I don't really have to stop doing DIY, do I?

[YankNCock]

3rd pregnancy, 1st was a miscarriage at 7 weeks, 2nd is DS now 2.2

I'm only just 4 weeks pregnant and have told some close friends and my mom. Every last one of them has said 'oh you need to be careful of all that lifting you were doing!'

DH and I have been ripping up paving slabs and will be cutting down trees/bushes. There is some heavy lifting involved. I don't see why it's a problem. I just got a new wheelbarrow and was looking forward to using it! Everyone seems to think I should just fanny about with my feet up, even though I feel no different.

And if I go by my last pregnancy, I've got about 2-3 weeks before I really start feeling like shit, so that makes me even more determined to get a lot of these jobs done! I had SPD last time, and my pelvis has never quite gotten back to normal since, so I expect that will be crippling me later on in the pregnancy.

I've got raised garden beds to build! And probably a deck! I don't really have to stop, do I? I want scientific evidence of this.

When I went to the doctor initially to say / confirm I was pregnant (about 5-6 weeks) he mentioned the general risk of miscarriage, I asked whether there was anything I could do that would make any difference during the first 12 weeks, he said not really, even women doing manual labouring jobs have the normal rate of completion / MC, it really makes no difference.

I'm five months and still going running (a bit slowly), long walks, doing gardening and decorating. Nothing with heavy lifting (crap at that anyway) or anything that feels uncomfortable but no, you don't have to stop. Putting your feet up for nine months is a ridiculous idea, you need to keep fit - based on your normal level, not someone else's.

tbh, i'd use your 2.2 y'old as a guide. Anything heavier than them, I'd leave for someone else to do, but as you'll be lifting them regularly, other items up to the same weight should be OK, id imagine.

I'll second the heavy lifting advice. I love DIY and manual jobs and have continued throughout. I'm 38 weeks now and fully intend on moving a small chest of drawers later.

This time I decided that I will be sensible and know my limits - if it hurts then don't do it. If it doesn't hurt then go ahead (with a small amount of caution). I also have two 4 year olds and regularly pick them up and throw them around (in a playful way obviously!!) and have suffered no ill affects as a result.

I actually get pretty cheesed off when my family members tell me I'm doing too much or that I shouldn't be doing X,Y,Z. I'm more than capable of knowing what my body's able to do and I would never put my unborn child at risk... must be the hormones making me a bit sensitive!!

I guess the only other factor is an emotional one: would you blame yourself if anything happened? If yes then I wouldn't do it but if you can honestly say you wouldn't then fill your boots!

Good luck!

I'm 38 weeks and currently, (with MN breaks) waxing and polishing my wooden floors with a J cloth and tea towel. Our grandmothers would have carried on with manual housework right through their pregnancy. I don't see the harm as long as you have no complications and not instructed by a doctor to take it easy.

Well my mum (who had 5 m/c herself), told me after my second miscarriage it was because I was doing so much travelling (I'd been to Coventry and back on the train the week before for a meeting.

People say stupid things about miscarriage. Unless you have placenta previa or a known incompetant cervix, you don't need to change anything you are doing. DIY doesn't cause m/c (athough steer clear of organic chemicals), nor does sex, nor travelling, nor having a glass of wine, nor taking a plane etc etc. In fact unless you are smoking like a chimney or taking class A's, there's not really much you can do to make yourself miscarry.

I'd go with the others: do what you feel comfortable with. I relished those first weeks this time before m/s kicked in and any chance of me bending over and lifting anything disappeared in a swamp of nausea.

All sounds like good advice - I'm only just getting to the start of the second trimester and still cycling 60+ km a week, plus swimming (I want to start triathlons at the end of next year, so I am thinking I can at least move in that direction with my exercise throughout pregnancy!)

I think the main thing is listen to your body. I went for a great hike at about 5 weeks, with a fairly rapid vertical gain and had to slow down from my usual pace as I was quite out of breath, but otherwise have not really felt any different.

Re heavy-ish lifting - your stomach muscles won't have separated or anything at that stage, so there shouldn't be any change to your core strength (only thing I found is that I needed to go to the loo much more often by then, so might need to be careful for other reasons

I think I need to show this thread to my mum - yesterday she declined the offer of me picking up a couple of cartons of orange juice for her on my lunch break with "Oh no, you don't want to be carrying anything heavy right now!" 2 litres of OJ, heavy?

Thanks so much everyone, this is really reassuring. As for the emotional factor, no, I wouldn't blame myself. With my MC, I didn't do anything wrong, and it still happened. I am feeling quite relaxed about this. Obviously if I MC I'd be upset, don't get me wrong, but it won't be as devastating as it was with my first pregnancy, when we'd been trying for a year and didn't know if I'd ever get pregnant again (PCOS).

I suppose I'm more worried about other people blaming me. I've openly scoffed a bit at the idea of stopping DIY, and I think if something did happen, some might be thinking I'd caused it, IYSWIM? Guess I'll be doing stealth DIY or something.

My doctor told me i was not under any circumstances to lift anything heavy during my pg i obviously asked if it could effect the baby n he said no no nothing to do with baby only because i have back problems, the only one that gets hurt lifting heavy things in pg is the mum and even then thats only if it's to heavy your not lifting properly or you have back problems or SPD.

Congratulations YanknCock

Of course you can do DIY, you know that.

Also, on a happier note - I wanted to say that you gave me some laughs during my first pregnancy when the ms was vile - I believe it's something to do with kicking the teeth out of anyone who mentions "ginger biscuits". Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I had a grotesque week 6-9 this time and virtually zip since then! I've had the odd cyclizine - but I've not been a hollow-eyed addict. :)

Ah yes, the 'Anti-Ginger Avengers' was my gang that would swoop down from the sky and bash people about with handbags (or barf on their shoes) if they dared to suggest ginger to a pregnant lady.

I might get a t-shirt made. 'Mention ginger to me if you want a smack in the mouth'

If you haven't guessed, ginger did NOT help, and EVERY SINGLE PERSON in the world asked me if I'd tried it for hyperemesis. I feel quite strongly on the subject and am not normally violent.

oh and congrats AlpinePony, hooray for having a better time of it this time around! Hope that rubs off on me!

I spent a couple of weeks furious with myself for getting pregnant again knowing how ill I was last time... to the point of wondering whether termination was not out of the question. But I suppose it goes to prove each pregnancy is different - and I very much hope you too have a happier time this time. This pregnancy is a fucking doddle truth be told.

Have you heard of flat coke?