• Question: Why does the pregnant women doesn't fall over to forward?

    Asked by anon-187817 to Stewart, Miriam, Marton, Laura, Kathryn, David on 12 Nov 2018. This question was also asked by anon-187842.
    • Photo: Stewart Martin-Haugh

      Stewart Martin-Haugh answered on 12 Nov 2018:

      Good question!

      I didn’t know in advance how much weight women gain during pregnancy: it seems to vary quite a lot, depending on initial height and weight. I found a website which gives a range of 10-12.5 kg – seems reasonable.
      https://www.babycentre.co.uk/a554810/weight-gain-in-pregnancy
      The baby + placenta + amniotic fluid makes up about 4.8 kg, towards the front of the body. Let’s focus on that – imagine you are holding a 5kg package attached to a belt around your waist. You would lean your body backwards a bit to balance out the extra front weight – if you do that you will be able to balance the weight fine. Bear in mind this is the weight right at the end of pregnancy – it will be less beforehand. It might not be very comfortable, and back pain during pregnancy is very common.

    • Photo: Miriam Hogg

      Miriam Hogg answered on 15 Nov 2018:

      They basically adjust to the weight over the course of the pregnancy. The baby gains mass quite slowly so the woman muscles and skeleton kind of adjust around the new weight so they can keep their balance. The adjusting muscles and skeleton makes the woman stand differently over the course of the pregnancy so they can get back ache from their new posture (as well as back ache from the weight of the baby)

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