• Question: How can a mother's abdomens not burst when they have a baby in their womb?

    Asked by isaacnewton123 to Matt, Leah, Andrea, Ana, Amar on 10 Mar 2014.
    • Photo: Andrea Hanvey

      Andrea Hanvey answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      I had a baby 7 weeks ago and I’m very glad my abdomen didn’t burst!!!!

      The womb that the baby is growing inside is basically a big bag of muscle. So as the baby grows the muscle that the womb is made up of stretches and the womb gets bigger. Hormones that the body produces in pregnancy also make ligaments that hold the womb in place softer which also allows for the womb to get bigger.

    • Photo: Amar Joshi

      Amar Joshi answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      It does look incredible when a mother is very pregnant. The womb is a very strechy bag which expands as the baby grows. The lining of the bag is made of lots of muscle – different the ones you can see in your arms. This means that even though it look like it might burst it won’t. I find it more incredile that it stays in for 9 months without going through the birth canal.

    • Photo: Leah Fitzsimmons

      Leah Fitzsimmons answered on 10 Mar 2014:

      During pregnancy the size that the baby grows to and the size that the abdomen expands to is carefully controlled. Cells are able to send out chemical messages to one another which allows them to communicate; this happens inside everyone and helps to control lots of processes within the body. Once a woman becomes pregnant lots of messages are sent around the body to make it prepare itself for the growing baby, including allowing the abdomen to become stretchy. Inside the womb the baby will only grow as big as the abdomen allows, which it can sense using these chemical messages.

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