From: june@Cadence.COM (June Petersen)
Subject: Re: Big Beautiful Mothers
Organization: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
Date: Tue, 15 Dec 1992 00:29:40 GMT

In article <1992Dec9.184608.14071@uc.msc.edu> tbachman@hamline.edu. (Toni Bachmann 6412947) writes:
>Hello everyone:
>
>I just discovered this newsgroup a few weeks ago - thankfully!
>
>My question is for women out there who are or are going to be mothers
>while being fat (I don;t mind the word myself).  We are currently trying
<stuff deleted>>
>
>I'm not concerned about my weight causing problems really - I do know though
>that since my hormones are all waacked out that I could experience problems
>because of them.  I'm basically looking to communicate with people who are
>fat and have had babies.  I'm also wondering if because I'm fat does that
>mean that I won't really look pregnant?  (I want to look pregnant!)
<more stuff deleted>

I can't speak to the first section about difficulties getting
pregnant, it was absurdly easy for me (in fact, my daughter was
the result of a tenacious sperm getting past the sponge, and
I'd been using the sponge as my only form of b/c for years
previous to my pregnancy).  But as far as being pregnant and
fat, I *can* comment on that.  I was overweight by probably
~75lbs when I got pregnant, and instead of gaining weight, I
lost it all through the pregnancy.  My Dr. wasn't a bit worried,
while he wasn't overly concerned about my weight in the beginning,
he figured that as long as I didn't gain huge amounts, and as long
as the baby seemed fine and healthy and measured correctly (those
outside measurements they do) that all was well (which it was).
I've always had a bizarre metabolism (I'm the only person I know
who *gained* weight when I went off the pill), so losing weight
when pregnant wasn't a big shock.  Anyway, in my case, I didn't
look real pregnant until the last 3 months or so.  In the first
6, I think my weight loss, plus the fact that I was heavy already
caused people to wonder if I was pregnant, or just carrying my
weight differently, so no one commented.  The upside of this
was that I never bought maternity clothes, I just wore the
stuff I usually did for the first 6-7 months (my usual wardrobe
includes a lot of flowing skirts with drawstring or elastic
waists, and sweaters/blouses that are fairly big/loose- I like
the gypsy look, which has the advantage of being comfortable),
and bought a few things in larger sizes to augment my \
stuff for the last few.  Saved bunches of money, and wasn't
stuck with a lot of maternity wear I would never wear again.

My labor was rather tough, but not sure if it had anything
to do with my weight.  Ariel was late, so they induced me,
and I ended up pre-eclampsic (sp?) and my heart apparently
broke rythm a couple of times.  The actual delivery part
(the last hour or so) was great, though, no drugs, no
problem.  Ariel was 7lbs, 15 oz at birth, and shows every
sign of being slim without being skinny.  

I hope this helps a little, if you have any more specific
questions, feel free to email me.  Since I'm here, posting
this anyway, I'd also like to thank whoever started this
newsgroup, and its contributors, for their interesting,
insightful and often inspiring thoughts.  It ain't easy
being a fat person in a thinocentric world, having a
place like this helps....

TTFN.
June 


Newsgroups: alt.support.big-folks