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MarilynW
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Posted: Jan 25 2007 at 7:25pm | IP Logged Quote MarilynW

I am at Week 14 with #5 - and my belly is as big as I was at 5+ months with the others (and it is not twins again!) - is this your experience that the more babies you have the bigger belly. I am loving it - usually I have to try and "stick my belly out" so that somebody notices that I am expecting!!! I have a little worry about being so big - hope all is ok - and also that it won't mean preterm labor.

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Rachel May
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Posted: Jan 25 2007 at 8:19pm | IP Logged Quote Rachel May

I look due anytime after month 5. There hasn't been any complication. In fact, preterm labor decreased with each pregnancy, and every child has been born further along than the last. The boys were 5 weeks early after, ahem, months of preterm labor; James was 4 days late after NO preterm labor.

I think the size is because of abdominal muscle seperation. I have no tone to hold the baby in! The downside is that my skin gets VERY tender by the end of pregnancy.

Enjoy the tummy. It really is fun isn't it?

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Posted: Jan 25 2007 at 10:25pm | IP Logged Quote Dawnie

Marilyn,

I haven't got bigger w/ each pregnancy, but I've started showing sooner w/ each pregnancy. My belly has been about the same size by the time I'm full-term w/ each baby.

Dawn

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Posted: Jan 25 2007 at 10:47pm | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

Yes, I was huge with my most recent one!!! And the weight hasn't come off as easily either.

She is seven months old, and I am still 8 pounds over my pre-pregnancy weight!

And that piece of chocolate cake I just had isn't helping.   

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Posted: Jan 25 2007 at 10:48pm | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

Oh, but there were no problems at all with the last one, in spite of the rapid and unaccountable weight gain. She was a beautiful size (just under eight pounds), and the pregnancy and delivery were perfect! In fact, the delivery was unbelievably easy.

I hope that helps put your mind at ease a bit.

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Posted: Jan 26 2007 at 1:26am | IP Logged Quote JodieLyn

I'm the same as Dawn.. show sooner but end up about the same by the end.

Even without seperation you do lose some muscle tone.. plus your body does the "oh hey I remember how this works" thing.   

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Posted: Jan 26 2007 at 6:53am | IP Logged Quote Becky Parker

Yep, I showed much sooner with this one. My doctor even had an early ultrasound done and wrote "size bigger than date" on the lab order. It's just one, and when I asked my doctor about it later she said it is actually quite common, but since I'm 42 she wanted to rule out anything "abnormal" (?). But all is fine, baby is doing great, I'm just bigger, earlier!

Editing to say Marilyn, this is number 5 for me also. I have to have a c-section which they will do a couple of weeks early so I bet our #5's will come at around the same time! (I'm just finishing up 16 weeks.)

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Posted: Jan 26 2007 at 7:38am | IP Logged Quote MarilynW

Thanks everyone for putting my mind at ease. It is a blessing really - despite the dreadful all day morning sickness - I have a good size belly and I have put on weight.

Becky - I will be praying for you. I will probably go a little early too - I hope so because it is better for my chances of trying for another VBAC - God willing.

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Posted: Jan 26 2007 at 7:41am | IP Logged Quote Bridget

I am sure it's partly a result of stretched or separated muscles. There could be other factors. Like too much ice cream.

I have always gotten big with my babies. They are a pretty good size but with my last, my doctor told me something new. He has been my doc for all my babies but never mentioned this before. He said that my placentas are very large and healthy. The umbilical cords are so thick and strong they struggle to cut them. Which is a good thing. But it contributes to how big I get.

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Posted: Jan 26 2007 at 11:08am | IP Logged Quote Nina Murphy

I think it's the sagging of the muscles, for sure, including the uterus. And also bowel extension.

I am 6' and have had people comment on how I barely look pregnant for my earlier pregnances (they "hide" in that huge pelvis...and my uterus tilts backwards...and I have smallish babies)---but my last two: there has been a dramatic difference. I can only attribute it to everything just being so stretched out. My abdominal muscles are everywhere...they have a life of their own.



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Posted: Jan 26 2007 at 11:43am | IP Logged Quote juststartn

I start showing at different times with each one, and it is NOT getting successively earlier... With #1, hardly at all, was a nice tight ball shape til the end (a dd). With #2, I started showing at 6 wks. I was NOT (and am not) a skinny girl (I was 5'4" and weighed about 175ish with my first two pregnancies) anymore...by the end of 2d pregnancy, I looked like I had swallowed a partially deflated beach ball (partially so I could swallow it, probably). I gained a grand total of 15 and 16 lbs with each of those two pregnancies.

With the 3d, I had lost 35 lbs before conceiving. Felt good. Looked good (too good, lol. DH came home from 8mos in Afghanistan, and a week later, I was telling him my chart looked "pregnant"--it was)...gained back the 35 lbs during pregnancy, as well as another 15 (my usual pregnancy weight)--for a total of 50lbs (I had had to stop the exercising and dieting to keep the weight off, and of course then promptly gained it all back, lucky me. Endocrine disorders are a blast! NOT)

Anyway, I started showing about 12 -14 weeks with #3. Looked about the same when I had her as I had with #2--partially deflated beach ball in belly.

Now I am expecting #4. I'm almost 1/2 baked. LOL. 20 weeks on Sunday. This little squidlet wasn't showing at 12 wks, 6days. But at 13 weeks, I couldn't wear the same clothes I had worn the day before to Mass. Tried to...skirt had been loose the day before. NOT ANYMORE.

Muscle memory, well, that's my take on it. Esp if you've had a good number of pregnancies, or a few close together--the body just seems to remember more quickly. LOL. It was as if my body just said "HEY! Wait! She's been throwing up for the past 6 weeks! We know what that means! WAHOOO!!!!!!! We can stop sucking ourselves in!"

Ok, I doubt my muscles were talking...but you know, sometimes I wonder....now I look a good 6 mos. I was at the fabric store the other day, standing at the cutting table, and had a nasty BH ctx. The older lady on the other side said something about me not having the baby in the store. I laughed and said "I hope not too! I'm not due til Father's Day!". LOL. But this is number four, so I figure I will show more, sooner. And that's ok. I LIKE being able to wear my fluffy clothes, not suck my stomach in EVER and generally enjoy life. LOL. Except for the horse pills and the round ligament pain, life is good.

LOL

SOrry for the ramble. Brought back memories...mostly of telling DH we needed to get a picture of me(just my body) laying on the beach in a black wetsuit...with a big white spot painted on my belly...with the caption "SHAMU HAS BEEN BEACHED!" And use it as a joke card....

LOL

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Posted: Jan 26 2007 at 12:51pm | IP Logged Quote Jess

I have gotten bigger with each pregnancy too. I am due with #5 in about 4 1/2 weeks and I am way bigger than I was with my first at term. I think our bodies do get stretched out, but they know what they are doing and kind of just hang out there faster too LOL

Rachel, I feel like Shamu everytime I try to turn over in the night, and then get struck with a really bad ligament cramp that paralyzes me...that's always fun

My dh saw me on the webcam the other day (he's deployed) and said "Whoa, she's going to be a big baby!" I thought thanks, that means I am really big now! Oh well, he meant it in a good way


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Posted: Jan 27 2007 at 8:25am | IP Logged Quote Bookswithtea

Nina Murphy wrote:

I am 6' and have had people comment on how I barely look pregnant for my earlier pregnances (they "hide" in that huge pelvis...and my uterus tilts backwards...and I have smallish babies


Hey, me too. Almost 6 ft tall, pelvic tilt and not even one 8 lb baby! I thought I was the only one! I have lately been telling God that since I am so tall and have room to spare, He ought to consider giving me twins.

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Posted: Jan 27 2007 at 9:02am | IP Logged Quote Donna Marie

I was watching the DVD Lose Your Mummy Tummy and she attributes showing faster to separated stomach muscles...which of course I do have. My first pregnancy was twins and I was huge...alll upfront. But I was "cute" Now, I am just..."huge" when pregnant... but healthy! My last baby was 10lbs 8 oz...or was it 9 oz...lol...every little bit counts...she was very healthy.

I am using this DVD and I feel stronger in my back already even though I really dont have "back trouble" I caught myself leaning a lot...now I know why. Well, this DVD says you can heal that separation no matter how long it has been since your last baby. Many exercises will make this condition worse btw. Here is more info:

       "Most women think their “mummy tummy” is from fat. They wonder why no matter what they do it won’t go away!

Pregnancy naturally separates a mother’s outermost abdominal muscles to make room for her growing uterus. Called a diastasis, this separation does not close up in most new moms. With each pregnancy this separation gets larger, which is why women show earlier with each pregnancy.

When the muscles separate the connective tissue that joins them stretches sideways and becomes thinner. The mummy tummy is thus the protruding organs against this thin connective tissue. To lose the mummy tummy it is necessary to close this separation so the muscles are supporting the organs—not the thin connective tissue!"

She mentions that strengthening the muscles that wrap around you can help avoid prolapsed organs. She also states that if you do these exercises early in the pregnancy you can avoid the separation (diastasis).

I thought this article was interesting too.

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Posted: Jan 27 2007 at 10:32am | IP Logged Quote alicegunther

Oh, I have a Mummy Tummy! And to think, it was once flat! Hard to believe now! LOL!

Thanks for the information Donna Marie!

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Posted: Jan 27 2007 at 12:11pm | IP Logged Quote Mrs.K

Well, I have a friend with many children - she once told me that after having so many babies she starts showing the day she's late!    
That line really cracks me up but it feels so true.
I remember with my last pregnancy when I was about four months along, I was at Babies R Us buying sippy cups for my toddler. The check out lady told me I looked so nice in my dress, "ready to deliver" she said! I alomst died and I prayed very hard she wouldn't ask my due date because I would have been sorely tempted to lie.

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Posted: Jan 27 2007 at 1:48pm | IP Logged Quote Lisbet

Mrs.K ~ that is real close to the truth for me in this pregnancy. A week into it my favorite skirt was too tight. I can't wear my silk leggins or my tights right now. All of my non-maternity skirts are begining to pinch. It might have something to do with having 2 babies in there for a time, I don't know.

I am short and thin, I show early, the baby has nowhere to go but out, and I have big (9-10lb.) babys.

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Posted: Jan 27 2007 at 2:25pm | IP Logged Quote Nina Murphy

Wow, girlfriend...that must be hard on your little body!!! You're amazing....

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Posted: Jan 30 2007 at 11:07pm | IP Logged Quote Tina P.

I was commenting to a friend that people at church snickered when, at 17 weeks, I started having to wear maternity clothes. I think that's a pretty slow rate of tummy growth, don't you? I was practically halfway through my pregnancy! Hmmm...maybe they were laughing at my outdated, far overused maternity clothes...never thought of that.

I'm at 14 weeks with this one, and I'm wearing my *fat* jeans (one or two sizes beyond what I normally wear. I keep a couple of pairs just in case). They're fitting me a whole lot better now than they did just a few weeks ago. I *did* haul out the bin of maternity clothes. I have less every time because I keep giving away things (or using them to death) and not buying any more. I have a pile of skirts and pants that don't fit or won't fit in the correct season just waiting until I need to take the maternity things out and put them in my dresser to be packed into the maternity bin.

Isn't it funny that when I started *not* to fit into skirts, I just automatically fled to the comfort of jeans? They're really saggy on my bottom and legs. But they *are* comfortable.

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Posted: Jan 30 2007 at 11:09pm | IP Logged Quote Tina P.

I didn't even answer your question, did I Marilyn? Yes, I've gotten bigger. So have my babies. My last two were around 9 pounds. My first one was 8.2. I feel like a lead balloon by the time my pregnancies are within the last two months or so.

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