Biggest baby ever vs. ultrasounds are a load of hooey

We had our 36 week ultrasound and doctor's appointment this morning. Just 27 short days to go until December 7! Joel's dad was in town visiting, so he joined us for the ultrasound and he was the only parent that hadn't yet been to one. The ultrasound tech is super nice and she was chit-chatting as she was taking all of the measurements... head, belly, leg, etc. My placenta was in the way, so we weren't able to get too many pictures, and the ones we have are pretty blurry. I'll post them once Joel scans them. I can say that it appears that he has Joel's forehead and lanky limbs and my nose and lips (his lips were pursed like he was waiting to give someone a big smooch).

I've learned that rather than watch the baby moving around, it is way more interesting to watch the calculations at the bottom corner of the screen. The tech was calculating the circumference of baby Harvill's head and I watched the calculation pop up. 40 weeks, 2 days. I was sure she was mistaken, but she just kept chatting away. Next she measured the arm. The calculation popped up at the bottom. 40 weeks, 1 day. What the heck? I finally asked, "are those measurements correct? Why is it saying that I'm four weeks ahead?" She knows better than to explain and said that she would hand over the paperwork to Dr. Kelly who would come to talk with us.

George left and we went to meet with Dr. Kelly, who, in her sugary sweet way (she's from Minnesota and has that type of mid-western attitude that makes me believe she doesn't have a mean bone in her body) told me that because the baby was measuring so large, they would be doing another ultrasound in 3 weeks, once I hit 39 weeks to measure his growth. As of today, they estimated his size at 8lbs 5oz, give or take 10%. The office policy is to not induce before 39 weeks so that the lungs have a better chance to develop and to automatically schedule a c-section if the baby measures over 10lbs. Basically, I have a couple of options at this point:

1. Try every old wives tale in the book to get this kid moving early and on his own (sex, spicy food, drives down bumpy roads, long walks... feel free to add your own).
2. Wait until the 39 week ultrasound to find that he is under 10 lbs and schedule the induction.
3. Wait until the 39 week ultrasound to find that he is under 10 lbs and wait it out to see if he comes early on his own.
4. Wait until the 39 week ultrasound to find that he is 10 lbs or more and schedule the c-section.

Basically, my chances of a c-section just went up pretty dramatically because even if they induce, there's still a chance that he's pretty big. This news sucks. I was prepared to take the meds. I was prepared for a lengthy delivery. I was not prepared for the big "c."

Now, over the course of the day, I've talked to countless friends who have told me that ultrasounds are a load of hooey and that they always over-estimate the size of the baby. Part of me is praying that this is true, and that I really have a normal 7lb baby in there, who was maybe feeling a little bloated after our dinner of turkey chili and cake last night. For some reason though, I'm thinking that with this advanced technology, the ultrasounds are more accurate than we believe, and I'm about to give birth to Zeus or Andre the Giant or Yao Ming.

The one thing it does do for me, however, is make me feel a little less awful about the weight gain. I mean, at this point, I'm carrying around a full-term baby! Bring on another slice of cake!

Anyway, I think I'll give the kiddo another 6 days to marinate and then I'll start with the old wives tales. Anyone have a trampoline they care to offer up?