So hubby and I have been talking about having another baby.. It would be our first together. I have an 8 year old daughter from a previous relationship. (He is a wonderful daddy to her.) We have been talking a lot recently about having a baby. I know he wants one now (this would be his first) and I am not really at the age where I have a whole lot of time to wait. Part of me thinks I should wait till I lose a lot more weight but the other part of me has this biological clock ticking and wants to have one now.. I don't have any health issues, just weigh too damn much lol.. Any advice on what I should or shouldn't do?
I was 19 years old when I had my little girl and weighed in at about 275 at the start and exactly 300 when I had her. Because of the weight I had to have a c-section. I ended up bleeding internally and having to have a second surgery a week later to save my life. It took 6 hours and I flat-lined twice. The pregnancy itself was not so bad for me. Just the after. What weight were you at when you had your first child? Did you have problems? Do you have other heath problems now, like high blood pressure? Some people can have perfectly healthy pregnancies, and deliveries overweight, and other people can not. Even if you did not have problems the first time remember now you are 8 years older, and that does take a toll on your body. I think you should talk to your doctor before you make any decisions. Personally, one of my biggest motivaters to get healthy is because I want another child, and I know I can not do that again at this weight. Good luck whatever you decide, and keep us posted!!!
Well I weighed about 230 when I had my daughter.. Also had a C-section. Apparently I have a low pelvis and would be hard to pass a baby naturally. Esp a big one. (She weighed 9.1)
I don't have any health problems at all right now, just the weight. I do think about me being older now and how much of an impact that might have.. I probably should talk to the dr but like all doctors, I am sure he will tell me to lose weight first.
The dr. will probably tell you that, but I would ask more specific questions. What are the biggest risk for YOU as an individual? Make sure the Dr. you choose has all your medical history as well as your history from the first child. Also, I suggest choosing a OB that specializes in high risk. And, you are only 33 years old, if you wait 1 year, and put EVERYTHING you have into losing weight you could easily be 50 - 100 lbs lighter in a years time, and that would make a BIG difference. But, it is a very personal choice, and really yours and your husbands to make. If you simply do not want to wait, try to make your pregnancy healty as possible. Eat right, continue to move and be active, and I am going to once again stress having a high risk OB. Once again, good luck and keep us posted!! Whatever your choice I really do wish you the best, you are facing a really hard decision!!!
How old are you right now? Have you visited an ob/gyn recently and discussed this with them? Also how quickly are you losing weight at this point?
I delivered my daughter at 240lbs and for me that pregnancy was hard on me (my joints were constantly aching because of the weight). If I were you I'd consider your age, talk to a doctor and possibly try to set a weight loss goal and then TTC after that.
ETA: I see that you're 33. As long as you don't have any specific problems with infertility (again see a doctor about that), I'd probably do what SoDetermined suggested and really put your all into weight loss for about a year and then TTC after that.
Last edited by runningfromfat; 08-15-2011 at 03:35 PM.
With my first pregnancy I was 24 years old and weighed about 230ish...I had complications with high blood-pressure throughout the entire pregnancy and ended up delivering early with c-section....about 4 years later we got pregnant again (unplanned) at 28 years old and weighed 280ish with NO complications delivered a normal healthy 9lb baby.
I guess it just depends on the mother and child, every pregnancy is different.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A DOCTOR. MY OPINION IS NOT MEANT TO BE A SUBSTTUTE FOR PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE!!!
Okay, with that said, I have been a Labor and Delivery Nurse for 14+ years. I work with two Peri-natologists and that means lots of "high-risk" patients. If you have never had hig blood pressure or diabetes (pre-diabetes or gestational) I would be less concerned. You are still at risk for that occuring but it's less likely. Do you have a healthy, active lifestyle that you could continue through a pregnancy? Non-smoker, non-drinker, taking folic acid? Those things play a big role. Are you physically able to keep up with a baby's/toddlers needs and activity level?
I've never heard of someone needing a cesarean based on weight alone wthout a trial of laor. And even when a trial fails there has always been other reasons why the baby could not deliver vaginally. We have a low cesarean section rate and plenty of obese an morbidly obese patients. I have noticed that women who are morbidly obese and short stature tend to have cesareans more often. Are you planning a repeat cesarean or a VBAC?
Take a look at these sites http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnanc...y_obesity.html http://www.marchofdimes.com/trying_after35.html
Find a doctor you are comfortable with, who has had morbidly obese patients and that you trust fully. If you have a choice in hospitals check them out? Tours, word of mouth. Your labor and delivery staff will be one of the most important factors of a satisfactory and safe labor and delivery.
Also, we have only needed special equipment (beds, floor mounted toilets, different shower chairs, surgery table extenders) for women >350 pounds.
I'd be happy to give you my opinion on anything else you have questions about.
Good luck in your decision!
I was 32 when I had my son (first child). I had never had high blood pressure but had borderline high during my entire pregnancy. I didn't have any other issues. I delivered vaginally with no problems. I was 364 when I went in for my first visit at 7 weeks and 375 at my last appointment before labor. I am also 5'9 and don't carry a lot of weight in my stomach area which I think helped with the vaginal delivery. My son was born on his own at 36 weeks 6 days. I talked to my OB and he said that the early delivery had nothing to do with weight.
I had my first daughter when I was almost 20 years old. I gained a lot of weight with this pregnancy and weighed 311 when I had her. I believe I started around 220. That was in '96. My second husband and I decided to have a child together about 4 years ago. I weighed 336 lbs when I got pregnant with her and gained 40 pounds during this pregnancy. I didn't have any real issues at all with either pregnancy except gaining weight. Supposedly, the more we weigh the higher the risk, but I was pretty lucky and I never had any negative repercussions during my pregnancies and both girls weighed 6# (one was 6#3oz, the other 6#2oz), healthy and happy girls. I think it depends on comorbidities: do you have hypertension or diabetes. These things push the risks upwards during a pregnancy. I walked and worked during both pregnancies and I think that helped through labors. I had them both vaginally. The first I had completely natural (God, I will never do that again) with no pain medication or anything. And the second girl, I did the epidural. That was like a dream labor compared to the first... it's magic or something!! It comes down to your choice and what you think you can handle in the end if there WERE to be any ill effects (like gestational diabetes or high blood pressure that occurs with high risk pregnancies).
I was around 300 with all three of mine. I had my first at 29, my second one 13 months later and my last one at 33. All three were c-sections but the first was an emergency. She was sunny-side up and she just wasn't going to come out. I had no complications with first pregnancy.
I could've opted to try a VBAC with my second but where we live, it would've been too far of a drive for the care/delivery that it was easier to go ahead and have the c-section.
I did have gestation diabetes with the last two but had excellent care, watched my diet and did have to give myself insulin. I had a miscarriage between 2 and 3 and ended up with an anti-E antibody and had to have that monitored in my 3rd pregnancy but that had nothing to do with my weight that put me in the high risk category. I just had more frequent OB visits, U/S, and lots of blood draws.
My doc wasn't too concerned with my weight other than if I were to go above 350 at the time, I would've had to be transferred to another hospital because their OR beds at the time were only certified for 350. The highest I got while pregnant was 317.
Pregnancy Question
