Can high BMI risk you out of HB?

[jecombs]

I've been lurking on this forum for several months now because I'm really interested in having a HB for our next child. I'm not pregnant, but will probably try to TTC this fall. I've been doing Weight Watchers for a couple of months now, to get closer to an appropriate weight/BMI for my height. So far, I've lost 18# and I've gotten my BMI from 36.9 down to 33.8! So, my question is: does being obese/overweight/having high BMI automatically risk you out of having a HB? I still need to lose about 20# more to get to a BMI of 30.0, which is no longer considered obese (but is still overweight).

Thanks for your insight! This forum is awesome and I've already learned a lot from you all!

[~Kristina~]

I've heard someone say that she couldn't have one based on high BMI, but I don't really know anything other wise.

[GoldmanBaby09]

I think it would depend on who your midwife is and what her criteria on that would be. I wouldn't think that a high BMI alone could risk you out, but if you had other risk factors like high blood pressure, GD with your past pregnancy, ect, that might risk you out in combination with the high BMI. I think you are on the right track trying to get as healthy as possible before TTC. Maybe call a few local midwives and tell them your situationa and see what they say. Good luck!

[ell]

Yeah, it can. Part if it is the bigger mom = bigger baby theory but there's also other risks associated with a high BMI.

[phatchristy]

I'm surprised there is so much negative stuff posted so far.

I've been overweight so far through all four pregnancies and have had four homebirths.

If you take care of yourself, eat a good quality diet and have no issues with your bp then you are good to go generally.

You should most definitely be able to find someone to attend to you.

Though, personally it may be better for you to be more like the 'overweight' bmi rather than obese. Because your risks of having bp issues, etc. do go up somewhat with obesity. And, if you're like me, you get a little more 'stressed' as you see the scale creep up during pregnancy. So it's nice to have some 'cushion' etc.

[jecombs]

Thanks for the input, ladies. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and see if I can get 20# more to come off. I had my DD in the hospital with MWs and had no problems throughout the pregnancy and labor/birth (no GD or BP issues). She weighed 8# 6oz., which I consider to be pretty average size.

And you are right phatchristy, I did feel pretty stressed toward the end of my pregnancy because I was gaining more than I wanted to. It turned out to be mostly water weight though, because I was back at my pre-preggo weight within 2 weeks post-partum.

[BetsyPage]

I don't see why it would if there were no other risks... I definitely had a high BMI when I had my second (homebirth). My MW monitored my BP, fluid, etc and everything was fine. I ended up going 43 weeks and having a 8 lb 2 oz girl. I was about size 22, not sure how that translates to BMI b/c I don't recall how much I weighed, lol.

[frontierpsych]

Originally Posted by ell

Yeah, it can. Part if it is the bigger mom = bigger baby theory but there's also other risks associated with a high BMI.

I've never understood that theory. I've had the biggest babies out of all my friends, and I'm 5' and about 110!

[Quindin]

Most people looked at the limited and flawed BMI numbers to determine whether one is obese, and in turn "healthy enough" to do anything.
It just drives me batty!
There is so much more to being healthy than fitting into charts!

Here are some links about being plus sized and pregnancy:

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/lrgmoms.html
http://www.plus-size-pregnancy.org/firstindex.html

[~Kristina~]

Originally Posted by ell

Yeah, it can. Part if it is the bigger mom = bigger baby theory but there's also other risks associated with a high BMI.

That's a strange theory...I am average weight and BMI for my height (135-140/5'3") and have monster huge babies (9lbs 6oz).


I would definitely keep checking around...

[AuntieLiz]

I agree, talk to some midwives and see what they say. My pre-pregnancy BMI was 34 (I've gained about 12 lbs so far) and my midwife didn't even bat an eyelash at me. It's a total non-issue for her. She knows I have a weird history with weight and body issues and being treated poorly by medical providers, so she's very sensitive about it. I'm perfectly healthy, my blood pressure is beautiful, I eat well, I move well... I'm just a big lady, that's all. NO WAY am I going to starve my baby to fit into someone else's ideal of what a pregnant mama should "look" like. Because that's usually all it is. If you're healthy to begin with, your risk factors at a 30-33 BMI are not much different than someone with a 25 BMI. Every mama, regardless of size, should pay attention to nutrition and exercise during pregnancy; PIH/pre-e and GD are usually manageable with careful nutrition (and that does NOT mean dieting during pg).
I hate the "big baby" card. I have no fear of birthing a big baby. DH and I are big/tall people. Our kids will be big by virtue of genetics alone. Besides, I have wide birthing hips. And I've seen women half my size give birth to 10lb babies and barely break a sweat, so that's another non-issue for me.

You can totally do it.

I strongly encourage you to check out the Well-Rounded Mama blog. She's fabulous.

[phatchristy]

Originally Posted by jecombs

Thanks for the input, ladies. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing and see if I can get 20# more to come off. I had my DD in the hospital with MWs and had no problems throughout the pregnancy and labor/birth (no GD or BP issues). She weighed 8# 6oz., which I consider to be pretty average size.

And you are right phatchristy, I did feel pretty stressed toward the end of my pregnancy because I was gaining more than I wanted to. It turned out to be mostly water weight though, because I was back at my pre-preggo weight within 2 weeks post-partum.

Yeah, I hate the stress part too...definitely! I would get more nervous than I should near the end.

Definitely I know plenty of plus size women who have homebirthed including myself. I would LOVE IT if I could go through a pregnancy 'thin' but we may actually be done at 4, so I don't know...

And, my kids were all pretty average--7-8 pounds!

[cristeen]

None of the midwives I've interviewed - last pregnancy or this one have even asked my weight. They've asked how much I've gained, but without knowing the starting point, there's no way for them to even know my BMI.

FTR, my BMI is hovering around 45 right now, which is "extremely obese" according to the BMI scale - yet no one has ever mentioned a thing to me about it being a problem for HB.

[ShwarmaQueen]

I think that doctors put overweight women into a higher risk category needlessly. Some overweight women will have more health problems than normal, same goes for normal weight women. I'm overweight and going for a HB and the only thing my MW told me re weight was that I could not gain weight during the pregnancy, but only by eating an extremely healthy diet. I'm not sure she would give me that advice if I was thin. BTW, my BMI (prepregnancy) was 30.5%. HTH.

[Bazile]

Check out KMom's(the woman who runs plus-size-pregnancy.org) blog.
http://wellroundedmama.blogspot.com/
She updates there much more frenquetly than she does the website. While not all posts are birth related, most are. She's very pro-midwife and pro-VBAC, and she supports homebirth and waterbirth for women of size. She posted a couple of months ago about a woman who had a HBAC who weighed about 250 pre-pregnancy.
Hope this helps.

[railyuh]

My MW has never said anything to me about my weight and I am definitely in the obese category. She's never even weighed me.

My blood pressure was fine during my pregnancy with DS, in fact, I think I have even better blood pressure than normal during pregnancy. I passed the GD test with DS, and this time I'm doing home glucose monitoring instead and my numbers have been fine. As long as I don't have any other risk factors crop up, and I didn't with my previous pregnancy with DS, then I don't see any reason why my weight will make a difference.

[jecombs]

Thanks for all the feedback and wonderful links! I'm going to call the local HB MWs next week and just ask a few questions... At least then I will have a better idea of where I stand and what I need to do next.