Did anyone see that article on the Daily Mail's website this week about the celebrity bumps ? I have to say it really struck a chord with me as it reminded me of my own pregnancy due to the shape of my own bump. You see when I was pregnant I had a B shaped bump and didn't even 'look' pregnant until I was half way through my last trimester and even then I didn't feel particularly big.

Expectations

As this was my first pregnancy I had no idea what to expect for most aspects of pregnancy, but one thing I was expecting (other than a baby) was the classic shaped large D bump. It felt like everyone I'd ever known, seen in magazines or come across in the supermarket or doctors had that D shaped bump and I naturally assumed I'd get one too, but I didn't. (I couldn't even find an attribution free B Bump image online for this blog post)

My B Bump

When my bump started growing it grew high up in my 'midriff area' - an area where I had never had any padding before. I've always had a bit of a belly under and around my belly button and I assumed that this would be the area that would get bigger and I wasn't too concerned about it getting bigger either, so I found it odd to find that I was growing an upper belly too. Worse still there was a part of my belly than didn't seem to be growing, it was almost like I had an elastic band around my belly button and everything above or below it was growing but that band wasn't growing as much.

Body Conscious

I wasn't the only person in my office who was pregnant at that time and another lady of smaller stature and body shape was a few weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy. It was difficult not to make comparisons, her bump showed up very quickly and was a very neat round shape bump, whilst I looked like I was carrying 2 spare tyres. I couldn't help being a bit envious of my friend with her beautiful bump. As my pregnancy progressed I found it difficult to find maternity clothes that flattered my B bump and didn't feel able to wear anything that highlighted my bump so I wore mostly flared tops and tunics over leggings and jeans.

Hiding from view

I also hid from the camera - I don't have a single picture of my baby bump only a few shots of my upper body. Even now 19 months on after giving birth, I look at photo's of pregnant ladies posting their bump progress week on week on Facebook accounts on blogs and feel sad that I never had a bump like that to have proudly shown off.

Why did I have a B shaped Bump?

I did ask my midwife at one of my appointments about the shape of my bump and she told me it was something to do with the tightness of my tummy muscles (whether there's any truth in that I don't know) and that I would get a D Shape, but that never happened. Having done some reading since, I think it is most likely down to my body shape, I am very tall and have an hour glass, plus size shape and I guess my baby had more than enough space in my body throughout most of my pregnancy meaning he didn't need to protrude much until the later stages. I also didn't gain much weight during my pregnancy (just after) and I put on just over a stone (excluding weight of baby) so that probably made a difference too. Another factor could have been CK's position - he was never the right way round and was back to back throughout most of the appointments and scans. My midwife thought in late pregnancy he was the right way round, but when I actually went into labour he turned out to be breach and lying in a transverse (horizontal) position so I had a C section (you can read my full birth story here),

Post Pregnancy

After CK was born I put on well over another stone whilst on maternity leave and whilst I have lost that since going back to work in September, I still am around one and a half stone heavier than I was before my pregnancy. I haven't lost my B shape or that tight band around my belly button either and now have an upper and lower belly - the C Section probably didn't help either. This is my post B shape pregnancy belly as it is now, you can even see the tight band running around from my belly button. (please ignore the mirror screw lol)

The future

CD and I would like to have more children and I do wonder what shape my bump will be next time. I hope that I am more accepting if it is a B bump and if it is I hope to celebrate this fact more and will try to document my growing bump when the time comes.

What was your bump shape? - Did you ever have bump envy during pregnancy? Let me know in the comments below.