I am little.  

I always have been.

How little, you ask?  I’m 4’ 11” on a good day.  

Men tell me they could bench press me with ease (I’m 100lbs even).  I buy my pants in the children’s section.  I’m not complaining about that last part though.  The pants are cheaper and they have those internal, elastic belts in them.

If I’m honest, I never even thought about how my size might affect my ability to give birth until I was more than halfway through my first pregnancy.  I saw a homebirth midwife for the first 20 weeks, but decided that I was more comfortable giving birth in a hospital.  

The hunt for a hospital midwife began.

 I wanted as much of a home-like experience as possible and one of the hospitals I checked out was offering just that, and I liked the midwife, too.  I was certain I had found my new delivery location.  Then I got a phone call from a Medical Assistant from the hospital.  She informed me that the overseeing OB would only allow the midwife to accept me as a patient if I agree to be induced on my due date. She felt this was necessary to prevent my baby from getting too big for my little body to deliver.

I was shocked and crushed.  

That was really the first time that I thought my size might be an issue.  I knew that I wanted to give myself the chance to experience going into labor on my own, so I continued my hunt for a new provider.

I found a group of midwives that I clicked with and my pregnancy continued.  By the time I was 7 months along strangers on the street assumed I was due “any day now.”  Week 40 came and went.  I assumed I would be overdue as most first time mothers are, but then week 41 came and went.  The little girl inside my belly just didn’t want to come out.  

I ended up getting the induction that I was trying to avoid, but I felt good about it.  It had been my choice, in my timing.

 It wasn’t forced upon me.

The midwives broke my water to get labor started.  Labor was long and tiring, but not once did anyone mention they didn’t think I could get my baby out.  I pushed my baby out 24 hours after the midwife broke my water at 41 weeks and 6 days pregnant.  Her head was 13 cm in diameter, as was her chest.  She was 7lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long.  She didn’t get stuck at all and while she wasn’t huge, she definitely wasn’t small either.  

My little body was big enough.

Will every baby fit through every pelvis? No. Sometimes the size of a baby and the size of the body just simply don’t match up for a positive outcome.

But the physical size of the pregnant person does not indicate how well their baby will fit through their pelvis.