HI. I've been a midwife for alot of years, and it is pretty common for doctors to scare women into thinking they are going to have huge babies. You can't under-eat yourself into a smaller baby, the baby is going to be the size it is going to be, and to have a healthy pregnancy and a baby that can handle labor well, you need to eat enough calories and protein. You can cut out extra non-nutritive calories, like tons of potatoe chips or sugary snacks or heavily sweetened or deep-fried foods. What we usually recommend to a woman who had an extra big baby the first time and seems destined to have a bigger baby the second time, is to try not to go post-dates (beyond 40 weeks). This is not something you have total control over, but you can try at about 38 weeks, having lots of sex, homeopathy, acupuncture, any other remedies you research that you feel comfortable with to assure your body is ready to go whenever your baby is ready. For a second baby, you probably won't go post-dates anyway. Do lots of walking and squatting to get your baby nice and low for when it's all ready to happen. Drinking raspberry leaf tea is a good uterine tonic during pregnancy. If the baby is growing beyond the expected size, it's important to rule out that the baby is really farther along than you thought, or that you have gestational diabetes, that would keep the baby's blood saturated in higher than normal sugar, and contribute to excessive growth. Ruling those out are pretty standard. Sonograms are notoriously inaccurate in predicting a baby's weight. When it's your second baby and you still have a pretty clear memory of what it felt like to push out your first, it's pretty natural to think, I don't want a bigger one - but the second one does come out easier, even when it's a little bigger, and it's not uncommon for second babies to be 1/2 pound to a pound bigger and come out fine. Trust your baby and your body. Enjoy your pregnancy.
