Pregnant Belly – Questions and Answers
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When the pregnancy test is positive, many future mothers are already anxious to know when they will be able to show everyone the beautiful pregnant belly . However, in the beginning you can’t tell the belly apart from just one extra fat. When can we really start to notice pregnancy from the belly?
How to Identify Pregnant Belly in the Beginning
For the pregnant belly to start to have a visible shape at the beginning, it depends on several factors : if it is the first pregnancy , if the woman has a wide waist or if she plays sports. Usually, it is only from the 20th week that you notice the belly , but in the case of mothers who have had other pregnancies, it can be between 12 and 18 weeks. For those who exercise and are in their first pregnancy, the muscles tend to “camouflage” the pregnant belly for longer, and for those who are obese, it may also be difficult to notice the belly during part of the pregnancy.
How to know if your belly is pregnant?
A protruding belly without any symptoms is probably not a pregnancy. Even more so because, in general, suspicion and the pregnancy test rule out the possibility even before the belly starts to appear , so don’t go down the belly track . See what are the main symptoms of early pregnancy:
- Menstrual delay: the first sign of all
- Cramps
- Breast enlargement
- Fatigue and sleep
- Vaginal discharge
- Nausea and vomiting
- Desires and sensitivity to odors
- Low blood pressure
- Constipation and increased urinary frequency
- Higher body temperature
- And finally, to confirm: the positive pregnancy test
The most common causes of belly growth, on the other hand, are gas, fluid retention or fat .
In which area of the belly does it start to grow first?
The pregnant belly begins to “grow” below the navel, which is the region where the uterus is located, and it emerges from the pelvis. It also gets harder and the navel protrudes. This makes it possible to notice a slight bump or “swelling” in this location.
How to Hide a Pregnant Belly?
Some clothes can make explicit or disguise the pregnant belly. Darker shades and wide dresses or blouses help to hide. But one hour is hopeless: the pregnant belly appears.
How to Measure a Pregnant Belly?
During prenatal consultations, uterine height is measured to see if growth is normal. For the measurement, the measuring tape is used and noted on the pregnant woman’s accompaniment card. Uterine height can be measured at around 16 weeks and, in some cases, 20 weeks. It is during this gestational period that the uterus begins to reach more or less the height of the navel.
There may be situations in which the uterine height differs from the expected gestational age . This happens for a few reasons, among them: big baby, fibroids, twin pregnancies and even gestational diabetes .
In the eighth month of pregnancy, the belly reaches its maximum growth : the uterus can extend from the back to almost a meter away, at the level of the navel. In the ninth month , the belly already loses a little volume: even so, the baby continues to put on weight. What is the placenta “age” and lose weight with less amount of liquid amniotic.
How is the belly of a pregnant woman in the first weeks
In the first few weeks, it is rare to know that you are pregnant, and there are no changes in the woman’s belly that could indicate pregnancy in the first month. What is proven is that women who have already had other deliveries, the “multiparous”, may have their bellies appearing just before the first-time mothers , the “primiparous”, who have more toned and stiffened muscles.
How is Pregnant Belly
Each pregnancy is unique and, consequently, the pregnant woman’s belly too. Its dimensions depend on different factors, of each woman’s body, and it is a myth that the baby’s sex has to do with the shape of the belly.
In women with wide hips, for example, the belly is larger than those with narrow bone structure. Also in women with a marked lordosis in the spine, the belly usually protrudes further forward.
How to Differentiate Pregnant Belly from Fat
The pregnant belly is more “stiff” than the localized fat belly, and it grows according to the months of pregnancy. Therefore, you can only confuse the two in the first months, and then it becomes clearer that the belly is pregnant.
How is a 3 Month Pregnant Belly
In the third month of pregnancy, it is normal to have gained one or two kilos, and by the end of the pregnancy, it will already be between 11 and 13 kilos gained! However, the size of the pregnant belly will depend from pregnancy to pregnancy, and there is no standard that can generalize what the 3-month belly looks like .
A curiosity is that in the third month the baby starts to react if someone touches his belly. The pregnant woman may still not feel right, but he already responds to stimuli. This means that the fetus already has reflexes.
How is the “Foot of the Belly” of a Pregnant
One of the first symptoms of pregnancy is a pain in the “bottom of the belly” . Only, in general, from the 20th week, the foot of the belly begins to protrude, because the uterus is growing.
Why Does Pregnant Belly Get Hard?
The belly starts to get hard right at the beginning of pregnancy , between the 7th and 8th week of gestation. At this stage, although growth has not yet been noticed, the woman may begin to notice that the “belly of the belly” is more swollen and harder than before she became pregnant.
As the baby grows, the tummy tends to get rounder and harder, but the shape can vary from woman to woman . After hardening at the bottom of the navel, it will harden around and, finally, almost the entire belly. This is the uterus with the placenta, which protects the baby and therefore needs to be tougher than a normal organ.
Why can’t a pregnant woman sleep on her stomach?
After the first half of pregnancy, when the belly and the baby grow and the pregnancy progresses, it is no longer advisable to sleep on your back, there is a risk of feeling sick with shortness of breath because the weight of the uterus compresses the vena cava.
A recommended sleeping position is turned to the left. Doctors noted that, during labor , this is the position that provides the best oxygenation conditions for the baby, with blood flowing better through the umbilical cord . So it is good to get used to the position.
Why Pregnant Belly Itches
It is common for the pregnant belly to itch and there are skin irritations that come and go during pregnancy, without apparent causes. This is because the increase in hormones makes the skin more sensitive . It is also common to scratch the breasts.
But be aware if the itchiness bothers you a lot, as there is a rare liver disease called Obstetric Cholestasis , whose main symptom is very strong itching, but it is in the whole body. Only with a blood test is it possible to diagnose cholestasis.
If there are red spots on the body as well, especially after a fever, consider the possibility of Zika symptoms , and this disease can affect the baby during pregnancy. So there is little caution during pregnancy, be alert to each symptom.
Line on Pregnant Belly: When It Appears
Most pregnant women have a dark spot on the belly, usually from the second trimester . In some cases it can be up to 1 cm wide, at the bottom of the abdomen, but it can also pass through the navel. It is called a “black line ” and disappears a few weeks after delivery.
The nigra line formed by the pigmentation of the skin in the area where the abdominal muscle stretches in the belly to accommodate the growth of the placenta, being slightly separated. The spot appears because pregnant women are highly sensitive to a hormone related to skin pigmentation .
Some research even indicates that the appearance of the spots and the black line is due to the deficiency of folic acid in pregnant women.
How to Draw on a Pregnant Belly
Today, many pregnant women and their family and friends have fun with drawings and paintings on the pregnant belly, made with washable water-based paints. Creativity is free, as long as you don’t use pens or other products with chemistry! Here are some examples:
How to Lose Belly After Pregnancy
To reduce the fat left in the belly after pregnancy, it is recommended to follow a low calorie diet and exercise that strengthens the abdomen and back. Thus, posture and muscle tone improve, causing the pregnancy belly to be lost faster.
Exercises should start on average 20 days after normal birth, or 40 days after cesarean section. But it is advisable to have the obstetrician released to start any type of exercise. Since excess or some practices can put a lot of strain on the body and compromise recovery.
A tip for women who are suffering a lot from the nausea and nausea of this phase and feel very difficult to swallow the prenatal vitamin, there is a great option, the FamiGesta vitamin . It consists of all the important vitamins for this phase with the difference in the size of the capsule, which is much easier to swallow. You can buy it here in our online store.
See also: My belly is shaking! Is that Pregnancy?
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.