losing a few pounds at the end of pregnancy? « Back to Group Discussions

[storygirlcindy]

So at my appointment today (37+3) I was down maybe about 3lb from last week. I know this can be common at the end of pregnancy, and I'm curious - anyone else had this experience? I just read somewhere that it can be due to your amniotic fluid going down, so now I'm seriously crossing my fingers that that's it. ;) I have BUCKETS of amniotic fluid (I'm in and out of the polyhydramnios range), so losing a little seems like a seriously attractive possibility...! I've been told when my water breaks, it will be quite an epic event...

[spughy]

It's TOTALLY normal.  I had that with my first and despite being a lazy slobby pig for the last 2 weeks I haven't put on any weight at all - I fully expect to drop 3-5 lbs before the critter arrives.  I don't know about amniotic fluid levels - for me it's more I just can't fit any more food inside me and it's hard work growing a baby.

[storygirlcindy]

Yeah, that makes sense too, but I haven't been able to eat that much for the past 1-2 months and have still been gaining up to this point. So I'm crossing my fingers that some of that fluid is going away, ha! At my NST today the measurement was down, but I don't necessarily trust that because it's like the world's most imprecise measurement - I am honestly not sure why they bother to take it because all of my doctors have told me it's practically worthless! Even if it has gone down though I still have a bit more than normal. I had a lot of watery discharge over the weekend and mentioned it to both my OB and the NST nurse today and they both literally laughed out loud. "For YOU," they said, "there is NO WAY you will not know when your water goes!"

[spughy]

Originally Posted by storygirlcindy 

 I had a lot of watery discharge over the weekend and mentioned it to both my OB and the NST nurse today and they both literally laughed out loud. "For YOU," they said, "there is NO WAY you will not know when your water goes!"

That would make me SO paranoid about going grocery shopping.

But, I have to think that if your baby's head is engaged, they could be wrong about that.  It's like a poorly-fitting plug in a sink, not perfect, but it'll still hold some of it back for a while.

[eternalw]

Originally Posted by storygirlcindy 

So at my appointment today (37+3) I was down maybe about 3lb from last week. I know this can be common at the end of pregnancy, and I'm curious - anyone else had this experience? I just read somewhere that it can be due to your amniotic fluid going down, so now I'm seriously crossing my fingers that that's it. ;) I have BUCKETS of amniotic fluid (I'm in and out of the polyhydramnios range), so losing a little seems like a seriously attractive possibility...! I've been told when my water breaks, it will be quite an epic event...

I'm with you on the epic event! We have had 5 home births so far and each time someone has to borrow a shirt or pants of mine to wear home. We have joked about handing out those cheap plastic ponchos from the grocery store at my births! haha!

[beautifulnm]

I am down a few lbs at today's appointment too.. 

[storygirlcindy]

Spughy - she's sitting pretty low but her head isn't completely engaged, and my doctor said it probably will engage later (or not engage) than normal because of all the extra fluid. ("Average" fluid for this point in pregnancy is about 13... I usually have about twice that!) I guess we'll see, though. It does make me nervous, LOL! Mostly I worry it will happen in the middle of the night and I'll ruin my bed or couch (which I spend half the night sleeping on right now).

Eternalw, glad I'm not the only one. ;) I read one story of a woman with polyhydramnios whose water broke in the hospital and literally was trickling DOWN THE HALLWAY outside her room... they had to call the janitor to clean it up!!!

Beautifulnm, interesting that I'm not the only one! My babe's due date is the 16th, too, so we're not too far off...

[writermama12]

losing a few? I wish!!! Maybe I should start a thread for those of us (or maybe just me) who are gaining like four times MORE! I gained four pounds this week alone. 3 last week. I am pretty sure I will break 200 this go round.

[cabbitdancer]

lol @ eternalw. Cheap plastic ponchos! I love it!

*hugs* for writermama. I'm up about 45 lbs and am still gaining, but definitely not like I was in the beginning. I gained weight so quickly my first trimester that my endocrinologist told me -- NOT jokingly -- that I needed to push away the plate. Insensitive medical professionals make my blood boil.

[Chapsie]

I had poly with my daughter and it was such a relief when my water broke during pushing!  

[storygirlcindy]

Writermama and cabbitdancer, you never know... I was gaining pretty quickly up until the last few weeks, when it slowed and then I lost a bit. My weight gain all through this pregnancy has been NOTHING like "they" tell you it will be. Rather than gaining the mythical "pound a week," I'll go a few weeks without gaining and then gain something like a pound a day for a few days! It's crazy, but everything has been perfectly normal and healthy and my OB says that really, all that "pound a week" stuff is bogus, and it's not at all uncommon to have big growth spurts throughout. Good luck to you both!

Chapsie, I'm sure!!! My husband was laughing at me yesterday when I was practically waxing poetic about the prospect of maybe having lost some fluid, LOL. Not that I really feel like it if I have, since everything's just so huge at this point that it doesn't matter all that much anymore! Between the high fluid and the fact that I've had about 10 weeks of prodromal labor with VERY high-pressure contractions that literally make my belly stick out a good 3-4 extra inches... I am the queen of stretch marks, and it looks like I've developed PUPPs over the weekend now too due to my poor overstretched skin! It will be nice to give it all a chance to heal here in the next few weeks... did your poly have a cause or was it idiopathic? My doctors are so baffled by mine, since everything is beautiful with the baby and despite the fact that I have a "big baby" and lots of extra fluid, my blood sugars are pristine.

[Chapsie]

Originally Posted by storygirlcindy 

Writermama and cabbitdancer, you never know... I was gaining pretty quickly up until the last few weeks, when it slowed and then I lost a bit. My weight gain all through this pregnancy has been NOTHING like "they" tell you it will be. Rather than gaining the mythical "pound a week," I'll go a few weeks without gaining and then gain something like a pound a day for a few days! It's crazy, but everything has been perfectly normal and healthy and my OB says that really, all that "pound a week" stuff is bogus, and it's not at all uncommon to have big growth spurts throughout. Good luck to you both!

Chapsie, I'm sure!!! My husband was laughing at me yesterday when I was practically waxing poetic about the prospect of maybe having lost some fluid, LOL. Not that I really feel like it if I have, since everything's just so huge at this point that it doesn't matter all that much anymore! Between the high fluid and the fact that I've had about 10 weeks of prodromal labor with VERY high-pressure contractions that literally make my belly stick out a good 3-4 extra inches... I am the queen of stretch marks, and it looks like I've developed PUPPs over the weekend now too due to my poor overstretched skin! It will be nice to give it all a chance to heal here in the next few weeks... did your poly have a cause or was it idiopathic? My doctors are so baffled by mine, since everything is beautiful with the baby and despite the fact that I have a "big baby" and lots of extra fluid, my blood sugars are pristine.

Idiopathic.  The perinatologist made me get the 3 hour GTT even though I passed the 1 hour screen, and all my numbers came back beautifully.  They did require that I have extra monitoring (NSTs every week and BPPs twice a week) for the last 2 months, but everything else looked great and my daughter is perfectly healthy and I had a lovely natural birth. She was a big baby, though (9 lb 7 oz).  I can definitely sympathize with you on the stretch marks, haha.  I was HUGE in that pregnancy.  As big as I feel now at 37 weeks, I just look back at pictures of my last pregnancy and remember that I was even bigger then!   

I do think (if I remember correctly) that my AFI went down at the end of pregnancy.  When my water broke, I had just as much fluid with her (with the poly) as I did with my son when my water broke, and with him, I was induced for OLIGOhydramnios!  haha! Just goes to show that sonography isn't always that precise.  :)   

[storygirlcindy]

Yeah, same here. I had to do the 1-hour screen twice (because I have a genetic disease that puts me at high risk for GD - another reason they can't believe I don't have it!) and have done 3-4 weekends through the pregnancy of monitoring myself with a home glucometer... all have come back beautifully. (Better than my pre-pregnancy numbers, actually, which leaves me REALLY scratching my head!) I am getting biweekly NSTs, which was already sort of the plan because I was high risk anyway, and I've also had 10 weeks of timeable contractions now so that sort of freaked everyone out. Everything looks fantastic, though. I've read a few things that suggest that sometimes bigger babies just come with extra fluid, which wouldn't surprise me at all in my case. My hubby and I both have a STRONG family history of 8-9lb babies, so I'm confident this little one will follow in all her relatives' footsteps!

And yeah - very unreliable measurements! They take mine at every NST but aren't too concerned with it either way, LOL. My primary OB actually prefers just looking at the pictures they take of my pockets, rather than seeing the numbers they come up with - he says that the numbers are so imprecise and unreliable that he finds the visuals give him more to go on. Nobody's too worried about it, though. I've had a lot of odd/unusual but harmless complications with this pregnancy, but since people with my disease often become EXTREMELY sick and very compromised during pregnancy, every doctor I see is just over the moon that I'm doing so well - and I am too! So I think that puts all the other stuff into perspective...

[chocolatechip]

So I haven't actually been weighing myself, and my midwives haven't weighed me since the second or so visit either, so I don't really have any idea how many lbs I've gained. But I *can* say that even so, I have definitely noticed the plateau/growth spurt phenomenon! It seems pretty tied in to my appetite too.  But I'll feel like everything has settled down, and that I seem like the same size for a while, and then suddenly I'll get extra hungry again, and feel like my belly grows noticeably over several days! My midwife also warns me occasionally that I'm due for a growth spurt, and she seems to be right. 

My midwives also said that during most of your pregnancy, your amniotic fluid increases and your baby grows at the same time. Towards the end, the baby keeps growing but the amniotic fluid starts going down. So it would make sense that your weight might fluctuate in some way at that point.

[scruffy too]

Originally Posted by chocolatechip 

My midwives also said that during most of your pregnancy, your amniotic fluid increases and your baby grows at the same time. Towards the end, the baby keeps growing but the amniotic fluid starts going down. So it would make sense that your weight might fluctuate in some way at that point.

My MW told me that at 35 (or was it 34 weeks?) that you have the most amniotic fluid to baby ratio.  That's when they can move around freely and easily.  After that, the baby gets bigger, but no extra fluid.  I didn't double check these statements, just passing them along [blindly].

[storygirlcindy]

Scruffy, from what I've heard/read that's mostly true too. Unless you are an exceptionally lucky mama like me, that is! ;) My fluid hasn't changed a bit since 28 weeks, unless it's true that it's gone down a little bit this week (week 37). But yes, that's how it mostly goes.