Maternity websites and hospital health pamphlets recommend a pregnancy weight gain of 12.5 kilograms. This allows for 3.5 kilos of baby; two kilos from your placenta, uterus and the swelling in your breasts; and three kilos of fluids—fluid retention, amniotic fluid and increased blood flow. It is also normal and healthy to put on four kilos of fat. This is your body’s way of building up a reserve for breastfeeding. Putting on more than the recommended amount is unhealthy for you and the baby. Becoming overweight or obese increases the risk of gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, and caesarean delivery. It can cause backaches, leg pain, increased fatigue and varicose veins. It can make it difficult to measure the uterus or hear the foetal heartbeat. I guess on some women they can barely even hear the baby’s heartbeat, muffled by the dense layering of creamy-yellow stomach fat. 

At eight months, I’ve put on seven kilos. I guess probably none of that is fat, but that’s okay—I’m not even sure I want to breastfeed.