Is it possible to have a 12 pound baby born vaginally?

Why yes it is!  I got this e-mail from a reader.  (A google search found the biggest baby born vaginally was 15 pounds!)

I ran across your web site while looking for articles on the worlds biggest baby & i was wondering about the largest to ever be delivered vaginally.

My mom is 5 feet tall & had all 4 of her big babies vaginally. I was the smallest at 9lbs even, induced 1 week early b/c i was “too big” my little brother was the largest at 10lbs.

So I expected to have large babies. i’m 5′ 7″ and rather large framed. My 1st son I, 10lbs 3oz & 21.5 inches long, was born vaginally after 23 hours of labor. I was induced 11 days overdue, & in fact was induced with all 3 of my kids.

With my 2nd I was only 8 days overdue & the ultrasound tech speculated that this baby was 9-10 lbs. I was induced at 8 am & James was born just after 11 pm. He was 12 lbs 3 oz & 23.5 inches long with a 16.5 inch head circumference! A male nurse shouted out “he’s a monster!” when they had him on the scale, then started apologizing, but it was ok i knew what he meant..i bet the guy likes to fish on his off time! i am blessed with quite a sense of humor. The doctor apologized to me for allowing me to give birth vaginally to James! If they had only known they would have done a c-section. Well thank God they didn’t!  I was up walking around within the hour!

My 3rd son was born about 14 months after james. Gabriel was my littlest itty bitty baby at 9lbs 14oz & 19 inches. That was really amusing to the nurses & docs, but he really did seem tiny after giant James. I’m including a photo of James about 12 hours old.

12 pound baby born vaginally!

You can post this if you want. Thanks! Becky
Thank YOU Becky!  What a great example that big babies CAN be born vaginally!

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21 thoughts on “Is it possible to have a 12 pound baby born vaginally?”

  1. i birthed my son at home 11 pounds 2 oz..
    beautiful ecstatic birth.
    im 5′ 10′ and weighed 190 the day i gave birth…

  2. I had my son vaginally, he was 10 pounds 5.5 oz
    I’m pregnant again with a little boy and the doctor thinks this one will be around 12 lbs! Doctor told me “If I can push out a 10lb baby with no problems, I can do it with a 12 lbs!”
    I’m 5’5 average weight and only gained 28lbs with my son and have only gained 20 lbs with this pregnancy(I have 6 weeks to go)! (And no I didn’t’/don’t have gestational diabetes)

  3. I just gave birth to a 12 lb 1 ounce baby!! I really wanted to go natural but got really tired and ended up with the epidural. I still feel disappointed about that….

  4. I’ve had very large babies all vaginally:

    #1 – 11 lb 5 oz
    #2 – 9 lb 8 oz
    #3 – 10 lb 14 oz
    #4 – 12 lb 3 oz!!!!

    No gestational diabetes.

  5. I had two very large babies, both vaginally, no gestational diabetes.

    #1 – 11 lb. 11 oz, 21 inches (boy) 24 hour labor
    #2 – 11 lb. 7 oz, 21 inches (girl) 10 hour labor (piece of cake!)

    No problems with either of them or me. Big babies run in my family so I knew I was in for it, haha. I was 9 lb 9, my hubby was 10 lb 5 oz, and I have a lot of 10 and 11 lb. babies in my mom’s side of the family, no C-sections in the lot, of the bigger babies. They’re beautiful and filled out when they’re bigger babies. Everyone asks “How did you do it?” I have to answer that I don’t know any differently; I don’t have anything different with which to compare.

  6. I gave birth to my second baby on March 11th, Michael weighed in at 12lbs 3 ozs, 23 inchs long. I was 42weeks and four days pregnant and was induced it took much longer than expected I would have loved to give birth naturally like I did with his sister Molly, 7lbs 15 and a half ozs, I had to have a section for Michael in the end maybe if I wasn’t induced it would have all happened naturally I’ll never know. The women on this site are amazing to have given birth naturally to such big babies more power to you all:-)))

  7. my first child was 4 weeks overdue. yes he was! i was young and not smart about having babies. he came into the world the old fashion way, of course i was knocked out cold. he weighed 12lb. 2 oz. and his chest was 17.5 inches. he was 21.5 inches long and i was 5ft 4. i don’t remember how much i gained or weight at birth. but i lost it all, i became severely anemic from blood loss and had to be bed ridden for a week.
    i am not saying this to scare anyone, but i had my last baby by c-cection, he weighed 11lb 9oz. and it was much easier. i did not have diabetes. they were both healthy babies.

  8. I’m currently 37 weeks & 3 days. This so far is my biggest baby yet at 36 weeks & 6 days he is measuring to weigh at 10 lbs 1 oz. All were vaginal and full term.

    #1 7lbs 12oz
    #2 8lbs
    #3 6lbs (till this day she is real petite & she was 41 weeks gestation)
    #4 8lbs 12oz
    #5 8lbs 14oz

    With my 5th child and this pregnancy I do have gestional diabetes. I am terrified to have a c-section and my doctor has talked to me about it because of the size of the baby. Also, I do have more then normal amonontic fluid. When I was 36 weeks and 6 days I was dilated at 2 centimeters, but not checked since then. So I’m wondering if the “talk” about a possible c-section is because of the gestional diabetes? I have stressed throughout this pregnancy that I do not
    want a c-section and want to do it natural as I
    had the last five times. I don’t know what to do
    and co-workers/friends that I have talked to in
    similar situations all had c-sections.
    #4
    #5

  9. I am sorry you are experiencing this stress. It is definitely worth doing more research. Since you have had successful vaginal births, it seems like it would make a lot more sense to do an induction instead of going for a cesarean.

    You should check out http://www.theunnecesarean.com/ and read her birth story. Also check out http://www.pregnancybirthandbabies.com/Big_baby.htm

    Remember there is NO WAY to know how big the baby will be until after he is born. Ultrasounds can be off by 2 pounds.

    Gather Information and Follow your intuition, don’t let fear motivate your decision.

  10. Lou, you have had 5 natural childbirths, the last almost 9 lb. so it seems you are doing something right. ultrasounds can be wrong with birth weight. they thought my 11lb 9oz could be 13lb. so they were over guessing. it could be if they agreed to inducing you now, the baby would be fine and you would be able to have a vaginal birth and if not they could do a c section after you have tried.

  11. They have done an ameniocentsis with two parts one is the numeric. It was 33 and you should be 39. The second part of the test is a simple yes or no if his lungs are strong enough for him to breathe on his own & that came back as a yes.
    So now at even 37 weeks & 4 days there’s still a 50/50 chance when it comes to lung maturity. I’m in pain daily and exhausted but still do not want to risk the chance of having a baby in NICU. But I feel as if the longer I wait the higher the risk of something going wrong or wait until my body goes into labor itself. I never went into labor before 40 weeks gestation. I also have to think of my health and well being, I have five other children that I need to take care of.
    I don’t understand why the results are
    still low if technically I’m considered full term… All of this just makes me stressed, scared and even more worried.
    My baby moves a lot every day to be this big. He goes from head down, breeched to transverse on a daily basis. When I go for a growth ultrasound he latterly flips around while we can see him. They said it was because of the abnormal amount of extra anatomic fluid he has a lot of room to move around. That’s another fear if I am induced he will not stay head down or if my water breaks the umbilical cord will fall below the baby or wrap around him to where I will need an emergency c-section.

  12. Wow, you do have a lot of different things to think about. I wish you luck with your choice. Only you can know what is the best choice. I think it is a great sign that he is so flippy. He can’t be THAT big, if he can still flip around. 🙂

    Let us know what you decide to do!!!

  13. So my update. I did eventually have a c-section to a healthy baby boy. Not because of his size but because he went transverse. By far this is the worst pain that I’ve ever experienced in my life. He was born on July 27, 2011. He was 9lbs 12oz and 21 inches. That is a good size. The doctors anticipated he would be a lot bigger, two weeks prior to having him they thought he weighed 10lbs 1oz, so they were thinking at least 11-12lbs by the delivery date.

  14. Thanks for coming back and sharing your story. I am glad that he is here safe and sound. I am sorry you needed a cesarean, but it certainly sounds like it was needed. Interesting that he was no where near as big as your doctors thought he would be. Congratulations!

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