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Don't worry, the measurements are off so often, it just seems like a bit of a crapshoot.

My LO's head measured in the 98th percentile at 36 weeks. I gave birth vaginally with no epidural and had only a few stitches. I think her head still measures around the 90th percentile.

I'm not sure what her head measured, but once she was out it certainly looked enormous. I dilated and delivered in a total of 4 hours so she kind of busted her way out. She was born within 15 minutes of pushing if I remember correctly!! I definitely tore, but I've also heard of tearing with smaller-head babies, too.

I don't remember what he was measuring pre-birth but my son has a huge head & I ended up having a c-section. I pushed for about an hour before the doctor told me even though I was pushing well, he probably was never going to make it past my pelvic bone or wherever it is he needed to go past. His heart rate wasn't recovering as fast as they wanted with the pushes so I didn't want to go much longer- even though the doctor said I could try.

My 10th percentile for height and weight baby has a 90th percentile head. I pushed for two hours, and had only two very minor tears. Those ultrasound measurements are very inaccurate. Are they concerned about a problem with the head, or is it just a note that it's a little large?

Please don't get psyched out about delivering vaginally! I think it was really unhelpful of your doctor to mention it unless you're working an actual issue around the fact.

@charlotte: I didn't push for that long and he never made that much progress so there wasn't any real recovery from that part at all thankfully.

Also, remember that baby's head is "squishable" and there's no way of telling how much it will mold as s/he moves through the pelvis.

I would definitely recommend doing some exercises to open your pelvis. Liam's head was too big to fit through my pelvis and I wonder if I had done more exercises if it would have been easier (I didn't because he flipped so often that I was worried I would lock him in feet down). But I'd say you should definitely try for a vaginal delivery instead of a scheduled c-section!