Bump protector for ski trip?

[Nordcelt]

Hi All, just found out that I'm pregnant literally 3 days after booking a ski trip for early Feb!!! Money all paid and still want to go but wondering if anyone knows if there is some sort of padded bump that I can wear to give me piece of mind on the slopes (I'll be doing the easy ones anyway but just in case)?

bumperella a friend of mine was also advised not to start XC skiing while pregnant if she hadn't done it before. One of the reasons being stomach muscles as you say, but the other being it's one of the most demanding forms of exercise in terms of CV training, breathing etc. and all over muscle use, and from my experience leaves novices exhausted after 10 minutes!

When your heart is already working doubley hard during pregnancy, it's as you say, not the best time to start.

D

i am sorry i normally do not make comments like this... however, on this occassion, i must say if you intend to ski, this is simply irresponsible. should you fall or someone were to ran into you, you might be running the risk of interupting your pregnancy or demaging your baby... we are talking about a child's lifetime vs your moments of joy on the slopes... now, of course, everything might go very well and i have friends who used to ski when they were 4-5 months pregnant, but who wants to take chances?

i am going to a ski resort with my husband (who is a keen snowboarder and wants a break)and i am an advanced x-country skiier (which is far less dangerous than downhill), however, i would not be skiing this time as the safety of my unborn child is paramount to me.

obviously, these are personal choices, but you should give this a thought.

good luck!

bump and delia I hadn't thought of that. You're right of course it is seriously hard work!

Ah well, maybe some gentle snowshoeing?

I am the least paranoid person I know. I don't ski, but I went on the back of a motorbike for most of my first pregnancy and rode my horse all throughot my third. My pregnancies had all been fine and I think I just had that attitude of 'it'll all be fine'. And it was.

However, since then I have had two miscarriages and a late loss of twins and it has been brought home to me rather harshly that even if you do nothing risky, things are not always going to be OK. There is absolutely no way I would do anything that puts my baby at more risk than I need to now.

I would give the skiing a miss.

You really ought not to ski or ride a horse when pregnant. If you don't fall, you will probably fine but if you do there is a good risk of losing the baby. However good a skier/rider you are, you can't regulate other people/your horse. You can't guarantee you won't fall.

I wouldn't go. Doesn't matter how good a skier you are - no-one plans to have a fall, they just happen. That's why they're called accidents.

I ski-ed at the end of the first trimester while my pelvis would have been protecting the proto-bump. I was with a pair of GPs who were comfortable with this.

Having said that, dh and I had a ski lesson with our usual instructor (who is now a friend) and he was most twitchy about me doing anything at all challenging (for example, he had dh going donw a half pipe and wouldn't let me - the btter ski-er - do it). Did wonders for my technique though! :) That, plus for once being able to do deep snow ploughs and be Mother Duck to my GP friends' 2 kids, whose first year of skiing it was.

Interstingly, his wife (also a ski instrcutor - also a friend - in fact, she was our first private instructor) was pregnant with twins a couple of years later, and she ski-ed until 6 months.

If you are determined to go, perhaps a back protector would be a good idea: I know my instrcuotr friends wear them frequently.

Also, be aware that your ligaments will be looser, so make sure to ski extra carefully.

BTW - the "bump" is now 10 and has been skiing since he was 4

Ski instrucotr friends wouldn't let him start any younger.

Although, that said, their own kids started younger - but that was 'cos they were able to ski every week.

I skiied when I was 15 weeks pg with ds. My gp actually said it's better to go after 12 weeks as the pregnancy is more stable. Not sure if that's true or not, but he had no problems with me going skiing then. I didn't push myself too much, only did one black and that was accidental (but an easy black), no off piste, reds and blues only, an nice long lunch and then finishing around 3pm for lots of hot chocolate and sitting in the sunshine.

We were in Verbier - not sure it's that high, but I flew in pregnancy too so altitude can't be that bad. I know planes are pressurised but I think they're only pressurised to 10,000 feet which is just about the height of the highest lift in Verbier.

hi - your insurance may pay for you to cancel the hol / re book a different name free?

Dear All,

Thank you for all of your great advice, DH and I are going to sit down this eve and discuss all poss options. It may well be that I do a bit of light cross country or simply chill in the sun - but we'll see. Definitely a few concerns re the relaxed ligaments given that it's not a routine sport for us but an annual one.

We're going to be in Switzerland and the resort has plenty of different runs ranging from flat to extreme. It's also the low season part of the peak season - after the new year and before half term so we'll see how it is.

Feel fully armed to make the right decisions now!

xx

Some good advice there and many contradictory views. Just wanted to add my two pennies....

I think the risks of skiing whilst pregnant are far greater to you than to your baby - baby is very well protected by fluid etc. I skied at 6 weeks pg and, rather annoyingly, fell two hours into the first day. Was a fairly innocuous fall - caught an edge whilst stopping - but sufficient to tear a ligament in my knee which ruled out pretty much all activities for the rest of the week...there's plenty to do in most resorts but most activities require limbs that work . Other downsides were that I couldn't take anything stronger than paracetamol [well'ard emoticon] and couldn't drink but did manage to read about 6 books. I was still able to claim on my insurance, despite my pregnancy, and good some excellent physio back home which meant that I was able to ski again at 16 weeks [daft emoticon]

Skiing at 16 weeks was different - I got tired quicker than normal so stuck to half days....skiing first thing is a good idea as the idiots are all sleeping off their hangovers at that time. By day 5 of the holiday I really didn't feel like my legs were working as they should, so decided to call it a day and spent the rest of the holiday loafing around slurping hot chocolates and watching the cretins tumble down a notoroius black-run that led back to the resort - tres entertaining

As has been said already it's all down to personal preference - you may not know whether you want to ski until you actually get there. Same applies to most other activities....I also have a horse & stopped riding at about 4 months because I just didn't fancy it (am 30 weeks now & counting down the weeks 'til I'm back on board).

My advice would be to go and take it a day at a time - Switzerland is a fabulous place and would be a shame to cancel. That said, there's plenty more opportunity to ski post-baby so there's no reason not to bounce back onto the slopes in 2012!!!