Women who are preparing to become mothers literally from the first days begin to look more closely at their reflection in the mirror to see if there are any external signs of pregnancy. These signs primarily include the growth of the abdomen. But when to wait for this sign, and how soon others will be able to guess about the "interesting position" of a woman, you will not immediately understand. Let's try to answer this question in as much detail as possible in this article.
Why is the figure changing?
The belly of a pregnant woman does not begin to grow immediately. Its increase is a consequence of the growth of the uterus. A non-pregnant uterus is very small - its volume is only 5 ml, and it weighs about 60-70 grams. With the beginning of the development of the baby, new muscle fibers begin to form in it, which will allow the organ to stretch and grow in order to become a cozy and reliable "house" for the constantly growing baby for the next 9 months.
This growth in the first months is quite difficult to track outwardly, only by the 8th week of pregnancy the reproductive female organ reaches the size of a goose egg. But the uterus is still in the pelvic cavity, and therefore the stomach does not grow. Intensive growth and stretching of the anterior abdominal wall begins as the height of the fundus of the uterus increases.
The bottom is the widest part of the uterus, located opposite the genital tract and the cervix. The height will increase weekly, as a result, the uterus will leave the pelvis and enter the abdominal cavity. It is from this moment that the rapid growth of the abdomen will begin. This usually occurs after 15-16 weeks of pregnancy.
But everyone knows that in some women the belly is not visible almost until childbirth, while in others, by 4 months, the shapes are rounded, and their position is not in doubt among others. Why it happens?
This is primarily affected by the elasticity of the abdominal wall. In multiparous, it is usually more stretched, and therefore the stomach visually appears earlier than in primiparous. With polyhydramnios (exceeding the volume of amniotic fluid), the stomach also grows faster and becomes noticeable earlier.
Affected by heredity, the width of the hips, the number of fetuses, the place of attachment of the placenta.
Watch the following time-lapse video, in which with every turn of the future ballerina mom, her belly gets bigger and bigger.
How does the body change by months?
During pregnancy, the uterus increases almost 500 times, but this growth is gradual. The uterus, in order to meet the "needs" of the growing baby, must constantly rise. It is this rise that is called the height of the standing of the fundus of the uterus or in abbreviated form - VSDM. Doctors begin to measure this parameter after 13-14 weeks, when the reproductive organ begins to rise above the pubis, that is, to leave the pelvic area.
Obstetricians measure VSDM not for the sake of curiosity, but exclusively for diagnostic purposes, because the growth of the uterus can tell a lot to a specialist. In particular, its excess of the standard values may indicate that there is a large baby in the womb or there is polyhydramnios (ultrasound will answer this question in more detail), and the lag of the VSDM from the norms may be a sign of intrauterine growth retardation.
The measurement is carried out with a woman lying on her back, the main unit of measurement is centimeters. To measure, obstetricians use pelvimeters or the most common soft measuring tape.
If you look closely at the standard values, then the growth of the uterus as a whole practically corresponds to the gestational age in a numerical value:
- 8-9 weeks - VSDM is 8-9 centimeters;
- 10-11 weeks - 10-11 cm;
- 12-13 weeks - 11-12 cm;
- 14-15 weeks - 12-13 cm;
- 16-17 weeks - 14-18 cm;
- 18-19 weeks - 16-20 cm;
- 20-21 weeks - 18-22 cm;
- 22-23 weeks - 21-24 cm;
- 24-25 weeks - 23-26 cm;
- 26-27 weeks - 24-28 cm;
- 28-29 weeks - 27-30 cm;
- 30-31 weeks - 29-32 cm;
- 32-33 weeks - 31-33 cm;
- 34-35 weeks - 32-33 cm;
- 36-37 weeks - 32-36 cm;
- 38-39 week - 34-37 cm;
- 40 weeks - 34-35 cm.
As you can see, a slight decrease in the growth rate of the uterus is observed only at the end of the third trimester, when the reproductive female organ reaches its maximum size, the abdomen drops, the baby takes a prenatal position, and presses the head against the exit from the mother's womb.
Usually, after this, it becomes much easier for a woman to breathe (the uterus no longer supports the diaphragm), and the ribs stop hurting.
And the girth of the abdomen is also measured, but this parameter is very individual - a woman before pregnancy could be thin or obese, she could be tall or short. All this will certainly affect the growth rate of the abdomen and its size. The abdominal circumference is measured only to track the dynamics of a particular woman.
On a note! The thinner a woman was before pregnancy, the higher the likelihood that her belly will become noticeable earlier. For a long time, only women who are obese, overweight and of appropriate build can hide their position.
If the changes are invisible
Often women worry that the belly grows too slowly. The term is more than 4 months, and the belly is invisible. A wide variety of guesses arise, most of which are colored in negative shades. It is not worth worrying, it is quite possible that you have the prerequisites for this. Remain calm and talk to your doctor. If everything is in order with the baby, and it develops according to the gestational age (which will be checked by ultrasound), then there is no reason for worry. The abdomen may not appear visually or enlarge too slowly in several cases.
- A woman is trained, sports press - the abdominal wall in this case retains its shape longer.
- Wide hips more often lead to a slower growth of the abdomen, because the pelvic space is wider, and the uterus manages to stay there longer. Sooner or later, its exit into the abdominal cavity will definitely come true.
- Placenta location. If the placenta is located on the back wall, closer to the back of the expectant mother, then the growth of the tummy will begin later than in women with the placenta located on the front wall of the uterus.
- Low water. It is impossible to call this reason normal, it is a complication of pregnancy. With him, the amount of amniotic fluid is less than normal, and slow growth of the abdomen is a minor consequence of such a complication.
- Heredity. Daughters in most cases borrow from their mothers the size of the pelvis and some key constitutional features, and therefore one should not wait for the early appearance of the tummy to women whose mothers up to 8 months quietly kept their pregnancy secret from others, since it was practically not noticeable.
- Completeness. In obese women, due to the presence of fatty folds on the abdomen and thighs, the abdomen is outlined later. Until recently, such a woman does not look pregnant and often characteristic roundness appears only at 7-8 months.
- The sequence of pregnancy. During the first pregnancy, a slightly slower growth of the abdomen is normal. The muscles are not stretched, less elastic, and therefore the characteristic tummy, which is difficult to hide under loose clothing, usually appears only by the end of the second trimester.
Growing too fast
Sometimes you can find women with a rather noticeable, big belly already at the beginning of the second trimester. There may be several reasons for this, and almost none of them should cause concern.
- Narrow hips. If a woman has narrow hips, then the growing uterus very quickly begins to lack space, it goes beyond the pelvis and begins to press the internal organs from their usual place. This feature can be a complication in childbirth, and therefore is an indication for a planned caesarean section, but the narrow hips of the expectant mother are in no way reflected in the bearing of the baby and his health and well-being.
- Repeated pregnancy. During the second pregnancy, especially if the woman does not play sports and has rather weak abdominal muscles, the abdomen appears faster.
- Multiple pregnancy. The uterus, in which 2 or 3 babies develop, grows at a faster pace, and therefore such a pregnancy becomes noticeable earlier, the stomach appears in some already at the end of the third month.
- Polyhydramnios. An excess of amniotic fluid leads to a faster growth rate of the uterus, and therefore the belly grows faster.
- Placenta. Its location on the front wall of the uterus usually leads to an earlier appearance of the contours of the "pregnant" tummy.
- Physique and weight. In thin and thin stomachs, they soon become obvious to others. At the same time, quite often the characteristic dark stripe on the abdomen appears first, and immediately after this, the tummy itself begins to increase.
Pathological causes of deviations of the VSDM
Do not confuse the visual growth rate of the abdomen and the very specific parameter of the VSDM, which was mentioned above. If the tummy is invisible for a long time, in most cases it is not dangerous, but a significant lag or advance in the rate of the height of the standing of the uterine fundus may indicate pathology.
Important! The deviation of the VSDM in itself cannot be the basis for the diagnosis, but it can be the reason for prescribing an additional examination for a pregnant woman, including ultrasound diagnostics.
VSDM below normal quite often speaks of an erroneously established gestational age. If at the same time ultrasound confirms the normal development of the fetus, and Doppler ultrasonography does not reveal violations of blood flow in the "mother - placenta - fetus" system, then with a high degree of probability, the obstetrician made a mistake in setting the time. This most often happens in women with menstrual irregularities, with irregular periods, who themselves do not remember exactly the date of their last menstrual period. The same problem is often faced by nursing mothers who become pregnant again during the hepatitis B period.
Another reason for the lagging of VSDM from the norm is lack of water. In the second and third trimester, the reason for the lag in the height of the bottom of the reproductive female organ may be the incorrect position of the fetus, in which it is located across the uterus or obliquely.
The most dangerous thing that can be indicated by the lag of the VSDM by more than 2 centimeters from the norm in terms of time is the delay in the development of the baby. The reasons can be many - from malfunctioning of the placenta to intrauterine infection, malnutrition of the mother, and so on. The task of the doctor is to find out the cause, to eliminate it, so that the baby can continue to develop normally.
If the height of the uterine fundus exceeds the norm by 2 or more centimeters, the doctor may suspect a large fetus. But if mom and dad have rather big crumbs, then this is quite normal, because the child inherits their physique, the tendency to growth and fullness.
Talking about the likelihood of multiple pregnancy in our time is at least ridiculous. Previously, when there was no ultrasound, it was this measurement that helped the doctor, already in the second trimester, to assume that a woman would become the mother of more than one baby. Later, when the heads of the fruits were probed, their number was determined (sometimes they were mistaken - the human factor). Today there is an ultrasound scan, and even before the uterus begins to go beyond the pelvic floor, at 11-13 weeks, the woman will undergo the first prenatal screening, in which the doctor will definitely inform her about how many living and developing children there are in the reproductive cavity organ.
Common questions
There are many questions associated with the growth of the abdomen in women. Let's try to briefly answer the most common ones.
Is it possible to determine the sex of the child by the shape of the growing belly?
The shape of the abdomen during its intensive growth depends on the physique of the woman, on the width of her pelvis, but not on the sex of the fetus. But if you really want to believe that the belly "corner" is a boy, and the "ball" is a girl, then please. Unfortunately, popular rumor, which attributes such properties to the shape of the abdomen, does not explain in any way how to be a mother of heterosexual twins - she has both a boy and a girl, and for some reason the shape of the abdomen is the same.
What if everyone is trying to touch their belly?
Almost all pregnant women face this problem. As soon as the shape of the abdomen becomes obvious and noticeable, everyone around and strives to touch it. A woman can be uncomfortable with such obsessive attention from outsiders. There is no need to endure and be silent (negative emotions are very harmful).
All you need to do is honestly warn those around you who show interest in your belly that you don't want anyone to touch it. It's your right. Calm is more important than public opinion.
How to disguise your belly if you don't want to be noticed?
Such situations also sometimes arise. Some women do not want employees at work to find out about pregnancy, some hide this fact for other reasons.
It should be noted right away that a woman should not tighten her stomach, this can be very dangerous for a child. It is better to choose a wardrobe for yourself, in which loose things will prevail (tunics, wide T-shirts, summer bell dresses). The belly should always remain free.
Experienced mothers have one very useful advice that will be useful to everyone who does not want others to focus their attention on a growing tummy - get a bright scarf or a noticeable hat. A bright spot-detail will attract attention, thereby distracting it from the shape of the abdomen. When combined with loose-fitting clothing, this advice works flawlessly.
