Weight - Does it matter?

Just a couple days before 29 weeks I've been struggling with this question. There seem to be 2 schools of thought. 1) A woman should be healthy during pregnancy and whatever weight gain results is okay. 2) Women starting pregnancy overweight should gain as little weight as possible with some medical recommendations falling between 0-15 pounds.

I really struggle with the second recommendation, even if I do fall into the more relaxed 15-25 pound recommendation category. (A women starting at average weight falls into the 25-35 pound category.) How can you tell pregnant women to be healthy, to eat enough, to not go hungry, and to not diet - knowing on average these women are growing 7-8 pound babies and increasing blood volume by 50% . . . yet somehow expect anyone to gain 0-15 pounds in that 40 week period???

Eating and pregnancy is not easy. There are insane cravings. There are restrictions on what you can eat and drink. There is hunger - serious hunger at times - even when you've eaten just an hour before.

I wish I was that cute pregnant woman who started and ended pregnancy as a size 4 without having to worry about weight. I am not.

Confession: I gained 60 pounds with my son. Yes, SIX-ZERO. Realistically that was about 50 pounds of pregnancy weight and 10 pounds of water/swelling in the last couple of days (literally). But it was still 60 freakin pounds.

It was horrifying. Did I gain 60 pounds because my child was 25% larger than an average baby? Or was my son large because I gained too much weight? Was the Brewers diet to blame? (A pregnancy "diet" recommended in our child birth class that recommended a minimum of 100 grams of protein a day.) Was the hypoglycemia to blame where I was eating every 60-90 minutes to keep from passing out?

Who knows. (FTR, I am NOT doing the Brewers diet this time.)

I just know that for as much as people talk about pregnancy as a beautiful time, for those of us who struggle with weight - the miracle of growing a life is beautiful. The body that comes with it, not so much.

So far, weight wise, this pregnancy has been dramatically different.

- Up to 12 weeks: 3 pound gain (Fine.)
- 12-21 weeks: 7 pound gain (Not horrible, but more than I should gain in that period for my 15-25 pound overall recommendation.)
- 21-25 weeks: 7 pounds ?!?!?! Holy shit. NOT GOOD. What on Earth? Again, who knows. I certainly wasn't suddenly eating potato chips and ice cream all day.
- 25-29 weeks: 0 pounds ?!?!?! Honestly, just as perplexing to me as 21-25 weeks. I haven't changed much of anything with my diet.

Total so far at 29 weeks: 17 pounds. I feel "okay" about this. To be ~75% of the way through pregnancy, I'm at least confident that I won't end up gaining 60 pounds this time. I'm also fairly confident that I'll end up over the original 15-25 pound recommendation set out for me (since that only leaves me 8 pounds in the last 11 weeks).

So back to my original question - does it matter? I'm not sure. I just wish it wasn't something I worried about. In the zillion other things I have to worry about with getting this little guy here healthy and safe, how big my ass is getting shouldn't be one of them.