Is Kate's post-delivery baby bump about average?

[Smith1942]

The belly looks average. Being upright, bathed, hair and make up done and real clothes on - very, very, very unusual. I honestly walked like a cowboy for a week. No, an elderly cowboy.

I think she's done very well in terms of her pregnancy figure. You can see that she has gained no weight anywhere except her stomach - where the weight is meant to be!

I wish it were this simple. I gained 20 pounds with my first pregnancy. My baby was almost 9 pounds so most of that was him! Yet I retained fluid everywhere. It wasn't that I was sitting on the couch eating chocolate. I ate very healthfully and exercised daily. Each pregnancy is really very different (so probably best not to make assumptions about pregnancy, especially around the extremely sensitive issues of weight and body size).

The discussion is about Kate. Therefore, I was talking about Kate. The context of the remark (perhaps you weren't aware of the following) is that Kate has gained a reputation in England for highly restrictive weight control, as seen by her dieting from an athletic shape with a BMI of about 20-21 before engagement to her fashion-model proportions seen on her Canada/America tour where it was widely noted that her new, very low BMI of 17 or so had even managed to make Nicole Kidman look large. It is a fact that she is keen dieter and exerciser, as seen in her control over her figure. "It's the wedding plan!" she said, about her weight loss, confirming that it was intentional.

I am not talking about normal eating healthily and exercising - women in the public eye as thin as Kate work out pretty much every day with a trainer, quite vigorously, and eat very sparingly. They are devoted to their thinness in the way that few women in real life are, hence their teeny-tiny BMI 17-type proportions. THAT is why they are so thin before pregnancy and their arms and legs remain quite slim during pregnancy - real devotion to their looks. I don't think this is particularly healthy, either, but neither do I think that Kate was silly enough to under-eat during her pregnancy. But women who strive to be very thin, as she did before pregnancy, do not allow themselves a single extra calorie beyond their minimum daily requirements and often somewhat below that, plus they exercise daily, vigorously, with a trainer. I lived with a very thin, restrictive eater, and her level of control was incredible. I said that Kate had gained weight nowhere but her stomach, which is true. I also know others who are highly devoted to their looks and since they ate the absolute minimum they could safely get away with and exercised daily during their pregnancies, their arms and legs stayed quite slim. Since they were absolutely stick-thin size double zeros before their pregnancy, if they had fluid retention that made their arms and legs look big by normal standards, that would have constituted a serious systemic problem. Remember, this is Planet Fame we're talking about here, where women's heads look too big for their bodies. While everyone is different, of course, you'd be defying biology if you were as diet-and-exercise-mad as these famous women are and still ended up with lots of extra weight on your forearms, say, after pregnancy.

And before anyone else jumps all over me telling me how they eat cream cakes morning, noon and night and yet are mysteriously a size triple zero, yes I know some people are naturally tiny, but most are not and have to work hard at it when into their thirties. Victoria Beckham and Kate were both much larger before fame (but still slim in the real world) although Kate Moss is an example of someone who has always been very thin. I suspect that even she works hard at it, though, given her controversial statement "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" that set off a ton of criticism.

ETA: Hang on a minute, I've just seen that you said you only gained 20 pounds during pregnancy and that 9 pounds was baby. Then there's the placenta, cord which weigh about 3 pounds, and extra blood flow, so you didn't gain very much actual weight at all. I hear you that you retained fluid everywhere, but since you only gained a few pounds of actual weight, how much difference can fluid retention make before it signals a problem like kidney failure? Because when certain organs fail a patient can swell really badly, but if you didn't gain very much actual weight then I'm puzzled as to how large this fluid can have made you? Serious question - I'm interested. Lots of extra fluid is also heavy and would have given you higher numbers, too, surely? Looking at the numbers you stated, I bet you looked fab soon after giving birth. You wrote as if you were really unlucky, but looking at your numbers, you seem very lucky to me - only a few pounds over what you were before pregnancy. Your healthy lifestyle obviously paid off!

 

[kenny]

This thread is about what a usual post-delivery baby bump is.

Please start another thread if y'all want to talk about women's weight.

I do not want the end of human civilization on earth on my conscience.

 

[Smith1942]

Baby bumps and pregnancy figures are all part of women's weight, because your pre-pregnancy weight has some bearing on bump size after. Obviously a slim exerciser who gained 20 pounds is going to have a smaller bump than someone who gains 90 pounds like my friend did. I don't think you can really extricate the issues of women's weight and baby bumps - they are kind of connected!

I think the world is just fascinated to see a natural figure mere hours after giving birth, since most celebs hide it. And I don't blame them, really - they're entitled to their privacy. Having a large bump after pregnancy is not most people's best look - yes, I know it's natural and lovely in its own way, but most people do want it to go down eventually and would be unhappy if told they would always stay that way. Good for Kate for doing what she was comfortable with, but if I'd been in that situation with the global media and photographs that will re-run and re-run at certain times for many years - such as when the baby turns 18 or becomes a dad himself - my personal preference would have been to camouflage it a little more.

 

[Lula]

I, for one, was glad that she felt comfortable enough to wear a dress that didn't disguise her post-partum figure. Diana's dress was a billowy tent!

And, Kenny, I think you should add a "I have no clue" category to your survey -- there seem to be a lot of us who have no previous experience with the post-pregnancy baby bump!

 

[Smith1942]

She's a public figure, so I don't see an issue with discussing the details of her life (including, but certainly not limited to, her body).
I've had children and I agree with ericad - I don't recall my post-baby belly being so firm. I had a belly, but it felt squishy, not firm and round. I was thin before, during (except for the belly), and after pregnancy, but I do recall feeling sort of like I had a "pregnant" belly for quite a while afterwards.
She really does look fabulous and I'd say that her belly is probably what would be considered "normal."

I agree with this. Kate knew what she was getting into, and anybody who was opposed to fame wouldn't marry the future Sovereign. I think the press is intrusive, but there are many compensations for someone in Kate's position.

 

[kenny]

And, Kenny, I think you should add a "I have no clue" category to your survey -- there seem to be a lot of us who have no previous experience with the post-pregnancy baby bump!

Good point.
That's why I didn't vote.

Creating a bullet-proof poll is not easy.

 

[Rosebloom]

The belly looks average. Being upright, bathed, hair and make up done and real clothes on - very, very, very unusual. I honestly walked like a cowboy for a week. No, an elderly cowboy.

I think she's done very well in terms of her pregnancy figure. You can see that she has gained no weight anywhere except her stomach - where the weight is meant to be!

I wish it were this simple. I gained 20 pounds with my first pregnancy. My baby was almost 9 pounds so most of that was him! Yet I retained fluid everywhere. It wasn't that I was sitting on the couch eating chocolate. I ate very healthfully and exercised daily. Each pregnancy is really very different (so probably best not to make assumptions about pregnancy, especially around the extremely sensitive issues of weight and body size).

The discussion is about Kate. Therefore, I was talking about Kate. The context of the remark (perhaps you weren't aware of the following) is that Kate has gained a reputation in England for highly restrictive weight control, as seen by her dieting from an athletic shape with a BMI of about 20-21 before engagement to her fashion-model proportions seen on her Canada/America tour where it was widely noted that her new, very low BMI of 17 or so had even managed to make Nicole Kidman look large. It is a fact that she is keen dieter and exerciser, as seen in her control over her figure. "It's the wedding plan!" she said, about her weight loss, confirming that it was intentional.

I am not talking about normal eating healthily and exercising - women in the public eye as thin as Kate work out pretty much every day with a trainer, quite vigorously, and eat very sparingly. They are devoted to their thinness in the way that few women in real life are, hence their teeny-tiny BMI 17-type proportions. THAT is why they are so thin before pregnancy and their arms and legs remain quite slim during pregnancy - real devotion to their looks. I don't think this is particularly healthy, either, but neither do I think that Kate was silly enough to under-eat during her pregnancy. But women who strive to be very thin, as she did before pregnancy, do not allow themselves a single extra calorie beyond their minimum daily requirements and often somewhat below that, plus they exercise daily, vigorously, with a trainer. I lived with a very thin, restrictive eater, and her level of control was incredible. I said that Kate had gained weight nowhere but her stomach, which is true. I also know others who are highly devoted to their looks and since they ate the absolute minimum they could safely get away with and exercised daily during their pregnancies, their arms and legs stayed quite slim. Since they were absolutely stick-thin size double zeros before their pregnancy, if they had fluid retention that made their arms and legs look big by normal standards, that would have constituted a serious systemic problem. Remember, this is Planet Fame we're talking about here, where women's heads look too big for their bodies. While everyone is different, of course, you'd be defying biology if you were as diet-and-exercise-mad as these famous women are and still ended up with lots of extra weight on your forearms, say, after pregnancy.

And before anyone else jumps all over me telling me how they eat cream cakes morning, noon and night and yet are mysteriously a size triple zero, yes I know some people are naturally tiny, but most are not and have to work hard at it when into their thirties. Victoria Beckham and Kate were both much larger before fame (but still slim in the real world) although Kate Moss is an example of someone who has always been very thin. I suspect that even she works hard at it, though, given her controversial statement "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" that set off a ton of criticism.

ETA: Hang on a minute, I've just seen that you said you only gained 20 pounds during pregnancy and that 9 pounds was baby. Then there's the placenta, cord which weigh about 3 pounds, and extra blood flow, so you didn't gain very much actual weight at all. I hear you that you retained fluid everywhere, but since you only gained a few pounds of actual weight, how much difference can fluid retention make before it signals a problem like kidney failure? Because when certain organs fail a patient can swell really badly, but if you didn't gain very much actual weight then I'm puzzled as to how large this fluid can have made you? Serious question - I'm interested. Lots of extra fluid is also heavy and would have given you higher numbers, too, surely? Looking at the numbers you stated, I bet you looked fab soon after giving birth. You wrote as if you were really unlucky, but looking at your numbers, you seem very lucky to me - only a few pounds over what you were before pregnancy. Your healthy lifestyle obviously paid off!

I have no problem with this thread - I think it is great to have asked the question and gotten honest responses. I am always a fan of being honest about how things in pregnancy and birth are. Even having known many pregnant women and having read literally dozens of books on the topic there were still many aspects of the pregnancy and birth that were complete surprises. So, I tend to way overshare in real life about birth. I feel like the fewer surprises the better!

That is also why I quoted Smith and wanted to push back a bit on the idea that to do well in pregnancy means you gain no weight anywhere except on the stomach. Women's bodies really do respond differently to pregnancy. Being a mom to young ones, I have seen about ten close friends go through about 25 pregnancies in the past few years and I find it amazing the wide range of experiences we all had. So I thought it was worth pointing out that you can look less spectacular than Kate and still have had a healthy pregnancy.

Since you asked about my situation, I will explain a little further. With my first child, I was about 20 pounds over my ideal weight going into the pregnancy. So it is fairly common to not gain much weight since I already had ample fat stores waiting to do their part. I had a healthy, happy, text book pregnancy and birth. At my six week post partum visit, I weighed less than I had before getting pregnant. This was not because of watching what I ate - I was so hungry from breastfeeding that I ate like a linebacker - but because I had actually been loosing fat during the pregnancy (again, because I started overweight). Did I look fab at that six week weigh in? Well... I had bright red stretch marks covering my entire abdomen. My breasts had gone from a C cup to a DDD cup (and were super vein-y and pretty unevenly shaped). My stomach looked like a giant deflated balloon. I had some knarly varicose veins on my legs. But honestly, I felt more beautiful than I ever have in my life. My first birth was extraordinarily empowering. I was in awe of myself. I was so proud that I could grow a human being, birth it, feed it, love it. I completely respect that this is not everyone's situation though. And feeling and looking like your old self again after birth is an important milestone.

 

[Smith1942]

The belly looks average. Being upright, bathed, hair and make up done and real clothes on - very, very, very unusual. I honestly walked like a cowboy for a week. No, an elderly cowboy.

I think she's done very well in terms of her pregnancy figure. You can see that she has gained no weight anywhere except her stomach - where the weight is meant to be!

I wish it were this simple. I gained 20 pounds with my first pregnancy. My baby was almost 9 pounds so most of that was him! Yet I retained fluid everywhere. It wasn't that I was sitting on the couch eating chocolate. I ate very healthfully and exercised daily. Each pregnancy is really very different (so probably best not to make assumptions about pregnancy, especially around the extremely sensitive issues of weight and body size).

The discussion is about Kate. Therefore, I was talking about Kate. The context of the remark (perhaps you weren't aware of the following) is that Kate has gained a reputation in England for highly restrictive weight control, as seen by her dieting from an athletic shape with a BMI of about 20-21 before engagement to her fashion-model proportions seen on her Canada/America tour where it was widely noted that her new, very low BMI of 17 or so had even managed to make Nicole Kidman look large. It is a fact that she is keen dieter and exerciser, as seen in her control over her figure. "It's the wedding plan!" she said, about her weight loss, confirming that it was intentional.

I am not talking about normal eating healthily and exercising - women in the public eye as thin as Kate work out pretty much every day with a trainer, quite vigorously, and eat very sparingly. They are devoted to their thinness in the way that few women in real life are, hence their teeny-tiny BMI 17-type proportions. THAT is why they are so thin before pregnancy and their arms and legs remain quite slim during pregnancy - real devotion to their looks. I don't think this is particularly healthy, either, but neither do I think that Kate was silly enough to under-eat during her pregnancy. But women who strive to be very thin, as she did before pregnancy, do not allow themselves a single extra calorie beyond their minimum daily requirements and often somewhat below that, plus they exercise daily, vigorously, with a trainer. I lived with a very thin, restrictive eater, and her level of control was incredible. I said that Kate had gained weight nowhere but her stomach, which is true. I also know others who are highly devoted to their looks and since they ate the absolute minimum they could safely get away with and exercised daily during their pregnancies, their arms and legs stayed quite slim. Since they were absolutely stick-thin size double zeros before their pregnancy, if they had fluid retention that made their arms and legs look big by normal standards, that would have constituted a serious systemic problem. Remember, this is Planet Fame we're talking about here, where women's heads look too big for their bodies. While everyone is different, of course, you'd be defying biology if you were as diet-and-exercise-mad as these famous women are and still ended up with lots of extra weight on your forearms, say, after pregnancy.

And before anyone else jumps all over me telling me how they eat cream cakes morning, noon and night and yet are mysteriously a size triple zero, yes I know some people are naturally tiny, but most are not and have to work hard at it when into their thirties. Victoria Beckham and Kate were both much larger before fame (but still slim in the real world) although Kate Moss is an example of someone who has always been very thin. I suspect that even she works hard at it, though, given her controversial statement "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" that set off a ton of criticism.

ETA: Hang on a minute, I've just seen that you said you only gained 20 pounds during pregnancy and that 9 pounds was baby. Then there's the placenta, cord which weigh about 3 pounds, and extra blood flow, so you didn't gain very much actual weight at all. I hear you that you retained fluid everywhere, but since you only gained a few pounds of actual weight, how much difference can fluid retention make before it signals a problem like kidney failure? Because when certain organs fail a patient can swell really badly, but if you didn't gain very much actual weight then I'm puzzled as to how large this fluid can have made you? Serious question - I'm interested. Lots of extra fluid is also heavy and would have given you higher numbers, too, surely? Looking at the numbers you stated, I bet you looked fab soon after giving birth. You wrote as if you were really unlucky, but looking at your numbers, you seem very lucky to me - only a few pounds over what you were before pregnancy. Your healthy lifestyle obviously paid off!

I have no problem with this thread - I think it is great to have asked the question and gotten honest responses. I am always a fan of being honest about how things in pregnancy and birth are. Even having known many pregnant women and having read literally dozens of books on the topic there were still many aspects of the pregnancy and birth that were complete surprises. So, I tend to way overshare in real life about birth. I feel like the fewer surprises the better!

That is also why I quoted Smith and wanted to push back a bit on the idea that to do well in pregnancy means you gain no weight anywhere except on the stomach. Women's bodies really do respond differently to pregnancy. Being a mom to young ones, I have seen about ten close friends go through about 25 pregnancies in the past few years and I find it amazing the wide range of experiences we all had. So I thought it was worth pointing out that you can look less spectacular than Kate and still have had a healthy pregnancy.

Since you asked about my situation, I will explain a little further. With my first child, I was about 20 pounds over my ideal weight going into the pregnancy. So it is fairly common to not gain much weight since I already had ample fat stores waiting to do their part. I had a healthy, happy, text book pregnancy and birth. At my six week post partum visit, I weighed less than I had before getting pregnant. This was not because of watching what I ate - I was so hungry from breastfeeding that I ate like a linebacker - but because I had actually been loosing fat during the pregnancy (again, because I started overweight). Did I look fab at that six week weigh in? Well... I had bright red stretch marks covering my entire abdomen. My breasts had gone from a C cup to a DDD cup (and were super vein-y and pretty unevenly shaped). My stomach looked like a giant deflated balloon. I had some knarly varicose veins on my legs. But honestly, I felt more beautiful than I ever have in my life. My first birth was extraordinarily empowering. I was in awe of myself. I was so proud that I could grow a human being, birth it, feed it, love it. I completely respect that this is not everyone's situation though. And feeling and looking like your old self again after birth is an important milestone.

Once again though, I was talking about Kate. And it is known that weight control is very important to Kate, as I explained above. Kate's goal was not to put on much weight during pregnancy, and dieting and exercising are a big part of her life, as explained above. Therefore, in terms of Kate's goals - to be ultra-slim what with living in front of the cameras - she has achieved her aim of putting on as little weight as possible, apparently only round the stomach. I think the importance placed on her looks is pretty vacuous, really - imagine dieting from a 6 down to a zero and admitting it's all part of the wedding plan - but she has done well to achieve a personal aim of gaining as little pregnancy weight as poss. That's all I meant. I certainly do not measure anyone else by her strict standards of thinness, pregnant or otherwise. As I said above, these people live on Planet Fame, and on Planet Fame, thin arms and legs along with your pregnant stomach are a must, dahling!

And when I said that the tummy is where the weight's meant to be, I meant that the baby resides there! I mean, most people don't finish pregnancy with any of their limbs bigger than their stomach, do they, even if they put on lots of weight! The stomach is meant to be the biggest part. Not just a baby in there - cord, placenta, fluid, sac, too!

 

[Ashleigh]

The first friend among us to give birth also didn't know about the post-delivery bump. She brought a pair of jeans and pre-pregnancy top to wear home from the hospital. To her surprise, she couldn't fit into her clothes at all and had to go home in the maternity clothes she wore to the hospital. So that bump is average.

 

[Dreamer_D]

My own stomach was quite flat after giving birth, strangely enough. But I carried quite differently than Kate. My bump was very long, rather than protruding.

 

[Smith1942]

Rosebloom - I also wanted to say that your post-pregnancy body sounds lovely. Thanks for explaining. You were blooming!

 

[Skippy123]

This thread is about what a usual post-delivery baby bump is.

I think if we were doctors we would know but I think most people don't know and only know what we ourselves looked like or a family member. I have see only myself after birth so I have no clue if Kate is the norm. I had twins and preemies so that won't help me with my answer either

I am guessing the right answer is people or women vary!

 

[hippi_pixi]

i loved Kate's bravery being seen within 24 hours of the birth knowing that the whole world would be looking and judging and that her post pregnancy body would be on the front of newspapers around the world. and do to so in a gorgeous short summer dress not hiding in a mumu. I take my hat off to her. Most new mums in the public eye go into hiding until they get they've got their prebaby body back and then do a big reveal like they never had the baby at all.

On Kenny's topic i had no idea what a post baby bump looked like but thanks to kate now i do and will pack my hospital bag accordingly

 

[JulieN]

I think a lot of people don't know what pregnancy does to women's bodies, so... good question.

 

[Begonia]

Some tummies are much more pouchy and flabby after Kenny. Hers looks quite firm, but it may only appear that way.

I remember feeling a bit lost that the little one wasn't inside any more...and wanting to get rid of that belly pdq, now that it wasn't serving any purpose any more...

Ahhh the hunger from breastfeeding. Remember that?

 

[Circe]

Yep, looks normal to me. The first time my dad saw me at home - three days after the delivery, I think? - he pulled me aside to ask, sotto voce, *did I know I still had a big stomach???* he has kind of a history of assuming I'm oblivious to my own health. Insert sad eye-roll and patient smile here, please. Part of that, though may - and I'm not sure, as I've never asked a lady under the same circumstances - be due to the fact that my mom had a c-section, and her belly just kind of deflated as a result, according to them.

And, not being a celebrity or particularly weight-conscious during my pregnancy, her outfit really didn't register for me, other than to think it was a cute dress. 24 hours after delivery, when I finally showered and slapped on lipstick and mascara and slipped back into my usual heels, I felt SO much more myself. Postpartum ladies vary!

 

[Gypsy]

I thought the blue polka dot thing was kinda creepy too personally.

I understand that Kate may have wanted bring Diana into a special moment and honoring her by wearing a dress that recalled the Princess. But... well, that kinda gave me the creeps. Like wearing the dress of a dead woman.

And honestly, I do wish they'd honored her by adding a middle name that honored her instead like Spencer or Edward (after Diana's father the 8th Earl Spencer), instead. Maybe they tried to though, and were denied. We'll never know. Maybe they'll do that for one of George's siblings.

 

[FrekeChild]

ETA: Hang on a minute, I've just seen that you said you only gained 20 pounds during pregnancy and that 9 pounds was baby. Then there's the placenta, cord which weigh about 3 pounds, and extra blood flow, so you didn't gain very much actual weight at all. I hear you that you retained fluid everywhere, but since you only gained a few pounds of actual weight, how much difference can fluid retention make before it signals a problem like kidney failure? Because when certain organs fail a patient can swell really badly, but if you didn't gain very much actual weight then I'm puzzled as to how large this fluid can have made you? Serious question - I'm interested. Lots of extra fluid is also heavy and would have given you higher numbers, too, surely? Looking at the numbers you stated, I bet you looked fab soon after giving birth. You wrote as if you were really unlucky, but looking at your numbers, you seem very lucky to me - only a few pounds over what you were before pregnancy. Your healthy lifestyle obviously paid off!

In general, pregnant women have double the amount of blood that a non-pregnant woman has, as she loses a lot of it during birth.

You forgot about amniotic fluid, which is huge. There is a ton of amniotic fluid around the baby, and your body is constantly generating more. It weighs a lot.

As for fluid retention, it's pretty typical. I did not gain a ton of weight during my pregnancy, but a lot of what I did gain was in fluid retention. My feet and ankles were gigantic and it really freaked me out. But as soon as I laid on my back with my feet up in the air/against something, that fluid would drain to the rest of my body instead of pooling in my feet. Some people don't retain as much fluid as I did, I tend to dehydrate myself when I'm not pregnant, and this continued during my pregnancy despite concerted efforts otherwise. The fluid retention starts to go away immediately after birth. Within 3 weeks of having given birth via c-section, and I weighed less than I did before I was pregnant.

Fluid retention is a normal, healthy, albeit uncomfortable part of pregnancy, so doctors do not monitor it closely. However, blood pressure and glucose levels are monitored very closely because life threatening issues can develop and those are clear indications of problems. I imagine that kidney failure would have other symptoms associated with it (likely blood pressure), but because pregnant women are monitored so carefully (by ALL medical personnel - my dentist was super crazy about it) I cannot imagine something as major as kidney failure occurring without someone noticing.

Think about it, a gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. Imagine distributing a gallon of water in an even layer (hah!) all over your body. You really wouldn't notice THAT much of a difference, but you'd be holding onto an extra 8 pounds of water.

Having said that, my OB joked that his patient's faces were unrecognizable from just about to give birth to a week or so after birth.


Slight change of topic, but I bet we won't see Kim Kardashian until she's got her pre-preggo body back. I feel bad for her because she got so much grief from the public about her body and weight gain during her pregnancy, but every time I look at a picture of her when she was pregnant, I just feel uncomfortable because it was likely terrible to experience your money making machine suddenly out of your control, but to have everyone else poking fun at you too? Pregnancy isn't all fun and games, and I am guessing from media reports that Kim's was particularly awful because of her shape, but also because it seemed like she had a lot of physical problems too.

 

[arkieb1]

Very normal and average. I read somewhere some celebs like Victoria Beckham actually have liposuction so they can look totally amazing after birth. No idea if that is true or not, but I am glad Kate is happy to be seen as normal like everyone else. If she breastfeeds she will get a killer bod back in no time at all - it literally melts an excess weight the natural way faster than anything else!!!

 

[Rhea]

I'm very glad that this question was asked. I've had a couple of pregnant friends, but have never seen any of them immediately after giving birth. I was surprised by how big her stomach still was. I think I assumed that it would just deflate. I love the internet for questions like this

 

[Circe]

<null>

Er ... Not always, alas. I did it for 15 months wherein I was hungry all the time, ate a lot, and stayed 15 pounds higher than normal. Stopped breast feeding, and it came off with minimal effort. I actually found myself feeling mildly peeved at the idea that women were being told this to manipulate them into breast feeding, when the baby's health was reason enough! In much the same way, my OB laughed when I told him my baby books insisted 6 lbs was just enough weight gain in the first trimester. "Yeah ... They aim low, since they know most women will only follow their guidelines loosely." Underestimating my intelligence generally makes me not trust the source, WTEWYE authors!

 

[lknvrb4]

I think she looks fantastic, you can tell she stayed in shape her arm muscles look great. I had three kids and my baby bump was never high up and firm looking like hers, mine was low and jiggly.

 

[luv2sparkle]

I thought she looked fabulous and I was amazed she could walk out and look so 'normal'! My baby bumps were never that firm looking and out front.

 

[momhappy]

She has definitely developed some breasts. I wonder if the firm look of her tummy may have to do with wearing panty hose. You don't see her in public bare-legged, and I doubt yesterday was any exception. Control top pantyhose can work small miracles as far as smoothing goes.

I think she looks beautiful. Her dress is stylish, it fits her well, and it looks comfortable.

Good point about the panty hose - that might affect the look/feel of the bump.
Also, I was not surprised at how put-together/normal she looked. Again, she's a public figure and lots of effort goes into her appearance. I felt quite well after giving birth to my second child. I gave birth late in the evening and early the next morning, I was dressed and begging the hospital to let me go home. They wouldn't let me go until late that afternoon (hospital rules). I know that everyone recovers differently, but I wasn't slowed down that much after giving birth and with a newborn & a toddler at home, you sort of just have to jump right back into it

 

[NakedFinger]

I would say its normal. I had packed my overnight bag for the hospital with (silly me) my pre-pregnancy jeans. Luckily, after finishing the last chapter of What to Expect When Your Expecting, I read that you should expect to look about 5 months pregnant when you leave the hospital. SO glad I read that!

I looked great during pregnancy, stayed slim everywhere else, and actually did put on my pre-pregnancy jeans by 5 weeks post delivery. But there is no way they would have gone on in the hospital! You're bloated, your uterus hasn't contracted yet, not to mention, bleeding (tmi) with a huge diaper-like pad on, lol. So I ended up opting for an empire cut maxi dress because it was super comfortable.

I remember thinking, and being told by everyone, that I looked pretty darn good the day I went home, but now looking back on pictures I definitely didn't, LOL.

 

[Ally T]

I think she looks fabulous & normal. We are all very different. I have an inverted uterus & both pregnancies carried more internally with neat bumps. I gained 23 lbs with number 1 and 25 lbs with number 2. Both deliveries were emergency sections & my tummy was almost gone & back to being flat by the time I left hospital on both occasions on day 6. That was normal FOR ME. My elder sister had a tummy like Kate's after all 3 of her natural deliveries for about 3 weeks. Her tummy looked hard each time but it was squishy & cute when you touched

Edit: Smith - where did you get the figures regarding Kate's BMI & plans to gain as little weight as possible from? I have not seen anything so personal about her reported here in the UK press...

 

[Smith1942]

I think she looks fabulous & normal. We are all very different. I have an inverted uterus & both pregnancies carried more internally with neat bumps. I gained 23 lbs with number 1 and 25 lbs with number 2. Both deliveries were emergency sections & my tummy was almost gone & back to being flat by the time I left hospital on both occasions on day 6. That was normal FOR ME. My elder sister had a tummy like Kate's after all 3 of her natural deliveries for about 3 weeks. Her tummy looked hard each time but it was squishy & cute when you touched

Edit: Smith - where did you get the figures regarding Kate's BMI & plans to gain as little weight as possible from? I have not seen anything so personal about her reported here in the UK press...

We know her height and her dress size, so it's not hard to make an educated guess about her BMI. Many dieticians have chimed in that at her thinnest, with her proportions and her height, her BMI had to be about 17. Weightwatchers doesn't let you go below 20, and the lowest healthy BMI is 18.5. When I weighed 105 pounds, (7st 5) giving me a BMI of 18.2, I was close to Kate in her thinnest pictures, but I was not as thin as her. So I'd guess that 17 is about right when she was at her thinnest. From BMI and height you can also give a good guesstimate at someone's weight. At 5' 10" and a size zero in the pics below, she has to weigh about 8 and a half stone, or 119 pounds, which is really low for someone of her height. You can see how low her weight became simply by looking at her!

Some thought that her weight loss leading up to the wedding was due to stress. However, in the run-up to the wedding she was doing an engagement and someone told her not to lose any more weight. Her reply, recorded by the cameras and widely reported, was, "It's all part of the wedding plan!"

I know you want to stick up for her and I'm not judging her for losing so much weight. She has the glare of the world's media upon her. My personal opinion is that she was silly to get so painfully thin as she did for the Canada tour. I would never have done that to myself, but that's her decision. In some of the shots below in the dresses, she looks great, and on others she looks dreadfully thin, in my opinion.

It's obvious to anyone comparing a before and after shots of her, when she became William's official partner, that she is very into weight control, confirmed by her remark. When a person gets as thin as she is in some of these shots, and they have not always been like this, all you need is your eyes to tell you that they are into weight control:

Check out pictures 5, 11, 16 and 22. That is a woman with a BMI of under the lowest healthy level of 18.5. As I said above, when mine was 18.2 I didn't look as thin as pics 5,11, 16 and 22. In some of the other shots I think she looks fabulous, but those particular pics show how thin she really was.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2013370/Duchess-Cambridge-Kate-Middleton-The-wardrobe-wore-wow-world.html

ETA: I think she had an amazing figure when dating Prince William - so slender and yet very muscly and toned. Looking at those pics, she seems to have dieted away a lot of muscle. I think it's a pity - she looked lovely before and there was no need to change, in my opinion.

 

[Smith1942]

Alex - this is the pic I wanted to show you. She is really too thin here, in my opinion.

http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article182655.ece/BINARY/kate-middleton-joseph-outfit-image-1-675206843.jpg

 

[momhappy]

i loved Kate's bravery being seen within 24 hours of the birth knowing that the whole world would be looking and judging and that her post pregnancy body would be on the front of newspapers around the world. and do to so in a gorgeous short summer dress not hiding in a mumu. I take my hat off to her. Most new mums in the public eye go into hiding until they get they've got their prebaby body back and then do a big reveal like they never had the baby at all.

On Kenny's topic i had no idea what a post baby bump looked like but thanks to kate now i do and will pack my hospital bag accordingly

Bravery? She married a Prince and became a princess. Part of her duty is to be seen. I don't see it as brave at all. I see it as a requirement of her title. Anyone who willingly enters into fame, knows what the requirements will be for maintaining that status. Don't get me wrong - I'm not knocking the Princess. I actually adore her and think that she's lovely. I'm just saying that her public appearance had nothing to do with bravery (at least in my opinion).
Some of the comments in this thread are a little surprising to me. It's as though it's a giant miracle that a woman has given birth and is seen in public afterwards. Sure, labor and delivery is hard work, but for many of us (with no major complications), we recover fairly quickly and move on with life (because women are tough). Women are not these delicate creatures that have to remain bed-ridden for days after childbirth. Having said that, I understand that pregnancy and delivery are different for each and every woman. I can appreciate the fact that some women have longer recovery periods than others (for various reasons) and that's fine too. I'm just saying that some of us were up and about and looking pretty normal after having babies. Maybe we weren't looking as gorgeous as Kate, but she's naturally gorgeous and has professional help to get gorgeous

 

[momhappy]

I think she looks fabulous & normal. We are all very different. I have an inverted uterus & both pregnancies carried more internally with neat bumps. I gained 23 lbs with number 1 and 25 lbs with number 2. Both deliveries were emergency sections & my tummy was almost gone & back to being flat by the time I left hospital on both occasions on day 6. That was normal FOR ME. My elder sister had a tummy like Kate's after all 3 of her natural deliveries for about 3 weeks. Her tummy looked hard each time but it was squishy & cute when you touched

Edit: Smith - where did you get the figures regarding Kate's BMI & plans to gain as little weight as possible from? I have not seen anything so personal about her reported here in the UK press...

We know her height and her dress size, so it's not hard to make an educated guess about her BMI. Many dieticians have chimed in that at her thinnest, with her proportions and her height, her BMI had to be about 17. Weightwatchers doesn't let you go below 20, and the lowest healthy BMI is 18.5. When I weighed 105 pounds, (7st 5) giving me a BMI of 18.2, I was close to Kate in her thinnest pictures, but I was not as thin as her. So I'd guess that 17 is about right when she was at her thinnest. From BMI and height you can also give a good guesstimate at someone's weight. At 5' 10" and a size zero in the pics below, she has to weigh about 8 and a half stone, or 119 pounds, which is really low for someone of her height. You can see how low her weight became simply by looking at her!

Some thought that her weight loss leading up to the wedding was due to stress. However, in the run-up to the wedding she was doing an engagement and someone told her not to lose any more weight. Her reply, recorded by the cameras and widely reported, was, "It's all part of the wedding plan!"

I know you want to stick up for her and I'm not judging her for losing so much weight. She has the glare of the world's media upon her. My personal opinion is that she was silly to get so painfully thin as she did for the Canada tour. I would never have done that to myself, but that's her decision. In some of the shots below in the dresses, she looks great, and on others she looks dreadfully thin, in my opinion.

It's obvious to anyone comparing a before and after shots of her, when she became William's official partner, that she is very into weight control, confirmed by her remark. When a person gets as thin as she is in some of these shots, and they have not always been like this, all you need is your eyes to tell you that they are into weight control:

Check out pictures 5, 11, 16 and 22. That is a woman with a BMI of under the lowest healthy level of 18.5. As I said above, when mine was 18.2 I didn't look as thin as pics 5,11, 16 and 22. In some of the other shots I think she looks fabulous, but those particular pics show how thin she really was.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2013370/Duchess-Cambridge-Kate-Middleton-The-wardrobe-wore-wow-world.html

ETA: I think she had an amazing figure when dating Prince William - so slender and yet very muscly and toned. Looking at those pics, she seems to have dieted away a lot of muscle. I think it's a pity - she looked lovely before and there was no need to change, in my opinion.

How do you know that it was a conscious decision for her to get that thin? As you know, some people are naturally thin and have to work to keep weight on. We have no idea what was going on in Kate's life during that time. No offense, but you act like you know her. I do not think that some of your assumptions of her body and weight are fair. And again, I mean no disrespect, but I just don't know how you can speak for someone in those ways unless you personally know them.