Are you having a B belly pregnancy?
Jashina talks about what you need to know when embracing your B shaped belly during pregnancy. You’ll learn tips for monitoring, maternity clothes, and more!
Jashina and her husband were married just over a year and considered starting their family while stuck at home during the pandemic.
She went off birth control and, to their great joy and surprise, got pregnant within a few months.
Pregnant B Belly
Like many plus size women, Jashina had a B belly without pregnancy and called it her fupa.
Then during the first trimester of her pregnancy, all Jashina noticed was her double belly. Meanwhile, she saw other pregnant moms sharing their week-by-week photos of their changing bumps during pregnancy.
Then finally, around 17 weeks of pregnancy, she started noticing the upper and lower parts of her B shaped belly growing!
She wasn’t sure what she was experiencing during her plus size pregnancy was normal. That was until she saw a post about B bellies from Plus Size Birth. It helped her to know her B bump shape was normal.
Body Image with B Shaped Belly
Jashina’s husband kept encouraging her, “You’re fine; you look great! You’re carrying a healthy baby – nothing is wrong with the baby right now, and nothing is wrong with you. So, let’s embrace the fact that we’re healthy.”
He helped Jashina with her self-esteem because
Around 37 or 38 weeks of pregnancy, her B shaped belly became more D shaped, but it wasn’t completely round.
She was given a maternity photo shoot package as a gift, and yet never had the photos taken due to feeling insecure about her B belly.
As Jashina shared, body-image struggles weren’t new to her during pregnancy, as she has struggled with her self-esteem for most of her life.
But as a mom, she wants to work on herself, so she doesn’t put her insecurities upon her daughter.
“I really don’t want her growing up with that self-esteem factor where she gets down on herself. I just want her to believe in herself and just be very confident in everything she does. As I’m working on myself, I know it’s going to impact her, and that’s one of my other motivating forces.”
Maternity Clothes for B Bellies
When it came to maternity clothes, Jashina assumed she’s become much bigger. So she asked her friends to get her tights, two sizes larger than normal.
The tights were way too big!
Nevertheless, she found it to be a funny experience, and another time when she assumed she was larger than she was at the time.
Though near the end of her pregnancy, she lived in those tights that remained oversized on her. And thanks to working at a hospital, she lived in scrubs.
She also loved midi dresses from Old Navy.
Other people with B bellies during pregnancy like wearing maxi dresses and baby-doll style tops to help round out their belly shapes.
And one of the top tips shared for having a B shaped belly is to get a belly band.
Belly bands have many benefits beyond smoothing out the shape of a bump from a B to a D. They also provide support to improve common pregnancy discomforts like back aches.
Testing and Fetal Monitoring with a Pregnancy B Belly
As a social worker on the labor and delivery floor, Jashina was friendly with many of her care team because they were also her colleagues.
Jashina was thankful her doctor reassured her that his focus was on her and the baby’s overall health, not her weight. As a result, she didn’t experience any weight bias during maternity care or her birth.
She found ultrasound visits a bit challenging for the technicians to move their wand over her belly. And during these appointments, she called her belly shape “hills and valleys.”
Due to her BMI, her provider recommended non-stress tests near the end of her pregnancy. These appointments were a small inconvenience for Jashina since she worked at the hospital. But having a B belly did make the monitoring more difficult.
Jashina remembers thinking, “If I didn’t have a B belly, it would work fine.”
She was beating herself up a bit without knowing there were some helpful tips and tricks for pregnancy monitoring with a b belly. And the same concerns arose during monitoring for giving birth.
One great tip is to wear a belly band while monitoring! Another is to request wireless monitoring during labor, especially the Monica Novii, designed for larger bodies.
Another concern Jashina had was worrying about her blood pressure.
So, she asked her doctor a lot of questions.
As an added benefit, her Aetna insurance was terrific and provided her with a care manager! Once a month, this care manager checked in with Jashina to see how she was doing.
They even sent her baby aspirin, which studies show helps to reduce the risk of developing preeclampsia, which is extremely high blood pressure during pregnancy.
Jashina’s care team pressured her to induce, but she wanted to go into labor naturally. Thirty-six hours later, her daughter was born!
B Belly After Pregnancy
During postpartum, Jashina noticed her B belly quickly returned to its pre-pregnancy size. And yet, she didn’t really care! Her body had done so much for her that she had a new appreciation.
Jashina’s focus was on nourishing her body to be able to pump for her daughter!
Listen as Jashina tells her full birth story. And as a social worker who supports new parents struggling with mental health and those with babies in the NICU, Jashina shares a special message.
Recording & Show Notes: Plus Mommy Podcast Episode 197
Transcript happily provided upon request.
