14 weeks and huge belly (mostly chub?!)

[sarahpip]

Hello,

First starting post - please be gentle with me! :-)

I was wondering how everyone is doing with weight gain? I am 14 weeks and have had constant, unbearable nausea, but no sickness. Now, I know I cannot blame it all on this, but it does mean I have been eating more or less constantly. I must add that I have not been stuffing my face constantly with chocolate cake :o, but have tried to be as sensible as I can...

Subsequently I have gone from a 12 to a 16 and put on a stone. I didn't have the flattest belly before, but it wasn't huge, but the weight all seems to have gone on my belly, however I imagine that probably not much of it is real baby bump.

I am looking to start swimming as soon as I feel less sick/have enrgy, but I imagine this won't do much to reverse the situation.

Does anyone have a similar experience, I currently just feel like a greedy pig, and it's a bit upsetting. Am I being oversensitive, and is it just something I need to get used to?

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

36, 14 wks, #1

Hi Sarahpip,

Don't worry, I'm the same! I'm 12+ weeks and both my mum and husband have said my tummy is bigger and I know it's not baby as it's still only the size of a matchbox. I too have had nausea and vomiting and have had to eat lots to combat it and it hasn't all been healthy stuff I can tell you! You never crave salad do you?!

Anyway, what you have to remember is that some of the increase is due to all the hormonal changes that may be causing water retention, gas, bloating etc, as well as the fact that your blood volume is increasing so don't be hard on yourself. The way I saw it was that when I was at my worst sickness wise, being able to eat anything, even if it wasn't the most healthy food, was better than having nothing even if my baby does come out looking like a chocolate bar/salt and vinegar crisp!
Enjoy the rest of your pregnancy

You're not alone!

Since I found out I was pregnant in january I've been eating like a pig. Before, used watch what I ate to stay slim, now I can't get enough carbs, dairy, huge portions of everything, and sweets and chocolate. No more calorie counting, and I'm enjoying it, but I am still worried about putting on too much. It's normal to worry, I'm sure. We women can't just "switch off" those ingrained worries about body-image.

At 14 weeks someone at work helpfully said "OMG your bump looks massive today" after I'd eaten a large dinner, and I was like "what bump?!". Now I'm 18 weeks and all sorts of random people think it's ok to comment on my waistline, like: "Are you sure there's only one?" "You're really blooming now" "You look REALLY Pregnant now" and "I think you need a bigger uniform" etc. Whereas some are people only just starting to show at 18 weeks!

But when I touch my belly I can feel that most of my so-called "bump" is just soft squidgy fat. On the other hand, I haven't put as much onto my upper arms and thighs as I normally do when I gain weight. Maybe your body distributes fat more onto your tummy in pregnancy to protect it?

I would agree with Clarara, my arms and things, bum etc aren't any bigger but my tummy definitely is, although its not a defined bump, more flab! I weighed myself at 12 weeks though and I had only put on 2lb, but to look at my tummy you would think it was much more.

My MW advised me to try to eat less once the cravings/nausea diminish a bit. It is ok to put on weight but it's not right for the weight to be mainly fat stores I think.

I'm only saying this as with my first pregnancy I mainly put weight on my bum and thighs. I actually had quite a compact bump. The weight absolutely would not shift after the birth and I ended up on a strict low carb diet for about 15 months to get the weight off. It was undoubtedly one of the hardest things I have ever done.

I'm in the midst of the nausea stage now too though and I'm already struggling. I just don't know how women manage to stay a 'healthy weight' with a pregnancy tbh. Well for those with nausea/cravings anyway!