help. My belly seems soo huge!

[PurpleMonkey]

I'm only 7 weeks 1 day and despite not having gained any weight yet I definitely have a belly. It is messing with my self-esteem. This is water weight right? I know I should keep drinking water though for baby, but I just feel so fat!

I want to feel proud and excited about this but it's distressing being summertime and everything looks ridiculous on me

[steph66]

Don't feel bad! It's most likey just bloating right now. I know not what you want to hear but it will go down. and then the "real" baby bump will come! I had bloating until around 9-10 weeks or so then it went down and just a few weeks later it all came back from the baby growing. Its normal. Keep yourself hydrated and try to stay cool!

BTW-I'm not pregnant...yet. Just happened to see this and wanted to respond.

[Snowdrift]

I dunno. I am having the same issue. (see below. Dunno how I missed your thread. Well, yeah I do, I stated mine first then spent twenty minutes trying on maternity clothes before actually posting it)

I guess mine might be baby belly bc it's my second, but man, it just seems bizarre to be so huge at eight weeks. My navel is even starting to stretch out already. It's freakin' weird man!

I dunno if it'll go away or not. I never had a water-weight stage with DD, but I steadily lost weight the first half of that pg. This time I gained at first (water?) lost those three-four pounds a week ago, and now have this humongous belly again. I'm confused.

[PheobNFam]

Well, if you're retaining water, the absolute best thing you can do is to DRINK MORE WATER!
It won't make you gain more weight, I promise! It will help your body flush out all the natural toxins that are there. You will be more healthy.

I've been sick, and unfortunately, drinking a lot of water at this point hasn't appealed to me (I normally drink SO much water, especially during pregnancy). I look forward to the m/s passing so I can drink drink drink.

[bryonyvaughn]

Originally Posted by PheobNFam

Well, if you're retaining water, the absolute best thing you can do is to DRINK MORE WATER!

I agree with this advice and want to add some more. Sometimes we take in plenty of water but it's unable to enter our cells so it gets stuck in the intercellular spaces creating swelling. Strange but true a dehydrated person can be walking around with 5 to 15 pounds of extra (and unusable) water weight.

IME just increasing fresh (or ripe frozen) fruit in the diet is all most clients need to take care of the problem. Drinking more water along with some natural diuretics (watermelon, cucumbers, parsley, etc) quickly relieves acute episodes. Some folks find it's easier to maintain proper hydration if they substitute some of their glasses of water with watered down fruit juice.

HTH,
BV

[DoulaLMT]

I'm right there with you. It's kind of depressing to feel a big belly and know it's not a baby. The other thing that happens is as your uterus grows, it pushes your intestines higher in you abdomen. I know I'm feeling gurgles and bubbles in different places in my abdomen than I used to....so I think that is part of it too. At least I'm blaming it partly on that.

I told one of my friends last night about the pregnancy, and she seemed genuinely surprised! That made me feel better too. I thought the whole world could tell, especially people who are used to seeing my flat stomach. But the fact that she was surprised tells me it's not as noticeable to others as it seems to me.

[Mama2-4]

I bought some more fresh fruit last night, and made a huge bowl of cantelope and honeydew to eat while at work today. I was hoping that would help on the constipation (sorry TMI!), but now I'm going to keep it up in hopes that all the fruit will make some of this water more useable.

Thanks for the tip!!!!![/QUOTE]

Eating watermelon and drinking water with lemon can help get rid of excess fluid as they are both natural diauretics.

[StrawHatBrat]

In the morning, I look 9 weeks.... but at the end of the day I look 6 months pregnant. I need to take a set of pics in the same day so you can see. Seriously, I am HUGE at night.

[PheobNFam]

Originally Posted by bryonyvaughn

I agree with this advice and want to add some more. Sometimes we take in plenty of water but it's unable to enter our cells so it gets stuck in the intercellular spaces creating swelling. Strange but true a dehydrated person can be walking around with 5 to 15 pounds of extra (and unusable) water weight.

IME just increasing fresh (or ripe frozen) fruit in the diet is all most clients need to take care of the problem. Drinking more water along with some natural diuretics (watermelon, cucumbers, parsley, etc) quickly relieves acute episodes. Some folks find it's easier to maintain proper hydration if they substitute some of their glasses of water with watered down fruit juice.

HTH,
BV

Great tip!
I crave fruit so much during my pregnancies, that I'm always eating a ton anyhow. I didn't know that was also helping my body absorb the water it needs!
Thanks!

[DoulaLMT]

Originally Posted by StrawHatBrat

In the morning, I look 9 weeks.... but at the end of the day I look 6 months pregnant. I need to take a set of pics in the same day so you can see. Seriously, I am HUGE at night.

: Me too!

[Ivana&4Kids]

I feel your pain,mama. This is my fifth child and now,at 142 pounds,I'm afraid I won't be able to lose this pregnany weight.