Obesity is known to be the most recurrent cause of complications during pregnancy. Being obese before and during pregnancy can put you as well as your baby in many severe health complications. Weight gain during pregnancy is swayed due to a number of reasons such as hereditary factors, excessive calorie intake and less physical activity or even due to volume of the amniotic fluid or weight of placenta. Pregnancy is a period of great physiological and psychological stress. A woman is expected to maintain her health at optimum level for proper development of fetus. It is the time when the body is undergoing maximum hormonal and emotional changes. The nutritional status of a woman, both prior to conception and during pregnancy is very important for determining the pregnancy outcomes. Studies on pregnancy outcomes show that obesity before pregnancy in a woman could have adverse effects on the infant's health.
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During pregnancy, nutritional requirements increase significantly. Women are expected to take extreme care of their diet. Obesity in pregnancy is mostly due excess amounts of nutrients or imbalance in the hormones. Requirement of certain nutrients such as Proteins, Calcium, Iron and other vitamins and minerals. Also the increased energy requirement is met by Carbohydrates and Fats. Excess of these nutrients, much more than what is required by the body, may lead to obesity.
The term "obese" refers to anyone who is more than 20% above their ideal body weight. Normally, a woman gains about 10-12 kg during pregnancy (including the weight of fetus, placenta,amniotic fluid, increased blood volume). Weight gain more than normal may be detrimental to the mother's and infant's health. It is essential for a woman to stay healthy before conceiving and also after she is pregnant.
Obesity and pregnancy together can be associated with many complications:
Pregnancy Induced Hypertension: Being obese, blood pressure is bound to be above normal. Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) may present itself in two forms - Preeclampsia and eclampsia cause high blood pressure and fluid retention with swelling of the extremities. Sometimes it may also restrict the placental blood flow.
Gestational Diabetes: Gestational diabetes is a metabolic disorder wherein the blood sugar rises at the beginning of pregnancy and gets back to normal with the delivery of the baby. It is a condition where the body is unable to produce enough insulin for the proper utilization of carbohydrates. In such a case, the baby may put on too much weight (also known as Macrosoma) resulting in the uterus resulting in difficult labor forcing the doctor to have a cesarean section.
Cesarean Section: Fat pregnant women with extra pounds are more likely to have a cesarean section than a normal delivery due to certain complications such as hypertension, Diabetes or even heavy weight fetus. Speed of recovery in obese women is very slow as compared to normal after the surgery. The monitoring machines used at the time of delivery to hear the fetal heart rate are much difficult to gauge in obese women. Even Anesthesia becomes difficult in obese women in case of emergency delivery.
Juvenile Obesity: Babies born to obese mothers have more tendency to put on weight later. Studies show that almost 40% of the children born to obese mothers were overweight by the age of 4 years as compared to children born to normal weight mothers.
