Image via CrunchBaseWhen Adrienne Erazo, a researcher at a newspaper in Orange, California, got pregnant the first time, the excitement over building her family was immediate and profound. As her baby started to grow, she felt a sense of purpose, like this was what she was supposed to do her whole life. But hanging over that joy was a pall of doubt and shame: Was she doing something wrong? Was she hurting her baby?
She wasn't drinking alcohol, smoking, or taking drugs — she was simply overweight, a size 22W at 5 feet 4 inches tall. She'd been overweight most of her life.
She kept hearing the concerned voices of her husband and family telling her, months earlier, that she should really "get her weight under control" before she got pregnant. She kept thinking about all the warnings she'd read in the news about plus-size women having gestational diabetes and their babies having birth defects.
"When I got pregnant, at first I was sad because I was so worried," says the 27-year-old. "I should have been happy." Unfortunately, Erazo's not alone.
Guidelines from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists urge healthcare professionals to counsel plus-size women to lose weight before pregnancy, limit weight gain during pregnancy, and lose baby weight quickly after pregnancy. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ranks being overweight or obese during pregnancy nearly at the same risk level as uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, or drinking.
With all the warnings out there about how dangerous it is to be overweight — and the phrase "obesity epidemic" appearing regularly in the news — it's no surprise that women like Erazo feel anxious and guilty about their pregnancies and spend at least part of the time feeling bad about themselves
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