Heavy cycling and trying to get pregnant

[Lenusik]

Good morning ladies. My husband and I are working on becoming parents. It looks like the next few days is the right time for conception. I have concerns about heavy cycling during this time or during the first days right after conception. Can I continue with my regular pedaling 25 – 50 miles per ride several of times a week considering that it is so hot in Phoenix? Did anyone of you learn that you got pregnant without slowing your exercise routine? Does this diminish my chances of getting pregnant? Maybe I am just worrying too much.

[tprevost]

I am certainly no expert but have heard and read that you can typically continue whatever activity is normal for you. That said, I think I would discontinue any activity which would leave you very very tired, overheated and/or dehydrated and start taking a prenatal vitamin w/folic acid in it.

Now, hopefully all of the people who have some true knowledge will pipe in!

Tracy

[caligurl]

hmmmmm don't know about the conception part.... but i know a lady who ran/jogged practically right up til she dropped the kid! on my fitness forums... a LOT of the women still do their workouts while pregnant!

heck.. they make maternity padded shorts! lol!

[Nanci]

I bet if you were using cycling to _prevent_ pregnancy, it wouldn't work!!

Nanci

[Lenusik]

I bet if you were using cycling to _prevent_ pregnancy, it wouldn't work!!

Nanci

This sounds like an encouragement. I just have a few femaile friends who have serious problems getting pregnant. I guess I should not be thinking about it.

[Lise]

Good luck! Unless you're such an avid athlete that you've stopped menstruating, your cycling shouldn't affect your ability to get pregnant at all.

The advice against overheating, and taking a multivitamin with folic acid is good. Ideally, you take that vitamin with folic acid for 2 months prior, and for the first month of the pregnancy. It's been shown to reduce by 70% the incidence of open neural tube defect, a defect of the brain and spine that occur very early in pregnancy.

Have fun, both on the bike and off! L.

[Dianyla]

My personal experience has been that heavy exercise (incl. cycling) can contribute to anemia, which can delay ovulation. Before I was diagnosed and started supplementing with iron, heavy cycling would extend my normal 33 day period out to a 38-45 day long cycle. I'm trying very hard to not get pregnant, but lemme tell you having a period arrive 3-4 weeks late is very nerve-wracking!

So, as long as you're not anemic or nutrient deficient due to heavy exercise you're probably ok.

[fixedgeargirl]

My son was conceived within 3 days of the end of a 9-day mountain bike tour. So, anecdotally, I would say that heavy riding does not effect fertility .

[maillotpois]

I bet if you were using cycling to _prevent_ pregnancy, it wouldn't work!!

Nanci

HAHA rolling on the floor!

[light_sabe_r]

My personal experience has been that heavy exercise (incl. cycling) can contribute to anemia, which can delay ovulation. Before I was diagnosed and started supplementing with iron, heavy cycling would extend my normal 33 day period out to a 38-45 day long cycle. I'm trying very hard to not get pregnant, but lemme tell you having a period arrive 3-4 weeks late is very nerve-wracking!

So, as long as you're not anemic or nutrient deficient due to heavy exercise you're probably ok.

I agree with this statement. Try and get a "Pregnancy" supplement. and dose yourself up on it. And get your iron checked by a doctor or go and donate some blood at the Red Cross and you'll get it done there for free!

Originally Posted by Nanci
I bet if you were using cycling to _prevent_ pregnancy, it wouldn't work!!

The only way I can think of cycling NOT getting you pregnant, is if you've done a massive ride on the wrong seat and your entire groin area is too damn sore to do anything.

Good luck Lenusik! We'd like to hear when you're buying a baby seat/trailer/ ride on to drag the little tyke around on too in about a years time. hehehe

[Duck on Wheels]

Ingrid Christensen, the Norwegian distance runner, was puzzled one year when she finished in the middle of the field in the Norwegian national cross country championships that she usually won by a mile. Turned out she was 5 months pregnant and didn't even know it because she trained so hard she wasn't menstruating regularly. Anecdotal, of course, and in no way proof that your odds remain high even if you're training that hard. They're probably way lower if you're not menstruating, dehydrated, anemic, or generally exhausted. But they're not 0% even then. Oh, and the kid was perfectly healthy. But I'd say Lise prob'ly knows this stuff pretty well (aren't you a midwife, Lise?) and she says your chances shouldn't be affected if you're training somewhere under that ceasing-to-menstruate threshold. Good luck, and have fun!

[Lise]

Ingrid Christensen, the Norwegian distance runner, was puzzled one year when she finished in the middle of the field in the Norwegian national cross country championships that she usually won by a mile. Turned out she was 5 months pregnant and didn't even know it because she trained so hard she wasn't menstruating regularly.

Well! What was her first clue? Or, I guess, what was her SECOND clue?!

Yup, I am a midwife. I talk to a couple of women a year who thought "it" was something else--flu, whatever. Even the baby's movements and increasing belly size aren't always perceived as "pregnancy".

[FreshNewbie]

I am confused now, what's a midwife ?

[mimitabby]

I am confused now, what's a midwife ?

are you serious? a midwife is what the obstetrician almost completely replaced in the early 1900's.
for thousands of years women have hired women to assist them during childbirth. In the USA at least you can get extensive training, as a nurse practitioner/midwife. Some midwives go house to house just like they used to 100 years ago, but due to extensive doctor lobbying way back when, in a lot of states it is illegal! There is an extensive network anyway in most states.
The other way to have a midwife is to follow all the rules, and i had the good fortune to deliver my second son in a midwife "hostel" which was a little clinic
with real beds and stuff, without any medication or anesthesia at all. Midwives do best with normal deliveries, ob/gyn's prefer the problems, because after all, that's what they were trained to do. Midwives are on your level; doctors tend to talk down to you... I could go on an on..

[FreshNewbie]

Thanks for clearing up, not married and have no kids, not for at least another couple of years.