A Rant...of Sorts

I came across some information today - and anyone who feels like they have been categorized for a medical, religious, racial, or other reason can probably appreciate this. The information I read (via multiple sources) says that obese pregnant women double certain birth defect risks. All of the articles said it in such a way, that they wanted you to know exactly what kinds of risks you were doubling (neural tube defects, heart defects, cleft lip/palates, the list goes on) without citing the fatality rate of the defects. Paragraphs are spent defining what your weight could potentially do to your unborn child. Before I go further, I need to say that I am well aware that being overweight or obese is unhealthy, a fact I don't dispute. I don't have any medical reasons for my weight (a thyroid disorder or PCOS, for example). I am a classic case of the calorie amount I consume is greater than the calorie count I burn. I'm not proud of this, it is a vice, check yourself, I bet you have them too. It is just that mine is displayed on every inch of my body so it invites comments and judgements from individuals. Consider it a blessing that I can't tell that you play video games 13 hours a day and therefore have no real-life relationships or that you have an internet porn addiction that is ruining your marriage. Anyway, the articles I've read go on to finally give you some kind of hard data from medical experts and this is where I want to flip my lid - many experts say ridiculous things like "We don't want to scare women" or "Remember that birth defect rates are only between 2-4%." Firstly, statistics and credible sources are what gives information validity. The fact that obese pregnant women are faced first with the scary "facts" about their condition and then with the less-alarming statistics is horrendous. Don't all pregnant women perpetually worry? Why make it worse? I agree that this is a subject that should be addressed by your physician before you get pregnant but what if you find yourself to be pregnant but are already obese? You're not allowed to lose weight while pregnant either. You are in a no-win situation. You're scared out of your wits because no mother wants to put her child's life at risk and there is nothing the medical community will allow you to do about it. What is the point? Why direct these articles at the every-day citizen at all? Why not direct them at the medical professionals that care for these women. I don't mean to take the responsibility off of the obese woman. It certainly is something we should want to inform ourselves about before becoming pregnant, but in all honesty, it didn't occur to me to do so. What is worse is that no one seems to tell us how our high BMIs increase the risks. What can we do to change our situation? Losing 100 lbs overnight isn't an option. Should we take a higher dose of prenatals? Obviously a healthy diet is extremely important and more so when pregnant, will eliminating certain things completely decrease the risks? Why aren't these answers in the articles written "not to scare women" but presumably to inform them AFTER the fact. What a joke.

I have to further say that I got the very uncomfortable feeling that my own doctor wasn't using her brain to think about my own situation. She saw fat when she looked at me. She saw unhealthy. My daughter was born 12 days overdue. She was a large baby, 9lbs 1/2 oz. When I explained this to her, she made a tsk-tsk face but never considered what she knew to be true. Babies gain about 1 lb per week in the last weeks of pregnancy. If my baby had been born nearer her due date, she would have very likely been in the healthy 7 lb range. That is within the normal weight range of infants. My obesity, my eating habits, they didn't hurt my child. They didn't cause her to be too large. I didn't have gestational diabetes. I HATE that when I questioned my doctor about VBAC that she gave me a very generic "most second babies are larger than the first" kind of speech. Um, HELLO, there is no scientific study that says so. I also don't plan on allowing subsequent children to be 2 weeks late (therefore increasing their size). If I were to have a c-section at 39 weeks, there is no evidence as to why that baby would be a 10 lb child! I hate that my own doctor didn't look at the facts only the fat. She went straight from obese mother to large baby. She didn't look at due date at all. I just want to scream. Why? Why am I a second class citizen because of my weight? I decided after thinking about this for the last several hours that I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop taking to heart the medical doctors who refuse to see the person regardless of what their medical problems are. I am not going to be afraid. I'm going to keep working on me, me physically, me mentally. I am not going to rejoice in my unhealthiness, but simply accept me at any point in my life as I think all human beings should do. Accept and make a resolution to always move forward in their endeavors whether slowly or quickly. Whether now or later. I will just do my best to be aware of my body and my health and the health of any babies that may come for us down the road and I think any mother, obese or not, pregnant currently or not, can appreciate that.