Do Short Women Have Harder Pregnancies? Here's the Truth

I'm just a smidge over five feet tall, so when I got pregnant with twins, everyone's immediate reaction was the same. "You're so tiny," they'd say. How are you going to carry two babies?".

But my doctor assured me my height wouldn't affect things. "I see petite women carry perfectly healthy pregnancies all the time, even with multiples" she explained. As for the discomfort of carrying twins on a small frame? She didn't "have any evidence" that carrying eleven-ish pounds of baby would be more challenging due to my size.

And I don't have any evidence of this either. All I know is that for me, carrying two babies to 36 weeks was not easy. At all. But then, I imagine it's not easy for any mother of any size.

I recently thought of this when I came across a video of Hannah Berner and Paige DeSorbo talking about this very issue.

Despite my doctor's assurances, there is data to support the idea that pregnancy can be different for petite ladies. In 1989, research found a link to suggest short women  are more likely to have smaller infants and increased odds of having C-sections. In 2015, more evidence to suggest that shorter women tend to have shorter pregnancies emerged. That’s not to say you will give birth prematurely if you’re small; there are many factors that affect how your pregnancy will go. But of course, if you have any questions or concerns, a chat with your provider is in order.

Here's the thing, though: While we know a bit about how being short can affect your pregnancy outcomes, people seem less interested in learning how pregnancy feels for shorter women. Which is not at all surprising, because our world just really doesn't care about women's comfort, especially in the context of pregnancy.