Pregnancy selfies are so common on social media these days that they rarely raise eyebrows anymore. That is, until now, after one expectant mom released some eye-popping snaps of her eight-month bump, which is stirring major controversy and raising questions about the health of her baby.
Sarah Stage, a 30-year-old Los Angeles-based model, has been chronicling her pregnancy on Instagram for her more than 1.1 millions followers. While even super-fit moms-to-be start typically sporting a softer, rounder, more prominent belly at some point in their second trimester, Sarah has maintained her buff abs, and her bump appears, well, barely there.
Her most recent pregnancy selfies reveal her at 34 weeks with serious definition and very little bulge. That’s left many viewers wondering how someone in the last weeks of pregnancy could still be so ripped… and if she’s risking the health of her baby.
READ MORE: This Model Is Just Weeks from Her Due Date—And Still Has Abs
Though it’s unusual and nothing the typical pregnant woman should expect to achieve, it actually is possible to maintain that kind of muscle definition without compromising your own or your baby’s health, says Alyssa Dweck, co-author of V Is for Vagina.
How so? A lot depends on just how toned her abs were pre-pregnancy, as well as the shape of her pelvis. “She’s obviously in excellent shape, and her abdominal muscles might have remained so strong during her pregnancy that they simply mask her growing uterus from view,” says Dweck. “She could also have pelvic bones that provide a lot of room for the uterus to expand inward, rather than outward.”
As for the baby, he or she might be positioned in a way that makes Stage’s belly stick out less than usual. “By about this time in pregnancy, most babies’ heads are positioned down, but that’s not always the case,” says Dweck. “It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong.”
Bottom line: While we hope a pregnancy six-pack doesn’t become the new thigh gap, it’s not a sign of anything unhealthy.
This article was originally published on www.womenshealthmag.com
