I can’t believe some people are DEFENDING this.

Fifteen out of 105 of ob-gyns the Sentinel surveyed have set weight limits for patients, which usually start around 200 pounds or are based on BMI levels.

Most of the doctors said that their equipment and examining tables couldn’t hold larger woman (which smells oddly like bullshit), but some said that obesity comes with more complications that the doctors would rather avoid.

“People don’t realize the risk we’re taking by taking care of these patients,” Dr. Albert Triana, who practices in South Miami, tells the paper. “There’s more risk of something going wrong and more risk of getting sued. Everything is more complicated with an obese patient in GYN surgeries and in [pregnancies].”

Unsurprisingly, many of the doctors who have enacted the weight cut-off also have a history of being sued for malpractice or cover high malpractice insurance premiums.

While doctors can not turn down patients based on race, gender, or sexual orientation they are free to turn away patients based on weight. Though not everyone agrees with the policy.

“This completely goes against the principles of being a doctor,” James Zervios, a spokesman for the Obesity Action Commission said to the paper. “Health care professionals are there to help individuals improve their quality of health, not stigmatize them according to their weight.”
Source: Miami New Times Blog


I weighed about 280 when I conceived. I am having absolutely NO complications. I’m expected to have a perfectly healthy pregnancy and birth. To have turned me away simply due to weight would be discrimination, plain and simple, because weight has nothing to do with health or possible complications. Not all thin people are healthy and not all fat people are lazy diseased slobs.

I argued this point on my facebook earlier. You know what I was met with? A MAN I don’t know defending the article saying, and I quote, “if you care so much about your baby, why are you not in the healthiest condition you could be?”

My response?

“ideally I would have weighed less when I conceived, but it was unplanned. Seeing as losing 150 pounds overnight by sheer will and love for my child is impossible, suggesting I don’t care about my baby by not being “at my healthiest” (which actually, I am in spite of me weight) is remarkably fucked up and ignorant. My two cents.”

I saw the article earlier and was already pissed off, so to see a couple of MEN argue that fat women don’t love their kids simply because they’re fat kind of REALLY set me off. WTF do men know about being a woman, about being pregnant, about losing or gaining weight as a woman (because men and woman metabolize differently, in case I needed to point that out)? Answer: NOTHING.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but if the topic is over your head and is something you could never and will never understand, you will only sound ignorant and/or like an asshole by sharing your opinion. Not to mention that owning up to discrimination of any type isn’t exactly an attractive quality.

 I’ve always been considered overweight, obese, or even morbidly obese. I’ve NEVER had a problem with BP, cholesterol, etc whereas several of my thinner friends who don’t take care of themselves have had such problems. I’m not saying I’m the picture of health despite my weight, but I AM of the very strong opinion that simply LOOKING at me shouldn’t be enough to decide I’m not healthy. ssumptions are dangerous, regardless of what they’re based on. Turning someone away based simply on weight is no different then turning them away simply because they’re black, catholic, or gay. NONE of these things mean anything definitely about someone’s health, even if statistics might suggest differently. 

The point I am maki ng is that obesity in and of itself should NOT be reason enough to turn anyone away for treatment. And in this particular case, the insurance companies are applying pressure to doctors that based on their own histories of malpractice, are high-risk doctors, not necessarily because they deal with high-risk patients. 

 I’m willing to repeat my stance til my fingers fall off. Living an unhealthy lifestyle and being overweight are not synonymous. I haven’t had a problem with a doctor, thankyouverymuch but I don’t think anyone else in my position should.  


:EDIT: I juts want to add that just today, I went to the endocrinologist, a specialist that I am supposed to see every 6 weeks throughout my pregnancy simply due to my weight and nothing else…he looked over my blood work and was impressed with how good everything looked. “Beyond perfection!”, he said. He also told me he wished he could give me some suggestions or pointers, but, and I quote “You can’t argue with success!”

So there. 





NOTE: This post was originally dated May 17, 2011...this is the post from my pregnancy blog that lead to the NBC feature on Sizism in OB/GYN offices in Miami. I thought it'd be fun to post it here to show what my perspective on fat-shaming and being a plus size preggo was while I was actually pregnant ;)

Guest Post: "Baby After Bypass"

So I was fat. I still am fat (not that there's anything wrong with that!), but I was REALLY fat when I was little. I was born and raised in Jersey and I have a stubborn German for a father and a pile of moosh n' love for a mother. I heard a lot of crap from my dad about being heavy. "Put the food down." "You'll die big you know." "Try to lose weight so you can play with your friends..." I don't ever think he meant anything bad by it, but it really took a toll. And as for my mom: "lets go get ice cream so you won't be sad anymore.." (you can see how this snowballs, right?)

When I entered high school I had already had years of bullying. As if being big wasn't enough, I had pimples, I wore glasses, and I had super short hair. I was a target for sure. But as I went to doctors for check ups, we realized one thing: weighing 380 pounds when you were 15 years old was pretty darn unhealthy. It was literally killing me and I was scared.

Around this time gastric bypass was pretty knew, but something drastic needed done. I had all the visits and analyzing one could ever want, and I was in. I was going to get the Roux-En-Y gastric bypass procedure on December 13th, 2002. I went under the knife and came out alive. AND SUPER GASSY! In one week I lost 36 pounds. In one month I lost 90. In 6 months I lost 200 pounds. I could finally walk up the stairs and not be in pain and out of breath. My life had changed for the better.
I did have some complications but they were minor. I still have skin, 10 years later, that I'd like gone, but I'm married now and my husband loves me for what I am and he thinks I'm sexy. (I met my husband on match.com and said hello because I thought his beard was AWESOME. It was love at first beard )

My husband and I said we wanted a family and we started TTC in january of 2012. Frustrated 3 months later we were told to relax and grab some champagne. We did...and voila! Pregnant! I had some concerns having had the surgery and being pregnant. Also, trying to conceive wasnt difficult and it was fun my husband is big too so our positions are limited but our energy never is! We wanted a baby so bad so we tried all the time. The surgery had no impact on our ability to conceive.

 I asked all the doctors if I was safe and how to get my calories in. NOTHING that went in my mouth could be crap calories. Everything I ate had to be good for me and for baby. So that's what I did.
Everything I had was high in protein and I ate many small meals through the day. I drank protein too, tried to cut back on coffee (so hard!), and tried not to head to fast food too often. I did have my fair share of ice cream and pickles for sure, but I did crave healthy things too which helped a lot. I had a complication free pregnancy: no gestational diabetes, no problems whatsoever. I kept myself in check and made sure to do things right. This baby was too important to my husband and I.

In February I gave birth to a chubby 7 pound 13 ounce boy: Edward Remy. I was in labor for 2 hours before fully dilated, and pushed for 18 minutes until he came into this world. He truly is the most amazing thing. My husband and I can't wait to have another!

The gastric bypass was harder to deal with when it was initially done. I was young and didn't follow "the rules" like I should have, but I managed to keep the weight down (although I gained back a little bit). Once I got pregnant I didn't want anything to damage my tummy or my baby, so I kept in close contact with the gastric doctors and they helped me a lot. I would do BOTH of these things again if given the chance. I've never looked back!

This story was shared by Molly, momma of one from Levittown, PA. Molly is the owner of MollyCakes Bakery, find out more about her awesome cakes here.

Gestational Diabetes - Now What? (3/3)

So you've been told you have Gestational Diabetes...now what happens?

Usually, the first line of treatment is a diet/meal plan. There is an example of one here. The thing about GD meal plans is that they make a great structure for what your diet should be like in pregnancy anyway! I am not saying "diet" as in "plan to lose weight", I mean "diet" as in "the food you take in". You're building a whole new body within your own, so it can't hurt to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins. These will be the building blocks of someone else's (your baby's) entire organism! Just that thought was enough for me personally to start eating more whole foods and less processed junk.

It is also recommended hat one exercise daily, even a brisk walk after ever meal. Exercising increases the muscle tissue sensitivity to insulin, which helps your body metabolize sugar. Ideally, a woman would be on an exercise program before and during pregnancy not just for overall health (at ANY size), but because this is the more surefire way to help your body metabolize. No amount of exercise will keep you from developing GD (as one cannot control their ethnicity or family history), but it can definitely help in its management.

You may also be asked to monitor your blood glucose levels several times a day, usually fasting first thing in the morning and after every meal. The reason for this is to check for patterns and look for any spikes in blood sugar. This can give care providers a window into how you metabolize sugars regularly, outside of a lab setting. High sugars after eating could signal that a change in diet is needed.

High sugars in the morning, however, may signal that the body is overall not metabolizing sugar, and a doctor may then suggest a regimen of medication. The most common form of medically treating gestational diabetes is with insulin injections, which are self administered, usually directly into the belly. Obviously, one is taught how to do this by professionals so that the baby is never in any harm due to the injections. Another alternative is pills, such as glyburide and metformin.

 I hope this series has helped answer some questions about what Gestational Diabetes is and what it really means. I will be sharing a guest post soon about a readers experience with Gestational Diabetes, and I hope if anyone has any questions or would like to share your own experience, you will please comment or email me. Thank you!

"Obese and Pregnant"

I watched this special on TLC while I was pregnant (actually, I was "obese and pregnant"...da-da-DUM!!!). Even though I was feeling particularly vulnerable and hypochondriac-y in my state, this special was RIFE with BS. I was pretty upset with it because rather than be educational and show that anyone can have a healthy pregnancy (like I did), this program seemed to be one big scare tactic.

So naturally, when I saw they were playing it again this month, I decided to watch it and give you guys a play-by-play.

Right off the bat, they take the tone that women this heavy (just slightly heavier than I was at that stage) being pregnant is nothing short of a freak show.

Melba is 362 pounds in her last trimester. She already has kids. She has diabetes and was once at 490 pounds. She gained 90 pounds throughout the pregnancy, when obese women are told to gain no more than 15.

I was told the same thing when I was pregnant. I actually gained 33, 23 of which came off the first 2 weeks after delivery. First off, gaining only 15 pounds would mean actually losing weight to make room for the 20+ pounds of baby, placenta, extra blood, etc. Secondly, Melba obviously gained WAY too much during her pregnancy, and that's dangerous no matter WHAT your starting weight was. If they had presented her weight gain in that light (read: accurately), I wouldn't take offense...but they make it seem like she's in such danger because she was already big. Not necessarily the case. A 120 pound woman who gains 90 pounds in 9 months would be in the same danger and carry the same risk.

Christie took 2 years to conceive. They want you to believe its because of her weight, as if thin women never have trouble conceiving. She has PCOS, which lots of women have, regardless of weight.

Lastly, there's Mercedes. She has 2 older kids already and is nine months pregnant with her third. She's gained 200 pounds in the 17 years she's been married. She developed gestational diabetes in her second trimester.

In the next segment, we are reminded that Melba has gained almost 100 pounds during the pregnancy, and then show her going through a McDonald's drive through. Again, we're expected to be disgusted because this fat person is so big and still eating garbage...but I wonder (and I suspect that I know) if a slim woman would be judged the same way going through a drive through. This might be the one time in her whole pregnancy that she ate Mcdonald's, we have no way of knowing. Maybe a thinner woman eats that crap everyday, and her insides are a cesspool...but she wouldn't be judged as harshly just because she's not "fat". Good job sensationalizing, TLC.

In Christie's segment, they talk about how tragic it is that people are going to judge her because she's heavier and she dared to be pregnant. Meanwhile, ironically, this program is cementing that we should judge heavy pregnant women because since they dared to be pregnant and big, they are endangering their unborn children and are monsters. Right. No irony there.

Christie has lost 20 pounds throughout the pregnancy, and the baby is gaining just fine. Good for her, but this is happening because she was eating crap before and has decided during the pregnancy to eat wholesome foods. If you've done this all along, thin or not, you can expect a thriving child. However, the show is edited to seem that the only reason her pregnancy is going well is because she's on a diet. Lovely.

Mercedes is having complications, obviously, with her gestational diabetes. Mercedes is also 38 years old, which adds to complications. They only mention her age, not the fact that such a high age for gestation could also be the cause for her complications. They just focus on her weight.

Melba is 34, was a diabetic to start with, and has hypertension. Her baby is measuring much bigger than average, and the doctor says that it's due to BOTH her diabetes and her weight. Um, I was 318 pounds when I delivered, and my thriving, perfectly healthy son weighed 6 lbs, 9 oz at almost 39 weeks gestation. I call horseshit on the doctor. Diabetes in the mother will DEFINITELY affect the baby's size, but anyone can have diabetes, regardless of their weight.

Mercedes has an ultrasound at 38 weeks, and the baby is perfectly fine regardless of her gestational diabetes.

Now they're telling Melba that she needs an amnio to make sure her unborn daughter's lungs are fine. They need to deliver her immediately because if the baby stays in her, the baby could die. Why? Because of diabetes. That's the only explanation they give Melba, and terrified at the thought of her baby in danger, she gives in. Yay, scare tactics.

Christie had to have an induction after being 8 days overdue. She was given Cervadil and Pitocin (just like I was) because she's slow to dilate. Luckily for her, unlike me, she's not having contractions because she's not actually in labor.

Melba ends up having the amnio, and Dr. Douchebag is "surprised" to find that it wasn't as difficult as he thought it would be with all her extra fat. Swell. She's taken straight into a c-section. They make it seem like operating on Melba is akin to performing surgery on a concrete wall. Poor doctors are going to have to cut through sooooo much fat and skin, the poor things! Boohoo!

Mercedes naturally went into labor and had a perfectly healthy baby without an epidural in just a few short hours. The baby's blood sugar is perfect and there are no complications. LOOKIE THERE. Also, Mercedes discovers she doesn't have continued diabetes. Good news all around.

Melba has her c-section and her daughter is just fine. She weighs 6 lbs, 4 oz. The doctors has rushed her c-section because they had decided the baby was dangerously big and couldn't stay in a day longer. Oops. Good one, Dr. Douchebag. At least they're both fine in spite of the extra interventions.

Christie, however, with her uncomplicated pregnancy, is on day 2 of her induction. She gets an internal monitor (omg, that's just what happened to me!). Unfortunately, her baby goes into distress. She's rushed to a c-section and she has a perfect son.

So in the end, everyone was fine. No one died. No one was horribly disfigured. People were fat, pregnant, and had healthy children. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just lots of scary talk for no reason. I'm not saying that they didn't have complications and struggles, but I am saying that there's no reason to think that the complications were exclusively because of their weight. Bottom line is there's no reason to think that being obese means having complications anymore than being thin will mean a non-complicated pregnancy or delivery.