Introduction
It is no secret that women are conscious of their weight. Almost every clothing outlet today that considers itself known for designer wear for women ensures that clothes of every size are available to accommodate every woman’s waist size and so on and so forth. Many men would agree (not unless you live under a rock) when I say that the one-size-fits-all paradigm can be potentially disastrous for any clothing store to base its fashion philosophy. Individuality is anything but just a concept to these very engaging Venusians, so to speak!
If there is a word to describe a woman, it is her enthusiasm to experience everything that life has to offer unlike the single-minded (and some might say shallow) goal that most of us men pursue with the utmost dedication.
It seems as if the gain or loss of a few pounds has the ability to take a woman through a seesaw of emotions, right from a state of perpetual insecurity to a complete ‘lack of self-confidence’. To the logical mind (of mostly men), this might seem ridiculous but it still does make sense to a woman and to the science of health.
Gestational Weight
However, since the responsibility of giving birth has been a woman’s domain through the ages, and will be (not unless evolution decides to play an ugly joke on men) for sometime to come, gaining weight during this time is a given, along with a lot of mood swings, pain and birth-related stress. Now, this gain in weight varies from woman to woman, if we could so draw a parallel to the philosophy that women believe in individuality, which is measured by virtue of the Body Mass Index (BMI).
Another question that could occur to you: Why does one need to take into account the factor of gestational weight during pregnancy?
As determined by the U.S Institute of Medicine (IOM), keeping a check on weight gain during this period will assist a safe delivery of the baby in the coming months. However, there is no hard and fast rule that states that if you do cross certain weight limits, your pregnancy will face an adverse outcome. These are just limits that could help keep both the child and the mother safe during pregnancy.
Based on a study by the IOM, the table below shows the average (mean) rate of weight gain during singleton pregnancies based on pre-pregnancy BMI:
Therefore, if your BMI is underweight or less than 18.5, you can expect to gain anywhere between 28 to 40 pounds once you complete nine months of pregnancy. Notice how the value reduces evenly from underweight women to obese women.
Even though it is tough to reduce weight gain within these levels especially for obese women, it is still doable. Doctors will be more than happy to help you by introducing you to ways by which you can go about having a safe pregnancy.
Conclusion
Giving birth quintessentially represents the miracle of life (ask the father of a newborn how he feels!), and it only goes to show us how beautiful creating life can be, no matter how primitive (and pleasurable) the method (winky wink). It is vital that both the mother and child ‘come out’ unharmed through this vulnerable and life-defining period in their lives, and we must do everything in our power to make this transition easier, if not safer, for the fairer sex and their offspring.
