photo courtesy of W magazine
Did I hear correctly? Did Ciara give birth to a 9 lb. 10 oz baby? Whoa. Congratulations to both her and Future on the birth of their healthy baby boy Future Zahir Wilburn, but almost 10 lbs?? That is no easy load to drop.
Sources say Ciara was HUGE before she went into labor (“celebrity huge,” of course, is way different than “huge huge”). From the photos, the 28-year old singer looked great and appeared to be all baby (and I’m sure she’ll lose the baby weight in negative five days), but still, 9 lbs and 10 oz is no small belly. There is no word yet on what her labor was like, but I can tell you from experience, the bigger the baby, the more painful the childbirth. Kudos to first time mom Cici.
Labor is way different for first time moms than it is for someone like myself who has dropped three. When I read that baby weight on one of the blogs, I cringed. I wanted to be Ciara’s friend just so I could have told her she could have given birth a month ago by inducing labor! The minute my in utero baby would have hit the 8lb mark, I would have been lying on that table, pushing him out. Now, I know there are those of you who doubt me and my superhuman power to force baby out of womb, but I’m serious. I scheduled an induction for my last two kids and it was the best childbirth decision I made.
As a disclaimer, I will say that there are many doctors who do not allow you to schedule your baby’s birth, and I admit, it does feel a little unnatural to decide that day that will be your child’s birthday. But hey, I want to be in control from the minute that baby takes his first breath. Therefore, I’ll let you know when you coming, lil baby, not the other way around. I’m not sure if there’s a way to get those doctors who won’t schedule a birth to just change their mind, but for me, there was a slight risk so I took and ran with it.
I learned with my first daughter that I was what doctors referred to as “precipitous labor.” It means that when the baby is coming, I could sneeze and she could slip out. Maybe not that easily, but it’s more likely that I’ll have a fast labor. For my first, I went into labor and within three hours, she was born. Luckily for me, I got to the hospital rather quickly. Yes, some women spend a whole day in labor, but have you heard of those women giving birth in a taxi or in the lobby of their building? Had it not been for my short ride to the hospital that could have been me!
Anyway, when my second pregnancy rolled around, I was paranoid about this whole speedy labor thingy. They always say your labor progresses faster with each pregnancy so I didn’t know what to expect when I was expecting. I kept having premonitions of me laying down in the street and giving birth in the middle of Times Square while I was trying to hail a cab. As a result, my doctor willingly allowed me to schedule the labor a week before my due date. He was fine with inducing as long as I was at least 39 weeks. I showed up to the hospital, walked in and got my pitocin. The baby came in less than two hours, and by the third hour there, I was drinking a Black Tea latte from Starbucks and ordering from the hospital menu.
Needless to say, by the time I had my third child, I was a pro. There was no way I was going to allow my child to surprise me during the holidays. Three days after Christmas in 2009, I gave birth to my 8 lb 5 oz boy on a day I had scheduled with the doctor three months prior. I didn’t want Christmas or New Year’s Eve to be the day, so I chose the date right in between. I know it seems vain, but it was worth it. Pitocin at 9am, baby at 10:43am. It hurt like hell (natural child birth because I had no time for drugs) but at least it was over before I could say “uncle.” Any woman who has the opportunity to schedule her labor should absolutely take it. It’s pregnancy’s best-kept secret.
The post Of 9 Pound (And Higher) Babies: Why Inducing Labor Is Your Friend appeared first on MommyNoire.
