Pregnancy weight

[Ld13]

Hi hope I'm putting this in the right place! I'm 25 weeks pregnant and am really struggling to come to terms with my weight gain. I am usually a size 10 and have a very active job. However in the past I have gone up to a size 14 but have worked hard and changed my lifestyle and have been the same size for the last few years. Up until the last few weeks my body shape has remainded pretty much the same
With a small bump at the front however the last few weeks the rest of my body has changed dramatically. Clothes don't fit and I am feeling so unhappy it's unreal. I have been signed off of work due to issues with fainting and struggle to do even the shortest stint of excercise. I know I am still not very big and most women would tell me to stop being silly but it's really getting me down :( my OH is working 7 days a week so we are not communicating as much as usual and if I say anything he tells me to stop being silly

[lizzielogs]

Being pregnant is so wonderful - you should be feeling great now. Please Go to see the doctor, or hospital, even if its just for them to confirm everything is ok. It will put your mind at rest, and they be able to advise you about all the massive changes that will be going on in your body. Then try and enjoy it!

[kalidasa]

I sympathise OP I really disliked the body changes of later pregnancy as well and felt very negative about them. I just wanted myself back! I was having a very complicated pregnancy medically which was definitely a big factor - I felt I'd lost such a lot already (was off sick from a job I love all the way through, was very isolated stuck at home all the time etc). I bet it doesn't help that you're feeling physically fragile and are signed off work. Are you going to be off work for the rest of the pregnancy? Is there anything you could do to help pass the time - any hobby or anything you've not had time for before? Do you have any friends who are at home with babies or small children that you could meet up with?

Definitely AVOID pregnancy/baby magazines and the relentlessly positive pregnancy manuals (like 'what to expect'), I found them all really depressing - all those pictures of cheerful healthy women with a neat bump jogging round parks etc. Awful! Is there any chance you could get any counseling to talk about how you're feeling? I had some during pregnancy as well as after and it was very helpful.

It probably doesn't help much but it is normal to put on weight generally (not just the bump) because your body is putting down reserves for breast feeding, so that even if there was an unexpected war or a famine or something (!) you would still be able to keep your baby alive. And of course if you're used to being very active and now you can't be you probably will put on a bit. If it's any comfort, even though I was very disabled by pregnancy and so it's only now, when my baby is very nearly 1 that I am able to get back into exercise properly, even so my shape has gone to something very close to what it was before, and my weight is exactly what it was when I got pregnant and has been for months. In fact I think now that I am exercising again I am likely to end up slightly lighter.

[kalidasa]

Also, forgot to say - the weight gain/body changes do go in surges. So even if you've put on half a stone in a week that doesn't mean you'll keep gaining like that. It's very uneven. There were about six weeks towards the end when I didn't gain anything at all even though they measured the baby and said he was growing fine.