Genes and pregnancy - what do you think?

If my mother gained only 18-22 lbs during pregnancy and easily lost the weight afterwards, do you think I"m likely to experience the same thing? I've heard that a lot of aspects of pregnancy are genetically wired in us... thinks like severity of morning sickness, ability to breastfeed, weight gain and loss, and the likelihood of needing a C-section (narrow birth canals). I haven't been able to find any good articles on it, though.

Anyone have personal experience to speak from? Or know of any articles related to the topic?

Based on my experience, it's not genetic.

My pregnancies and my mother's pregnancies are polar opposites. She barely gained weight, I gained a ton (in my first, anyway; not so bad in my second). I had horrible nausea, she had none. I had two c-sections, she had two natural births. My mother also had trouble conceiving and I have earned the nickname "Fertile Myrtle." The only thing we had in common was the ability to breastfeed. Neither one of us had any trouble with it; It came very naturally to us. My mother managed to make it a year with both kids, I made it 6 months with my first and I'm going on month 8 with my second but have had serious thoughts about giving it up.

I think this is very intriguing and I can't wait to hear about other experiences.

Even individual pregnancies differ in the same woman.  My first pregnancy I gained a LOT, but with my second ... my gain was average. 

As for delivery, my mom and I both had easy deliveries, but my sister and my daughter both have narrower pelvis and had C-sections. 

I never had morning sickness, but my sister (a smoker) quit smoking with each pregnancy and only got nauseous when she was around cigarettes.  She took up smoking again after kids were born. 

As with anything, there are genetic aspects and environmental aspects, and they are really hard to distinguish from each other.  I can think of a lot more environmental factors that can affect the ability to breast-feed, weight gain and loss, and the likelihood of needing a c-section than genetic factors, and environmental factors can easily override genetics.  And, you never know whose genetics you got as far as these things go - probably a mixture of all those ancestors before you, including your paternal ones.  And everyone is right when they say each pregnancy is different!

(Although, I have to say that I experienced a c-section probably due to genetics-my daughter's head was in the 99th percentile!)

See, my body has mirrored my mother's in almost every way... and so far, most of that has been negative. Gall bladder and digestive problems, hormonal imbalances and dominance issues, the unfortunate "pear" shape and non-boobs, abbreviated hyoid bone structure, bad skin (which is actually a hormonal thing).... I guess I'm hoping I'll get the benefit of happy pregnancies. :)

I would say that is a complete myth.  None of those things are the same from one pregnancy to another more or less from one mom to another.  And this narrow birth canals"  is a total myth.  There is no such thing.

hotharmony: not according to several ob-gyn's my mother and I have seen over the years.

My mom gained 19 pounds pregnant with me.  She was 115 when she got preggo.

I was 118 when I found out I was pregnant.  I gained 60 pounds. 

Definitley not genetic!

My pregnancies were nothing like my mom's. She gained 25-30 lbs with each of hers (she had 4 children). I gained 70 lbs with my first, and 50 lbs with my second (and with my second I exercised regularly). My mom lost her weight very quickly and easily, I struggled with both. She got NO stretchmarks, I am covered. Although, that could be due to my excessive weight gain. All her babies were 7-8 lbs. My daughter weighed 10.1 lbs, my son weighed 9.6 lbs.

No two people are alike, and no two pregnancies are alike. My second pregnancy was very different from my first.

I have a very similar body shape as my mom and I think our pregnancies have been very similar.  We both had very easy pregnancies with no problems.  She gained 15 - 20 lbs and I am just over 20 (at 40 weeks and 3 days) and we carried the baby the same way - all stomach.  She also had quick labor and deliveries (6 and 8 hours for me and my brother) so I am hoping I am the same way too.  I know all pregnancies are different but I like to think there is some genetic aspect of it too.  Not everyone inherits body shape and things like that from their mom but maybe some people have more similarities than others.  But that might be me hoping for quick labor and delivery like my mom.

Original Post by hotharmony:

I would say that is a complete myth.  None of those things are the same from one pregnancy to another more or less from one mom to another.  And this narrow birth canals"  is a total myth.  There is no such thing.

I don't know if it's a myth or not.  I do know that my sister was told that her pelvis was narrow (flattened, not round) which made delivering a large baby difficult for her.

My daughter tried to deliver naturally, but several hours of hard labor, forceps and lots of manipulatin didn't seem to do any good.  They finally took my grandson c-section and after measuring him the nurses said it was a good thing, as his shoulders and chest were larger around than his head had been. 

My mother and I had similar pregnancies in some ways.  We both had very small babies (full term), and extremely long labors (mine was 30.5 hours).  Midwife said mine was the hardest labor she'd ever seen.  I've only had the one daughter, so I can't compare multiple pregnancies of my own, but my mother has told me that she had really bad morning sickness with two of us, and none with the other.  I know mine was really bad for about 4 months (I was sick by day 2, before I even knew why!).  I found anything with citric acid in it made my tummy calm down a bit (and tasted waaaaaaay better than Tums or any of those other tummy remedies).  I found out why later...that's the same stuff they give you before surgery to make sure you don't get sick.  I don't know why it works, but I had lemon drops and sweettarts with me at all times while I was having morning sickness.  It didn't make it go away completely, but at least I could eat.  (Although nothing helped whenever I rode in a car.)

I think we have trends that are similar to our mothers and grandmothers, but every pregnancy differs even for a single individual.  Don't expect things to go exactly like your mother.

Where genetics are very important is in your baby.  Please make sure you get tested for the basic genetic conditions so that if your child is going to have one, you can get good care from the beginning.  I know personally how important this is.  If Arkansas tested every child for cystic fibrosis the way some states do, then we would have known a couple of years earlier what was going on with our daughter and her nutrition could have been monitored far better.  As it was, by feeding her what you are "supposed" to feed kids, I still wasn't getting enough down her because her body couldn't process it properly.  We went through a number of things trying to figure out what was wrong for a long while before she was diagnosed.  GET TESTED FOR THE MAJOR ONES!  At least you can rule them out or have a plan of attack ready for when the baby gets there.

My Grandmother (Mother's Mom) had morning sickness each morning, her water would break on its own and she would have fast deliveries 7-9 hours.  My Mother never had morning sickness, her water never broke on its own so she had to be induced but she had even faster labor/deliveries 3-6 hours. I don't have any nausea or morning sickness, my water breaks on its own and I also have very fast labor/deliveries that beat out my Mother (pissed off the nurses, LOL!).  None of us show much either as our babies like to snuggle in.  Genetics, amazing things they are!