His and Her Health

What is the ratio between the pounds that you gain during pregnancy and the inches around your abdomen that you gain? I have gained very little weight, but I am enormous in size. I am only 4 1/2 months pregnant, but I look like I am full term. Could this be gas?<P>------------------<BR>Pregnancy- No Place For Wimps!

I'm guessing more likely that the enormous energy needed to make a baby is stripping away the fat from other parts of your body. You might need to eat more, check with your OB.

If I eat more, won't that just add to my waist size? What should I have gained in inches around my waist? Is there some kind of ratio? I have lost more weight then I gained, and I eat constantly now. I also do not have an OB at the moment.

Gimp,<P>Unfortunately, it's unlikely anyone here is going to have the expertise to answer your question. Weight-to-inches ratio is going to be determined by a variety of things, including your height, natural weight, size of baby in relation to the mother, number of children being carried, etc. <P>If you have *lost* weight at 4 months into your pregnancy, you really need to see a doctor. For the health of yourself and the child you are carrying, it would be best to find an OB immediately. Pre-natal care is an integral part of making sure you have a healthy baby. In the long run, this will benefit both yourself and the child, as caring for an underdeveloped or ailing baby is far more time consuming and expensive than caring for a healthy baby (which is already an expensive and time-consuming undertaking). If you, yourself, end up ill or incapacitated due to a lack of proper nutrition, etc., even if the child arrives perfectly healthy you will have a whole different set of issues to address: caring for a child is, as you may know, a *very* tiring experience--it'll be worse if you are malnourished or ill.<P>While some women do lose weight in the initial phases of pregnancy, you should be beyond that stage now. If you are as large as you intimate, then you should have definitely gained weight by now.<P>If you can't afford an OB because you are not insured, please go to your local Health and Human Services or Department of Child Welfare and Services. Either of these places should be able to direct you on how to obtain governement assistance now and once your baby is born, as well as give you a list of participating OBs. Because pre-natal care actually saves the State and the taxpayers money in the long run (it's much cheaper than caring for ill or premature babies), they are usually more than happy to give you whatever information you need.