Any 16 stone plus mums to be? Post Reply

[mummynutterbutters]

Excuse the very direct personal question, but I'd love to know if there are any other very large mums-to-be out there, and if so what advice have you been given regarding overall health, and potential delivery complications??

I weighed 13 stone when I fell pregnant with my 3rd child (although lost a stone due to severe sickness during the first 3 months of pregnancy). I was told then by the midwives that my BMI was just under the maximum limit for a normal vaginal delivery.

Thank goodness all went well (apart from a brief worrying spell in hospital with pneumonia when I was 5 months gone). However, since having baby no.3 i've piled on more weight.

I long for a 4th child before I hit 40 next year, but am worried becoming pregnant at my current size would be asking for trouble.
Although i'm on a sensible diet and the weight is gradually falling off, i'm becoming a bit impatient!!
I've heard of larger ladies having babies with no ill effects, and i've heard stories to the contrary.
Any insights gratefully received.

Forgive the disjointed writing. It's 2am and i'm up with my toddler.
The sleepless nights with him are quite routine at the moment, so a new baby won't phase me!!!

[RosieT]

Have pm'ed you

[bananatea]

Hi there,
I am having my second child at a considerably heavier weight than with my first. Hospitals look at your bmi rather than your weight alone to determine what category you fall under and depends on the hospital as to what protocols they have on treating obese pregnant women. My bmi fell under the extreme obese category, at 41.2 and at the sw London hospital I attend, anyone/most pregnant patients (obv depending on individual medical conditions) with a bmi over 40 will be given an anticoagulant during the whole pregnancy and 6weeks postpartum. This was very shocking and upsetting for me initially and along with all the health risks they HAVE to inform you on, I left my first consultant appointment very upset and overwhelmed. You will have a few more consultant appointments throughout your pregnancy than non obese women and will be placed as high risk.
Now if you fall between 30-40 bmi they won't treat you much differently except advise you on nutrition. With my first my bmi was at 37 ( I think, possibly less) so it doesn't seem much different from my current bmi but there is a 20kg difference between each booking appointment. I was still classed as high risk but that was it. Had a healthy pregnancy and normal vaginal delivery. I have had no complications so far in this pregnancy, bp was 110/90 on last visit. Yes I do wish I lost some weight prior to getting pregnant, but each individual carries their weight differently and you know in yourself if your healthy and fit enough to carry through another pregnancy.
Of course though, I would advise to loose some weight first as it benefits you, but then I understand the desire and impatience of wanting to get pregnant right away!

[lawrence]

Yes deff why not,as long as u have healthy diet,and maybe some mild exsersise.yes good luck.xx

[Bringbackpacers22]

Hi, I don't live in the Nappy Valley area, but in the 'sunny??' south of England on the coast. However I'm guessing that the practices for having a baby whilst overweight don't vary that much. I was around 17 stone when I had my first daughter at the age of 35/36 and probably around 18 stone when I had my second at about 38. Luckily being overweight didn't appear to affect my fertility at all and I fell pregnant within a couple of months of trying for my first child and even quicker with my second. The midwives treated me fairly normally although they did express concerns about my age and weight, but there are a couple of things that I wish I had known beforehand. Firstly you can follow a sensible diet and try not to put on any extra weight during pregnancy and also during breastfeeding providing that your midwife/doctor has approved it. Both slimming world (which I can highly recommend having lost nearly 5 stone to date on myself,) and weight watchers will amend your food intake to allow for pregnancy and offer good advice and support. Secondly although both my pregnancies went relatively smoothly, every time I went to my midwife I measured over the average fundal measurement. I just presumed I was having a bigger baby as they do run in our family, which I was. But nobody told me that this could be down to gestational diabetes. I did take a test for gestational diabetes, but was told I was okay, although on the high side of normal. In the end with my first child, my waters broke just before terms, but despite being induced, baby was not forthcoming 3 days later, and they said she wasn't even coming down onto my cervix. I ended up having an emercency caesarean section and baby was 10 lb 9oz with low blood sugars (both signs I may have had have gestational diabetes after all.). She ended up in special care baby unit for a week and I feel this could have been avoided if I had eaten a lot less sugar during pregnancy. My second was also a caesarean, but booked not emergency and she was slightly lighter at 10 lb 1 oz and although she had slightly low blood sugars she was not nearly as ill as baby number 1 and stayed with me on the ward and was discharged after a couple of days. I had eaten a lot less sugars in the second pregnancy. So my advice would be to speak to the doctors/midwifes about your concerns and get good advice about diet, trying to put on no more than I stone during pregnancy if you still have weight to lose and only increasing calorie intake by the recommended amounts, (which if memory serves is only in the 3rd trimester anyway.) Hopefully this will avoid the issues I experienced as well as any issues that may arise from carrying around all the extra weight. Good luck.

[erinisle22]

If you are giving birth in Wandsworth, under St Georges, the gestational diabetes test is arranged as a matter of course if you are over a BMI of 30, I think. I have had 2 pregnancies at around 13-14 stone, and had the test both times. There wasn't anything particular that they really suggested though, although my weight and my age had me as high risk and when I ended up with a planned c-section, I had to take a full 6 week course of blood thinning injections.