Why do people say you get much bigger between 33weeks and 40weeks

[Rafagirl]

On my app it literally says “ Like Baby, you’ve almost reached the point where you don’t get much bigger.”

Yet on this forum most people have said they got so much bigger/fatter everywhere between 33 and 40 weeks?
Everyone different I know but I thought weight gain would taper off now. ? The baby gains half pound/pound weekly right up until delivery ? So surely you can’t get that much “huge”???

I think everyone is so different. I got a tiny bit better in my third trimester but not massively . I didn’t gain any weight after 28 weeks but I had put on 16 kilo by then so I was on the higher end for weight gain anyway . I know others who gained all their weight in their third trimester and went from a barely there bump to huge .

I'm not sure I actually got much bigger (I think they say 1cm a week?) but it was the point where I went from 'cute bump' to 'whale'.

Okay maybe that's dramatic as I still had a neat bump at the end. But the difference in how big I felt was huge. I had more aches/pains/pressure at the end which I think feeds into the whole 'feeling massive' thing. I also slowed down towards the end as I got out of breath easier (9lb 2 baby with little space left so decided to squish my lungs too!)

I don't know that I actually got much bigger but I got much more uncomfortable. I honestly felt like a beached whale. I couldn't move or sleep properly and it was miserable.

I was told that the lower section of the uterus massively stretches/grows in the last trimester; it doesn't increase uniformly all over. This was because I had a fibroid that started off near my cervix but was moved out of the way by the growth quite late on.

In the later weeks it’s possible to put on more weight as you naturally slow down, stop exercising, etc. I went from walking 15,000 steps a day pre-pregnancy to really not doing much at all for the last two months - too breathless, tired and cumbersome. Also my chocolate and cake intake increased dramatically in the last month or so.

I felt kinda attractively pregnant up until 35 weeks. The last 5 weeks I felt just massive generally! It was also when the worst of the symptoms came in - carpal tunnel, a sore knee and being unable to sleep. Until the 35 week mark I felt really good tbh

I don’t actually think my bump became more massive (although my 9lb DD clearly grew a lot in that time) - I think I stayed broadly the same externally and she just pinched space from me internally, hence why I felt so rubbish.

You defo get bigger at a faster rate than it seems during the earlier stages.

In the earlier weeks the baby grows rapidly but it starts so small you don't notice and also much of the growth is happening within space that already exists in your body. By 33 weeks you've run out of internal room so all the growing is now outwards and/or into your organs! Not the most comfortable.

Also bear in mind that the placenta is growing too! Placenta often weighs almost as much as the baby by the end, and you've got fluid as well.

It may not be weight gain so much as muscles stretching, bump dropping, etc. I was gigantic by the end of both pregnancies but I didn't really put on weight towards the end of either. I certainly looked very different at 33 weeks (nice tidy bump, looked cool in a tight pregnancy tshirt) to 39 weeks (beached whale).

Because you do lol

They often measure your bump to check growth and it is meant to measure 1cm more per week. It's not at all accurate but does suggest they expect growth. I was annoyed with DC2 that I had no strerch marks on my due date and loads a week later! Although that may have been due to my bump dropping too I guess.

It's weird! I don't feel much bigger but on measurements I am obviously growing and in pictures I can see it as well. People have said to me since week 16 how big I am 😂 which was very annoying and felt a bit catty. I've only gained 1 stone during the whole pregnancy (wasn't super slim to begin with, big size 12/small 14). But have tried hard to curb cravings as apparently I was nearly obese 😬

It happened to me with ds1. 33 weeks I looked fine, obviously pregnant but not ginormous, no stretch marks either. By the time he was born eleven fucking weeks later, my feet were like footballs, my hands looked like inflated washing up gloves, I was absolutely covered in stretchmarks and my bump was approximately the size of a small car.

Didn't happen with the next two though!

You don't seem to gain weight as rapidly at the end but you do get a lot bigger (in my experience anyway).
During the second trimester you gain the most weight as your blood volume and fluid volume increases massively.
In the third trimester the baby gets a lot bigger so your stomach gets bigger you get a lot more uncomfortable.

When you look at the size difference between a 4lb baby and an 8lb baby it's quite dramatic in terms of size

Because during the final month of pregnancy your baby puts on the most weight.