August 2nd, 2011Plus Size And Pregnancy
The overwhelming majority of big or plus size women will undergo a perfectly normal pregnancy, but because there is an increased risk factor, they will notice that the medical staff will fuss around them a great deal more and they might have to go in for tests more often than a woman whose weight is regular for her size. This is understandable
The fact is that a woman who has a Body Mass Index (BMI) greater than 25 has a higher chance of developing complications like gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia, which is a condition of raised blood pressure during pregnancy affecting the mother and the baby. It is uncertain why these conditions are more common in overweight women but it is something that doctors take very seriously.
It should be stressed again that babies from overweight mothers do not usually suffer any ill effects, but there are certain higher risks. Another of these is that it is known that babies from overweight mothers also run a higher risk of having more neural tube defects which have to do with the development of the baby’s brain and spinal cord.
One supposed cause for this difficulty is that overweight women are known to have poorer levels of folate in their blood and folate is essential in the early stages of pregnancy in order to avoid neural deficiencies.
In fact, folate is often administered to pregnant women in regulated doses. Folate is the naturally occurring form of folic acid or vitamin B9. Some women begin taking folic acid as they start attempting to conceive just to be on the safe side.
Each mother runs the chance of getting gestational diabetes during pregnancy, but the likelihood in women of regular weight (BMI 19-24) run a 2% danger; overweight women, BMI 24-30, run a 6% risk and obese women, BMI 30+ run a 9% chance.
This does not mean that obese women cannot have a normal child after a normal pregnancy and a standard childbirth. It is just being given as an explanation for why a larger woman might require more tests and monitoring than a smaller one.
About 10% of all women develop gestational hypertension and this is something that can be treated quite routinely. Those with gestational hypertension will experience a rise in blood pressure in or around their 20th week to 140/90 or more. This can be a trigger for pre-eclampsia which involves the same high blood pressure but with protein in the urine.
This is a great deal more serious and necessitates medical assistance. Age seems to be more of a factor here than weight – under 35′s are less prone than above 35 year olds.
Although the risks of some conditions are elevated for overweight women, they tend to suffer more than others at childbirth. Labour can be longer and the likelihood of a Caesarean section are considerably higher. However, if you are considerably overweight and you co-operate closely with your doctor, you probably will not experience any exceptional problems.
Owen Jones, the writer of this article, writes on several subjects, but is now concerned with the Bikini Cup D. If you would like to know more, please go to our web site at Swimwear for Big Busts.