If your pregnant belly is starting to present itself to the world, and you have noticed or have been told that you’re carrying high, you may wonder just what that means.
Pregnant women are likely to get a slew of comments and guesses about their baby bump, but whether or not any is accurate is something many women question.
This article will discuss what it means when you’re carrying baby high vs. carrying low and whether it means anything more than a guessing game regarding your baby’s gender.
So if you’re a pregnant woman who has heard all sorts of opinions about your baby bump, this article is for you.
Why am I carrying baby high?
Medically and anatomically speaking, your abdominal muscles and build have much to do with whether you carry high or low.
Pregnancy weight gain and how that weight is distributed can make sense if you stop to think about it.
More than anything else, how high you carry depends upon how long your abdomen is and how much room there is for a uterus full of amniotic fluid to grow and develop your baby.
However, there are other things you’ll hear, depending on the company you keep. Your mother may tell you that she knows you’ll have a girl if you’re carrying high, while your grandmother or aunt may tell you that she’s sure that carrying low means a boy.
Pregnant bellies are all a little different because our bodies are all a little different.
However, there are plenty of logical explanations as to why you are carrying your baby bump in a specific area or height of your abdomen.
Old wives’ tales
Old wives’ tales have been spun and retold since time immemorial.
Pregnant women with heartburn are going to have babies with lots of hair. A pregnant woman who has breakouts or is prone to greasy hair during pregnancy will have a girl, and that girl is stealing mama’s beauty.
There are also some wives’ tales that center around the medical evidence or ultrasound pictures that you get when you’re pregnant. If your baby has a round head shape in an ultrasound, it’s a girl.
Fetal heart rate can determine the gender of your baby.
Your baby bump and whether you carry low or high can determine your baby’s gender.
The baby’s position in the uterus can determine gender.
These are wives’ tales passed down by word of mouth. And they seem like many of them hold water. Why is this?
Even broken clocks are right twice a day
If you have a 50/50 shot of being correct, then the odds are decent that you will guess correctly.
So if you are told that due to the placement or height of your baby bump, you’re likely to have a boy, and then you do, well, it sure does start to look like that myth is true.
While there is usually no harm in playing along, all these things are a guessing game. Putting too much stock into any of these guesses sets you up for possible disappointment.
Sometimes, the guesses work out, but when that happens, it’s because of decent odds and a little luck.
High bump vs. low bump pregnancy
A pregnant belly is beautiful, and many people can’t help but comment on it.
In some cases, they can’t seem to help but touch it. As annoying and unwelcome as some of this can be, most people who engage in this fawning are harmless and have good intentions.
You’ll hear lots of things about your baby bump, but you probably aren’t sure which ones are accurate.
The following are some reasons your baby bump is where it is, whether you are carrying high or low.
1. Your abdominal muscles
Tight abdominal muscles typically take longer to show on an athlete or woman who has not had previous pregnancies that have started to stretch those abdominal muscles. When she does, she tends to carry high.
The abdominal musculature of a woman, coupled with other factors, can help to impact whether a woman carries high or low.
2. Your height
Taller women tend to carry higher than shorter women. This is simply because there is more room for the baby to grow vertically.
On the other hand, shorter women tend to grow more horizontally, around the hips and lower belly.
This is simply because a short woman’s body doesn’t have the space to accommodate vertical growth and stretching.
3. Fundal height
Your fundal height is the distance between the top of the uterus and your pubic bone. Each week, this height expands, starting in the first trimester and ending at the end of the third trimester.
By the beginning of the third trimester, however, many short women find that they are out of space in their midsections for the uterus to expand upwards.
So from that point, it has to expand outward. The tight abs that many women still have in their first pregnancy can help keep the uterus supported and help a woman carry high as well.
4. Your age
Age impacts a woman’s body in many ways.
For some, decreased fitness can cause lax muscles, so even if you have never been pregnant before, if you are considered an older mother, you may carry low instead of high because of less tone in the abdominal muscles.
Weight gain also affects whether you are carrying high or low, and with age comes slowed metabolism.
If it’s your first pregnancy and you are a bit older than other women, you may find that your baby bump is lower than that of your younger counterparts due to the way you carry weight.
Baby’s sex and carrying high
Carrying high means that you may be in good shape.
It may mean that this is your first pregnancy or your body type keeps you from carrying lower. Your age, fitness level, and weight are all contributing factors.
However, you’re sure to hear some guesses about your baby’s sex based on whether you carry your baby lower or higher than whatever a person considers “normal.”
No scientific proof or connection
Unfortunately, if we can just use our eyeballs to gauge gender by your baby bump or baby position in the womb, then we wouldn’t need anatomy scans to tell us whether we are having a girl or a boy.
Whether you carry lower or higher during pregnancy has no bearing on what your child’s genitals will be.
The only sure way to know is with a blood test that your healthcare provider ordered early in your pregnancy or an anatomy scan in the second trimester.
Carrying my baby high and it’s uncomfortable
If your belly is high, and you’re getting close to your due date, you may be counting down the days till the birth of your little one, if for no other reason than to get a little bit of relief.
With less room between your belly and your breasts, you probably feel like you’re smuggling a giant beach ball under most of your clothes.
It can become uncomfortable to carry high because it tends to displace many of your internal organs.
Carrying high means some women also have shortness of breath due to the pressure on their lungs imposed by that baby bump.
More support may be needed, such as a belly band or support belt, so that you don’t end up in total misery by the time you give birth.
Carrying high during pregnancy
Whether you carry wide, high, low, or the exact size you had in previous pregnancies, it all accounts for very little.
Your belly is primarily based on your fitness level, age, and build.
Pregnancy is an odd time when everyone feels entitled to an opinion and voices comments about your body type and how you look, but there’s no more to it than simple anatomy.
Hopefully, now you have a better understanding of why you are carrying the way you are, and you don’t have to wonder if the things you have heard or are being told have any truth.