Skiing in early pregnancy- Would you? Have you?

[jemimafuddleduck]

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

This is all a bit hypothetical really as who knows what will happen in the future etc but I’m looking for opinions on this...

We are planning to TTC our first baby around end of October 2018. We are also committed to a ski holiday over Christmas 2018. IF I got pregnant on the first go (unlikely, I know), I’m guessing I’d be around 8 weeks pregnant, maximum.

I’m a fairly experienced skier, but like to ski at a leisurely pace and wouldn’t be racing around/doing jumps/off piste etc. I rarely fall (but sometimes do!)

I appreciate you can never foresee accidents - other people skiing into you etc...

WIBU to still ski? At that stage, would my risks be ridiculously high if I were to fall? Or would it be negligible?

Sorry if anyone thinks I’m crazy here but looking for honest opinions/experiences.

It was the pregnancy symptoms that seized me up completely the first time around (pregnant on first month of trying). By week 8 I was fainting while teaching because I'd barely eaten due to the nausea and was beyond exhausted. I didn't feel normal through the whole pregnancy as by the time the exhaustion and nausea finally cleared off, I began to develop SPD. I did not bloom.

Second time was better. Still queasy and tired though but I did feel vaguely alive and had several weeks of something called a second trimester which was a novelty

Aside from the lottery of pregnancy symptoms, I'd agree that as long as you take it steadily it should be fine. General pregnancy advice is to continue with your usual level of activity, but listen to your body. Unless it's very high impact e.g. contact fighting sports.

I went skiing and snowboarding in February and gave birth in September with no pregnancy complications.

I went skiing at 12 weeks with twins, but wasn't really showing... Had a massive wipe out but they were fine. Born at 40 weeks; 6.8 and 7.8. I'd go.

I went skiing twice while pregnant, at 9 weeks and 15 weeks. I'm an experienced skier, went to quiet resorts and stuck to quiet, cruisy pistes for the most part. I was very tired at 9 weeks and wasn't expecting to feel so nervous. It was ok but didnt ski as much as normal. At 15 weeks, although risks are slightly higher as baby is higher in the pelvis, i felt great and skied mist of each day. Yes its a risk but safer than driving a car. Only you can decide whether it's a risk you are willing to take. Ski instructors generally ski while pregnant. Just check that your travel insurance covers you fully!!

jemima honestly, I would just crack on with it then. Hopefully you will conceive quickly and without issues but if you do need investigations or treatment then I think that you will come to regret repeatedly delaying ttc for ski holidays or similar. If you are pregnant when the holiday comes then you can make a judgement at the time based on how you feel, and if you spend the week taking walks, reading books and eating your body weight in raclette then there are worse ways to spend a holiday...

Bear in mind that pregnancy weakens your ligaments so even if you don't fall, there is a risk to your knees

My mum is an avid skiier and decided to go skiing when she was pregnant with me, about 4 months. She was super super careful - and because she was so obsessed with not having a fall she had a massive fall as a result! Everything was fine of course (as I am writing this) but I don’t think she went back on the piste that holiday.

I went at 16 weeks. Planned to stick on cruisey blues but found myself on more challenging runs. No spectacular crashes - one gentle topple but significant bleed the next day left me grounded whilst dh went out to play. Received excellent medical attention in France, and lovely chalet staff made it a lovely break. child now at school. I found the air thin and it was quite hard work walking around. With hindsight skiing was probably not my best move and if it happened again I'd possibly cancel.

I went when I was 15 weeks pregnant. I’m only an intermediate skier, was very careful and only skied in the mornings. Got the chalet to myself in the afternoons which was lovely as there was a big group of us.

More accomplished skiers are higher risk apparently because they’re going faster.

I'd just start ttc to be honest. Some when ttc are lucky enough to get a bfp the first time they shag an unwrapped cock while others of us can take years, lose babies and even need help. We put off a lot and I don't regret it because I've finally got my gorgeous dc but if we'd started earlier the chance of two would be higher and it took a time, so much time stressing over unneeded contraception.

I agree with peachgreen. I think it's fine to ski but having miscarried too I did also really blame myself, angsting over a glass of wine I had before knowing and a ride I went on as well. If I'd been skiing and fallen for me personally it would have been another thing to beat myself with. But not everyone is like that. The problem is unless it happens you don't know how you'll react, it isn't always logical.

If you do get lucky enough to conceive straight away, make sure you have the right travel insurance. Not all insurers cover pregnancy, they have handy clauses to suit themselves.

Why can’t you just start TTC now? If you can put off to Sept you can put off to Jan. But in your thirties and with a good partner I would be loathed to wait...

I would and did, but I chose my resort carefully- Italy/ Austria rather than France because most of the skiing in France is well above 2500m and resorts are just under 2000m while in Austria/ Dolomites you're sleeping at 1300 or less and there are very few pistes above 2500.

I'd be more worried about falling walking around the ski resort on icy roads than skiing tbh

I went skiing with dd at 8 weeks. I did some very gentle skiing but mostly stayed in the room vomiting ! It was a bit grim.... I did have a private early scan to check everything looked ok before i went though. I think you wont know how you feel about it until the time. I rode my horse until 20 weeks first time round. Second pregnancy I stopped as soon as I knew. I just felt differently about it that time maybe because I was more aware of things and had more of an emotional connection in early pregnancy second time - it all felt a bit abstract first time.

It's not you that you have to worry about though. The vast majority of the crashes I've had (I used to be an instructor so spent a lot of time skiing over the years) were because some fool lost control and hit me. My experience is that the risk of being hit into is far higher on the cruisey blue runs, so even sticking to the easy pistes is no guarantee.

I personally wouldn't risk it. You (and baby) might be fine, but if you're not, how would you feel?

Not to mention that morning sickness might scupper you anyway. There's no way I could've done much at all between weeks 7 and 14, and I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be far from a toilet to vomit into!

Agree with the last post. Got home from skiing yesterday with children - we're all good skiers but spent lots of time on cruisy reds and blues. Fab resort, lots of runs, not busy at all and yet all 3 children, and I, were taken out by other idiots skiers. One lady did stop to apologise for her brat son's ridiculous speed and loss of control but other culprits just sped on. Doesn't matter therefore if you plan to be careful, you can't account for other people.

Obviously not common but I conceived twins first time round and would not have risked skiing, as other people have set out, the guilt that goes with any pregnancy complications is hard to describe unless you've experienced it (not miscarriage in my case but extreme prematurity that i blamed myself for for a very long time) even if in theory there's no significant risk at that stage.

On a less serious note, i would also have hated being in a ski resort not being able to ski and partake in the apres ski.

I'd just wait and see!

I did it ... very gently at 12 weeks. No harm to little one.... but I was sick as a dog and very very tired and particularly uncomfortable on long airport transfers so wouldn’t necessarily bother again as it wasn’t a great deal of fun.

There's some really interesting points on this thread, thank you for starting it and everyone chiming in - I hadn't considered the physical aspects of pregnancy itself. And the worry of other people! But I have got plenty to do other than ski if it comes to it, and it's not a very high resort. Keeping my fingers crossed I have to pack a lot of books!

My GP said it would have been ok, but I didn't want to risk it. We cancelled, but only lost the deposit, as we had waited until the last moment to settle the balance

However capable / careful you are, you have no control over who else is on the slopes.

Just remembered that DH wanted to treat me to apres ski spa and couldn’t really do that either :(

I was so sick from 6-15 weeks pregnant that I struggled to leave my house, let alone ski.

I had to cancel a horse riding trip at about 8 weeks pregnant as couldn’t stop being sick. Regardless of the risks, I was simply too sick to go.

DH and I are active and all our holidays involve sports. We refused to put our life on hold while TTC (in case it never happened) but we accepted the risk that we’d lose a bit of money having to cancel a holiday if I did get pregnant. In the end I lost a few hundred pounds cancelling the riding holiday, but in the grand scheme of having a child I guess it’s not much

Where I live quite a few people ski with babies/toddlers in backpack carriers. That seems horrendously risky.

Why do you have to start TTC in Oct? Why not just ttc after the trip since you’ve already booked it now

I did when 11 weeks with Dd1 just for one morning, couldn't enjoy it at all for worrying, didn't go when pregnant with dd2

Yes, I have, with DC1 (very early pregnancy) and DC2 / DC3 (around 2 months pregnant for both).