I just looked fat until a out 6 months. :-(

Maybe it’s twins.

I could tell at twelve, but it wasn’t obvious until later. Then I exploded.

I do hear that you show sooner with later children.

@flip86 I’ve been told that with each pregnancy. We’ll see… but I probably just carry them big.

The last one was over 9 lbs and I gained 17… so I was down below my pre-pregnancy weight at my 6 week postpartum visit (which was good because I started out overweight).

I’ve got some GI stuff going on too, so there might be more than one reason for my round tummy. I’m surprised at how much this is bothering me. I think it’s really just because I don’t want my boss to know yet.

I started showing pretty early when I was pregnant with my son. I think it was around 9–12 weeks. I was also a size 0 and weighed about 100 lbs at the time, so there wasn’t really anything to hide the bump.

My wife started to show around 7 to 8 weeks, but only for those who were paying close attention and knew her well. Not until 12 weeks it became something one could see objectively.

At 18 weeks she was clearly pregnant and at 24 weeks people would offer her seats.

By the end of her pregnancy she had gained a lot of weight and volume, most of it fluids. She lost 25 kilos in weight within three days of giving birth to our two boys.

:-)

I found this text for you on this baby website:

“By about 12 weeks, the uterus expands above the pubic bone,” says Catherine Hansen, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Texas Medical Branch Galveston. “Before that point, the uterus remains within the pelvis and isn’t usually visible.”
If your belly is expanding sooner than expected, it could be due to bloating, gas, or constipation – all hallmarks of pregnancy. Less often, twins or multiples are responsible for an early bulge.

I was so excited to learn I was pregnant I started wearing maternity clothes immediately! Didn’t need to, but I wanted to advertise. I didn’t really obviously show until about 7 months.

Once I was at a school weighing myself (I didn’t have scales at home so I jumped on other scales when I could.) I said to myself, “Good. I’ve gained 5 pounds since the first of the month.”
A teacher, or someone, looked at me quizzically and said, “Most people are trying to lose weight..?”
I said, “Oh. I’m 6 months pregnant.”
Of course, I wore lose shirts, too.
My son’s fiance is about 5’2. She is tiny, tiny. She can wear my 9 year old granddaughter’s clothes. She’s due in 2 months. She has this tiny, tiny bump!

It’s vague but I am sure that I had to start to wear maternity clothes (less choice in my day for regular but accommodating street clothes) a month earliier with number two. I was working and wearing dresses and skirts with waistlines and belts.

The earliest outward sign to me was the swelling of my breasts; I began to spill out of my bras (probably cotton Maidenform) well before I couldn’t zip or button at the waist.

There was also the odd shame in letting the bump show. I love the modern attitude; including wearing bikinis.

I like the modern attitude too @gailcalled. I remember shopping for maternity clothes and getting SO frustrated because the only maternity clothes available were cute little girl style / sailor / bows / frilly shirts and dresses. It was weird. The clothing was designed to somehow give an aura of childish innocence or something. “I have NO idea how I got “this” way, but I didn’t have sex. I would never do such a thing.”
I said to hell with it, and went to Goodwill and bought size large and ex-large in regular street clothes (I could also wear my husbands pants and shirts up until delivery, which he didn’t like. Not because he minded me wearing his clothes, he just didn’t want to believe he was as big as a 9 month pregnant woman! But he was. But he still denied it, vehemently, even though I was standing right in front of him, in his clothes, ready to pop!)

Congratulations! I’d say with my first, I showed at 9 weeks, with my second, I showed at 6 weeks and with the one I’m carrying now, I looked pregnant from the beginning. I’m gaining a lot less weight though so no maternity clothes just yet, I’m halfway through. You and me are carrying together! I’m so glad for you. I know you wanted to see that positive pregnancy test.

Baby bumps are sexy

Oooooooohhhhhh !!!!!!!!

I have been so inconsiderate….

Congratulations!!!! And I wish you good health and hope you find a good way to fit this into your real life.
(And tell your boss.)

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I’d say we’re on par with our showing timeframes, then. I’m pretty crampy through pregnancy, so the stretchy maternity pants/skirts just feel better on my belly.

@whitenoise I’ll certainly tell him with plenty of notice and arrange for all of the cross-coverage, but not before I’m 12 weeks (and can see the little heartbeat on ultrasound).

I didn’t mean to ‘tell you’ that you need to tell your boss… I wasn’t doubting that you would, nor am I so presumptuous to think you need me to tell you that.

Just hoping / wishing you find a good way to do so…

:-)

@whitenoise Got it – Thanks!

For my first it was about 3 months but for my daughter (2nd child) it was at about 6 weeks. I think in general your body stretches easier with each birth. I sometimes wonder if it has to do with where the child was conceived. Higher or lower in the womb. I know with my son, I had a lower belly. Huge! But lower and rounder to the sides. My daughter was high in the belly. It looked like she was trying to exit out of my belly button.

@Pandora What an interesting thought.

With my first daughter, I showed extremely early, because I was incredibly skinny- I only weighed 98 lbs. and had a concave belly. With my second daughter, I was still about 125 lbs., so I didn’t really show until around 3–3½ months.

How tall are you @WillWorkForChocolate? And is fb down??

5’2” with teeny little chicken bones. :)

Hey @Cupcake – if it makes you feel better for pregnancy #3 I was, like you, ready for maternity clothes at 5 weeks. My OB didn’t make me feel very good about it explaining that it was merely bloat, not baby—but he also said it was entirely normal for a 3rd pregnancy.
Those early pregnancy hormones do a number on us and make our bellies realllly poofy – so don’t feel bad, it’s all within the realm of normal. I say break out the maternity pants and get comfy. Hugs & Congrats to you.

Sometime around 5 months.