Explain the pregnant tummy shape and size to me please
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Anonymous
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I am into my 17th week of my second pregnancy and even two days back, the doctor found heartbeat below my belly button. I feel the tickling kicking way below the belly button and doctor says that sounds about right for the current position of the baby.
BUT the top of my stomach is protruding a lot more than the actual portion where the baby is. How does that happen? Now you can clearly tell I am a pregnant woman but why is the top of my abdominal area more protruding than the lower part? I don't know if it matters but I am only 5 feet 1 inch tall. |
Anonymous
| Your growing uterus pushes all other organs up and out of the way. |
Anonymous
| I'm 5'1" as well and that sounds about right. Not sure if you have a short torso like I do but I am almost 27 weeks and feel huge even though I'm measuring right on target. There's just not a whole lot of room and yes everything gets pushed upward like pp said. |
Anonymous
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I was wondering this too. I am overweight and had a tummy to begin with and trying to figure out what the heck was going on with the top of my abdomen. Especially since I think I can feel my uterus and it's way low.
I know it's natural but sometimes this seems pretty sci-fi to me. |
Anonymous
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It's wacky to think about, but your stomach, intestines, spleen, etc have to get pushed up and to the sides to make way for your growing uterus. Even your heart moves a little bit in the last stages of pregnancy, to give some space for your diaphragm, which also moves up to get out of the way of your uterus (and which is why a lot of women in the 3rd tri are short of breath.)
It also all depends on your own shape. If you're short waisted or long-torsoed or have a wide ribcage or a number of other different things, your internal organs will probably distribute differently and make your abdomen look different as a result. |
Anonymous
aha...didn't think about the organs getting pushed up although I know in theory that organs do get pushed out the way of uterus. Yes I am short torsoed. Thanks for solving the mystery for me 
- This is OP. |
jindc
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Really?! So, it's not all fat?! I've gained weight since starting IVF, so I'm SUPER self conscious about this, but it's not as squishy as fat...after losing 75lbs, I didn't miss the squish. So it's fair to say part of it's fat, part of it is everything shifting for baby? I keep saying to myself how I can't wait for the fat part and the baby part to meet! |
Anonymous
| I'm 18 weeks with my second, and I have the same thing. I feel huge, but I think it's all organs. It's not fat. That's all in my thighs and butt!!! |
Anonymous
| I'm glad to hear that this giant bulge at 14 weeks is my spleen and what not and not pure fat, since I was pretty sure it wasn't the baby and accessories. I am really short waisted and have been feeling pretty self conscious because I think I'm already clearly showing and this is #1. It is making the wardrobe selection each morning a nightmare -- go maternity and go obvious or find something schlumpy to try to hide it for another day. Many of my friends are tall skinny (lucky lovely girls) and they didn't show at all until way later. |
Anonymous
| PP above. I was seriously glued to these pictures that show and describe what happens to your internal organs at various points pregnancy: http://www.childbirthconnection.org/article.asp?ck=10240&ClickedLink=343&area=27 |
Anonymous
| OP, if you had a tummy beforehand, this is where everything that was in your belly (fat, organs, etc..) is going. I started out the same way, with a bigger top than bottom of my belly (they call it a B Belly), but it has finally evened out at the end of my third trimester. |
Anonymous
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I am 5'3 and petite and developed a rather large belly by 18 weeks! People thought I was a lot further along then. It's all evened out now though. Measuring 31 cm at 32 weeks so small side of average. People now think I'm not as far along as I am.
When you're short, there's no where for those organs and uterus to go but out! |
Anonymous
| It all depends on whether you are thin or chubby to begin with. If you are chubby, the extra is not all organs unfortunately. |
Anonymous
These are awesome. Thanks for sharing! |
Anonymous
| I'm fairly thin, but do have fat. What fat I have seems to move to the back and sides of me. Upstairs part of my tummy sticks out but it is all hard and I feel like it's mostly my esophagus. It's weird. |