Hi all

I just found out I am preggers...at 41yo!! Actually me and my new DH have been planning this. He has no children (I have two teenagers). My primary care Dr. gave me the green light, as my health is fine.

I am a bit concernend abot the weight part. I just had started WW again and now I have to stop. I have heard some large women who get pregnant actually lose weight, and I have also read they still want us to gain 15-25 lbs! I would hope just following a healthy eating plan would be fine.

I am going to call an OBGYN Monday to setup my first appt., and at that time I will request a nutritional consult.

Has anyone gone through this or know of anyone? Suggestions on what to do?

Robin

You have already gotten a lot of good advice, but I just wanted to say congratulations!

Robin,

Congratulations! I pray that your pregnancy is healthy and uneventful! (I have several friends and my mother in love that have had babies in their 40s and everything went smoothly and beautifully....my mother in love had my youngest sister in love at the age of 46...my sil is only 14 months older than my oldest dd).

I started my last pregnancy 25 pounds over the weight that I had started the pregnancy previous to hers. (which was about 15 pounds overweight). I didn't try to lose weight, and I didn't try to keep from gaining weight, but I only gained 14 pounds with that pregnancy and came home from the hospital at my pre-pregnancy weight. I did meet with an RD to help me keep things under control for my blood pressure (I had pregnancy induced hypertension with my first 3 children)as well as to help me with borderline hypoglycemia. She recommend I exercise daily (which I had already started as soon as I found out I was pregnant again), drink a gallon of water daily, and eat a well balanced diet of natural, very very minimally processed foods. I did and it was the healthiest, most normal pregnancy that I had had. I know that the power of prayer certainly helped, but I also believe that my healthy take on my pregnancy also helped considerably!

Congrats Robin on the great news.

Congrats---

My only advise is NOT to gain 50 pounds like I did!

Congrats! I can't h ardly add anymore than the others have....OBGYN, great idea, have him/her refer to a nutritionalist who will follow you through your preg. That was the best thing I did for my baby and me. Then ask for referrals for exercise, walking is still the best, but you might want some toning and strengthening. Watch for blood sugars as they creep up when we are older and gestational diabetes is not uncommon in us older moms.

the other thing I would suggest, is that if you are wanting to"watch" your weight, and keep track, as for a doc referral to WW; and then talk to the leader about this. You don't want to loose weight you want to keep a healthy watch on what your weight is doing. We have three gals who are in the 40's having first babies, second babies, and are still members because their docs thought it would be a great way for them to keep track, eat healthy, not loose, You get the lactating program, and then have a healthy start to losing the weight after you deliver.

We'll pray that this is a very healthy preg with wonderful outcomes of healthy mom and baby!

Wow Robin!!! Congrats.

I think that talking to the OBGYN is a great idea.

I was only about 15 lbs overweight when I got preg. I had really bad morning sickness and threw up every day at least once and still managed to gain 30 lbs. Most of it was baby and fluid and I only was up another 10 when I came home from the hospital.

That 10 and some of the 15 I started with came off while breastfeeding.

I think that the people who get into weight problems while pregnant gain in the 50-80 weight range. I had a sister in law who drank a gallon of whole milk every day. That is about 2500 calories a day. I've heard that a preg. person only need 300 extra.

Congratulations!!!! Very exciting news. I wish you a very uneventful and easy pregnancy! : )

I think talking to your OB and getting a nutrition consult is an excellent idea.

Everyone is different but my here's my story - I was very, very overweight when I got pg with my dd. My OB at the time told me it was not safe to be dieting but to limit my sugar and fat intake and make nutritious choices. She was fine with me not gaining weight though as I had so many "reserves".

As it turned out, I ended up with gestational diabetes at the 18 week mark (they tested me early as I was having preterm labor and was on bedrest) and I got put on a very strict diabetic diet which in the end, did cause me to lose weight. I ended up gaining a total of 8 pounds with that pregnancy and dd weighed 8 lbs 8 oz. Within a week of being home I weighed 30 pounds less than I had started the pregnancy.

Congratulations!!!! One of my cousins, who is 41, found out she was pregnant at 5 months...can you imagine.

5 pounds in the first trimester and 3 pounds a month after that is the suggested weight gain.

Of course, you need your multi vit and folic acid. Your daily increase of calories is really just about the equivalent of a sandwich and a piece of fruit!!

Eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies, stay away from fried foods, be careful not to eat too much deep water fish.

Each stage of your pregnancy has a different growth period for the babies vital organs. The brain and spinal cord first and the liver and kidneys last.

There are some studies that have been done about fetal programming. That means that the nutrients and toxins that you expose the fetus to in each stage will effect the baby longterm in his/ her life.

Your folic acid and b vitamins are very important in the first trimester to prevent neural tube defects.

You may be eating for two, but one of you doesn't need that much right now. The baby has his/ her big growth spurt in your last trimester. So if you are gaining a lot of weight in the beginning, be careful.

During pregnancy is definately not a time to lose weight or cut calories. If you are overweight right now, you can not cut calories out of your diet. You will need to be mindful of what you are eating and stay away from the fat filled, sugar filled stuff that offers no nutritional value.

I am not saying that a cookie or a piece of cake from time to time is out, but you just need to be sure that it is not a part of your daily diet.

I wanted to add that water is essential. Your body has to maintain a certain blood volume when you are not pregnant and when you are pregnant the blood volume increases. All of your organs increas in work and your heart actually increases in size. Your blood needs water to flow properly, if you do not get adequite water, naturally the exchanges of nutrients and oxygen will not be ideal.

Congratulations!
I was 35 when I got pregnant. I started at 170 and was 190 when dd was born. I don't really remember how I did it. That was almost 26 years ago. I do remember that I was very aware of what I was eating because I was already overweight and didn't want to blew up and gain 50 or 100 lbs like some women I had heard stories about.