I agree completely about the negative doctor. I had an awesome doctor with my first pregnancy, but we moved and now I have a new one. I'm not even pregnant yet but I can already tell she's going to give me heck when I finally do. Ugh.

 I think this is a great article with down to earth tips for pregnant Mum;s.  Good point, not putting up with a negative doctor, find one that will suppoort and care for your health.

This is very well written advice about a touchy subject; good on you for tackling it head on.  Some really great practical tips as well as an explanation about how it feels and how to be healthy.  Good luck with the remainder of your pregnancy and thanks very much for sharing your experience by writing such a great article.

Great article and good advice.

Good luck , I hope everthing goes well for you!

Lisa :)

They are currently doing a study in south australian hospitals, which I have been referred to because my BMI had me classed as over weight (BMI of 25.21) and Im 5'5 and 67KG and 16 weeks pregnant. The midwife gave my details to the LIMIT study which is working on limiting the weigh you gain during pregnancy, your diet, and then they do things like body fat test and stuff like that.
I think it was a shock being told that I was overweight when a year ago I was pregnant with my son, weighed more, and noone said anything.

great advice.

your health is the most important thing not your weight ,i agree that all mums should eat healthy and exercise to stay healthy while they are supporting a life.

even though i'm not pregnant at the moment, being a plus sizer myself and having had 3 kids i really appreciate what you are saying. thanks for being honest and encouraging. :-)  good luck with having bubs, hope all goes well :-)

having a Dr (or hospital in my case) that also realises that being overweight doesn't automatically mean you're going to have a high risk pregnancy with gestational diabetes and trouble birthing!  I am overweight, always have been.  I'm also pregnant with #5, I don't get gestational diabetes (thank goodness) the babies fly out in 2 or 3 pushes after short labours and have all been 9pd +.  I realised pretty early that just cause someone with some initials after his name says it will happen doesn't make it so!

It seems that in the eyes of the big chain stores if you're over a size 18 then you can't get pregnant and if you do you should be wearing a flowery mumu, that drives me nuts.

I am also not a plus size person but when I fell pregnant I certainly became one and I struggled with the weight for a long time.  Over 4 pregnancies I managed to creep up to over 100kgs, so ladies I know what you mean.  I think it so refreshing to hear so many people with such great advice and you are right the main thing to consider is the beautiful child you are nurturing.  Absolutley you must feel comfortable with your doctor and if you are still so concerned about your weight there are things around to help with that too.  Thank you for sharing and I wish you all the very best for your new arrival.

I also am not a plus size person, but when I was pregnant found it very hard to find comfortable maternity clothes.  They all seemed to be made for size 8-10 people.  The maternity shops I went to stocked upto size 18 but it was a very small sizing.  I wish someone would open up a maternity clothes shop with sizes that are realistic as I eventually had to resort to buying plus size clothing which was not very sylish and was slightly too big.  Thank you for sharing your advice.

Great advice.

I am not a plus size person, but when I was pregnant, even I resorted to plus size clothes instead of going to maternity clothing stores. My pregnant belly just go too big even for maternity clothes. So I bought a number of plus size pants and they're cheaper too!

And I wholeheartedly agree on changing doctors if your doctor makes you feel bad and this applies for all other doctors as well. A decent bedside manner is, unfortunately, not a requisite for doctors.

I went through my last pregnancy (baby3 now 5 months old) being very overweight and i ended up changing doctors. My first doctor actually told me that it was disgusting that i even considered falling pregnant at this weight . Even though i didnt plan it. I changed doctors and my other doctor told me as long as i walked and ate healthy the baby would be fine. And he was born healthy and he is a very happy boy now. It is hard to sit and hear the criticism when yu yourself arent happy with the weight that you are and have been battling so hard for so long to do something about it but nothing seems to work and then some snotty nose doctor who thinks he knows all tells you "it is wrong to do this to your unborn child". But when its all over how good do we feel when we have a healthy baby just like all those skinny ladies that i envy so. 

Well done on your advice it is nice to know i am not the only one.

You are all very welcome! I am 137kg right now, I started at 134. I find that it's much easier when you have a support system of people who understand what you are going through. It may even be an idea to start a local "plus size Mums" group. But with being pregnant, I just wanted to remind everyone that it's a very special time; and not to let your weight get you down. A pregnant woman is beautiful to behold, no matter what size!

wonderful tips and ideas thank you so much for sharing this with us,  i'm sure that this will be a great help to many pregnant mum's to be.

when i fell pregnant with our son i was 92kg's and this time when i fell pregnant with our daughter i was 107kg's with my son's pregnancy i lost 28kg and with this pregnancy i lost 32kg's and have put a little over half of it back on in the last few weeks, which i have to say is a little depressing  and i have found it so hard to find anything really to wear with the pregnancy so i just got some bigger sized maxi dresses and have been wearing them but even with them it was so hard to find them.

wonderful job

Great stuff! Being 17 weeks pregnant, i am very overweight, i lost 16 kilos before i fell pregnant, I have to admit im a bit obssessive over my weight ggain. im aiming for no more than 6 kilos. so true about maternity clothes too. i cant find any anywhere. but well done on your article.

I couldn't agree with you more! I went through my last pregnancy being very overweight, and it does get you down seeing the other women who are little and oh so cute! LOL I always wanted to be that pregnant woman, but both times I was as big as a blimp, but my 2 beautiful boys resulted from it, so it was all worth it!!  And in fact when I was pregnant was the only time I wasn't so concerned about my weight.. it was ok that I was heavier.. LOL  Thanks for the advice!