There’s not long to go now and at 33 weeks pregnant, I’m definitely feeling more ready than ever for the next chapter. This week we went to our doctor’s appointment for our weekly checkup. We were surprised to hear from our doctor that our baby’s head is fairly large and her weight was more than what she expected given that I was only 33 weeks pregnant.
The doctor was expecting our baby to be around 2.2kg this week but she was actually 2.4kg already. I was in shocked as asked my doctor one more time, ‘How big is my baby?’. She confirmed one again and said the baby grew around 300 grams in 2 weeks! It must of been that large pizza I ate… :/
Why Monitoring Baby Weight Is Important
There are two main reasons why it is important to monitor the baby’s weight gain and size.
1) Making sure the baby is healthy: According to my doctor, babies that are 2.5kg or more is considered to be the normal baby weight at birth. Anything under this will mean the baby is underweight or premature. Our baby at this time was already 2.4kg and will grow 100 grams to 200 grams per week. There really isn’t a major issue having a bigger baby but she stressed that because I was on the fence for the gestational diabetes test, it could mean that I may be putting the baby and myself at risk of diabetes.
2) Minimizing complications during delivery: The doctor explained that because it is my first pregnancy and that I would like a natural birth, it is important to make sure that the baby is a good healthy size according to my height and weight. If the baby is too big, it can mean that I may have difficult giving birth naturally. As a result, I may get a larger tear, take longer to heal and there’s a possibility of a c-section, loss of blood and other complications affecting not only the health of the baby but myself during delivery. In accordance to this, the doctor recommended the baby to be no more than 3kg in weight by the time I am full term.
As the baby was growing much faster than expected, she said that normally happens if the mother is eating more sweet and sugary foods. She suggested that I cut back on the following:
– Sweets: Anything that tastes remotely sweet
– Sugary liquids: This includes any soda, tea, juice or other drinks that have a high amount of sugar in them. The absorption of sugar is significantly higher as I can drink and not get too full.
– Fruit: Naturally, fruits contain a lot of sugar. There are low IG fruits that I can still enjoy but the whole point is to have everything in moderation.
The aim is to ensure the baby continues to grow 100 grams or a little over 100 grams a week so she’ll be a perfect healthy size.
I think a lot of people might find this odd as I’m not sure if other doctors or hospitals would really control the size of your baby. But upon reviewing what she said, I do agree with my doctor in making sure our baby is first and foremost healthy, but secondly that I won’t have any major complications while giving birth.
Before getting pregnant I use to think that being pregnant meant that I could eat whatever and any amount as I wish. Now that new studies and research have emerged overtime, more mothers are now being told to restrict certain foods or eat healthy to avoid complications during pregnancy and during the delivery of the baby. Similarly, I use to think a healthy baby was big and chubby at birth. Now that I’ve taken more time to read up on this and the problems that can result to poor eating habits and poor food choices during pregnancy, I’m confident that we’ve made the right choice to listen to our doctor.
Even if our baby was smaller than a typical baby in Australia at birth, doesn’t mean she is not healthy nor won’t grow to be big and healthy afterwards. At the end of the day, we are trying our best to do what’s we think is ideal for our baby and for my pregnancy. At 33 weeks pregnant, I’m trying to cut back on some of these things and will have another check up soon to see if it made a difference.