Obese mums no shock
I've never seen so many fat lasses. And it's hard to tell whether they are pregnant or not.
So I'm not shocked or even surprised that one in four Wearside mothers-to-be is classed as obese, with 200 of the 3,500 seen at Sunderland Royal's Maternity Unit morbidly obese.
What did shock me was that some are weighing in at 20 stone plus – and that's at the start of their pregnancy.
Dire warnings of increased risk of blood clots, needing a Caesarean, complications and running the risk of having a stillborn baby, a premature one or losing your child in the first few days of life, will fall on deaf ears.
The simple reason is they can't be bothered to lose weight for their own wellbeing, never mind their baby's.
There's little chance that those who choose to eat and drink all before them will change their ways once they are expecting.
By far the majority only have themselves to blame. It's got nothing to do with their genes, just how much they gorge themselves. And being pregnant is the perfect excuse to eat for two, three or even all the family.
They don't care if the Royal has to fork out, buying bigger beds and blood pressure machines to handle the growing number of pregnant fatties and others.
And how much do health trusts really care what shape we are in? Or is it more about the eating up of NHS cash?
And for the vast majority of heavyweights, it's all down to lifestyle – what they take in and fail to burn off.
That's not rocket science, as Sunderland surgeon Peter Small told me.
He is seeing more wanting-weight-loss ops at the Royal.
His team is at the forefront of this type of surgery. By September last year he had performed more than 700 fat-busting ops in a year – a staggering 50 per cent rise in 12 months.
Tellingly, the surgeon said of those wanting gastric bands, balloons and bypasses: "The first thing that people have to change is their mentality. We also want to see them eating healthier, taking up more exercise and even quitting smoking."
While Mr Small sees this surgery as the very last option in the fight against obesity, my concern is that too many fail to appreciate that fact, given it is gaining in popularity.
It's no easy option but that's undoubtedtly what it is being seen as – a soft option for those whose size is self-inflicted.
While there are those who have genuinely battled a lifetime to lose weight and have an inherited gene problem, there are millions whose slovenly, slobbish lifestyle matches their appetite.
It's sad to know so many children will be reared in homes like that – another generation of fatties who have grown up with mothers too fat to run, skip or play with them, who struggle to climb the stairs to bathe them, put them to bed and who serve up food that turns them into Billy and Bessie Bunters.
As for heeding health warnings – fat chance.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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