High blood sugar or blood pressure that rises during pregnancy (Gestational Diabetes and Pre-Eclampsia) is also more common in women of size, and these conditions do present some risks. The good news, however, is that with proper treatment and monitoring, women with these conditions usually have good outcomes anyhow.

Even better news is that by pursuing proactive health behaviors (like reasonable eating and regular exercise), the rate of Gestational Diabetes and Pre-Eclampsia can be significantly lowered in women of size. This does not mean going on a diet, restricting weight gain, or exercising obsessively; it means normal eating and reasonable, regular exercise.

Scare tactic websites love to report that women of size have a higher rate of birth defects like spina bifida or heart defects. However, this risk must be kept in perspective; the actual numerical risk is still quite small and most women of size do not have babies with birth defects. And there is no research that proves that losing weight actually lowers the risk for birth defects; researchers simply assume that it will. In fact, chronic dieting or starvation regimes may actually cause more risk by depleting folate stores and depressing a woman's nutritional status.

Many authorities note that obese women are at higher risk for producing big babies and therefore also a Cesarean Section or birth trauma. It is true that larger women tend to have a higher rate of big babies, but the vast majority of large women actually have average-sized babies. Doctors forget this and assume that all obese women will be having large babies and act accordingly.

Unfortunately, the fear of a large-sized baby leads many doctors to cause more harm than good by inducing labor early, even though research clearly shows that this actually increases the risk for cesareans and birth trauma. Then they blame the size of the mother or the size of the baby for any problems that occur, when actually it is their own interventions that cause the problem (iatrogenic complications).

Scare tactic websites often emphasize that women of size have very high cesarean rates. This is true. What they don't tell you is that it doesn't have to be that way. The cesarean rate in obese women used to be much lower; only in the last 30 years has it skyrocketed. This is because women of size are now induced at very high rates compared to other women, and induction is strongly associated with an increased risk for cesarean. Many other interventions common in the labors of larger women (mandatory early epidurals, breaking the amniotic sac early in labor, continuous fetal monitoring, etc.) also strongly increase the risk for cesareans. It's no wonder that the cesarean rate in women of size is high -- but it doesn't have to be that way.