03 August 2016 (14:41 UTC-07 Tango 01) 13 Mordad 1395/28 Shawwal 1437/01 Bing-Shen 4714

“Women carrying their first child tend to be smaller through most of their pregnancy. A healthy gain is somewhere between 25 and 35 pounds for a body mass index of 20 to 25; however there is some flexibility there depending on each individual.”-Candice Foura,  Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, midwife

Tyler Texas native Danielle Bolton, currently Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune assistant public affairs officer, is experiencing the effects of age, body type and what she calls a later in life pregnancy.

She’s discovered that there are many factors in how a woman looks when she’s pregnant; they include body type (remember the old English nursery rhyme about Jack Sprat and his wife), age of the woman when pregnant, and whether it’s the woman’s first pregnancy or second, third, etc.

Bolton admitted her concern for how she looked was spurred by a younger co-worker who was further along in her pregnancy, yet barely had a ‘baby bump’.  Both women exercise regularly.  It’s the younger woman’s first child and Bolton is now a veteran of pushing out new Marines (she’s a former Marine).

Bolton also pointed out that while she was pregnant as an active duty Marine she gained as much as triple the ‘accepted’ weight, yet lost it quickly once birthing her sons.

I have a suggestion for when it comes to commenting to a woman you think is pregnant; just don’t, because I’ve witnessed several ‘overweight’ women ‘shamed’ because they were praised for being pregnant when they were not.  A pregnant woman fishing for comments will usually give you a clue.