# how does being petite affect pregnancy?



## darkNlovely

I am just wondering if petite women make it to full term and if it has anything to do with it? I am a small gal 5"1 and weigh 110lbs and now I am pregnant with twins and I am wondering if my body type is capable of carrying 2 babies to full term, what are my chances?


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## Shandra

Didn't want to read and run dear. I am pretty sure that it is hard for anyone to carry twins to full term but i'm not an expert on babies in general and especially not twins :D That is really exciting that you are having twins though. This is all I can really say about it in general. I am 5'2 and have an extremely short torso and the biggest "problem" I have found is that my little boy really has no place to go and everything is already pushed around so much that I will be spending half of my pregnancy with troubles breathing. I have been breathing hard always since about 16 weeks.


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## notjustyet

It says in my pregnancy book that it used to be thought that women under 5ft or with small shoe sizes would struggle giving birth naturally but nowadays they are not used as indicators of a narrow pelvis. It says that small women can do fine and tall women can struggle, there's no way of really knowing until you're in the delivery room!


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## K4tiemay

Usually my small friends have looked more heavily pregnant sooner because they carry the baby out the front (what with having no space to go up). But I know many small women who have carried full term without problems. You will have your babies at least three weeks early anyway, because they will probably schedule a c section unless you are against it.
My friend (who is not petite) had twins and is now overdue with one baby. She looks hardly any bigger with this one than she did with the twins.
Hope this helps.


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## Nanaki

Hi, I am 5ft 1" and a bit underweight and with my son, I look so heavily pregnant with huge bump with his heavy weight as well. I carried him to full term without any problem but end in had a c-section due to difficulties into pushing him out. Xx


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## girlygirl:)

I will be keeping and eye on this thread as I'm also short 5". I'm not of skinny build though, I'm 9 stone which is on the average side. My bmi is healthy. Xx


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## doddy0402

i am 5 foot 2 and I carried my little man to term (in fact 10 days overdue!) no problems with the pregnancy, did need assistance with delivery but no one mentioned if this was anything to do with my size.
My sister is 5 foot exactly and has just had her 3rd baby, noproblems, no assistance so i don't think your size will be an issue, but I have no experience on twin pregnancys I'm afraid.
Congrats on the twinnies btw!!x


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## jacks mummy

I'm 5ft 3 and I gave birth to my son at 39weeks all was fine thru pregnancy apart from abit of hip pain and feeling short of breath from everything been squashed good luck I'm sure u will be fine hun xx


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## Jaybear5

Im 5ft 2 and towards the end I suffered with my back with my last pregnancy but otherwise I coped well :) I am sure you will be just fine hun x


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## Blah11

I'm 5'4 and stayed neat throughout pregnancy. I had a textbook labour (waters broke, contractions started, 15 hours and 27 mins of pushing later she was born). Amelie was a 39 weeker and weighed 6lb4 so small but not tiny. I did suffer with quite bad SPD though.


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## leigh-louise22

Hi I am only 5ft and a healthy weight. I carried my first baby full term, in fact she was 2 weeks late my labour was only 4 1/2 hours from start to finish, I did need a little help during labour but this was due to how desperate she was to get out nothing to do with my size. I just found that I carried the bump all forwards and towards the end of my pregnancy I was very uncomfortable under my ribs but other than that everything was fine. I really don't think you have anything to worry about!
Good luck


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## grandbleu

My mom is just 5'3'' and very petite boned and carried my twin sister and I to full term with no problems and even had a natural birth.


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## Mama627

Hi there, I'm just shy of 5' and on the thin side. I started having contractions at 35 weeks, they stopped them, then induced me at 37 weeks due to a lack of amniotic fluid. I had no problem with actually pushing the baby out. Getting to that point was tough though; not because of my size, but because of my fear.

People did crack quite a few "Weebles" jokes at me towards the end. It looked like I was defying physics every time I stood up.


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## prdlyexpectng

im 5 foot 4 and 98 pounds and very narrow so i imagine i will probably have a tough time


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## darkNlovely

thanks for the replys ladies--here is my background info. I have one son 8 years ago that I delivered vaginally no problems I didn't even tear down there--everyone was shocked about that. They had to use foreceps to pull him out though towards the end.


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## rivi91

I was reading all the blogs in here, but I didn't find anyone who was under 5ft like me. I went to my Geneticist yesterday and she said it will be very dangerous and high risk if I get pregnant , I would need to see a high risk specialist even before I try getting pregnant. this scared me off a little :nope:
I am not planning in having a baby yet maybe in anther 2 years but it still very sad thing.


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## Gwen77

darkNlovely said:


> I am just wondering if petite women make it to full term and if it has anything to do with it? I am a small gal 5"1 and weigh 110lbs and now I am pregnant with twins and I am wondering if my body type is capable of carrying 2 babies to full term, what are my chances?

It's hard to say, as every woman is different. I'm 5'5, weigh about 100 pounds, with a very tiny frame. I'm 34 years old but people always think I'm only 15 years old (not kidding).

With my son, he was born at 36weeks. I suspect because my body just couldn't hold him anymore... There was no room and he was breech for two months prior to giving birth. He was delivered via C-section and weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces. I honestly believe that there was no way my body would have been able to give birth to him. I'm just too tiny. His head alone was the size of my upper leg. I knew he would have ripped me apart (literally) if I had given birth naturally.


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## seabump

you will be fine!!


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## seabump

rivi91 said:


> I was reading all the blogs in here, but I didn't find anyone who was under 5ft like me. I went to my Geneticist yesterday and she said it will be very dangerous and high risk if I get pregnant , I would need to see a high risk specialist even before I try getting pregnant. this scared me off a little :nope:
> I am not planning in having a baby yet maybe in anther 2 years but it still very sad thing.

I would get a second opinion. Humans have been getting taller over time, clearly indicating that shorter women had healthy babies in the past. Definitely get a 2nd opinion.


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## mjemma

My sister is 4'10 and v.petite. She carried her son to full term with no problems. Although I'm afraid she did look like a weeble! ;-) I am 5'2 and did the same. We both had big babies - both 8lb10!


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## JumpingIn

I'm 5ft exactly and can't wait to be a big round pudding :haha: You can still be petite with big hips, I've always had big bust and hips but tiny bones elsewhere so I'm not too nervous about my size affecting labour...I'm more concerned about a congenital heart defect I have, I already don't get much as much oxygen circulating so I imagine with my small frame and squished up lungs I'll get pretty breathless. If I had a healthy heart, I wouldn't worry one bit, even with twins. I bet you'll be fine.


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## Srrme

I'm 5'1". I carried my last baby to 38 weeks just fine. :) I had no back problems, etc. I don't put on much weight while pregnant (other than the baby) so I don't know if that helps.


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## rivi91

seabump said:


> I would get a second opinion. Humans have been getting taller over time, clearly indicating that shorter women had healthy babies in the past. Definitely get a 2nd opinion.

thank you, and yes I will try to get another opinion, because I am very short and well aside of that I have asthma and I was told that would've been a second risk if I got pregnant, I would love to be mom sometime soon, so I wont give up on this :)
thanks for all the nice words. it it was possible for other moms this can be possible for myself too :)


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