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aimeerose
Jul 21, 2006, 5:04 AM
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I just found out I'm pregnant! Planned, of course. But I was just looking for advice from other women who have gone through pregnancy and managed to keep climbing. Some specific questions..
1) When did you stop lead climbing?
2) When did you feel like you couldn't climb at your limit?
3) When did you get morning sickness and how long did it last?
Thanks for any advice in addition to my questions.
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lena_chita
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Jul 21, 2006, 1:34 PM
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Haven't climbed while pregnant, but here are my 2 cents.
IMO there is no physical reason why you couldn't keep climbing at your normal level the first 3 months. Of course, you may get hit with a whammy morning sickness and not even want to do it, but if you feel good, I don't see why not. I never had morning sickness with either one of my kids.
The baby is just a pin-head sized thingie right now, so keeping up with the usual activities should not be a problem physically. Any fall/damage that could potentially damage the baby will be a kind of fall that would cause major abdominal damage to you. E.i. if you were to have an accident that raptured spleen and such, I can see how it could also cause a problem for the baby. But regular bumps and falls should not be a problem.
I have taught a weight-lifting class and Pilates until I was 6 months pregnant with my second child. Crunches and any abs exercises became progressively difficult and I pretty much did only one or two of them to demonstrate after about 3 months, instead of full sets. I was definitely losing core strength after 3 months pg. That's why I'm saying the first 3 months should be fine, and after that I'm not sure...
Also, your balance starts getting wierd after 5 months or so.
BUT-- hormones do weird things to you. I remember going skiing when I got pregnant with my first child. Didn't even know I was pregnant yet, though should have suspected... I had a full-blown panic attack pretty much. All of a sudden the slope looked impossibly steep and I was terrified of falling. LOL, this sort of thing will not be good for leading.
Congratulations and wishing you safe and uneventful pregnancy! :)
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mountangurl
Jul 21, 2006, 10:40 PM
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i now have a 13 month old, this brings back memories.
i climbed through the first trimester but exaustion was what got to me (and planning a wedding in 6 weeks!). When i found out i was told i could climb through the fifth month, when the uterus starts to poke out! the dangerous thing about climbing is impact to your uterus, so any falls can be bad.
i didnt get morning sickness, i got evening nausea! that didnt help with the climbing either because i climbing in the evening at the gym.
i cried alot about not climbing while i was preggers... i couldent look at a magazine, hear people talk about it, look at my gear!
but once he was born and the harness could fit i was back on the rock ( it was HARD at first, especially with gigantic nursing boobies.) but a year later and i am climbingbetter than i did before i had my son. carrying a baby around is great weight training, and while your pregnant it'll get your legs strong!
good luck!
do you have a midwife or a doc?
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aimeerose
Jul 22, 2006, 4:32 AM
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Just wanted to post to let any of my friends know I'm sorry if they read about my news here and didn't hear it from me first! We haven't told many people yet since I'm not far along, but I didn't even think about the fact that people might read this who I haven't told yet! Guess I'm getting spacey already! I'm also feeling winded quickly already. Not sure if that's just cause we were a month away from the altitude and now we're back. If not, I guess I just won't be sending my projects for a while!
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lena_chita
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Jul 22, 2006, 1:05 PM
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Oh, yeah, climbing with nursing bobbies. I won't forget that anytime soon. They did look nice and big (or at least bigger :? ) but OMG, my reach increased by a few inches when I my DD finally weaned.
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climbsomething
Jul 25, 2006, 1:22 AM
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AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Aimee that is SO COOL!
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gunkjunkie
Jul 25, 2006, 3:19 PM
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Hi -
I'm about 4 months pregnant now. :D I didn't have any real troubles with morning sickness. I climbed for a while after finding out - but realized that with my personality - I tend to be stubborn and push things too far - that it probably wasn't a good idea. My advice would be to try to avoid having to set up anchors or raps (1 pitch stuff / climb in a group) - I noticed that at times I would get really dizzy - and I found that setting up even an easy rap is hard when the world won't stop spinning :shock: . Basically what I'm doing to try to maintain some shape, other than round, is yoga, light weight lifting and walking. I also found out that you don't want to overstretch (this has to do with the ligaments loosening up)- I got a little carried away in yoga class because I found that I was becoming more flexible :lol: - and my back and hamstrings decided to tighten up in protest.
Deirdre
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astan
Aug 20, 2006, 6:28 AM
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I found that fatigue stopped me climbing after about 5 months, not to mention the ever expanding belly!! However, I have found it more difficult to go climbing AFTER the baby was born. For the first 3 months I lived in a fog of exhaustion and then once that cleared, I found (and still find) it difficult to find climbing partners who were willing to help baby sit during the climb!!
Good luck with it!
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crimperqueen
Aug 25, 2006, 1:11 AM
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I have a 6 month old baby and I climbed until 1 week before I had her.
I led as long as I fit in my regular harness, but only on routes i was very comfortable with. Trad and Sport.
I climbed the rest of the time with the Petzl 8003 Mountaineering harness. I just seconded and TR'd. I ice climbed when I was 7.5 months preggo!
http://www.lesberubes.com/...&set=CaraIceClimbing
I bouldered in the gym from 8 months until when she was born.
no troubles at all. the main thing is that you listen to your body.
I didn't have horrible morning sickness, but felt faint very easily if I didn't snack all day long. I stopped climbing my limit by the time I was about 5 months pregnant. My balance was getting weird and all. but I still enjoyed the easy stuff!
We've been taking baby to the climbing wall since she was 1 week old, and outside climbing since it was warm enough (early april). I just nurse when she is hungry and my husband and I switch off with a third person to do lots of climbing. :)
Congrats! and yes, being winded, dizzy, hungry all the time and emotional.. all part of it. But it is amazing!
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aimeerose
Nov 14, 2006, 5:36 AM
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Update: Now just over 5 month preggo, got the Petzl body harness which rocks. Climbing about a number grade easier on sport and managed to get up all the trad climbs clean at the forks that I've led in the past. I also get winded very easily and sometimes have to rest just because of that. But it feels great to climb and be out in the nice weather we've been having this fall. Now that I'm quite obviously pregnant it's fun to see other climber's reactions. Most people are pretty impressed that I'm still TRing hard 11s and easy 12s (although I usually have to pull through the crux on the 12s).
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doktor_g
Nov 18, 2006, 6:02 PM
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Howdy Aimee,
Be careful leading while pregnant, especially 2nd through 3rd trimester. A lead fall (even a short one) could put you at serious risk for abrupto placentae (placental abruption). This occurs when the placenta shears away from the uterine wall compromising fetal circulation (not enough blood for the baby), and can cause serious (ie life threatening) hemorrhage in you (mom). Often times we see abruption in two catagories: drug users and motor vehicle accidents. Lead climbing would put you into the second category (trauma). A short fall that you'd normally not even chalk up as a "whipper" could create some tremendous shear forces on the kiddo and your placenta. I'd urge caution especially after 24weeks (the time when the fetus is considered viable). Good luck with motherhood.
Grover
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lhwang
Nov 20, 2006, 1:38 AM
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Please please avoid any activities that involve bouncing/jumping (ie bouldering) from about T3 onwards. Your pelvic floor (and future urinary continence) will thank you.
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aimeerose
Nov 20, 2006, 4:41 PM
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No worries- no bouldering for me, just to warm up at the gym and I never jump off, my hubby grabs my rapidly growing butt and eases me to the ground. I am going to do some bouldering at the Baths on Virgin Gorda in a couple weeks, but again, I won't do anything I have to jump off of. I don't lead anything unless I know I won't fall. I'm more worried about the wierd stretching feeling I get in my obliques when I get out of bed. I hope they're not going to tear or anything.
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shouldstudybutbouldering
Nov 28, 2006, 9:05 PM
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just give up climbing.. as a girl whats the bets you can hope to do anyway..l might as well concentrate on being a good mother or crashing cars becaue thats all women are good for anway... exspecially the latter
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climbsomething
Nov 29, 2006, 3:24 AM
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aimeerose wrote: No worries- no bouldering for me, just to warm up at the gym and I never jump off, my hubby grabs my rapidly growing butt and eases me to the ground. I am going to do some bouldering at the Baths on Virgin Gorda in a couple weeks, but again, I won't do anything I have to jump off of. I don't lead anything unless I know I won't fall. I'm more worried about the wierd stretching feeling I get in my obliques when I get out of bed. I hope they're not going to tear or anything.
Call me, chika! There's some newer routes at the gym. They're mostly kinda on the soft side and they make me look gooood.
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julia
Dec 20, 2006, 5:11 PM
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Wow. I'm impressed that you've kept up the climbing. Morning (or should I say "all day") sickness got me the first trimester and then it just didn't feel right in my second and third--all I wanted to do was sleep. And the fourth trimester (after he was born) I was in a daze. So I basically took a year off, with just a few outings here and there.
One thing I want to warn you about -- your belly will still look pretty big for the first couple of months. I was fit going into pregnancy and everyone kept saying "you'll be one of those people that's back to normal immediately". Not so. I was SO discouraged. In retrospect, I was expecting too much, too quickly. No one warned me and I wish they had. I felt like a failure at first -- a fat failure!
But my son is seven months old now and I'm below my pre-pregnancy weight. My abs finally feel normal again (mine split at about seven months) and I'm starting to feel better about my climbing. I do think that breastfeeding really melts the weight off (it takes something like 500 extra calories a day to breastfeed).
Good luck. Motherhood is an adventure -- often analogous to climbing. In fact, during labor I tried to explain it to my husband in terms of climbing. It felt like a really, really, really long climb that was sustained and pumpy, but no one move was actually *that* hard. An endurance climb, not a one-move wonder!
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aimeerose
Dec 22, 2006, 5:54 AM
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Thanks for the labor/climbing metaphor. Hopefully that will help when I'm in the thick of it. At the moment I'm having all the women I know who've been through it remind me of why I shouldn't just schedule a c-section 
Anyways, just climbed in Red Rocks today and got up a 10d without having to rest. That made me super happy! I thought I'd be not climbing harder than 5.9 by now. So happy just to be able to climb at all. Now if only my internal organs didn't feel so squished- and I still have 3 months to go!
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julia
Dec 22, 2006, 1:50 PM
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The only thing that got me really excited about labor was reading Ina May's "Guide to Childbirth". The stories are really inspiring and enpowering (instead of horrible and scary, like most people share). It's a little woo-woo, if you know what I mean, but it really helped me out. Also, consider hiring a doula. My husband and I both agreed that it was the best money ever spent. Good luck!
http://www.amazon.com/Ina-Mays-Guide-Childbirth-Gaskin/dp/0553381156
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julia
Dec 22, 2006, 1:56 PM
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Oh. And I meant to say: Great work at Red Rocks. Very, very impressive. It sounds like you're doing great. The only "exercise" I did in pregnancy was prenatal yoga (mostly to meet other pregnant women) and long walks in the final weeks (in an attempt to get labor going). The yoga was profitable, as I'm still friends with all the women who had babies within a month of me. But the walking didn't seem to do much since I went a week past my due date. With the level of fitness you've maintained, I'm guessing that you'll do great. Again. Very impressive!
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lena_chita
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Dec 22, 2006, 4:22 PM
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It is really impressive that you are still climbing so well!
And as far as C-section... Well, do you REALLY want to have all those muscles that you use for climbing cut through and scarred? They would never be quite the same after it, you know... I hear it from many women who had C-sections, I'm lucky enough to have avoided them. C-section is a major abdominal surgery. Sure, it is sometimes necessary and life-saving, to to CHOOSE one without any need for it is really, really stupid.
I second the Inna May's book recommendation. It's a good read.
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aimeerose
Dec 25, 2006, 10:48 PM
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Oh boy, I had an even better climbing day yesterday! I felt like a real climber again. I worked an 11b the day before and "redpointed" it (on TR, of course, my hubby refers to it as a preggo redpoint) yesterday along with an 11a too! It was so fun. I couldn't believe I could do that a week shy of 7 months pregnant and at least 20 pounds heavier than usual.
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crackrn
Dec 26, 2006, 4:05 PM
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Pretty dang inspiring! I've been wondering what I'll do when (if?) I get preggo...not much different is my guess if I follow your lead.
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aimeerose
Dec 26, 2006, 6:08 PM
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Thanks. That's what i hope is to be inspiring to other preggo climbers who want to keep at it. I have some good inspiration too, but it's such an experiment. People keep asking me how long the doctors say I can climb and I'm like, they have no idea! It's fun to see what a body can do in this shape (ie round!).
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amy
Dec 29, 2006, 5:55 AM
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please keep up with the updates. my boyfriend and i have talked about having kids and how it would affect climbing. he says not at all, but i told him he is a guy and what does he know about being pregnant?
apparently i am friends with women who give up their lives and interests to be stay at home moms, which looks horrid to me. and i can't imagine not climbing for months (years?) so it is good to hear positive feedback from somebody actually going through it . . . good luck with the rest of your pregnancy.
:)
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harmonydoc
Jan 6, 2007, 12:04 AM
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I, too, am following this thread with great interest. I'll be turning 38 in a few months, so I'm definitely thinking a lot about pregnancy lately and how a child would fit into my busy life. Thanks to all for posting.
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