Where does all the weight go?

You may or may not have wondered at some point "if a baby is born around 8 lbs, why is it that the mother gains significantly more weight than that?"

I read this information in the book What to Expect When You're Expecting and found it kind of fascinating so I thought I'd share it with you. At this point, Baby Moe is likely 2 to 3 lbs and yet there are several other pounds being put to good use in the form of fluids and important supplies for the baby. So far, I've gained about 17 lbs.

By the end of pregnancy, here's where all those pounds go.

Baby: 8 pounds
Placenta: 2-3 pounds
Amniotic fluids: 2-3 pounds
Breast tissue: 2-3 pounds
Blood supply: 4 pounds
Stored fat for delivery and breastfeeding: 5-9 pounds
Larger uterus: 2-5 pounds

Total: 25-35lbs*


A note on pregnancy books
I found my copy of What to Expect When You're Expecting at our local St. Vincent dePaul for $1! In addition, I found a bunch of other popular pregnancy and parenting books there that could be useful. Don't underestimate your local second hand shop for some great, affordable pregnancy resources.

Another great book that I'm making my way through is The Baby Whisperer Solves All Your Problems. We received this as a gift from my sister-in-law and I am excited to try out the routine and techniques out once Baby Moe arrives.

*It is recommended that underweight women (based on BMI prior to pregnancy) gain 28-40 lbs, normal weight women gain 25-35 lbs, overweight women gain 15-25 lbs, and obese women gain 11-20 lbs. Obviously, all bodies are different and this doesn't mean that women won't gain more or less than the recommended amount. Source: Institute of Medicine

Comments

missris said…
I have always wondered that! The more you know :)
Amber said…
That was super interesting and I did not know that, thanks for sharing! You should listen to or read the "All Joy or No Fun" book. It really offers an interesting perspective on parenting!

So far most of my parenting/pregnancy information comes from friends who are pregnant and have had kids (which is ALOT since I have two coworkers with young kids and a pregnant coworker I swear I'm learning new things about parenting and pregnancy daily haha) and also from reading blogs like yours, Leigh's, HTP etc. I'm sure when I'm actually pregnant one day I will start doing more research into actual parenting books though!
Reading this post, I just learned more about weight gain during pregnancy than I did during my own pregnancy, says the girl who read a total of zero pregnancy or parenting books. =)
Oh wow - the weight gain thing is super interesting. I think I'm most surprised by the 4 pounds of blood!! That is pretty interesting!
Larger uterus = 2 - 5 lbs! So it doesn't just stretch, but actually gains thickness, or what? This is crazy and is something I have not really thought a lot about.

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