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kickasssoprano
Jul 16, 2010, 4:58 PM
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Hey.
I posted a question last night, but I feel like it was a bit confusing- Let me try again
I am wondering if any of you who have had babies or are pregnant stopped bouldering/ leading right away or whether there was a certain time in your pregnancy when you began TR-ing.
I am in the middle of trying to get pregnant and have been hearing horror stories that climbing and bouldering when you are trying may cause the fertilized egg not to implant properly.
Is this true?
Do I need to stop bouldering/ leading in order to become pregnant?
If I am pregnant and don't know it yet, am I in danger of hurting my unborn child or inhibiting implantation?
Help!!
Thank you
:)
(This post was edited by kickasssoprano on Jul 16, 2010, 5:01 PM)
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lena_chita
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Jul 16, 2010, 6:10 PM
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Multiple questions... Let me try:
kickasssoprano wrote: I am wondering if any of you who have had babies or are pregnant stopped bouldering/ leading right away or whether there was a certain time in your pregnancy when you began TR-ing.
This is a personal decision to a large extent. There are no studies of pregnant female climbers that would tell you that it is "safe" until week number X, and not safe after that.
Climbing and bouldering in themselves are not a problem-- but falling (or jumping off from a height that normally you wouldn't consider excessive) could result in a damage to placenta and a pregnancy loss, though this is, IMO, more likely later in the pregnancy.
Many females continue leading while pregnant, climbing at a much easier grade than their hardest sends and bouldering easy grades that they can down-climb without a problem. I am not comfortable with it myself, so I would stick to toproping for the entire duration of pregnancy. But this is because *I*, after losing a baby once, am not comfortable with taking even a slightest chance, no matter how small.
kickasssoprano wrote: I am in the middle of trying to get pregnant and have been hearing horror stories that climbing and bouldering when you are trying may cause the fertilized egg not to implant properly.
Depends, IMO. I do not think that recreational climbing at your level (as indicated in your profile) would be considered so extreme that it would result in fertility problems. IMO it falls into a category of moderate exercise, and I have never heard anyone advice women to stop ALL exercise while trying to get pregnant. Moderate exercise is supposed to be good for you. BUT... many female athletes do have various fertility issues due to exercise, so if you are having trouble getting pregnant, and if you exercise in other ways in addition to climbing (long-distance running, etc. etc.) you might want to consider taking it easy and cutting down on your activity level and bringing it down to a more moderate levels. But this is something your doctor is more qualified to answer.
kickasssoprano wrote: Do I need to stop bouldering/ leading in order to become pregnant?
See above. If you just started trying to get pregnant and have no fertility issues, keep climbing as before. If you have been trying for a while and have problems with your cycle -- ask your doctor for recommendations.
kickasssoprano wrote: If I am pregnant and don't know it yet, am I in danger of hurting my unborn child or inhibiting implantation? :)
Probably not. Your unborn child is just a tiny cluster of cells, well protected by your abdominal muscles and pelvic bones. BUT... if you are asking... Are you at the point where every month that brings disappointment you get teary and upset because you have to try again? Are you getting desperate and worried that there is something wrong and that you might not be able to have a baby? Then err on the peace of mind side, so at least you feel like you've done everything you could, on your side, to protect the hypothetical baby, even if it isn't really doing anything...
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kickasssoprano
Jul 16, 2010, 8:34 PM
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Thanks-
We have been trying for about five months, not too long- but I do go through tears (and stupid irrational jealosy of friends when I find out they're pregnant) and feeling worried there might be something wrong every month when I find out I'm not pregnant. I'm 30 and have no children and my husband is in his late 30's. I run usually every day though I've cut down a bit due to the combination of full time work and night school- before I came back to work in the end of June (I've been a full time student since this past september) I was climbing or bouldering three to four times per week and running six. I used to be a competitive muay thai kick boxer so I'm used to a high degree of fitness 
I think, after reading your post, that I'll nix the bouldering idea until after I have a baby and stick to top roping and enjoyable runs, rather than my usual hill sprints
Thanks again for your help
Thanks again
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jeepnphreak
Jul 17, 2010, 6:34 AM
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lena_chita wrote: Multiple questions... Let me try: kickasssoprano wrote: I am wondering if any of you who have had babies or are pregnant stopped bouldering/ leading right away or whether there was a certain time in your pregnancy when you began TR-ing. My wife was leading 10ds up till three months along. She climbed top roped until 7 months, than her tummy just got in the way so she quite climbing until after our son was born kickasssoprano wrote: I am in the middle of trying to get pregnant and have been hearing horror stories that climbing and bouldering when you are trying may cause the fertilized egg not to implant properly. Nope climbing and bouldering should have no effect on implantation, later on when the kiddo is getting to be a few months along than falling and taring the amniotic sack or the placenta would be more reason to take it easy kickasssoprano wrote: Do I need to stop bouldering/ leading in order to become pregnant? No, us included, I have seen many pregnant climbers so no you defiantly can get pregnant while climbing kickasssoprano wrote: If I am pregnant and don't know it yet, am I in danger of hurting my unborn child or inhibiting implantation? :) No its not until after a few months along would you have to starts be concerned for the safety of your unborn child. Now I would say that you are WAY to stressed about getting pregnant. Getting worked up and stressing is a really GOOD way to not get pregnant. You body releases hormones during stress periods that inhibit the chances of getting pregnant. I have 4 colleagues that were trying to get pregnant for quite a while. 3 of them opted of adoption and all 3 of them got pregnant after the adoption after the stress of trying was gone(the other the husband got snipped and the wife didnt know it). Sit back chill out and let mother nature take its course. the ability to reproduce works very well, there are a lot of people on this planet, to prove it.
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kiwiprincess
Jul 17, 2010, 11:55 PM
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Talk to your doctor
Sometimes very fit or thin people take a while to get pregnant...Something to do with being best to breed in times of plenty. It may help to exercise more moderately (to me It sounds like you do alot)
Also though many of my friends have just taken a while and up to a year is very normal.. do it regularly incase you are working out your cycle wrong.
Once pregnant you can carry on as usual, just keep hydrated
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kickasssoprano
Jul 18, 2010, 2:12 AM
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Thanks everyone,
I am going to speak to my doctor this week, I just wanted some opinions from women who climb- I'm hearing a lot of B.S like "stop running, stop bouldering, stop climbing, the only exercise you should do is moderate walking" from some of my less active friends- and most of my friends think I'm crazy for climbing and bouldering at the best of times.
I think I'll use this time as a bit of an excuse to take things a bit easier, but I don't think I want to give up bouldering just yet...
:)
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smallclimber
Jul 18, 2010, 2:19 AM
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I don't think being an active climber should impact your ability to become pregnant unless you are training so hard that your cycle is impacted or you simply are too tired to spend the necessary together time with your partner!
Five months is not all that long to be trying and at 30 you do have pleanty of time, though your doctor can probably do some fairly simple tests on your and your partner just to check.
As for continuing to climb during pregnancy - there were a lot of posts last year in this forum on the topic - see threads by Clee and Klopik.
I am still climbing very gently indoors at 7.5 months, but probably did my last outdoor climb two weeks ago (32 weeks). I did not lead after the first few weeks - but that was mainly becouse it was ice season and I don't lead on ice anyway. By the time the rock season stated it was 4 months so I felt too late by then. My climbing partner is my husband so these decisions have been made together and I have felt comfortable and safe climbing upto 32 weeks. In the last two weeks the bump seems to have suddenly quadrupled in size and I think it would be too easy to bump it now so that is probably end of outdoor climbing for a while. Surprisingly my absolute ability did not drop all that much right through 7 months, though i did get tired much faster and have to do shorter days and only one day a weekend.
Good luck!
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clee03m
Jul 20, 2010, 4:20 AM
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I would read Exercising Through your Pregnancy by Clapps. Very informative reading especially for athletes. He covers fertility as well.
Personally, I climbed at my peak leading and bouldering until 13 weeks, stopped bouldering and top roped/followed after that until pelvic instability made it very painful to climb. I spoke to many OB/GYN and researched quite a bit, and this was what my doctor and I were comfortable with.
Good luck!
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ClimbClimb
Jul 20, 2010, 1:22 PM
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kickasssoprano wrote: I'm hearing a lot of B.S like "stop running, stop bouldering, stop climbing, the only exercise you should do is moderate walking" from some of my less active friends ...
Not advice, but just an aside: this is a pervasive attitude from the physically inactive, where pregnancy & children (or, really, *anything* else) are used to justify not exercising, gaining lots of weight, and so on. Almost always, it is just an excuse -- or worse, a desire to bring down the fit to their own level.
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lena_chita
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Jul 20, 2010, 2:00 PM
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Yes, five months is indeed not very long to try, but I understand the frustration well.
After losing my first pregnancy it took me ~10 months to get pregnant again, and it was a very emotional time.
Hopefully you get some good answers from your doctor and have good news soon. :)
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rockie
Jul 28, 2010, 8:12 AM
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kickasssoprano wrote: Hey. I am wondering if any of you who have had babies or are pregnant stopped bouldering/ leading right away or whether there was a certain time in your pregnancy when you began TR-ing. I am in the middle of trying to get pregnant and have been hearing horror stories that climbing and bouldering when you are trying may cause the fertilized egg not to implant properly. Is this true? Help!! Thank you :)
It can't be true, I was climbing and bouldering right up to one month pregnant as I never knew I was pregnant until a month later. I now have a healthy 11 month old Son.
I stopped climbing while pregnant as I was not comfortable to do so and did not want to take the risk.
I mainly swam, and walked daily.
Forget the myths.
(This post was edited by rockie on Jul 28, 2010, 8:14 AM)
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erica
Aug 12, 2010, 12:16 PM
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I second "Exercising through your pregnancy" by James Clapp. I don't think you have to worry about implantation with regards to climbing (IMO).
I stopped leading when I was around 8 weeks, and bouldered easy warm-up type stuff until around 18 weeks. However I continued toproping hard (for me anyway) my entire pregnancy. Certainly the style came into play - relaly overhanging stuff got hard pretty quick, as I obviously had extra weight and my COG was off. My belly also got in the way of high steps. But technical face climbing - I didn't notice a huge difference, although my endurance was non existent
I stopped climbing outdoors with a month to go, but the only reason I stopped was b/c our nearest crag wasn't close enough to the hospital to suit my OB should anything happen. But I was toproping 5.11 in the gym 2 days before my son was born! I say keep as active as you can - it will help make your labor and delivery easier, and your recovery time will be much quicker. It will also be easier to get back in shape after the pregnancy.
Remember, its much easier to continue doing somehting (even if its at a more moderate level), than it is to totally drop it and come back to it. Best of luck to you in getting pregnant and don't forget to have fun trying :)
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klopik
Sep 30, 2010, 2:59 PM
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Talk to your doctor, but my personal believe is you are just fine leading and bouldering while getting pregnant and through the beginning of pregnancy. Excercise is wonderful, and if you climb and it gives you endorphins - it will just make for a happier calmer baby.
I switched to toproping only when I was 2 months pregnant, because I felt more comfortable that way, climbed until I was almost 8 months, ran until I was 7 months (I did probably about 15 miles a week) and swam until a week before I had my baby. Last week of pregnancy I only walked, the day before I went into labor I went on a 3 mile hike. And as an answer to all my friends who kept telling me that I should not exercise because it will lead to premature labor - I had my son on his due date (well, more accurately, I went into labor on his due date, but delivered him the next morning) :)
I will second earlier reply that lots of people use it as an excuse not to excercise and to eat for two.
Oh, and also - my doctor told me that I should avoid doing 3 things during pregnancy - skydiving, diving and snowboarding - everythign else is fair game :)
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kickasssoprano
Oct 3, 2010, 2:48 PM
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Thank you all so much for your advice, I just found out yesterday (via home pregnancy test) that I'm pregnant, I'm making an appointment with my doctor tomorrow- Thanks again, I feel much better about staying fit through my pregnancy now- maybe not for the first month (I'm feeling a bit paranoid, I don't want to do anything that might make this go away)... thanks again, here's to climbing babies :)
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klopik
Oct 3, 2010, 5:19 PM
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OOOOH, congratulations to you!!!! That is wonderful news, and here is hoping for an easy fun fit pregnancy!!!
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