Weight gain while pregnant

[mommylamb]

I had my prenatal visit today and the doctor, who pissed me off entirely for a separate issue which I may write about but haven't yet decided, told me I need to watch my weight.

So here's the situation. I weigh more than what I look like and the size clothes that I wear, and know I went into this pregnancy heavier than I should have been. Nothing I can do about that now.

I will be 28 weeks on Friday. So far I have gained 15 lbs. Since my last appointment 4 weeks ago, I've gained 1 lb. That's all. While I should have started out at a better weight, I don't think my pregnancy weight gain has been excessive. Am I kidding myself?

FTR, my practice has many positive attributes, but one of the big negatives is that it's big. It's a mixture of doctors and midwives, and I try to see as many of them as possible so that I'll hopefully know the person who is there to deliver the baby when I go into labor. They always have a doctor and a midwife at the hospital at all times, and you get who you get. I like most of them a lot. This guy isn't a terrible doctor, and I don't harbor bad feelings towards him in general, but he's very old school.

[arivecchi]

You seem to be in the healthy range according to this chart:

http://www.parentingweekly.com/pregnancy/pregnancy_health_fitness/weightgain_chart.htm#

[hoodlims]

Wait a second. 15lbs? That is nothing!!! At that point I had already gained about 25, and my midwife keeps telling me my weight gain is ok. I know if you start of heavier, you aren't supposed to gain as much, but 15 lbs is nothing for over halfway (I like to think of 30 as the minimum weight gain recommendation, not 25).

If it makes you feel any better, this morning the crotch of my GAP maternity jeans split today. I am taking it as a BAD sign. I am 37 weeks along and I thought I was looking pretty good...until about an hour ago.

[rin]

Don't worry about it in the least. You sound fine. I practice intuitive eating while pregnant (well, all the time really) and I fully believe that if you're really listening to your body you'll gain exactly as much weight as you need to. Some doctors love to freak you out (my OB during my first pregnancy nearly gave me an ulcer with nagging me about my weight gain; first it was too little and my baby was going to die of IUGR! then it was too much and my baby was going to be so fat and huge and I was going to get GD!) and IMO it's usually completely unnecessary and just creates anxiety. (For the record, my DD was a perfectly reasonable 8lbs12oz.)

[Green_Tea]

I think 15 lbs in the first 28 weeks sounds perfect. A pox on that doctor.

[mommylamb]

Thanks guys. When I'm not pregnant, I'm a size 10-12, so bigger than I ought to be, but not obese. I weigh a lot though. I always have. When I was in college, I lost a ton of weight and was wearing a size 2-4, but I still weighed nearly 130lbs and had a DD bra size. So, I'm not joking when I say I have big, dense bones (I don't think osteoporosis will be a problem for me at least). But I do weigh more than I ought to now. I should be a size 8, I think. Regardless, this is a lot less than what I had gained while pregnant with DS (I think). In total with him, I gained 38 lbs, and I just don't see myself gaining another 23 before this is over.

[emily]

15lbs sounds great to me! I don't even step on this scale this pregnancy but I know I've gained more than 15 and I am only 22 weeks. My OB hasn't mentioned my weight gain (which is probably too much). Maybe it's because it's the third time around. With my first pregnancy he nagged me so much about my weight gain (~40lbs total).

Ignore that doc of yours. You're doing great!

[waitingforgrace]

I wouldn't worry about it. I'm 32 weeks and net have only gained 11 pounds, I lost about 5 in first tri. My midwives always mention keeping an eye on weight gain and watch what I'm eating, blah, blah, blah. I too am heavier that I "should" be from pre-pregnancy but I think it's just a part of their routine speech to all patients. I don't take it personally.

[BabyBearsMom]

Ignore that jerky doctor. You look gorgeous and are doing just fine.

[mctlaw]

Yes, that sounds normal, especially after you clarified your range (I know the recommendation for obese people is to gain much less)! What a head scratcher! You should have had my OB for DS, who became my OB at about 5 months after a move. My net weight gain was 27 lbs. At the end of it all, she remarked, "you didn't gain very much weight overall, were you not feeling ok?"

[mommyp]

That sounds totally normal, I can't remember what I had gained by 28 weeks, but I'm sure it was more than that since I gained 40 lb in total. Same as my previous pregnancy and my doctor told me all pregnancy that my weight was healthy.

[Melaine]

What a jerk. I think I gained 8 lbs my first trimester with the girls and the doctor told me that was way too much. Then he finally figured out it was twins and I said I guessed it was ok that I gained a bit more. He said, no, it was really still a lot. Mind you, I was 125 and 5'6" before that pregnancy.

I pretty much hated him from that point on out. My overall weight gain was appropriate for a twin pregnancy.

[sntm]

He sounded like he was a little abrupt about it, but the recommended weight gain if you are overweight is only 15-25 lbs over the whole pregnancy and less if obese. There are a lot of potential complications with excess weight gain, so I think he probable was just trying to look out for you and the baby.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/pregnancy-weight-gain/PR00111

I can tell you from the other side that it is one of the most awkward conversations I ever have (obesity/overweight is a risk factor for breast cancer and worse outcomes during treatment as well) but that docs are now potentially subject to penalties for not discussing it.

Sorry it was a bad experience, though :(

[daisymommy]

That sounds perfectly on target for this point in your pregnancy.
Does he know that you are carrying a whole other human being inside of you? ;)
Men. Humph. Ignore him!

[amldaley]

Generally, for overweight women, they say 15 lbs total for the whole pregnancy.

So, yeah, watch your weight.

Oh, wait, I forgot to add that I think 15 lbs for the whole pregnancy is an extremely difficult number, doctors spout loads of random addages that they have been taught to say b/c they are supposed to, and I think you are doing AWESOME and I wish I was on the same track as you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Melaine]

I just weighed myself and at 15 weeks I've gained 5.5 lbs. That seems like a lot! I'm kind of bummed, because I think all the gain has happened in the last 4 weeks! It was inevitable though, since I was dieting right until I got pregnant, so just eating normally was probably going to cause some gain....still.

[Sopamanda]

Some times I think even good doctors have abrupt moments. I'm having complications so I get an ultrasound each week and an exam every other.

Last exam he (who is a GREAT OB, really like him) was far from gentle with the exam, shall we say. At the next exam I asked him to make sure he didn't have his boxing gloves on when he examined me. He laughed and apologized. He understood.

I know he was late coming from a surgery. I won't guess how it went.

If you see him again, I'd tell him!

At 20 weeks I was at 13 pounds up. :)

Sopamanda

EDD March 2012

[mommylamb]

Part of what really bothered me about this was a discussion I had with him prior to the weight thing. This guy is very pro circ, and as I've said in previous threads here on BBB, this is an issue that I've been going back and forth on, but leaning towards not circ'ing this time.

DS is circ'ed. I'm an atheist/agnostic/whatever Jew. This doctor is Jewish and happens to be a mohel. DH is not Jewish and is not circ'ed (he's British and it's just not the norm there to do it unless you're Jewish or Muslim), and he is opposed to circ'ing, though he went along with it last time with DS because I wanted to do it. Since then I've really questioned that decision.

Honestly, I have no patience for the anti circ mafia. I find people who make this their raison d'etre to be obnoxious and extreme. And, if anything makes me want to circ, it's that sort of rhetoric. But I'm also not one who believes in doing something just because it's custom, and I just don't think circ is necessary, and so I've been leaning towards not doing it, especially since this is DH's position.

Anyway, the doctor started in on me about whether we were going to circ DS2, and when I told him I was leaning against it, he started with all the pro-circ stuff, and I just didn't think it was his place to hit me over the head with it. Some of the things he was citing are statistics I've never seen anywhere else, and I honestly question the source. In response to me saying that DH was opposed, he also asked me what the rest of my family would think if we didn't circ, which really annoyed me because the state of my child's penis is just not the business of anyone other than DH and me. Regardless, my family doesn't care at all. We're all atheists. There is no covenant with God in my book. Even though I circ'ed DS1, I did so in the hospital, and did not have a bris.

I spent a good 10 minutes having this circ discussion with the doctor and I just didn't think it was right for him to be pushing me that hard. Then we immediately got into the weight discussion. I'm not sure if he said it because maybe he was angry with me, or if he would have said it anyway.

Ok, sorry for taking this thread on a tangent.

[Melaine]

Gosh, that would have really bothered me. Why is it the OB's job to even remotely touch on the issue of circumcision anyway??? Sounds like he was bringing his personal issues into the exam room, which is not cool. I would be frustrated too. I switched Doctors after the flu shot discussion. It wasn't the fact that he was pro-flu vax, which I totally understood. It was the total lack of respect and how pushy he was. Assuming I was afraid of needles was the last straw, I couldn't deal with that for the whole pregnancy. I need to feel that the doctor at least remotely respects me as an adult.

[mommylamb]

This practice is really large, and this is only the 2nd time I've seen this doc over 2 pregnancies. I usually see the midwives to be honest, so I don't feel the need to switch practices over it. I'm just hoping that he's not the doctor who's on duty when I go into labor because I don't want to deal with him again. There is one midwife there who I usually see for regular paps when not pregnant, and I love her, so I wouldn't want to change practices just because of one person.

[Melaine]

This practice is really large, and this is only the 2nd time I've seen this doc over 2 pregnancies. I usually see the midwives to be honest, so I don't feel the need to switch practices over it. I'm just hoping that he's not the doctor who's on duty when I go into labor because I don't want to deal with him again. There is one midwife there who I usually see for regular paps when not pregnant, and I love her, so I wouldn't want to change practices just because of one person.

That makes perfect sense. I am actually in the same scenario because I changed from the doctor to the midwives and now am thinking if I do end up in C-section again, I might have him after all. Oh well.

[ezcc]

My first ob practice had something to say about my weight it seemed like every visit- not enough, too much- it was never right. I think I gained about 25 lbs total. With my 2nd and now 3rd I am seeing a midwife and it pretty much never comes up- I weigh myself and they write it down, but have hardly said anything about it. I gained about the same with my 2nd and am on the same track this time.

[hoodlims]

I just weighed myself and at 15 weeks I've gained 5.5 lbs. That seems like a lot! I'm kind of bummed, because I think all the gain has happened in the last 4 weeks! It was inevitable though, since I was dieting right until I got pregnant, so just eating normally was probably going to cause some gain....still.

Melanie, no worries! I gained 5lbs the first week. We all gain what we gain, and there is only so much we can do.

[mecawa]

Both my MFM ( who I see now with DD3) and regular ob/gyn (who I had with both DD1 and 2) have told me that it's better to look at the overall weight gain, not what you've gained by a certain week/week by week gain. They've both said people start out at different weights, some are sicker than others in the beginning, and your body will sometimes make up for that,etc, etc. So I've always been told to look at it overall and 15 lbs. is not a lot for 28 weeks. I did at least that with all 3 and was never told to watch my weight. Just concentrate on having a healthy baby, that's what they always say to me.

It sounds like this doctor may have been irritated or feeling put out by the preceding conversation (which again, imo, he has no right to push you towards his opinion, and I think that is actually very unprofessional of him) , and just threw that remark about weight in there. At least that was my first impression when I read your post.