Pregnant - Nursing - Healthy BMI to get pregnant?

Hi all,

I am starting to consider getting pregnant as I am not getting any younger (I just turned 34). For my sake and for my baby's, I want to lose some weight before attempting it.
I was just reading a post by fatmad here where she said that the risk during pregnancy increases as the BMI increases. Does anyone know what this statistics are?

Also, are there other things you'd consider before getting pregnant?


thanks!

Have you looked at The Fertility Diet (Chavarro, Willett, & Skerrett)? I'm not looking to get pregnant (unfortunately I'm currently single), but I read it in hopes of extending my fertility into my 40s. There's a lot of good, commonsense advice, and they discuss BMI in particular. (I think they said that the optimal BMI for conception and healthy delivery was between 20 and 24.)

I'm just trying to get to my maximum healthy weight before getting pregnant...or at least what the medical community says is my max. I hate using BMI for anything but it's the only recommendations i can really find. My other HUGE consideration is my health. I've had issue for ever. I've been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, low thyroid function, chronic fatigue, asthma, OCD, etc. I believe I have adrenal fatigue pretty badly so that is something I'm trying to heal also. I want to build a good deal of muscle as well to help me carry my child and to aid in the birthing processes (I want to give birth at home but even if in the hospital, I want a completely natural birth and being strong and able to hold myself in any position I need will be helpful).

THe most helpful thing you can do is go visit an OB/GYN that you like and visit with him/her about your plans. That way the doc is the one doing the advice-giving, not people on the net who don't know your specific situation well enough. It's very common to do a pre-pregnancy meeting with your OB/GYN and it helps SO MUCH! Start taking prenatals now, take them at bedtime. You really should be taking them at least 6 months before getting pregnant, but it's just a recommendation. Good luck and really do go visit your doc! :)

Well, right now I am at the research stage and not even thinking about starting to try yet. I obviously would not take whatever people on a forum say (even one as helpful as this one) as gospel in such an important decision in my life.

Right now I am mostly wondering about the statistics about BMI and risk that I mentioned above. I would like to use that for motivation while I try losing the weight.

I guess that's what I'm saying- the doc will have the facts on BMI related to pregnancy- I personally think BMI is an arbitrary and totally worthless number but your doctor may feel differently.

Good luck!

Well, right now I am at the research stage and not even thinking about starting to try yet.

Me too. I definitely do not want to get pregnant before I lose more weight. My hubby is getting impatient. I'm reading a lot of books and researching midwives. It is true that each doctor will have a different idea of what you need to do to prepare. And sure, there are risks involved when you are overweight and pregnant but that doesn't mean you can't do it. I have many many friends who get pregnant and give birth while being overweight, some extremely obese. I personally don't want to try it. I know it will make things harder and that isn't my goal. But that's just me. Maybe you are thinking along the same lines. I wouldn't let the medical community scare you too much about the the increased risks. Yes, they exists but the medical community also looks at giving birth like it's a disease, not a natural part of life. They just love to scare the crap out of women and convince them they should do everything their way. I'm on a soap box here aren't I? :lol: Anyway, BMI aside, if you want to lose weight before getting pregnant think about how much easier it will be to carry around the baby without all the extra weight you have now. And how much easier it will be to give birth with a strong body that has been exercising strengthening itself for that very day. :D

Also, are there other things you'd consider before getting pregnant?


Do you mean as far as health, weight, circumstances?

I personally don't want to try it. I know it will make things harder and that isn't my goal. But that's just me. Maybe you are thinking along the same lines.

Exactly my thoughts. Just like you, I want to get stronger and definitely want to be already physically active enough to carry that through pregnancy. I don't think the risks are worth it. And I've already waited all this time, might as well wait a bit longer and do things properly.

My Dr. pretty much said I had to hurry up and get pregnant sooner rather than later because of my age. He did agree that I should lose some weight when I brought it up but he hasn't been all that useful. Maybe I should try again? hehe


Do you mean as far as health, weight, circumstances?

This is a pretty open-ended question since I am totally clueless, and I have the type of personality that likes to plan for everything, so feel free to contribute whatever comes to mind, if anything. I kind of started taking pre-natal vitamins already, but I keep forgetting to actually take them....

Just fyi, I am 5'8" and I weighed 210 when I became pregnant. Gained 10 pounds during the pregnancy. I was 32 when my son was born. The only problem that I had was gestational diabetes, and even my skinny friend had that when she was pregnant.

This is a pretty open-ended question since I am totally clueless, and I have the type of personality that likes to plan for everything, so feel free to contribute whatever comes to mind, if anything. I kind of started taking pre-natal vitamins already, but I keep forgetting to actually take them....

Oh, okay. Well since I'm in the same boat I can share the things I've been considering. I like to prepare as well and I don't want to have to think of everything after I'm pregnant. I could be really sick, tired and drained. I want to be prepared ahead of time. I can't prepare for everything of course but I'm looking at what I can do.

1. How I want to give birth - I want a natural birth that focuses on birth as a normal function of the body. I would like to use meditation, visualization, massage, relaxation, breathing, noise, body positions, movement and water. I do not want to be hooked up to any machines, IV's, etc. I want to eat when I want, drink when I want and move however I want. I do not want to be bugged constantly by medical staff. I think birth is a very powerful, emotional and spiritual journey for the mother, child and father. I don't want people interrupting our private, intimate time together. This leads to..

2. Where we want to give birth - I would prefer a home birth for the comfort, familiarity and relaxing atmosphere but it scares hubby so most likely we'll be doing a hospital birth. I'm researching midwives and I need to find out what hospital will support my birth plan (as I described above). I plan to call each hospital and ask them a bunch of questions about what they will support and what they will not. Then I need to contact midwives and ask them a bunch of questions.

3. Finances - I wouldn't say this should be a big consideration but it is something to be addressed. We are in a position where we should be fine but we've been vigilant in making sure we don't have debt, we have savings and we're prepared for emergencies. We're working on this but we have a long way to go. I'm not expecting perfection before baby though. We'll just go along doing what we can do. I would like a few thousand saved for the birth itself since there may be things insurance will not pay for, like a doula or the entire birth, should we decide to do it at home.

4. The state of our home - We've been doing renovations for a long time. I wanted to wait until the house was mostly done because I don't think a construction site is the best place for a baby. I also know how stressed I get and I don't want to be caring for a newborn AND dealing with a mess of a house.

5. Diapering - We plan to use cloth diapers. Hubby things a diapering service would be a good idea, at least for a while. I agree and I've found one that looks good. Our friends are using them and love it. I think using a service would be good for the first 2-3 months while all of us are adjusting. Then I plan to use my own cloth diapers. I've been looking into what types I like but I'm sure I'll have to try the different brands out before I make that decision. I have a lot of friends who use cloth so they can help me figure it out.

6. Health - I have a load of health issues. I'm working on improving my adrenal function and thyroid function. It's slow going but I knew that when I started. It could take up to two years. I don't really want to wait that long to have a baby so we'll just see what I can do until then. I've changed my vie of food and I'm eating differently. I still need to lose weight but I also think of my body as a future baby condo and I eat accordingly. I am trying to follow the Nourishing Traditions way of eating. http://www.westonaprice.org/splash_2.htm] Weston A. Price Foundation (http://www.westonaprice.org/splash_2.htm)

7. Weight - I really would like to get to 110 before actively trying to get pregnant. At that point, I will continue to try to lose weight until I am pregnant. I'm also trying to strengthen my body with weight training. I'm going to try some yoga too.

9. Nursery - I've already started on it. Well, okay, my hubby has. He knocked out the walls, put up new. Put in new flooring. I've designed the closet so that I can hang several rows of kid clothes but it'll still be useful for a teenager or adult. When he's done working in there I'm going to fill the room with plants to suck up the chemicals from the paint, new floor, etc. I've laid out where the baby furniture can go too. :D

10. Vitamins - You said you are already taking yours. That's great! I take quite a few right now and I'm looking to add more. some of these I may need to quit when pregnant, others I can continue.
- vitamin C
- vitamin E
- b sublingual
- cod liver oil
- calcium
- magnesium
- turmeric
- glucosamine
- dandelion
- red raspberry leaf
- cranberry
- adrenal & adrenal cortex
- chlorophyll

And reading. I'm starting to do some reading now. I also have some message boards with a lot of moms so I ask them a lot of questions. I've known some of them for about 5 years so I trust them to give me decent information. Most of them have had at least 4 children, if not more like 8 :D Here are the books I have right now.
- Home oriented maternity experience : a comprehensive guide to home birth
- Childbirth without fear; the original approach to natural childbirth
- Gentle birth choices
- Birth without violence
- Home birth : step-by-step instruction for natural home birth and emergency childbirth


This is all I can think of right now. If I think of something else I'll come back. I spend a lot of my time thinking about how to prepare my body, my mind, our house and my hubby for pregnancy and birth.

Soo, how is it going?

Hi,
I kinda disappeared on you, sorry about that!
Wow, you really have done your homework. I am not nearly as prepared as you are, but your post will help me get my thoughts in order.

My original plan will have to be re-arranged a bit since I have just been diagnosed with gallstones and I might need surgery for that. I still don't know anything and I am not talking to the surgeon until next month, but I figure I will need to add some recovery time from that. Because of the stones I had a visit to the ER and there I was talking to one of the nurses who said not to worry about my weight right if I wanted to get pregnant (another point of view).

I definitely want to get my body in better shape to be able to deal with pregnancy, I'd like to remain active while pregnant, but first I have to get strong and active while I am not.

While I don't have a specific weight target in mind, I want to get as close to my goal as possible so that when I do get pregnant and gain some of the weight back, I won't need to lose as much, to get back to where I started, since after all, it is not easy that easy to do it.
Right now we live in a tiny 1 bedroom apartment which is too small for the 2 of us and I can't imagine how it'd be with another person here, no matter how small, so we are looking to move and possibly buy our first home (or condo more likely) where we'll have room for a baby.

Yesterday I ordered my very first baby related book, although it's not about pregnancy I got it because my mom and brother (both psychologists) recommended it. Once I get closer to my goals I will start getting other books although I do believe that I should not read too much, or I will get all freaked out.

For now, I think I will concentrate my efforts on myself and my body to make this happen soon.

Ick, sorry about the gallbladder. That is no fun at all. I hope you can get that taken care of right away without too much fuss. You don't need added stress when trying to lose weight. I sooo understand that!

Landons Baby- YAY for cloth!!! ;) I LOVE CD! I never used a service. I wanted to at first but it just wasn't an option here. I had a little too much fun with it but we still managed to save some money. :)

Interesting thread! I've sort of btdt so I thought I would poke my head in here. You guys might want to check out the Fertility Awareness Method. There is a book by Toni Weschler called Taking Charge of Your Fertility. It is a book for birth control, but it can work in exactly the opposite way! It will help you figure out how long your cycles are (most people do not have 28 day cycles like the charts), and if/when you are ovulating. Once you have a few months of charting, I would think it would be much much easier to get pregnant when you want to, and plus have really helpful info for your doctor if you have trouble.

LandonsBaby, you might want to check out hypnobirthing or the bradley method if you are interested in natural birth. We did bradley classes and they were great. I had my first at a birth center and was planning a hb for my second but I risked out because of gestational diabetes (I was really overweight for my second but even skinny people get GD). I ended up seeing an ob but had a really nice experience at the hospital. My ob had me started on pitocin when I checked in, but did not get an epidural and baby was born 3 hrs later. The ob didn't make it. LOL I was persistant with making my needs known--no vax/vit k/eye ointment/no bath and the nurses respected my wishes. I took my placenta home as well and encapsulated it so I could ingest it after the birth (prevents ppd). We also cloth diaper and my babies have worn cloth from birth, washing diapers is super easy once you get your system down.

I'd try and find a La Leche League in your area so you can know what to expect if you want to breastfeed. I thought it would come naturally and it was pretty hard the first time around. Midwives/doulas/lactation consultants come in handy during that time. The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding is a great resource to have in the first few weeks, too!

Good luck! I was diagnosed hypothyroid after my first was born. Are you on synthetic thyroid? I think that there is something like 4X the risk of miscarriage and low iq in babies (for untreated hypo) so it would be good to get your thyroid stabilized before getting pregnant. I had to get TSH tests in each trimester to make sure my thyroid was ok. I think baby's thyroid is not developed until 12 weeks of preg so it is important that mom's thyroid is working well.

Ummm yeah babies don't cost so much after they are born. LOL You can do it on the cheap--clothes from the babyshower, learn how to sew or knit, save thousands in the first year by bfing and cloth diapering. I think it's when the babies grow up they start to get expensive (preschool!!!?!!).

Oh yes I forgot since you obviously know how to watch what you eat, it won't be hard at all to keep weight gain during pregnancy to a minimum (without compromising nutrition for both of you, of course). I let everything go with my first pregnancy, didn't lift a foot to exercise but with my second I had a net gain of 4 lbs. Again I was really overweight so this was totally fine. It really makes a difference if you don't have your head in a bucket of ice cream every night with the excuse that you "had a craving". LOL What a joke.
Ok now that I wrote a novel and sound like a know-it-all I'm leaving now....If I'm annoying just tell me to get lost and I'll delete...ha ha ha

I plan on looking at hypobirthing and bradley. I have friends who have used both and really like them. There are some others I want to look into also.

I've heard of Taking Charge of Your Fertility. Haven't read it though. I do have another book on getting pregnant that deals with how to have a boy or girl, depending on what you want. I know there are a lot of programs that help you chart too. I will probably use one of those too. I can't remember the name of the last one I saw. But my friend really likes it (she doesn't NFP for BC).

Am I taking synthetic thyroid? No. I will not take it. I did try it, it gave me tremors. I am not a fan of synthetics at all. I'm currently taking adrenal glands and adrenal cortex. After the new year I will be taking a natural (real) thyroid in a low dose. Sorta like Armour but much lower potency.

We have a bunch of La Leche people in this area. I actually may be taking a class in breastfeeding soon (I'm thinking of training as a doula). I know I have a consultant right near my house.

I'm reading "Taking Charge of Your Fertility" and it's a must read for ALL women. So informative.

I had a friend who went through radiation and chemo and concieved the very month her doctors gave her the go-ahead. She attributes that to this book.