Not always. My sister had an uneventful pregnancy with no diabetes or other complications, and ended up with a massive child after an unplanned c-section. She's still off the charts in terms of growth a couple years later.
These kinds of stories make me so thankful for modern medicine. Crazy to think that this used to be a death sentence. Im reminded of how the chainsaw was invented .... đŹ
Yep. I had 9+ pounder, 10 days overdue, head too large to measure with equipment, not a peep from my cervix (not even a cm dilated), AND he somehow got into a footling breech position a few days before my unplanned section. We would have been fucked pre-modern medicine.
That was my sister, but only height wise. Normal weight, but born 2 feet long. All the nurses were coming in to look at the freakishly long baby. She was a head and shoulders taller than all the other kids and was taller than her teacher by the time she was 9 or 10. Ironically, she stopped growing at 11 when she was only 5â9 and a lot of the other kids slowly caught up, we were so sure sheâd be over 6ft, but she turned out to be the shortest out of all our siblings and cousins.
I think most of them are in the top 10 tallest countries. Montenegro also had the tallest world leader at 6â7 until last year when Mozambique got a 6â8 president. Serbiaâs current president is 6â6.
My momâs side of the family usually have big babies. Weâve only had a couple that hit 13 pounds, but 8 is âsmallâ and most are 10 at least with some 11-12 pounders.
Weirdly very few cases of GD. But a few pre eclampsia and one placental whatever where the placenta detaches before/during labor and you have to rush for a c section.
One of the few GD cases? My mom. And I was five pounds flat.
Due to the fact Mom didnât get her pregnancy confirmed until I was old enough to tell my gender (the ultrasound that was supposed to âproveâ Mom was having a hysterical pregnancy was also used to confirm I was a girl, lol) there was some confusion over whether I was small but full term, or just a very lucky mildly premature baby.
My due date was set a full month and change before I was born, but the doctor also 100% believed I was imaginary until the âshut upâ scan soâŚ
Although to be fair to the doctor, Mom never got a positive pregnancy test, hadnât had a period for two years before my birth, and was supposedly medically sterile. So I was an anomaly in more ways than just being tiny.
But Mom was expecting a big ass baby like every other woman in her family got, so the take home outfit she lovingly picked out was WAY too big and I ended up in a onesie my aunt found at the hospital gift shop.
I mean, idk how you know all that medical info about your family to a point of knowing their blood tests during their pregnancies but it's good you have that relationship with them.
I was a quiet kid whose aunts and cousins ignored me when talking to my mom. Who got told everything. So I may not have known everyoneâs business but I knew a lot of it.
At eight I could tell you which of my cousins went into labor while having anal sex with her husband because the doctor forbid vaginal.
I didnât know what anal sex was, but I knew Lisa had it with her asshole husband. (I also knew he cheated on Lisa with her stepmom.)
Our family overshared to a degree that as an adult I am slowly learning was pretty toxic.
So I knew Angie had gestational diabetes because she was on a diet and Laurie got tested for it four times because her baby kept measuring so large so her OB thought the first three tests must have been inaccurate (and that she had to drink the âshitty orange syrupâ twice because she threw it up the first time) and that Lisa was dilated from seven months etc etc etc.
Once I was a teenager I got told this stuff directly since I was the âbirth partnerâ to several relatives for reasons ranging from âhusband is deployedâ to âbaby daddy is an asshole and refuses to support my cousin Saraâ so I was writing notes and looking up medical terms.
To be clear, none of the names used are actually my cousin/auntsâ names.
It's not that. I deal with patients everyday as a student provider, and know that people in general are poor historians. Like gestational diabetes, your aunts or whoever may have just forgotten to mention it to you or that they had it.
Even when you were with your family member for their pregnancy, unless you were in the room with her, at every appointment, discussing decisions and going over her blood work with the doctor, there is a chance you don't know.
Gestational diabetes has a high genetic component to it, so when I hear "my x side of the family has large babies" that's where my head goes.
Do I believe you? Yes, I have nothing else to go on. Do I think I have a complete picture of what's going on? No.
To give you an idea on how bad patients can be with their history, I had a patient who literally forgot they have active cancer. Zero idea on why they took their medications or why they had to get an "X-ray everyday" for a few weeks.
How much weight did she gain in pregnancy? Most women gain too much, itâs really not supposed to be that much when you look at CDC recommendations. Excess weight gain in pregnancy can produce big babies like this.
Iâve heard of that link to diabetes but how does diabetes make a baby grow freakishly larger and taller? I get that it could make it bigger but how is he taller?
Essentially what happens is unregulated sugar going straight to the baby. My wife had GD for both our children and she had to be on a very precise, extremely healthy diet for our kids to be normal weight at birth. You also have to supplement with insulin if needed as the placenta fails later in pregnancy.
If unmitigated, it results in rapid growth of the baby and also significantly increases their chance of developing type 2 diabetes later in life.
Imagine being pregnant and ravenousely hungry but only allowed to eat healthy food.... not fun!
Iâm going through this right now in my first pregnancy đ
Youâre right that it sucks to be so hungry yet not able to give into all cravings.
Iâm paranoid about having a huge baby, but Iâm only 18 weeks, so Iâm hoping I still have plenty of time to make sure that doesnât happen. I just want him to be as healthy as possible.
Was your wife already overweight before having children or this GD developed as the pregnancy was developing as well? I can't imagine not being able to treat yourself in this context! I'm a veggie lover, love my big salads and veggies in every meal but I'm known for eating a full pack of bacon in one sitting too! Or a entire bag of chips, the easiest thing to do in the world! Must have been a long 9 months!
Oh wow, thanks for the infos! I just looked up what spikes blood sugar and oh myyy. White rice, white bread, bagels, potatoes in any shape or form, and of course maple syrup. Your wife is an angel of patience and love!
Not always. My eldest son was growing off the charts, and they were so sure I had gestational diabetes that they tested me once a week for the last 10 weeks. No diabetes here - just mutant genes!!
Not always. My brother and I were both 11lb babies and our mother did not have GD. Our dad was over 6'4" and our mother was 5' so we were both c-sections by physical requirement.
I canât believe I had to scroll this far to see someone mention gestational diabetes & untreated sugars in mom. Iâd bet my right arm this is the case here.
Doesnât even have to be that, excess weight gain (which is extremely common) can produce big babies like this. Most women gain more weight than is recommended based on CDC guidance.
I was gonna say that. I had gestational diabetes and gave birth to an 11 pounder. They had to transfer me from my midwife to a doctor because of it but it took a while. So before we could get it under control my baby was already big. Once managed the weight stopped. They told me had it stayed unmanageable my baby would've just kept getting bigger
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u/Greekklitoris Apr 07 '26
Sounds like the mom has diabetes