bit smaller...maybe! Or maybe I should hope the same size???
ReplyDeleteha! my DD was 9.6 and i labored for 14 hours. my DS was 9.12 but was induced and i only labored for 5hours. i'm sure it would have been longer if i wasn't induced!
ReplyDeleteSince the labor does the work of opening the cervix, it probably has little to do with the size of the baby. However, after dilation, when pushing time comes, a larger baby make take less uterine work. We should be analyzing the amount of time spent in the PUSHING phase and it's correlation to baby size.
ReplyDeleteMine were all 8.8 - 8.11 and pushing was... I don't know... 10 minutes? tops.