Big Baby Blues
Although excessive weight gain has been linked to large babies, it isn’t always the case. I know plenty of women who gained 50lbs and had 6lb babies, my mom being one of them. There have been lots of studies around pregnancy and weight gain, each providing their own separate conclusions, but one common denominator always remains, pregnant woman who started out at a healthy weight need to gain 25 – 35 pounds for a healthy pregnancy. The equation is simple, the smaller you were pre-pregnancy, the more weight you need to gain to sustain a healthy baby.
The average healthy pregnancy weight gain is broken down something like this:
Maternal:
Uterus: 2.5 lbs.
Breasts: 1
Blood: 3
Water: 4.5
Fat (Maternal Stores for energy and breastfeeding): 8
Fetal:
Fetus: 7.5
Placenta: 1.5
Amniotic Fluid: 2
Total: 30 lbs
Someone asked me the other day what the hell I’ve been feeding my baby to make her so big so soon. Wondering the same question myself, I decided to chart my weight gain to see how I stack up (literally).
Chart courtesy of www.pregnancyweekly.com
My weight gain is exactly on target. Therefore, I have come up with my own modified version of my (anticipated) weight gain distribution.
Maternal:
Uterus: 2.5 lbs.
Breasts: 3 (they’ve come a LOOOONG way…. trust me on this)
Blood: 3
Water: 4.5
Fat (Maternal Stores for energy and breastfeeding): 5 (apparently baby is absorbing all the fat for me)
Fetal:
Fetus: 10 lbs (scary thought. but lets take worse case scenario here)
Placenta: 2 (this organ must need to be bigger to support my little wooly mammoth)
Amniotic Fluid: 2
Total: 32 lbs
Conclusions:
Since I am exactly on target for weight gain (seeing that I started out a bit on the smaller side), that leaves me to believe that osmosis must be transferring the fat I’m gaining right onto baby. Sure I’m in for a hell of a ride through labour and delivery, but at least I’ll have my pre-pregnancy body back sooner!
Maybe a big baby won’t be so bad after all.
posted by karla @ 9:59 AM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Don't worry - you're doing just fine!! When I was carrying my first child, I LOST weight until I was about 6 months along. I wasn't sick or anything, I just was eating healthier. I was bigger than I should have been to begin with, and still am (is it too late to keep calling it 'baby weight' when the 'baby' is 8?) so that wasn't a problem for me. I had big kids, too. My first was 8 lbs 15 oz and number 2 was 9 lbs 4 oz. Both C-sections, thankfully! But I know what you mean - I had a friend who stopped counting her weight gain at 50 lbs and she still had a couple of months to go. Her baby was around 6 lbs.
I just started my own blog yesterday. SmartyPantsNews is my first attempt at a blog. I wish you a healthy pregnancy. I was a baby born to a 44 year old who only gained 7 pounds. My mom didn't even wear pregnancy clothes. Now, this was in 1961 and her doctor insisted she not gain over 10 lbs. I was a healthy baby 5lbs 2oz.
Just enjoy your pregnancy and keep up a healthy diet.
Good luck,
Anne
Wow look at you mathmatical queen! :) Those are some fancy calculations there. With kiddo#1, I definitely gained weight but breastfeeding took the weight off pretty quickly. I'm wondering how quickly I'll get the pre-pregnancy body after the birth of this belly here. In either case, I'm digging the big breasts. :)
Oh, I am HATING the boobs! They are like monsters, painful, ugly monsters on my chest! What's worse is that I know they are only going to get bigger! If your baby is about 3 or so pounds right now,and you're at about 7 months, then you sound fine. When I was at around 8 months, TJ was about 5 pounds or so, and he was only 7 lbs. 13 oz. when he was born, which is not bad. Trey had told me the whole pregnancy that his family all had big babies over 10 lbs., and walked around in fear the whole time! Thank goodness TJ took after my family! I wouldn't worry too much, though. I can't really say that, of course, knowing that I went through the exact same thing with my first. I just know that's why I love reading your blog so much! It's so great reliving all of those moments! Some of them I'm having now, too, and it's so cool to hear someone else going through them as well!
Katt: I definetely want to have more kids...am already pondering when we might want to start trying to number 2, although check back with me after I give birth. I might have a different answer ;)
Chris: Thanks for the encouragement. I've heard of pregnant mommies who lost weight when taking up healthier eating habits to nourish their little babies. I think at my weight I would have been in trouble if I started loosing...
Anne: Hi! Welcome to my blog! 7lbs? Thats crazy. I've read where women back then were encouraged to restrict their diets and not to gain alot of weight. Seems so scary to me. I guess it just goes to show how adaptable humans really are, and that we manage to thrive through almost anything.
PregnancyWeek: Yes, I'm digging my new breasts too! I just wish I could keep them!
Christi: You HATE your boobs? How? I've never had any, so this is a whole new experience for me :)
Im about 7 1/2 months, so the docs said the average weight of a baby at this time is 1100grams, Ava is somehere in the 1400 grams...almost a whole pound bigger! YIKES! Thanks for loving my blog! I love your blog too!
I never had boobs, either. I had always said that I was going to get a boob-job. It was awesome while I was prego. They, however, never went away (so you may not be losing yours, either). After a while, they just started to hang there, and get in the way. My button-up shirts didn't fit anymore, and they are now shaped funny. I went from a little B to a DD. Big jump, there, and a lot to get used to! What scares me now is that I started at a DD, and they are still growing (and still hurt). What if they don't go back after this baby! Aaaaggghhhh! What's scarier is that I've had more neck pain and headaches since TJ was born than I have in my whole life. I can't dispel the notion that they have something to do with that. For your sake, though, I'll pray that the boobs stay, and everything else goes back. My feet shrunk back, as did my ankles, nose and whatever else. I don't want you to have to keep your new butt. Although, if Mark's anything like Trey, he's all about butts!
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