to be completely shocked and disgusted at the leaflet I've just been given by my mw???

[mummylovesnancy]

This leaflet, titled 'Raised BMI in Pregnancy' was passed on to me by my midwife at my booking in appointment yesterday. Along with the words 'You can't have a home birth, you probably won't deliver naturally and you'll be given consultant led care.'
I'm 28, I have 2 PERFECTLY healthy children who both have perfect height to weight ratios, eat well, are active and are generally normal children. I weigh 13st and I'm 5'2 which puts me in the 'obese' catagory according to the good ol' BMI index of wonder. I have been roughly this weight and exactly this height for all of my adult life. I am overweight, I accept that, but what I don't accept is being told to read this sodding leaflet which tells me, among various other little pearlers, that:
*I will have raised blood pressure. (Not 'I may', 'I WILL')
*I will be prone to urinary tract infections. (never had one in my life!)
*'Bigger Ladies' (exact wordage) get more blood clots. (Dumb Fuck)
*Examinations will be difficult. (Why? Because you have to part all my layers of fat to get to my vag?! How fucking degrading)
*I will have restricted mobilisation. (Will I? Because I don't now, will it automatically come with being fat and preggers?)
*Putting in a drip will be difficult. (yeah because my hands are so freaking chubby.)
*Breastfeeding will be challenging (I've managed it with two babies, now because you've changed your guidelines I think I might struggle.)
And my favourite one yet:
*The risk of stillbirth or your baby dying in the first 28 days is increased in 'larger ladies' (Thanks for that one, nhs, I just had a misscarriage 8 weeks ago. Was it because I'm fat?)

It also mentions on about 7 occasions that I may want an epidural. Is that to keep me quiet?! It also offers to refer me to a dietician and a counsellor.

I have been overweight (or a larger or bigger lady, as the nhs prefers) and given birth naturally twice with absolutely no complications and one of them was a home birth. I can't believe I have to read all this shit. The idiot who wrote this doesn't even know how to place an apostrophe or comma ffs!

Does anyone agree with me that this is a disgusting, degrading, scare mongering piece of shit or am I being an unreasonable pregnant wreck??

But DoMeDon, you seem to be arguing for the information to be withheld and for consultant-led care to be withheld to avoid 'nannying'.

The reason for consultant-led care being on offer (and I am totally in favour of women being offered it, not being forced to have it) is because there are several risks (not just neonatal death) which rise with an increased BMI. These risks need to be shared with the mother, and then she can decide what to do from there.

For some women, double the risk even when it doubles to a still low number would be too high to be comfortable with.

Quietly, that's the sort of numbers we need.
More than half of morbidly obese women will have a natural delivery.
Not the fatalistic scaremongering the OPs mw came out with.

I agree they need the chance to select it. I don't think it's wrong. What I do think is wrong is the way it is tackled. Women are not given info - 'here are the risks this is what we offer/suggest, let us know what you think'.

I was not told about risk and given options- I was told 'you are overweight, you will get high bp, will have to be tested for gestational diabetes, have to see consultant, anesthatist, you CANNOT have home birth, you CANNOT have water birth'

I went and did the research myself. I refused to see the consultant again. I refused to see the anesthatist. I sought an independant mw. I hired a birth pool. I took myself out of the nhs system and it was far more positive.

When I went into hospital one more time for a health check (baby VERY overdue). The consultant stopped by and accussed me of attempting suicide by home birth and that my baby would probably bleed to death.

This kind of scaremongering, bullying is typical of some consultants who think thay are god. They deal with problem birth so they look for ones where there don;t have to be any.

I don't think there is any need for people to be embarrassed about not knowing the risks. The obesity epidemic seems to have risen up very quickly, and a lot of the research into the risks must be very new. It is going to take a while to get out that information, and people are going to be shocked/distressed/upset.

As I said, after my first large baby (not related to my own weight), I had no idea of the risks then in a second pregnancy. When I saw the tv programme covering the risks I found it very upsetting, and if I had been overweight, I would have found it more so because of the element of blame in the language used. I do think these things have to be dealt with sensitively.

And just for accuracy's sake, the risk of perinatal death is actually four times, not doubled.

Once again chicleteeth, dieting to lose weight during pregnancy is a bad idea.

So Thunder, would you be happy with a leaflet that shows stats along the lines of what quietly linked to? Or do you think that the issue should just not be addressed at all?

In my professional opinion thunder, depending on one's size, I disagree

DoMe obv that consultant was rude and is in the wrong job!

tiktok - we are cross posting - my responses were to general points. See my lasy post as a response to your original post to me. I am a slow typer - it's the fat fingers

Your weight wouldn't go down either, it should stay the same, but since you are gestating and "growing a baby" you would actually be using up your fat stores.

As long as your nutrient needs are met, there is evidence that weight gain in not necessary in the morbidly obese category

Last not lasy - freudian

I've already said, you don't know what the leaflet really says, shes cherry picked. Its out of context. Its selective reporting. The Daily Mail does a good job of making a whole paper based on doing stuff like this.

It might not be scaremongering.

And frankly given some of the attitudes of some people on this thread, perhaps that IS the approach that needs to be used, as clearly some important messages are not getting across at the moment. I'm seeing a hell of a lot of justifications, excuses, accusations of rudeness and complete denial. None of which actually improve anyone's health.

DoMe that consultant was a twat.
I'd be pissed off if I were you too

I'm so glad you can follow my logic wathecali. It's reasonable to keep people informed about their health. It's unreasonable to lie to them, in the way that happened in the OP's leaflet. But of course an accurate informative leaflet would be a good idea.

Weirdly enough some people dont' seem too bothered about the latter, because they are too busy laying into the OP about how much she weighs.

Dieting in pregnancy is a bad idea

Not when you are obese it isn't.

What was your profession chicleteeth?

The nanny point was in response to someone saying fatties should be advised against pg. Obesity does cost nhs a fortune, as do many other lifestyle choices. We either get tough on all or none. Smoking, drinking, lack of exericise, drugs. Fat is the new thing to bash. It's a massive problem but it shouldn;t be tackled through selective pg!!

first article I found re weight gain in pregnancy and obese women

and another

There are plenty more.

This isn't dieting, this is controlled weight gain - it is not the same thing

Esta, the morbidly obese should try and avoid weight gain, the simply obese should try not to put much on.

The ignorant should stfu.

Consultant endocrinologist

annoyingdevil there is absolutely no way that at 5'2" you could be termed "slightly overweight" no matter how muscly you were.

I also don't belive at 16 stone you would be a size 18.

The denial on this thread is astonishing.

I also have a PhD in nutritional physiology if you're interested

If the leaflet is badly worded and inaccurate the OP should complain. However, as you say thunder an accurate and informative leaflet should be made available. I actually think it should be given to everyone, just because someone's BMI is normal at their first booking in appointment doesn't mean it will be when they try to conceive their next child. My BMI was normal, though I still had high BP at the end of my pregnancy, and is back to normal again now 11 months on. However I have found the information in this thread informative, and whilst I didn't intend to increase my BMI, I think it is useful to know what any associated risks would be before trying for a second child.

p.s. Thunder I'm not here to give tailored advice, more to counter misinformation which is widely peddled when it comes to morbidity associated with overweight and obesity