My name is Hannah Bajor the
Pregnancy Super Coach with over twenty years in the field
taking care of women before, during and after their pregnancy.
Our discussion topic is weight gain and
pregnancy: what is normal and what should you expect. Weight gain in
pregnancy varies from one woman to the next depending on what weight
she was before she started her pregnancy. If you are classed as
normal weight for your height, then we expect that you are going to
gain about 25-35 pounds during your pregnancy. If you are
underweight to start, then we are looking for you to gain about
28-40 pounds in your pregnancy. If you are really overweight, then
we only want you to gain about 15-20 pounds because we expect you to
lose some weight by eating healthier.
Where does all of this weight come from? First
look at the baby. The baby is going to weigh 7-8 pounds. Secondly,
the increase in breast size is going to be an extra one to three
pounds. The womb where your baby is growing, that is your uterus, is
about two pounds. Inside the womb is a bag of water that the baby
sits in, which is the amniotic fluid. This water itself weighs about
two pounds. Inside the amniotic fluid obviously is the baby as we
said is 7-8 pounds.
But, you also have a huge organ growing that is
called the placenta. The placenta is the feeding tube for your baby,
so everything that you eat and drink during your pregnancy comes
from your blood supply into the placenta, is filtered, and goes
along the umbilical cord. This is this long tube into your babys
belly button and that is how your baby takes in all its nutrients,
gets rid of all the waste products, takes in its oxygen, takes in
its blood supply, and has all the hormones that needs to grow and
develop normally.
The placenta itself can weigh about
a-pound-and-a-half. By the time you are 34 weeks pregnant, your
entire blood volume within your body has increased by 40%, which can
weigh another 3-4 pounds, and on top of that, you need to have a lot
of extra fat laid down around your body and this fat is brown fat
that helps to give you a lot of energy after you have the baby.
So, all in all, we are looking at a normal woman
who is going to gain between 25 and 35 pounds during pregnancy. My
advice to you is to be very conscious of what you eat, be very
conscious of your weight gain. Monitor it and talk to your OB/GYN
provider to see that you are on target or you are on goal. The more
you are informed, the more educated you are about the pregnancy then
the higher probability is that everything will go well for you.
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