Plus-sized Pregnancy

[leotwist]

Feeling hot and tired in the supermarket the other day, I mentioned to the checkout girl that it was probably because I was pregnant and had a cold. When she asked how far along I was, I said ‘Just a couple of months’. To which – with a pointed downward glance – she replied, ‘Oh is that all?’ Cheeky cow Granted I am plus-sized, but I felt like shaking my belly fat at her, Goonies style, and shouting, ‘This? Oh this is just all blubber so far!’

Now, obviously weight is an important consideration when you’re pregnant, and to get regular exercise and healthy food throughout. However, some of us get pregnant at a higher weight than most and, once you are, is not the time for any extreme dieting.

This thread is for the plus-sized mums amongst us (usually classed as size 18+) to support each other without judging or patronising. Your tales, reflections, experiences, resources, rants, etc – all very welcome!

I wasn't told to take extra folic acid (BMI 33, currently 21 weeks) and no additional care or input until now. I've just been told they want to put me on Fragmin injections from 28 weeks though which I'm really uncertain about but looking up risks and benefits of it.

Welcome to all the new people on the thread

Oh and my BMI is 37.

Consultant led care is not the worst - just research options given, stick to official guidelines websites and if you have a good midwife team discuss things with them. 2nd time round I have questioned a lot more and feel much happier and in control this time.

Just wish this one would arrive!!!

I have also put on less weight in my second - only 1st 6lbs so far.

Thanks noodle

Hi ladies, I'm 15+2 with my third baby. Bmi of 41 at booking in 😔 consultant led due to that, anxiety and having 2 large babies previously (both over 10lb with much lower bmi).

Thought I may as well join, 11 weeks with number 4! A surprise as OH is booked in for the snip next week we were done at 3 and I was dropping weight but this little one really wanted to join our family! My BMI is high 30's so high risk box ticked round here, eating is hit and miss, starving or can't eat a bite so no idea what weight gain will be. In all previous pregnancies I've only gained around a stone!!

Since this thread has been revived I'll give an update. I was consultant led throughout due to high bmi and hypertension. I was on aspirin and labetalol from around 15 weeks, I was never advised to take higher level of folic acid.

Consultant discussed birth options at my 35 week appointment and since the labetalol was keeping my BP stable (slightly raised still bit not worryingly high) she was happy for me to give birth in the birth centre attached to the labour ward. However I was diagnosed with obstetric cholestasis at 36 weeks and had a trace of protein in one of my urine test. Cue 2 weeks of monitoring at the day clinic every other day. Everything was fine however consultant felt that my risks had increased too much so induced me at 39 weeks.

Oh and the day I was induced I weighed the exact same as at booking in and I wasn't particularly watching what I was eating , just had a smaller appetite.

Consultant discussed birth options at my 35 week appointment and since the labetalol was keeping my BP stable (slightly raised still bit not worryingly high) she was happy for me to give birth in the birth centre attached to the labour ward. However I was diagnosed with obstetric cholestasis at 36 weeks and had a trace of protein in one of my urine test. Cue 2 weeks of monitoring at the day clinic every other day. Everything was fine however consultant felt that my risks had increased too much so induced me at 39 weeks.

Wish they consultant I saw was as pragmatic. She barely made eye contact and just wanted to scrawl illegibly in my green book - when I asked questions she got a bit shitty and said 'your BP and BMI mean you will probably need to be induced' and left it at that after I said the BP is not medicated and my community midwife told me I could speak with the consultant midwife about transferring to the midwife led unit if no further complications. Hopefully I'll get someone different at my next week appointment - have seen 3 diff consultants so far.

ChatterNatterer I have just made an official complaint about my consultant I saw last Monday - all he wanted to do was book me in for a C-section!

I had the midwife manager call me on Friday ever so apologetic and has passed my complaint to the clinical director to address with the consultant.

I opted for a second opinion on the day with another consultant who was a whole different story.

Didn't start off well telling me I was 34 weeks when I was in fact 40+3!!!

Didn't go down well when he told me midwives know nothing and their opinions don't count! I have spent 6 months formulating a plan for the birth of number 2 due to birth of number 1 and have talked to a lot of professionals - he didn't even ask what had happened last time!

Noodle bloody hell what an arsehole!!!

I am pinning a lot on my consultant appointment in 2 weeks, I'm going to go in quite forceful about what the hell my options actually are and ask to speak with the consultant midwife if I get no where.

I work In a professional field that I trained hard for and consider myself quite clued up, as such am really not used to being treated like some sort of feckwit/child kept in the dark like a mushroom - if it weren't for Google and mumsnet I would seriously despair!

Yep. Was very patronising and condescending. Now just need to get this flipping baby out currently 41+2!

Care at the rest of the hospital has been fab though and am not overly concerned as if he comes anywhere near me I will refuse to see him stating I have complained!

He tried to baffle me with statistics and really showed himself up as apparently 1 in 70 is 4x worse than 1 in 100! I work in stats! It's also a statistic I have pulled apart previously!

Classic god like consultant attitude!

Ha! What a clown!!

Here's thinking 'hurry up bubs mama wants her body back' thoughts

I have been researching NICE guidelines on hypertension in pregnancy - My readings have been consistently quite below the levels they look to intervene and induce for so that consultant can frankly fcuk off if she thinks I'm listening to her scaremongering!!!

Hi

I'm 12 weeks with my second child. With my first I had a bmi of 46 and I've got a bmi of 42 for this pregnancy. All seems ok so far - my bp is perfect this time which it wasn't by this stage last time so that's a positive. Fingers crossed things stay ok. First was a cs due to being breech and I'm currently considering my options for this one (there will only be a 17m gap between them). I'm consultant led due to previous cs but hospital have been quite factual about weight rather than making a big thing of it. Last pregnancy I put on 1 stone and no more than that is my aim for this one too.

Hi, just found this thread and will join. I too felt guilty for not getting my bmi down lower before getting pregnant but my experience so far hasn't been too bad.

I'm 31 with a bmi of 38, 18+3 today, first pregnancy. I was weighed at first meeting with mw at 6 weeks and given 5mg folic acid and advised (politely and professionaly) to stick with slimming world to prevent gaining too much.

I wasn't weighed at booking in but as I have asthma I will see a consultant at 24 weeks. Mw suspects I'll have 1 meeting with consultant and be released back to mw led care, healthy eating suggested again but in a positive way.

At 12 week scan was weighed again before bloods but nothing was said about the weight by sonographer. Mw at hospital gave me a leaflet about bmi and healthy eating during pregnancy and how much weight to gain overall. due to bmi and first baby they've put me on 75mg asprin as I'm high risk for preeclampsia. I'm also booked in for gtt testing at week 28.

At 16 week appt with my mw she noticed the bmi leaflet in my pack and said she hadn't seen it before and checked how I felt about being given it, I don't mind, my bmi is a fact so I need to know the risks and stay as healthy as poss and know what potential problems I'm in for. Bp, glucose levels and bloods all came back healthy (think I detected a hint of surprise at my near perfect bp but maybe I'm just a bit sensitive?!) but apart from that they've been brilliant.

Not looking forward to the 20 week scan, baby was low in the 12 week scan so the picture was clear but whenever she moved up a little to my tummy area I could see the screen getting cloudy so now baby is higher, its probably going to be hard to see it clearly this time! So far so good. Have gained a total of 7lb which is ok (most has been in the last 3 weeks which isn't great) so need to stick more closely to sw diet from here on! I have a nice round bump forming too which is cool 🙂 Although I do look about 7 months rather than 4.5 which is a bit

Oh the surprise at the ok BP levels will stay with you throughout - I seem to disappoint everytime mine is measured as its generally on the low side!

We go against the expectation!

Every time I get my bp taken they look shocked it's fine! Luckily my me has been ok, just hospital and a temp midwife i had when mine was on hols.

30 weeks and I weigh the same as booking in - growth scans all ok and on 50th centile so all good there!

I am currently 38 weeks and spoke to my consultant as the midwife and ultrasonographer kept mentioning me getting induced but this was not mentioned previously. My consultant said it was not needed and don't listen my glucose levels were normal and my bp has been normal and has agreed for me to try naturally first. So any day now!

Hi - just to update - 2 weeks ago today I had a little boy.

Was induced in the end at 40+12 so induced as normal for my hospital due to bubba not wanting to leave! Had a pilot induction which doesn't use any hormones which my hospital are trialing which worked very quickly - was supposed to take 24 hours but took 10, waters then broke naturally - they were intending to break them - and baby arrived very quickly from urge to push to his arrival was 45 minutes!!

So completely different birth from my first which was 5 days of induction, ending in a c-sec!

Whats also good was at 10 days old I was back to my pre pregnancy weight! Once I have breastfeeding up and running I am going to address the weight!

Aw congratulations on your new bundle of joy And wow the induction sounds great! Not what I picture at all!!

My first induction was very long. This one I refused to go in at 40 weeks and wait and see! Consultants didn't like me. In fact I made an official complaint about 1 which led to me being offered this pilot programme. Not licenced for VBAC but as could be stopped at anytime plus no drugs involved I was willing to try it! Was definitely a good option so pleased I had a hideous consultants appointment as it wouldn't have been offered otherwise! Every cloud!

Hi I am 29yrs old, with a BMI of 33.9 size 18/20 and we are 17+4 weeks pregnant. It took me and my hubby about 10 months to conceive and we were in the process of being referred because according to home ovulation tests I wasn't ovulating. Obviously that turned out to be false!

The fact that we were trying for a baby was no secret to family and close friends and a few people did comment that my weight was probably the reason why I wasn't getting pregnant. However when I spoke to my doctor over the phone, he didn't even ask about weight, he just asked me to come in for a blood test.

Since week six I have been suffering with HG and I have been taking meds ever since just to keep it under control. I had to take a month off work and I lost over a stone in a matter of weeks simply because I just couldn't eat. I was living on a slice of bread every few days and struggling to keep even the smallest mouthful of water down. Even with this going on the doctors never once mentioned my weight as a factor.

Even while on the meds I have still had frequent vomiting and constant nausea and I barely have any appetite.

At about the time the vomiting started (6 weeks) I had a small bleed and was referred to the EPAU. I narrowly avoided being admitted as while I was waiting to be seen they gave me an injection and by the time the doctor got around to seeing me (about 3 hours later) I was feeling better and keeping fluids down. During our chat with her we discussed the bleeding and she offered us an ultrasound and we found out that it had been a twin pregnancy but it wasn't anymore, there was only one viable baby there, the sac next to it was empty.

I didn't feel too bad about this and neither did my husband, we reasoned that there was nothing that we could have done and were happy that we had even one baby in there. This did however make me even more worried about miscarrying and I could not wait for the 12 week scan.

My booking in appointment was good, the midwife made a few comments about weight mainly because I would need to be tested for diabetes but by this point I had already lost so much weight and she was aware of how sick I was so she didn't push it. I hadn't been able to take any folic acid or any other types of vitamins since the vomiting started but she was very reassuring and saying that because I had been taking them before the pregnancy that I should be ok.

My 12 week scan was ok. The sonographer seemed a bit miserable and did make a note that the view was restricted due to high BMI and I was asked to hold my flab out the way but it didn't really bother me.

My overall feeling so far though is miserable. Everyone is expecting me to be so excited about being pregnant and to be honest I have been too sick/tired/worried to be excited. My second midwife appointment was brief and when I tried to talk to her about it she barely acknowledged me so felt very disappointed afterwards.

Before getting pregnant I used to wonder what my cravings would be and thus far I have had no cravings. I have however become extra snotty, extra greasy, my sense of smell is turned up to 11. I can't even have my cat on my lap because as far as my nose is concerned he smells too bad! I do, for once, have good nails, which is a bummer because I am a vet nurse and so I have to keep them short and I am now having to cut them weekly because they are growing too fast and I am not allowed to wear nail polish to work. I keep seeing all these cute baby bumps on my commute and I just look fat. So yeah generally feeling miserable.

Sorry for the long post but I think I am getting hormonal now too as I am not normally a tearful person but I have been needing to vent for a few days now.

Hi, This is my first time posting and hope I am in the right place.
I have done over 8 tests and all have came back positive. I done a few of the clear blue digital last week and they came back 2-3 weeks.
I repeated this again this morning and it is still saying 2-3 weeks. Should I be worried?
I don't get regular periods my last was in Feb so I wouldnt even have a clue to how far along i should be.
My BMI is high - around 40 but I have no other health problems, but i just can't stop worrying about something going wrong :(

Clearblue are notorious for causing anxiety with their dates so I wouldn't worry too much about that

I think I'm going to join in if that's ok. 18 weeks now, 5'8 and a size 20. So far so good with healthcare, this is my third. First one I was bigger and less fit, second I was smaller and very more fit. This time I'm in the middle, third time round with GD too.

Can i jump in too?

I'm 35, and fat. Was fat in my last pregnancy 8 years ago. Had horrible staff last time, 7 day induction at 38 weeks leading to a c section.

I'm currently only 7 weeks pregnant, no idea what my BMI is but it high! Going into this pregnancy fully loaded and won't let them ruin it or bully me :)

Congrats on the birth of the babies!

Hoping this thread is still going. It is great to read everyone's experiences!
I have just found out I am pg and I am not looking forward to my midwife appt as I know my BMI will be 40+. I am happy to be pg, it just worries me as the docs can be so unkind when you are overweight.