Skiing While Pregnant?

Anything to share? Janesmom informs me that she is and she will and I know better than to try and stop it. Gimme the good, the bad and the ugly if you've got it. Ugh, the things we men go through.

[edit] During the first trimester, of course - she's not THAT crazy.

Here you go, an oldie but goodie!
http://forums.epicski.com/showthread...ing+Preg nant

Best Regards,

The Epicski archivist!

ex wife was told by her doctor if you did it before you were prego then you could do it while you were prego...that was almost 20 yrs ago i would believe still holds true

My wife skied when she was 4 months with both kids. After that point her bigger ski pants did not fit and it was near the end of the season.

She was skiing expert terrain, so we where not too worried about the type of collisions you see on blue runs.

My doctor told me not to and he was a skier. He was concerned about not only MY skiing ability (the changes in body would impact my center of balance) but also the number of surrounding skiers on the mountains in question. He felt that a back injury would be something that would only be worsened by pregnancy as it advanced.

You have to understand, this drove me NUTS. I rarely fall (and that was no different 19 years back.) And I was good at dodging others. But I listened to him, and frankly I've decided now, years later, that it probably was sensible advice.

I didn't ski while pregnant, but only because I was living in Wash DC at the time, and I wasn't pregnant during much of ski season anyway (Dec and Jan babies).

I was coaching soccer then, though, and when I asked my doctor about the safety of doing so (eg, taking a ball or an elbow in the gut), he said that the baby is very well protected, and only something akin to the force of a car accident would disturb it. (Of course, such a force could happen if you're hit by an idiot on a ski slope, but it isn't likely.)

More important, as others have said, is how your wife is feeling herSELF, as regards balance and conditioning and energy. She'll know when it's time to quit.

Everyone is different. I had to quit tennis at only 3 months pregnant, not because of physical issues, but because my timing was a little off, and then the hormones made me really really mad when I would miss easy shots. Physically I was healthy; mentally I was a basket case. After chucking a racquet or two into the fence, I knew it was time to take a break.

...On the other hand, I have many friends who played well into the third trimester. One of my best friends has big scabs on her knees in her "birthing video" from losing her balance and falling on the tennis court while 9 months pregnant. (Yes, she landed on her stomach, too, and went into labor the next day. Hmmmm.)

Congradulations!

Her MD should be able to answer that one better than anyone.

Thanks LisaMarie and all - I 'searched' before posting but came up with some very unusual threads. I appreciate it.

When I saw the thread, I thought, "janesdad, if you're pregnant, you'd better not ski..."

Lotsa good stuff here that's actually helpful, though, so I don't really have anything useful to add!

My wife skied into January with May delivery. No issues, other than a son who loves to ski.

Will you change your name to janesand??dad?

Skiing Pregnant

My Wife is currently pregnant with our 5th child. She has skied with every child through the second trimester. I will temper that statement with the fact that my wife is very fit and she has been skiing for 30yrs. The doctor told her that the only way she was going to hurt the baby was if she had a life threating accident or injury. She obviously takes it easy and doesn't throw herself off any cliffs, but she has skied nice soft spring bumps in March when she was due in June. The Doctor also warned her that she shouldn't get out of breath during physical activity.

I just asked a doctor and here's the answer:

"It is not recommended because of the risk of falling. 2nd and 3rd trimester your balance is off, first trimester it is "ski at your own (and your baby's) risk."

The doctor made clear that skiing while pregnant at any stage was a bad idea. Too high-risk for the baby.

People's anecdotal experiences should count for zero. Just because someone has had 5 kids and skied through every pregnancy doesn't mean a ski accident can't terminate Pregnancy #6 - or someone else's first or whatever.

Bottom line: If Hugo Harrison can fall, you can fall. And falling puts the baby at tremendous risk.

You Bet (ability dependent)

We had the same situation. My ex wife is very athletic, an expert skier/instructer and actually taught in her third trimester while carrying our daughter (in my XL N. Face bibs). Our Doc (a skier) advised her to ski within her abilities, ie no falls nor collisions. We decided that a resonable approach was groomers only (no maching, nor powder) on light traffic days. This worked great until she was busted with another very prego ski school friend skiing 12" of fresh off first chair under the lift on her due date. (I heard about it from about 20 "concerned" locals!) The girls couldn't resist but were sent home by the patrol director and banned from the slopes until they popped. They did not fall that year.

My daughter was 2 weeks late, and now, at 5 skis like Mom. My advise is sure, but listen to your inner self, strengthen your back and be safe!!!!!

I spent the last 2 days playing 'Traffic Cop' while Jane followed her mom in and out of the trees. The things we men do for you women...

The only thing my OB forbid me to do was waterski. She encouraged me to exercise. Number one daughter was born early in January, so I only skied once in December. Daughter two was born in mid March, and I skied up to two weeks before she was born and did a clinic six days after childbirth. I never pushed it, but I did enjoy being able to glide faster on flats with the extra poundage.

Exactly! It's not about you missing your ski season because your pregnant.
It's about the health and well being of your child and being a RESPONSABLE PARENT!
How many threads are we seeing right now about idiots on the hill? I don't care how good of a skier anyone is ,accidents happen ,and it could haunt you and your child for the rest of your life.For what?a couple of turns in the snow?
Selfish ,irresponsable,self centered ,take a year off.
But thats just my opinion.

Hmmm. You mean I have to come up with another name for me too?
Yeah, she's great. I love everything about this girl.

Seriously, though, for me it's an interesting behavioral thing to witness. I'm just glad I'm not a woman. At one extreme as a guy, you want her to sit around the house and do yoga for 40 weeks in a row and on the other, you want them to work and play up until the day before and come out of the hospital looking like she did on your first date.

I would warn everyone against coming between a mother bear (her body) and her cubs. Even the papa bear better watch where he steps.

This is what I have been told

- you should only continue to do what you REGULARLY do (e.g. do you take a walk every night after dinner, take spinning classes 3x a week, ski every single weekend -- then your fitness level and routine rule this debate ... until which point balance and strength are compromised

- a woman's body secretes the hormone "relaxin" which greatly affects joints and ligaments -- it affects everyone differently so you have to be careful (it is said to be in higher quantities early on in the pregnancy)

perhaps this will interest you
http://www.skimag.com/skimag/fitness...543592,00.html

If that's the attitude you want to take, pregnant women shouldn't be allowed to do anything other than bedrest. You could fall down the stairs, get in a car accident, etc. If skiing is a regular activity for you and you take it easy, avoid the crowds, etc - it is certainly no more dangerous than driving your car.

Pregnant women should not ski period! It is much more risky than driving a car or going up/down the stairs. Obviously bedrest is not acceptable either. There is a change in the center of gravity during pregnancy and the stance of a pregnant woman will change. Moreover a simple impact to the abdomen or the energy of a low speed fall on a hard surface can cause the placenta to partially separate from the wall of the uterus and that will cause major intrauterine bleeding. That can cause fetal death, or even maternal death. The best thing to do is to use common sense. Talk to your doctor and avoid getting advice from non-MDs from the internet . You made the decision to become pregnant and not skiing is just a small little step for a life-long commitment of being a parent. Because some irresponsible woman decides to ski while pregnant and get away with it doesn't mean it is OK to do it.
Enjoy your pregnancy

Falling is the issue. Beyond that, well, it's in HER stomach and so it's part of her. Whilst trying to manage her and her pregnancy might be tempting for some men, ultimately, your part in the whole affair came and went fast and some time ago. She's the one pregnant. You are on the sidelines. You aren't pregnant. She is. And it's no picnic.

Of course she should follow her doctor's advice. I'm assuming her doc is allowing her to ski or she wouldn't be doing it in the first place. Every pregnant woman skier or mountain biker I have known got the typical "if you were doing it regularly before pregnancy, you can keep doing it moderately until your body tells you to stop." Unless she is a high-risk pregnancy of some sort.

I ski 100 days a year and I've been in more car accidents than I have had collisions on the mountain. If I'm taking it easy/staying withing my abilities while skiing, I'm much less likely to fall skiing than I would be walking around in wintery conditions. I just disagree with your risk assessment and the fact that you seem to think she shouldn't ski even if her doctor says she can.

Are the reasons to go skiing so important they outrank the one reason not to ?

It isn't that simple. It's the whole probability/risk management thing. As altagirl said, pregnant women wouldn't drive if they thought that black and white about it. I'm sure the rate of intrauterine death is much higher for car accidents than ski accidents.

Up until fairly recently the male establishment was successful in perpetrating a myth that women should not engage in sports to assure their reproductive health. At least our reproductive equipment is tucked safely inside, whereas the male equipment is so vulnerable to injury, I really think they should be content to sit the bleachers and cheer the girls on.

Actually it is that simple , the more you expose yourself to risk the higher the percentage . Yes there are things that will be out of her control and things she may have to do but the simple fact is the less risk taken the lower the chances of incident. Does mother to be have to ski or does she just want to . Thats all it boils down to , after that it's just justifing a good enough reason to supersede the reason not to.
The decision to take any risk is the mothers and maybe a little bit of the dads (just a little bit) , it's something that can't be taken lightly.
(been there , docs can't see everything , right decision made , she's 14yrs. and driving me nuts)

Nolo , that really hurts ..........no I mean that "REALLY" hurts.

During my pregnancies, I was told to continue my regular activities until my size made me uncomfortable.

With all three children, I ran until the sixth month.

I wasn't skiing at that time of my life, but I was whitewater kayaking.

With the first kid, I didn't kayak much because she was a summer baby and I was pregnant during the fall and winter (not my favorite boating time), and I was too big to boat in the spring. I resumed kayaking when she was 6 weeks old.

With the second child, I kayaked the Tuolumne (a class IV river) when I was 4 months pregnant. I resumed kayaking again when he was 2 months old.

Because the third child was born in November (late summer and fall were the dry season for kayaking where we lived), I only boated through the first trimester with him.

The only side effect that I've been able to discern is that the second and third kids love to kayak and have become much better boaters than their mom!

Again it has nothing to do with the man/woman thing or the me you atititdue.It has to do with being a responsable parent,both being equal in the creating and nurturing of the future child.