300 Pound Woman Gives Birth on Her Knees
Google โobesity and pregnancyโ and youโre quickly led to believe that plus size women canโt have healthy pregnancies or give birth vaginallyโฆlet alone on their knees.
Yet, six years ago, I did just that! As a nearly 300-pound woman, I gave birth to my son on my knees after a completely healthy plus size pregnancy.
This was truly the most extraordinary day of my life!
It was a day when, for the first time ever, I learned to embrace the strength and beauty of my body.
It was the day I re-wrote every message in my head that had told me my obese body was incapable and unacceptable.
That day I brought my son into this world on my own terms with the respect and dignity we both deserved.
This day could very easily have never happened.
Can a 300 pound woman get pregnant?
You might be wondering, can a 300 pound woman get pregnant? The answer is yes! People of all sizes can not only become pregnant but also have healthy pregnancies.
300 Pound Plus Size Pregnant
The story of how I gave birth on my knees started four months prior when I was a 300 pound plus size pregnant woman having a healthy pregnancy.
I was under the care of an OB-GYN who gave me my 15 minutes and then went on with her day.
An OB-GYN who I would later learn only โallowsโ women to give birth in the lithotomy position (laying on their back).
This was also the same OB-GYN who had cared for two of my former co-workers who both had cesarean births.
I thought I was doing all the right things to have a healthy pregnancy while living in a plus size body. My dedication to water aerobics and eating healthier than I ever had resulted in me feeling amazing!
I assumed I was on track to have the type of birth experience I wanted.
Yet whenย my husband and I hired a doulaย she questioned my selection of a posh OB-GYN clinic and hospital that offered fancy labor suites.
My doula knew I wanted a natural childbirth and also knew the odds were against me with the choices I had made for my care provider and selected medical facility. She recommended I do some research and consider a hospital midwifery program.
I thought I had done everything right.
And sure, maybe everything wouldโve turned out just fine; thereโs no way of truly knowing.
All I do know is that, after changing providers, I went from 15-minute appointments to 45-minute conversations and examinations where every single one of my questions was answered with care.
I went from quick, cold exams to the gentle touch of a midwife who would laugh when my son would kick her while she touched my body with compassion. I went from merely hoping to give birth without medication to starting to believe that my body was truly capable of doing just that.
And I did! 6 years ago, weighing nearly 300 pounds, I gave birth to my son on my knees!
Even though you donโt read stories like mine often, the truth is plus size women can and do have healthy pregnancies and positive birth experiences all the time!
Sometimes it takes a change in care providers as I experienced.
Other times thereโs a connection with a size friendly OB-GYN or midwife from the start. Sometimes nothing special or specific occurs, aside from of course how miraculous pregnancy and birth is on its own.
I wish the headline, 300 Pound Woman Gives Birth on Her Knees, wasnโt something that sounds unbelievable to some because Iโm not an anomaly!
Iโm just a plus size woman who did everything within my power to have a healthy pregnancy and then connected with an outstanding birth team. Iโm one of many and our stories need to be heard!
Over the past 5 years, Iโve dedicated my life to supporting thousands of plus size people during pregnancy, birth and postpartum.
Iโve become a certified childbirth educator and now travel the country speaking to birth professionals about supporting plus size birth. Iโve compiled all of the questions I get asked most often and the questions I wish women would ask me into this My Plus Size Pregnancy Guide!ย
- Plus Size Pregnancy Confessions: We Listen and We Donโt Judge - December 15, 2024
- Plus Size Pregnancy Bumps: From D to B-Bellies, Love Your Shape - August 18, 2024
- 17 Plus Size Pregnancy Myths and Facts That Might Surprise You - June 11, 2024
I love this piece so much! Thanks for writing about your experience. I had the same experience in 2011. Five years ago. I’m expecting my 5th child now and everything is great as always.
That’s awesome mama and congrats on your 5th baby!!
235 with my first homebirth (transferred to hospital but still had vaginal birth). 265 with my 2nd homebirth. 285 with my 3rd homebirth.
Doctors’ offices and even the midwives at those were not very supportive of a fat lady having a baby. The only people who ever truly supported me no matter what were my homebirth midwives. I am happy you found what you needed to get the birth you wanted. Thanks for sharing!