Little Feet Get Bigger

I was reading an excerpt of a male-oriented pregnancy book on Amazon.com yesterday, and it said that a woman's feet can grow by half a shoe size during pregnancy. They don't just get swollen, they actually grow bigger. I found this difficult to understand. I searched the term "pregnant feet grow" in google and guess where it took me? -- babycenter.com!

According to the article on babycenter.com, the hormone that helps your bones get ready to deliver a baby also loosens the ligaments in your feet, causing the bones to spread out. As a result, your foot can get noticeably bigger. Get this: it's permanent. Wow.

An article from a rival site (www.parenting.com) quotes an expert who says that the "weight of pregnancy lowers the arches, further adding to the foot's length and width." This site emphatically warns against wearing shoes that fit too tightly. They give some brilliant advice on how to determine whether your shoes are too small: trace the sole of your shoe on some paper. Now trace your foot. Now compare the two. Guess what it means if your foot-tracing is bigger than the shoe tracing -- Yep, it means the shoes are too small. Genius!

These guys are going to give babycenter.com a run for their money.

R's feet are tiny (size 6). She has REALLY high arches, though. If her arches were to come down, her foot would probably double in length. Between that and the magic hormones, she's probably going to need to wear my shoes (size 12) before long. Then I'll have to go out and get some more.

Maybe I should get some now, just in case...