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Original poster

My pregnant friend has just had a skiing accident...

167 replies

pavlovthecat · 07/03/2009 18:55

I am furious with her and her DP. Well, I am now I know she and baby are ok.

She has fractured her leg, skiiing in USA, while 16 weeks pg.

She has never been skiing before, thought it would be a good time to try, seeing her dp insisted she would be fine (apparantly gp said it was ok). And now she is likely to be in USA for a few weeks before she can fly home.

How could she put herself and her unborn child in danger like that?

I did not put this in AIBU, because to be honest, I don't think I am. I feel very cross.

OP posts:
expatinscotland · 07/03/2009 22:21

I think you'd have to be pretty much a moron not to realise that trying out skiing for the first time whilst second-trimester pregnant isn't a very good idea.

'Seems like she hit black ice or something (not that I know sod all about skiing).'

I doubt that because she would have been on some bunny run and those are very well looked after at most US ski resorts.

She more than likely just, well, fell and fell wrong, it happens, particularly when learning and when your balance is off for one reason or another (for more experienced people, it could be from catching an edge, just misjudging how your weight needed to transfer, or even an ill-packed or ill-fitting rucksack for your out-of-bounds/off-piste aficianados).

ilovemyghds · 07/03/2009 22:21

Did her DH persuade her into going? when I was about 20 weeks pg with DC1 we were on holiday and DH (without my knowledge) looked into going out mountain biking for the day. He couldn't understand why I was refusing to go! The 'rep' type person on our resort didn't realise I was pg and just thought I was being lazy I think (language barrier). When I finally managed to explain why I didn't want to do it (miming large bump and pointing at my tummy) she just looked at my DH and said 'no, no, no!'.

Would never have forgiven myself if something had happened because of an avoidable accident. Don't be too hard on her, she probably is feeling v shaken.

AitchTwoOh · 07/03/2009 22:22

i think most people see the brochures and reckon 'i can do that', tbh. i CAN'T ski. i know i can't, because my dad was a great skier with the jiggered knees to prove it, so it's not a holiday i'd go on unless i was fit and ready to learn. but i know friends of mine who've gone on hols and thought it would be piss easy and great larks and have come back with the injuries to prove how wrong they were.

oopsagain · 07/03/2009 22:24

i went skiing when pregnant with ds1

I was at the EPU ebing told i'd probably miscarried and then my friend rang and asked if i wanted to go skiing 6 weeks later.
Oh, yes was my reply....

6 weeks later i was still bleeding and still preg.
and going veeery gently down the slopes doing lovely controlled turns.
It was my first ski holiday where i didn't get hurt.
i learned good technique that holiday- it was very nice.

But we were up high and i'm sure there's not much oxygen up there- i was puffing and huffing all the time too.

I do agree that she was a bit bonkers.

Habbibu · 07/03/2009 22:25

I've got shocking hand-eye co-ordination. I look at ski-ing, and all I see is the potential for both legs to go off in different directions...

expatinscotland · 07/03/2009 22:30

'I look at ski-ing, and all I see is the potential for both legs to go off in different directions...'

There's definitely potential for that, also for leaning too far foward and not getting your weight in your heels and face-planting.

AitchTwoOh · 07/03/2009 22:31

my dad used to keep parts of his knee in a glass jar. he's dead now, those knackered knee bits are all we have to remember him by... [wistful]

Habbibu · 07/03/2009 22:33

Oh, Aitch. I'm oddly charmed by the storage of bits of knee - he sounds like quite a character.

expatinscotland · 07/03/2009 22:36

The surgeon let me see the ACL graft he made out of my hamstring tendon before the anaesthetist knocked me back out and the surgeon drilled the graft into my leg.

It was cool!

hatwoman · 07/03/2009 22:41

dh likes keeping medical trinkets. he has his wisdom teeth, the dog's first baby tooth and dd's umbilical cord in a pot somewhere. he would have loved to bring some knee home but has had to settle for pictures (he too has had his ACL messed with)

expatinscotland · 07/03/2009 22:44

When I had some loose bits of cartilage removed from my tibial plateau the surgeon remarked, 'This must have hurt.'

No shit, dude!

Habbibu · 07/03/2009 22:45

See, now, if pavlov's friend had been the latter bit of this thread before she went...

Habbibu · 07/03/2009 22:46

seen, not been.

hatwoman - am quite taken with the dog's baby tooth!

madwomanintheattic · 07/03/2009 22:47

i skiied at 14 weeks.

the gp said i would have to have a fairly serious smash and damage myself quite badly before anything hurt the baby. canadian gp - we lived there - it's fairly common to ski until the foetus is no longer protected by your pelvis. that said, the minute you can feel anything over your pelvic girdle, forget it. up until that point? i sort of agree with the car crash analogy... statistically you might be more likely to get an injury, but probably not to the extent that you damage the foetus in any way...

i've spent many very boring weeks drinking hot chocolate whilst everyone else in the family hits the piste - for some reason i am a very bad planner and only do heavily pregnant in the winter lol.

BUT - i did fall once during the week I skiied at 14 weeks (and i never, ever fall lol - not because i'm good, but because i don't push myself) - bad visibility and i hit a huge pile of fresh powder which stopped my skis but not me, unfortunately... my superman flight was brought to an end by a full frontal belly flop onto the ground. despite the canadian gp's advice about it being entirely safe when the foetus is still protected by the pelvis, i would no longer ski when pregnant at all.

don't be too harsh on your friend, it may have seemed like a daft idea, but a local doc may well have thought there wasn't a great deal of risk after all... and i bet she won't do it again lol

hatwoman · 07/03/2009 22:49

H - it was the only one we had - because the vet had to take it out. I've no idea what happened to all the others.

AitchTwoOh · 07/03/2009 22:49

i threw out both dds' cords. they were GROSS. but i do feel bad about it.

expatinscotland · 07/03/2009 22:55

I threw out all three of their cords, too.

Yuck!

Why would you want to keep that?

DS had a massive one because his cord was wrapped round his neck and arm so the consultant, who was getting him out with ventouse, cut it really high and handed him to the paeds.

CoteDAzur · 08/03/2009 07:59

hatwoman - I actually studied risk, probability, statistics etc so know a bit about how insurance companies calculate risk. Which has nothing to do with this silly woman deciding to learn to ski in 2nd trimester of pregnancy.

Obviously, she didn't know that beginners are very likely to fall, numerous times. You are not advised to fall repeatedly when pregnant (really, are we debating this? ) so it was moronic of her to ski for the first time when pregnant.

I am not talking about likelihood of breaking her leg (very small). I am talking about likelihood of falling, many many times, on a hard surface, at angles a beginner will not be able to control.

CoteDAzur · 08/03/2009 08:04

Last week, I learned that my maternal grandfather has buried my umbilical cord in the premises of the neighbourhood mosque

That must be why I turned out an atheist, and since early childhood

belgo · 08/03/2009 08:05

Do you know Cote, I think this is the first thread where I've actually agreed with you totally?

Was it hatwoman who said it's no more risky then going in a car? In all the millions of times I've been in a car, including two minor accidents, I have never had bruises the size of those I had in my first week skiing.

CoteDAzur · 08/03/2009 08:12

There is hope for us yet, belgo

alicecrail · 08/03/2009 08:15

I think it is silly going skiing when pregnant, but saying that i did ride whilst pregnant ( i didn't start riding though if that makes a difference?) I got trampled by someone else's loose horse at 19 weeks and it broke my leg in 4 places and my nose. Luckily my dd was ok, but i did have to have an operation in which i lost a lot of blood and became anemic (which i still suffer from now) It was very tiring being pregnant on crutches, and i had x-ray's after dd was born to see how my leg had healed. The result? it hadn't healed at all, was only being supported by the metal bar that had been inserted into the bone. This was because baby had been using every extra nutrient in my body. You need to tell your friend that she needs to make sure she has plenty of calcium and multivitamins. My dd is 16months now and i still suffer with my leg

Original poster
pavlovthecat · 08/03/2009 08:29

Wow what a lot of posts - not read them all, wading through them, but let me repond to expat first - when you say 'what state is she is?' I presume you mean country wise? . She is in New Hampshire. If you meant physically, not great, if you mean mentally - doing well!!!

OP posts:
belgo · 08/03/2009 08:33

I feel very sorry for her - it sounds as awful accident. I don't understand why the GP told her it was ok to go skiing.

dragonbutter · 08/03/2009 08:36

morning pav,
i'm wondering if you plan on introducing your friend to mumsnet at some point?
of course you should.
all women need to know about this site especially the newly pregnant ones. i wish i had known much sooner.
i'm just giggling at the chance of her finding this thread while googling 'pregnant' and 'skiing'.
anyway, if she does join, at least she'll have a reputation already.
maybe she could call herself stoopidskiingpregnantlady so we could recognise her.

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