What is the difference between a woman who is expecting a baby and just a woman? Most will immediately answer that the size of the abdomen. But there are those who will object to them, and they will be right. Why do some women have a huge belly, while others are barely noticeable? Although most expectant mothers do not pay much attention to the size of the abdomen, there is an opinion that it is more important to monitor and control swelling, pressure, stretch marks, etc. Each belly is individual and grows according to the schedule. But it is very important that there are no deviations from generally accepted norms. There may or may not be explanations for a small belly. Maybe this is a pathology of fetal development, or maybe your norm is just like that, and at the same time a completely healthy baby will be born.

In the first trimester of pregnancy, the stomach may or may not be, if a woman suffers from toxicosis, then the stomach will disappear and begin to grow only in the second trimester. Everyone probably has a couple of girlfriends whose stomach was small during the entire pregnancy and not everyone even knew that the woman was about to give birth.

In any case, you should not panic right away, you must first go through all the examinations and tests.

Let's look at why the belly is growing?

Nevertheless, in the vast majority of cases, the stomach grows and this is explained by the fact that the uterus grows, in which the child develops and grows. The uterus during pregnancy should contain the fetus, placenta and amniotic fluid, all this should fit somewhere, in addition, the child should be comfortable and safe inside the woman, which is why the uterus grows, changes its shape and location in the abdomen.

The uterus changes already from the earliest stages of pregnancy, firstly, it changes its shape from triangular to round, and secondly, it grows, and very quickly, although this will not be noticeable until a certain time, the fetus grows, amniotic fluid fills the uterus, surrounding fetus. All changes will not be noticeable until about the 5th month, from that time the stomach begins to grow. In the fifth month, the weight of the fetus is approximately 100 grams, its length is 12 cm. By childbirth, these indicators will increase tenfold and the child can be born with a body weight of 2.5 to 5 kg, a height of 42-60 cm. All indicators will be formed by 35-36 th week of pregnancy.

At each visit to the doctor, the doctor will measure the stomach with a centimeter tape, these figures can approximately determine the duration of pregnancy and the weight of the fetus. Also, for the entire period of pregnancy, amniotic fluid is constantly changing its volume, it can be from 1000 to 15000 ml, if the pregnancy is delayed, then the volume amniotic fluid can be reduced to 800 ml.

Consider norms and deviations

Although all women are completely individual, there are some norms that are approximately the same for all pregnancies and deviations from them signal pregnancy problems.

Let's take a look at the description of the uterus throughout the duration of pregnancy.

At the 4th week, the uterus looks like a chicken egg, at the 8th week it looks like a goose egg, increasing in size. At the 12th week, the uterus is the size of a newborn's head; at the appointment, the doctor already probes it through the front wall of the abdomen and measures the circumference of the abdomen. At the 16th week, you can already notice a rounded tummy, if you imagine a place between the pubis and the navel, then the uterus is now located somewhere in the middle. At the 20th week, the belly is already clearly visible to others, this is exactly the middle of pregnancy. The bottom of the uterus is located two fingers below the navel. At the 24th week, the fundus of the uterus has moved to the level of the navel, and at the 28th week, the uterus is already located above the navel. At the 32nd week, the navel is aligned, the baby grows and the bottom of the uterus is palpated somewhere between the navel and the xiphoid process. At the 38th week, the uterus rises to the highest level to the costal arches. At the 40th week, the navel already sticks out, and the bottom of the uterus drops again, preparing for childbirth.

During the entire pregnancy, the uterus grows about 20 times. The muscle fibers of the uterus also change. Thickening and increasing in length by 10 times. The vascular network of the uterus also increases. The circumference of the abdomen is a very important parameter during pregnancy, it is measured in the region of the lumbar deflection in the back and the navel in front. The norm is 85-90 cm at the 32nd week, 90-95 cm at the 36th, and 95-100 cm at the 40th week.

If there are nevertheless deviations from the general norms, then the reasons may be the lack of fetal growth, this is the so-called malnutrition (fetal growth retardation), or oligohydramnios. The reasons for this are infectious and inflammatory diseases of the expectant mother, placental insufficiency, hypertension in a pregnant woman. Often the cause may be the incorrect location of the fetus in the uterus, then it is necessary C-section. The uterus grows almost from the very first days of pregnancy, if the doctor notices that this is not happening, then an ectopic pregnancy can be diagnosed. This is a pathology of pregnancy, in which the fetal egg develops outside the uterus, but in its tube, for example.

Also, do not forget that each woman has her own constitution, one will have a belly before pregnancy, the other will not have it even with her. It happens that at work with a pregnant woman, no one even suspects that their colleague is pregnant until the woman goes on maternity leave.

For any suspicions, deviations from the norm, the expectant mother should always consult a doctor, only he can make the correct diagnosis and try to save the pregnancy, even with all its possible problems. If there are any problems, then you need to go to the hospital and be treated, the likelihood of recovery and the birth of a healthy child is very high. Do not delay with registration and delivery of all necessary analyzes. Ideally, all your illnesses should be cured before pregnancy, any harmless infection or bacterium can cause complications during pregnancy. It is necessary to eat right before conception and during pregnancy, to keep healthy lifestyle life, it is advisable to give up all your bad habits, from smoking and alcohol, and ending with eating chocolate at night.

And of course, a woman should listen very carefully to her body, which almost always signals any problems. It is also necessary to have a positive attitude and believe that everything will definitely be fine and you will have a healthy baby!

Probably everyone will agree with me that any pregnant woman is distinguished from the same non-pregnant woman only by the size of her belly. But in fact, not quite, though - this is exactly what many women who have given birth will object to. Well, first of all, really early dates the tummy can just disappear altogether, especially if the woman is also in earnest. And sometimes, even in the last months of pregnancy, it’s far from always easy to figure out whether your neighbor has recovered or perhaps become pregnant. Well, don't you have acquaintances who once said that they had a very small belly during pregnancy? Personally, I definitely have a couple of such girlfriends. And, probably, absolutely all of them were worried: there was practically no belly, and it even seemed that the woman was not pregnant at all. And someone was generally frightened, wondering if everything was really all right? But in the end, they all had quite healthy babies, and a rather small belly remained just a little mystery or even a secret.

Why does the belly grow during pregnancy?

Although, of course, there are always some exceptions to the rules, and yet during pregnancy, the belly always grows, even if it is hardly noticeable to everyone around, and sometimes to the future mother herself and even her husband. It will not be difficult to guess why the size of the abdomen usually increases literally every month. Many will say, of course, because the baby is already growing in the tummy, and, in which it is actually located, it does absolutely everything so that the growth of the crumbs is as comfortable and as correct as possible. And this means that during pregnancy, the uterus itself always increases in size, calmly accommodating both the placenta and the fetus, which, at the same time, also floats in the available amniotic fluid. Here, in fact, in essence, the fetus, the uterus and the available amniotic fluid can be the very three whales that are responsible for the growth of the female tummy.

General changes in the uterus begin to occur literally from the very first days of ovulation, and hence pregnancy. And at the same time, the uterus begins to grow quite actively in size, the fetus then begins to gradually grow, and the resulting amniotic fluid, or as they are also called among physicians - amniotic fluid - systematically fill all the available space directly in the uterine cavity. Naturally, for everyone around, this difficult process will become really noticeable, except perhaps only in the fifth month of pregnancy - after all, it is at this stage of gestation that a woman’s belly becomes truly “pregnant”. Doctors are convinced that during this period the maximum length of the fetus itself can be no more than 12 cm, but its body weight is no more than 100 grams. As you know, by the end of pregnancy, these indicators increase, and tenfold, namely, the body weight of any fetus at the thirty-second week of pregnancy, as a rule, is about 1700 grams, and its length is already 40 or even 42 centimeters . But this, as practice shows, is not at all the limit, because children are sometimes born and four kilograms and sometimes even more than 54 cm tall. The main indicators can finally be formed directly at 35 or at 36 weeks of the current pregnancy.

As you understand, the uterus itself increases dramatically by this time, because it is no longer such a small man that “stimulates” it. And we can say even more than that, the female uterus for the entire period of bearing a baby not only actively grows, but also radically changes its shape, and it also partially changes its usual location. And it is the size of the uterus that physicians indicate how the fetus develops, which is why literally at every scheduled examination, your doctor will manually measure the so-called value of the standing of the bottom of the female uterus in the environment. And they usually do this with a simple centimeter tape. Actually, it is this height, determined in centimeters (or rather, this distance from the uppermost edge of the female pubic joint and up to the upper part of the uterus itself) that will approximately correspond to the gestational age calculated in weeks.

As for the available amniotic fluid, they are definitely also able to influence the size of the female abdomen, although the increase in their volume can be very uneven. So, for example, at thirty-seven weeks of pregnancy, the volume of amniotic odes can range from one thousand to fifteen thousand milliliters, and, for example, when the baby is overcarried, their volume can sharply decrease up to eight hundred milliliters.

Standards accepted in medicine and deviations from them

There are, of course, strictly defined norms for the growth of the female abdomen, and clearly fixed for each new week of pregnancy. And it is these norms that are real indicators of the absolutely normal course of this particular pregnancy. Any deviations from the accepted norms may indicate some kind of "malfunction" in the female "pregnant" body.

We bring to your attention a description of the accepted size of the uterus weekly during all nine months of pregnancy.

At 8 weeks. Now this egg is already goose, or rather goose-sized - this is actually the size of your growing uterus.

At 12 weeks. The size of the female uterus, as a rule, corresponds to the size of a normal head in a newborn. Moreover, already at this short time, the doctor will try to probe your uterus directly through the anterior abdominal wall, and he will also measure yours.

At 16 weeks. Your tummy will already noticeably round, and the uterus will be somewhere approximately in the middle between your pubis and your navel.

At 20 weeks. Well, now you will definitely have to start giving up your seat in public transport in the subway and minibuses, because the stomach usually becomes visible even to the naked eye. But the bottom of the uterus at this stage of pregnancy can be felt two transverse fingers below the navel.

At 24 weeks. Now the bottom of your uterus should be approximately at the level of the navel itself.

At 28 weeks. Now your uterus will be located already above the navel, and its bottom on this period should be approximately 2 or even 3 fingers above the navel.

At 32 weeks. Your navel gradually begins to “disappear”, or rather, it begins to smooth out a little, but the bottom of the uterus can be felt almost in the middle between your xiphoid process and your own navel.

At 38 weeks. Right during this period of pregnancy, the uterus is usually located at its highest level - thus, it is raised approximately to your xiphoid process and even to your costal arches.

Forty weeks. always protrudes noticeably, but the bottom of the uterus again gradually descends.

We remind you that during the entire period of pregnancy, the female uterus can increase in size up to twenty times. Literally each of the muscle fibers changes its usual thickness (after all, it increases almost five times) and the same length (increases ten times). Actually, the entire vascular network of the female uterus also increases in volume.

I must say that no less important, there are indicators of the circumference of the female abdomen. The belly of every pregnant woman is measured precisely in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bher lumbar deflection, visible from behind and the navel itself in front. Thus, at the thirty-second week of pregnancy, the total abdominal circumference should be normally 85 maximum 90 centimeters, and already at the thirty-sixth week - approximately 90 or even 95 centimeters, then at the fortieth week - approximately 95 or even 100 centimeters.

So what, in reality, can some deviations from accepted norms in the growth of the female abdomen during pregnancy indicate? Why, for example, a woman's belly can be almost invisible and even very small? So, firstly, the stomach may not grow in that simple and dangerous case, if for some reason the fetus itself does not grow in the womb. In modern medicine, this most dangerous condition is commonly called fetal hypotrophy (this is a delay in the growth and development of the fetus). And secondly, no less common cause too small belly during pregnancy is a condition such as oligohydramnios. Definitely, in itself, such a condition does not arise, but, as a rule, has some pathological grounds. It can also be dangerous infectious or inflammatory diseases (including the genital organs of the expectant mother). It can be placental insufficiency, and. We go further, thirdly, a too small belly can often also indicate the not quite correct location of the fetus itself in the mother's uterus - or rather, its transverse location. In this case, the pregnant woman will most likely have to give birth by caesarean section.

As you understand, even in the earliest stages, the female uterus will have to increase at least a little. And in the event that this does not happen, the doctor may well suspect the development ectopic pregnancy when the fertilized egg itself begins to develop not at all in the uterus, but, for example, only in its tube. As you can guess, of course, in such a dangerous case, the uterus will not increase in size.

Also, you should definitely not forget that in tall pregnant women with rather lush powerful hips, unlike fragile women with a rather narrow pelvis, the tummy is almost always hardly noticeable. And besides this, remember that the growth of the female tummy can be almost directly related to the overall weight gain of a woman.

What to do in such a case?

It is quite understandable that literally each of the expectant mothers with a very small “pregnant tummy” will become incredibly worried about the size of their abdomen. The best adviser and even a consultant in such a situation will be your doctor who treats and monitors pregnancy.

If, for example, a too small belly was “caused”, then a woman cannot do without specialized treatment in a hospital. But believe this dangerous state it would be quite possible to avoid it if you prepare for the onset of pregnancy in a timely and informed manner and, accordingly, cure absolutely all your chronic sores, and long before the onset of this pregnancy. Remember that chronic diseases are also a very possible and real reason for the future development of fetal malnutrition. However, if the pregnancy still occurred suddenly and was not planned, it is important for you to register in a timely manner at the antenatal clinic for pregnancy. But about the right balanced diet, and about the implementation of all the recommendations and instructions of the doctor and, of course, about the complete rejection of existing bad habits, you probably should not even be reminded, because absolutely everything is quite clear anyway.

And as mentioned earlier, too small a belly during pregnancy can also sometimes be a real symptom of a condition such as. However, only your doctor can make such a disappointing diagnosis, and then only with a clear discrepancy between the existing gestational age and the real dimensions of such an indicator as the height of the uterine fundus. In addition, the doctor will be able to make such a diagnosis by also conducting some additional examinations (this can be Dopplerography, and of course standard tests and smears, of course, for bacteria and various infections, as well as fetal CTG). Note that, fortunately, the outcome of even such a diagnosis as “low-water pregnancy” can be quite favorable, of course, if you seek qualified help from the right specialist in a timely manner.

Be sure to be as attentive as possible to your own pregnant body and then believe me, everything will be fine with you!

And to cheer up, dear moms and dads of the portal site, we recommend watching the positive video "Belly Dancing":

And how did you go through childbirth with a small tummy during pregnancy?

A small belly during pregnancy is alarming for the expectant mother. She begins to think that something is wrong with the baby and that he is developing with violations. As you know, normally, the belly of a pregnant woman grows in accordance with the timing of gestation. During this period, the uterus increases due to the growth of the fetus. The supporting ligaments also increase in size, a new temporary organ appears in the woman's body - the placenta.

Women who come to see a gynecologist at a antenatal clinic compare their tummy with the bellies of other pregnant women and begin to worry excessively if it is small. A small belly during pregnancy is a rarity, but in most cases there are still no significant reasons for excitement.

Around the 5th month of pregnancy, the belly becomes visible to others. It gradually increases in size until the moment of delivery.

The belly of the future mother increases as the fetus grows:

• At 2-3 weeks from the moment of conception, the size of the embryo is 2-4 mm, the tummy during this period is not yet noticeable.
• By about 12 weeks, the fetus occupies all the free space in the uterine cavity. The weight of the embryo at this moment is up to 25 g.
• The abdomen at the 15th week of pregnancy can be noticeably rounded. The size of the fetus is 12 mm, and the weight is about 100-120 gr.
• By week 21, the size of the fetus reaches 24-26 cm, weight - 350-400 gr. From this moment begins the period of the most active growth of the fetus.
• Already at 24 weeks, the baby weighs about 500 grams, and its height is 30 cm.
• From 36 weeks, the fetus is considered full-term. Weight varies from 2 to 2.5 kg.
• At week 40, all formation processes are completed, and the mother's body is preparing for the most crucial moment - childbirth. The weight of the crumbs can be from 2 to 6.5 kg. These indicators are purely individual, in terms of development, small children are no different from larger babies.

An increase in the size of the pregnant tummy is associated not only with the rapid development of the fetus inside the uterus. Before pregnancy, the uterus has a weight of no more than 80 grams. During the process of fetal development, its weight increases by 10-14 times; by the time of delivery, the organ can weigh 1-1.2 kg.

The change in the size of the tummy of a pregnant woman is also associated with an increase in the volume of anatomical fluid.

The volume of amniotic fluid is:

• at 3 months - no more than 30-50 ml;
• for 4 - 100 ml;
• 37 weeks - more than 1 liter;
• immediately before childbirth, the volumes decrease - no more than 1 liter.

Even if the belly is small expectant mother you need to calm down and go to a consultation with a gynecologist. The doctor after and examination will be able to establish the reason why the tummy is growing slowly.

Why do some pregnant women have a big belly, while others have a small one?

Doctors say that normally the uterus of a pregnant woman should increase to 15-16 obstetric week. The belly at the 17th week of pregnancy becomes noticeable to others - for the mother this period is one of the most significant, she can feel the baby.

Signs of a delay in abdominal enlargement

There are no characteristic signs of a lag in the increase in the abdomen, such a deviation manifests itself purely individually, is detected during the examination and measurements of the circumference. Often there is no reason to worry and panic. Danger may be present if the tummy does not grow and at the same time pronounced fetal movements are not felt.

Norms and deviations

Some norms for the growth of the female tummy during pregnancy still exist. The abdomen grows as the fetus develops in the uterine cavity, therefore significant deviations in the normal course of circumstances are simply impossible.

For example, at the end of the seventh month of pregnancy, the norm of the abdominal circumference should not be less than 80 cm, but at the same time - no more than 90. By the fortieth week, the coolant can be up to 100 centimeters, doctors may suspect the presence of malformations if the mother's tummy has sharply decreased or increased. Such changes may be associated with an excess or lack of anatomical fluid - a deviation of this nature is a reason for emergency intervention.

Deviations of the coolant during pregnancy by five to seven cm may not indicate the presence of pathologies in the development of the baby. An increase in centimeters in the abdomen is also associated with a set of kilograms during pregnancy. Significant deviations from the norm of indicators may be associated with severe toxicosis, during such a period women lose weight greatly.

What to do if the stomach does not grow?

The lack of volume of the abdomen cannot be a diagnosis indicating the presence of pathology, in any week. There are no methods of prevention. Much depends on the influencing factor. For example, when oligohydramnios and hypertrophy are identified, measures should be taken to eliminate all risks. In other cases, a neat tummy does not prevent the mother from giving birth to an absolutely healthy baby.

A small belly can appear in the second pregnancy, even if it was of normal size the first time. This condition often scares the mother, but you should not worry, because each baby is individual and develops in different ways.

If your belly gets smaller during pregnancy

If during pregnancy the stomach has become significantly smaller, it is necessary to consult a gynecologist. Such a deviation may indicate hypertrophy or oligohydramnios. Such conditions require hospitalization and the woman's stay under observation.

Prevention

To avoid complications, a woman during pregnancy must:

• Timely register with the antenatal clinic.
• Arrive for scheduled check-ups on the specified dates.
• Get an ultrasound in every trimester of pregnancy.
• Take blood and urine tests.

These research methods will allow the doctor to timely detect abnormalities in the woman's body and prevent dangerous consequences.

An unexpressed increase in the size of the abdomen is often a reason for excitement. Of course, it is impossible to ignore such a deviation, as well as to worry for no reason. Ultrasonography- a reliable measure that helps to make sure that everything is in order with the baby, therefore, if in doubt, you should ask the gynecologist for a referral for an unscheduled ultrasound.

Only a timely visit to a specialist and an attentive attitude to the changes taking place in her own body will help mommy notice any pathological changes in a timely manner and eliminate them.

Useful video about the growth of the abdomen during pregnancy

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