Pregnancy for the larger woman!

[missvicki]

HI, i've just registered with mums net and really to get some support. I'm a first time mum to be and i have to admit i am alot over weight (morbidly Obese).

Really i suppose what i'm looking for is are there other women out there that have mangaged to have perfectly normal pregnancies while carrying extra weight as all my midwives and doctors have scared me a little with statistics on blood pressure problems and need for c-sections.

The pregnancy wasn't excatly planned but i am happy and really want my baby to be healthy just wish people would keep making me feel bad because i'm over weight!!!

I am overweight and have these concerns as well.

if you are very big you might find they have problems trying to listen to babies heart beat and doing some of the scans.

everyone has risks due to one thing or another and lots of bigger people have perfectly healthy babies.

I'm currently a size 26! But i have been watching what i eat since being pregnant and so far have not gained anything! although i think the really bad morning sickness has also helped!

I have had the sacn thing explained to me although my 12 week scan was so clear the midwife was well impressed.

I think the thing that is worring me most is i have been put under the care of the consultant because of my size, and i would have liked a home birth but he has siad no way because women with a bmi (body mass index) over 40, over half end up needing a c-section! this terrifies me!!

lol, yeah i think i'm relatively healthy, me and my patner go swimming atleast once if not twice a week!

I've just felt like a bit of a lepper with the medical proffession so far, like i'm stupid for getting myself pregnant!

Hi

I used to be this big and when I was I was a member of a yahoo list called OMOM. It is very american but it is all larger women who are mothers. I found it very useful for a while. Also most of the women are quite knowledgeable about the risks or not associated with being overweight in pregancy.

groups.yahoo.com/group/OMOM/

They have another list for overweight pregant women which I thought was quite good too

health.groups.yahoo.com/group/OPSS-L/

You may find these useful for support and advice Good luck

Thank you

Congratulations on your pregnancy, MissVicki! Sorry you've had bad experience with the medics so far. Try to focus on the positives; at least being under the care of the consultant means if you do have any niggles or worries you should be able to get proper reassurance quickly. Don't let them freak you out with the caesarean threats - the truth is as long as the baby arrives safely and you're both happy and healthy at the end of your pregnancy, nothing else is that important. Good luck with everything and welcome to Mumsnet.

My BMI was 39.5 at my last pg, but only because I lied and added an extra half-cm to my height! Being on my 3rd pg I had some idea of what might be in store.

My experience has been 3 normal pregnancies, very healthy blood pressure throughout, 3 normal vaginal deliveries in hospital, all under consultant-led care, 3 large, healthy babies. The only negatives were a large fibroid (nothing to do with my size, but the reason I was under a consultant) and glucose tolerance issues from about w35 on, which were easily controled by diet. Despite giving birth in hospital, I was treated in a midwifery-led style, except of course when I had an epidural with my first.

My advice would be to consider yourself normal, to enjoy the pregnancy and not agonise too much about size or weight (IIRC I put on 2-2.5stone in each pg). To keep mobile, even if only by going for a walk every day (changing your commute so that you walk for 20m each way is a good way of woring light excerise into your day), and be very vigilant of your sugar intake. Sugar intake also includes refined carbs.

And stick that belly out! This is the one time a fat woman gets to be proud of her tum

Maybe so many women wouldn't need c-sections if the medical profession didn't start hyper ventilating at the sight of an overweight woman! This really annoys me - can you tell
Briefly - I've had three babies, o/weight all the time. No blood pressure issues, no blood sugar issues, perfectly average birth weights, normal deliveries. In the last two pregnancies I have been 'invited' to have a GTT (invited as in 'we'll book one for you'
Both 6 years ago and again last year, in the absence of any evidence that there was a problem and resisting what I felt was unwarrented medical intervention - I told them to get stuffed. And that was the last time I saw the consultant Actually he was very nice - just full of doom about shoulder dystocia and large babies.
So what did I do - kept active - still cycling at 39 weeks! Watched what I ate - especially the chocolate but that wasn't too hard as I felt nauseous a lot of the time. Made a conscious decision to deliver in a kneeling position as I understood that created more room in the pelvis and was hoping to pre-empt any shoulder issues. Dd3 was born with no problem at all and was actually the smallest of my three
Of course if there is any reason to be concerned then you need to go with the medical help that you need BUT what was important to me was to work out if there was actually a problem with me or if my size meant that they felt there MUST be a problem and weren't actually looking at me. Always got on fine with the midwives though - because they were looking at me.
Do enjoy your pregnancy, don't let any pressure on you mar such a special time - even with the vomiting!

So at what stage do they start to worry about you being overweight? Just how overweight is a concern?

Hi all, I am also a first time mum to be - am 15 weeks and 1 day, BMI of 40+, wearing size 18-24 clothes and I know exactly where you are coming from - its like I feel guilty for being pregnant and overweight and was told I would probably have a c-section and already have the GTT booked for Feb.
I cringe when I have to get on the scales at every appointment or say my weight. I had an antenatal yesterday and when the midwife said she was going to listen to the baby's heartbeat - I thought there was no way her little doppler stick was going to hear anything through my layers of fat , BUT she did !! and it was amazing....
It was comforting to read the other comments on this post - I know that I am being silly and a thicker skin is required - as long as you are eating healthily, doing some gentle exercising and the baby is doing fine, its time to celebrate the belly and the amazing thing your body is doing I'm getting there !

I am so relieved to read this!!

I was overweight when pregnant with dd and was under consultant care (although I had a.n checks with a commuinity midwife, gp & hospital midwives)

The drs I saw at the hospital (never actually saw a consultant) treated me like I was a leper. On several occasions I went home in tears after being told that I would have to have a c section cos of my weight and that the baby would be massive, and that I would get diabetes and that a c section was dangerous for someone so big (I was and still am a size 22-24)

My scans were all fine (I had more than normal so they could monitor her size). There was a little concern about the size of dds tum on one of the later scans, but she was a dinky 7lb 15 after a totally normal delivery (in fact after the birth I was put on the midwife led unit as no intervention was needed).

I gained very little weight and wore my normal "fat bird" clothes all the way through my pregnancy, I did not get diabetes and my blood pressure was normal throughout.

I agree with Northernlurker - they look at your size and assume the worst instead of treting you like an individual.

This is a good thread. Alot of my fears have been put to rest

Goodness, reading these replies I feel so lucky. I'm 31 weeks, a size 20-22 and BMI of 42 (I'm a short arse).

The only comments made about my weight so far have been the 'difficult scan due to patient habitus' remark on my anomaly scan notes. She actually didn't have any problems and everything was lovely and clear so she was probably just covering her backside.

My MW also said something about my weight at about 20 weeks but it was something like them not going to worry about it because it couldn't be helped now and she was quite smiley about it.

I'm not under consultant care, my BP has been ok and my GTT came back clear. I was really expecting the worst but it's been totally routine so far. Fingers crossed it continues like that but, up till now it's been easy peasy. So it doesn't always have to be an ordeal. Just a shame that rough treatment is what we have come to expect.

What is GTT?

GTT = Glucose Tolerence Test for Gestational Diabetes that you have at week 28 .....

For the NT scan - my notes did say the scan view was restricted by adipost (i.e. fat) but nevertheless all came back fine and had some lovely pics of the baby...

Also, my midwife has been non judgemental - when I've mentioned to her I'm worried about being overweight and pregnant, she's always replied with "all you can do is eat as healthily as you can"

Like Sarahjct - all has been routine so far depsite my fears, worries and to some degree paranoia brought about by other people, all of this has helped me feel a bit more relaxed about it and actually be proud of my baby belly

I didn't have to have a test like that the first time. Is that because I wasn't overweight?

I think they automatically offer it to women who's BMI is over a certain number (I think its 38??)

Is that where you have to drink that yucky stuff

I sympathise. I was VERY overweight during my pregnancy.
My BP stayed low, I didn't put on a lot of weight during (about 2lbs overall weight gain when dd arrived).
My self esteem was very low during pregnancy because of negative comments from Health professionals.
My choices in birth plan were limited, I didn't get a lot of support for the type of birth I wanted.
I delivered very easily, though. Labour was just under 6 hours and done on gas and air for the last hour.
I would recommend walking as much as you can as it really worked for me to keep well
Someone posted this
Plus-size pregnancy website link a while ago, might help you.
Good luck, and don't let anyone upset you

Thank you all for posting, reading these this morning has made me feel a whole lot better now.

Atleast now i know that what the dr's are saying isn't the norm just worse case.

And after reading Macdog i think i'm going to try and not pay so much attention to the scare tatics as my self esteem is starting to suffer, i have been doubting if i've done the right thing getting pregnant etc. My partner is over the moon we're expecting and so was i at first and i think thats what i need to get back to!

If other ladies like yourselves can create healthy babies with no real problems then i'm sure i can too!

Thank you all XXX

i was bmi 41 with ds1. lots of expectations from medics and midwives that because the population risk is higher for us larger woman, that i personally must be suffering each and everyone. Was frustrating, as was in fine fettle.

small gem to watch out for: the choice of blood pressure cuff when doing your BP. Make sure they use a big person's cuff. I had a pre-eclampsia scare due to use of a barely closed normal person's cuff - this can give a falsely high reading.