Pregnant woman defends herself from trolls who body-shamed her over ‘huge’ baby bump

A Nevada-based mother has gone viral for her “huge” baby bump, but both mom and baby are healthy despite all the body-shaming comments.

Eliana Rodriguez, 29, welcomed her second child – a baby boy named Sebastian – on 12 June at Centennial Hills Hospital in Las Vegas, weighing in at 8.3 pounds and 20.5 inches. While Rodriguez only gave birth to one baby that day, she revealed recently that her baby bump often prompted people to question whether she was carrying twins.

A week before the baby’s arrival, Rodriguez took to Instagram to show off her bare stomach, as well as some of the things strangers have said about her bump. As she lip-synced the lyrics “I didn’t even notice” to Doja Cat’s Say So, Rodriguez quoted some of the comments she’s received, including: “You are huge,” “You look like you’re having twins,” “You must be in so much pain,” and “Have you checked if there’s another baby in there”.

Unfortunately, the negative comments didn’t stop there. Nearly 7,000 Instagram users commented on Rodriguez’s post asking similar questions about the size of her bump.

“How many babies are in your belly?” one person wrote. “Quit lying to her. That’s HUGE,” another user said.

But according to Rodriguez, her baby was perfectly healthy and her bump was actually quite normal.

“I wondered why my belly was bigger than other women,” Rodriguez told Today Parents. “My doctors said it was normal because I am only 4’11 and have a shorter torso.”

She said that she also carried big during her first pregnancy, with both her children weighing 8.3 pounds at birth.

According to Rodriguez, her pregnant stomach also seemed larger because she carried a lot of amniotic fluid during her pregnancy, liquid inside the amniotic sac that protects the foetus while also providing nutrients. An excess of amniotic fluid can result in “polyhydramnios” – which occurs in one to two per cent of pregnancies, according to the Mayo Clinic. However, Rogriguez said her doctors checked “the amount of fluids and checked the baby’s size” and determined that she was in the clear from polyhydramnios.

It’s no secret that pregnancy is different for everyone, and baby bumps come in all different shapes and sizes. While Rodriguez understands why people would be curious about her baby bump, she did not expect to receive so many hateful or negative comments about her body.

Speaking to The Independent, Rodriguez said: “I was simply sharing the questions and comments I got on a daily basis throughout my pregnancy. It didn’t matter if I was at a store or on social media, so I decided to make a video to add a little humor. However, some of the comments I received are much worse than the ones I pointed out.

“It’s mind blowing how rude people can be,” she added.

However, not all of the comments were hateful. In fact, Rodriguez’s video prompted other people to share their own experiences with pregnancy body-shamers.

“Finally someone else who carries like I do!” one Instagram user commented under her video.

“It’s SO annoying isn’t it,” another person wrote. “I’ve noticed people say this to almost every pregnant woman…There’s a whole baby in there what do they expect”.

“People say that no matter how big or small you are. It’s ridiculous,” a third user said. “People always told me...insisted really, that I was due sooner than my due date.”

For Rodriguez, she found it sad to know that other moms have received similar negative comments during their pregnancies. “I personally do a lot of self-development and I consider myself a very confident woman,” she told us. “I am not affected by any of the negative comments I’ve received but I can only imagine how destructive this can be to a woman who isn’t in the best mindset or is experiencing depression.”

“People should have love and compassion towards pregnant women,” she continued. “It’s already hard to go through so many physical changes that you literally cannot control, not to mention emotional changes too. Regardless if a person is pregnant or not, I’ve always said if you have nothing nice to say, it’s best to not say anything at all.”