Riding Pregnant

[pazerkat]

Hi -

Looking for advice and other's experiences.

I am 42, and 15 weeks along with my first child, due mid December. I'm in great shape and the pregnancy is doing very well ... finally pay off for all those cold, wet, late-winter/early spring base miles! :o

I am a biking enthusiast, which means I stick to the trails and the roads and like distance riding. Currently able to ride centurys and metrics and still climb the hills, although baby wants lots of air. The Dr says to ride as long as possible. To just be careful about heat and exhaustion and NO FALLING!

Looking at all my favorite organized rides for Sept & Oct, which will be my 6th & 7th months. Those are significantly cooler months here on the East Coast and I know of a couple of nice ... flat ... well supported rides.

So for the big question ... will I still be riding? Or should I just plan to volunteer and be SAG support?

-- Pedal Power

[emily_in_nc]

Can't speak to the pregnancy aspects, but just be very careful since you truly never know when you are going to fall. I took a very bad fall in April when two "we mean business" dogs ran out into the road out of nowhere at my husband and me while on a training ride, and broke my pelvis in three places. I never fall under normal conditions and ride ~4000+ miles a year normally as well. Everything can change so quickly when the unexpected happens, so I would be leery of putting a pregnancy at risk.

Sorry to be a wet blanket; I just have my formerly rose-colored glasses tinted a slightly different color now. :(

Welcome to the forums, by the way! :)

Emily

[Irulan]

this is a very active topic on two mtb boards I go to.

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=102361

http://forums.mtbr.com/showthread.php?t=105567

and here,
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123236

There is substanstial medical information that indicates it takes forces of approximately a car crash to actually damage a fetus. Studies have shown that even playing contact sports is not a problem, other than most women choose not to. More important is to pay attention to balance and heart rate issues. At some point comfort becomes an issue, so do your knees hitting your belly

http://www.insidetri.com/train/bike/articles/1486.0.html good article on racing training cycling and pregnancy

report from the Austrailan Govt' on sports and pregnanacy
http://www.ausport.gov.au/fulltext/2002/ascpub/pisover.asp

Many women cycle sucessfully throughout their pregnancies. Of cousre the "discuss it with your doc" caveat applies. There are some old school guys out there that will tell you "no" but there are many docs out there that support active athletic women. Assuming you don't have any contraindications, go for it.

congrats.

I was off the bike by about 7 months, knees hitting the belly, to answer your question.

Irulan

[singletrackmind]

My doctor ok'd riding too but said watch heat and keep heartrate under 140!
I finally had to stop riding at 7 months, too, because of the knee/belly thing. I kept hiking up to the end, though, and used my DH's heartrate monitor.

Maybe it had an effect on the little guy-he LOVES bike riding :D :D :D and will sit in a trailer for HOURS without complaint.
I'm lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky lucky!!!!!

Best of luck with your pregnancy, here's to all going well! :)

[emily_in_nc]

There is substanstial medical information that indicates it takes forces of approximately a car crash to actually damage a fetus.

That's good to know - sorry if I overreacted! It's just that when pazercat said "NO FALLING", I thought of how difficult that can be to control when the unexpected happens. Even Lance fell just a few days ago in a training ride and split his helmet in two - thankfully, he's okay.

Congratulations on your pregnancy and hope everything goes smoothly. I'm probably just a leetle bit of a worrywort at the moment, for obvious reasons.

Emily

[Irulan]

If I had been through what you have, I'd probably overreact, too!

[trigurl]

I would say, and I am just thinking about you, that your age :D may have something to do with it, it seems the older you get the harder it is on your body, I was just reading something in my Triathlon Training Bible about that, the author surmised that early riding would be fine but watch your heart rate closely, and advised not riding after the first 4 or so months.

You can set your bike on a trainer and go all day tho! good luck

[pazerkat]

To everyone that has replied so far ... I'm glad to see other active Moms and Moms-2-B! My Dr is very excited for me, given my age and the overall progress of my health and that of the baby ... test show I am running a pregnancy of a 33 yr old! My last visit, he simply encourged my to just keep doing whatever it is am doing ... because it is working well.

Iruln - The articles were very useful ... I especially relate to the Mom's Intuition takes over aspect. Already I am avoiding riding in the DC heat & humidity and have striken some of the centuries known for their difficulty (hills in August ...pls). Also, I finding that I prefer riding with a partner and going on less solo rides ... safety in numbers?

SingleTrackMind - That clues me in more on gauging fall riding. Thinking of taking the tactic to train to ride, but just register late (take the late fee hit) and to be prepared to alter my goals ... shorter ride at a slower pace with my husband who is new to biking (wonder what made him start???) Also, I liked hearing your lil one likes being in the trailer ... I've already picked one out ... now just for the crib and everything else ...

emily in nc -- I hear you ... I've had my share of tumbles ... last one was just before my wedding in Oct 2004 ... my poor Fiancée ... all he wanted to do was put me on lock down so I'd be in one piece ... instead he very smartly distracted me with side trips and other activities. I knew what he was doing ... but I was more than glad to go along. Somehow, I think he will step in when the time is right, in such a way that I will want to follow.

thank you
--Little Lance in the Making

[MomOnBike]

I'd make plans to go, and ride - but tell myself not to be too proud to beg off. You really don't know how you'll feel in September. If you ride, don't get stubborn and finish when taking a SAG would be wiser.

I'd bet that fellow riders/support crew will watch out for you - maybe more than you'd like.

[singletrackmind]

Did I mention how SLOW I had to go? Seems your heartrate increases with pregnancy-across the board. When I was hiking I had to take all the hills very easy to get up them without setting off the monitor.

Well, so I had to miss out on a lot of fast living for a little while-it was SOOOO worth it. :)

I was 35 at the time, a bit younger than you are and an avid biker so pretty fit. I did end up with gestational diabetes-no chocolate for nearly 5 months :eek: :eek: :eek: (I took some to the delivery room with me, though, but still had to wait b/c of an emergency c-section)
Still I was able to ride til the belly got too big and hike throughout, except for a few times when I got put on bed rest :( .

After recovering from the c-sect I went back to hiking and walking until JB was old enough to hold up both his head and the helmet-and to sit up. If the seat in the trailer accomodates helmets (mine doesn't and we get by fine) all the better.

Again, best wishes and congratulations!! :)

[Etincelle]

Don't worry. You can continue cycling. i had 3 kids and never stopped doing sports.. even cross-country skiing... Your belly could stop you at some point though!!!

As far as falling... the baby is very well protected... At my 2nd pregnancy, I fall head first from the 2nd floor down to the 1st floor in the stairs.... 2 weeks away from delivery.. baby had nothing... I had another bad fall in the stairs.. same pregnancy... at 12-15 weeks.. again, baby had nothing...

We should not stop from doing anything..

Good luck!

[CorsairMac]

As far as falling... the baby is very well protected... At my 2nd pregnancy, I fall head first from the 2nd floor down to the 1st floor in the stairs.... 2 weeks away from delivery.. baby had nothing... I had another bad fall in the stairs.. same pregnancy... at 12-15 weeks.. again, baby had nothing...

We should not stop from doing anything..

Good luck!

cept maybe falling down the stairs?? ;)

[sarahfixit]

cept maybe falling down the stairs?? ;)

Makes ya wonder about the stairs ;)