Sharing my eperience of skiing at 10 weeks

[spaghettibolognese]

Firstly, I just wanted to say that I just came back from my first scan - baby waved it's arms at us and it just made it all that little bit more real . Technology is absolutely amazing and I'm still in awe at the miracle of life! excited!

So the main purpose of this post was to share my recent experience skiing. A few weeks ago I searched MN for any skiing-related posts to get an idea of the different views on risks during pregnancy - the vastly different views did help me make decisions, so I thought I'd share my own experience. I'd spoken to my GP who said that there isn't enough clinical evidence one way or the other to definitively say it is or isn't safe to ski at this stage of the pregnancy, and I found that opinions vary widely depending on who you ask. Some say if you do ski, it is safer in early pregnancy when your hips are protecting your uterus, whilst others worry about placental development. Some women ski at 6 months, whilst other experienced skiiers would never dream of doing it at all.

I'm an intermediate skiier, so not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but glad to say that everything went well. DH and I decided that I would only stick to easy blue runs, take many long breaks and generally just take it easy. After the first half day, we decided to try a few of the easier red runs, which seemed OK. Over the next 2 days of the 3 day trip, I ended up doing a mix of reds and blues, taking it slow, being aware of my body and my surroundings, taking long lunch breaks, starting late and finishing early. I think 3 days was about the right length of time - I was pretty tired at the end of each day but happy to have gotten some fresh air, bit of sun and exercise.

In terms of risk, I didn't think that the risk was any greater than me tripping over something and falling (I've been known to trip over my own feet! ), riding a bicycle, or being jostled around on a crowded train or busy street. We had fresh soft snow on all days, so no icy patches, which was luck more than design. DH was almost always nearby looking out for tricky patches or large groups of skiiers approaching.

It isn't for everyone, but I'm definitely glad I went, but would also advise a lot of caution and taking it easy for anyone who is considering doing it. Listen to your body, stay hydrated and take long breaks.

I'd love to hear any other experiences if anyone else would like to share - either skiing or other sports (my cousin did martial arts until she was 5 months, though she did cut out any contact and only did the drills).

Not quite sure of the point to this. People will take risks they are comfortable with. I think participating in any activity you enjoy, are confident in and able to control some of the risks of is well within the remit of most pregnant women: most are driving and crossing roads till term. But others choose not to, and that's fine too. I guess it's partly about accepting the consequences of your actions if the worst happens. FWIW in my first pregnancy I rode (a horse) till about 7 months, including a fall at 14 weeks. In my second I rode till I miscarried at 12 weeks (unrelated to the riding). In my third I stopped as soon as I got a BFP.

I went skiing at 9 weeks pregnant with my third. It was fine. I am a quite good skier and never fell over or anything. It was quite a nice time to go as the sickness hadnt started yet. Did find I was more tired though and had to rest a few afternoons when normally I would have kept going.

Seems like a completely unnecessary risk to me, but each to their own I suppose
Agree with accepting the consequence of your actions. I suspect if you'd had a miscarriage in a previous pregnancy you may not have risked it.

I had but had also had a 7 week viability scan. I decided the only real risk was a very bad fall which, to me, was as likely as me being involved in a very bad car accident or being hit by a bus as I crossed the street. I think that is the level of impact where you would be risking miscarriage at that early stage (before full placenta formation, embryo still very internal etc). I wouldn't do it any later in the pregnancy - but doubt I would have felt up for it anyway. Actually, I think I was 8 weeks.

Glad you have enjoyed your trip.

In my experience, the accident rate of skiing is fairly high, certainly higher then the average day walking across the street. Particulary when there is a mixture of skiers and snow boarders.

I wouldn't consider it worth the risk.

I am more of a snowboarder than a skier nowadays, and usually rack up 20 days a year on average on the slopes. So I am pretty experienced and I guess by UK standards I am probably pretty advanced (but compared to some of the Austrians I ski with, who were born on skis I am still only just about ok). We never usually bother skiing on the pistes as they are just to easy and crowded, we stick to the off piste powder most of the time.

With all due respect I think out standards of skiing are probably quite different, since you talk about blue and reds (it is all just piste to me)

I have decided not to snowboard or ski during my pregnancy. My reasons for this have nothing to do with my own abilities, I am confident and controlled and as I said above since we mainy ride powder I would not do myself any damage in a fall. However I would be very worried about children, beginnner adults and any other out of control skiers on the slopes in those short bursts that I do go on the piste. Most of the time I can dodge anybody but I have seen and heard about many bad accidents where a skier has been out of control and crashed in to somebody else.

Also my doctor advised against it, saying that he too felt little risk of falling over, but mainly that the change in altitude could have terrible effects on the morning sickness and fatigue.

I personally also agree that it isn't worth the risk and I just wanted to give my opinion as someone who has skied more than anyone living in the UK could possibly manage.

Oh another thing I want to add is in regards to the comments about skiers and boarders, if you are really 100% confident on your skis or board and can ride well then it makes no difference whatsoever if there are skiers or boarders on the slopes, you can avoid anyone. These wars come from novices who blame the other sport for being 'in the way'.

Where I live everyone skis, or almost everyone and the doctors give their advice based on their own experiences on the slopes. Yes it is safe to ski per se but I think most doctors in the UK who give it the all clear do not really know the sport conditions.

I am glad you had a nice holiday and everything is fine but I just wanted to say that I don't think anyone should advocate it! So there are my thoughts.

Hi all, I just wanted to clarify that I wasn't advocating anything one way or the other, simply sharing my experience, which is what I like about this forum. Yes, it is all about levels of risk, and everyone has raised very valid points which I don't disagree with at all. Listen to your doctor (though each will have a different opinion), evaluate it for yourself, and stay safe.

To add to this, I'm just back from skiing, am 14 weeks. Had not planned to be skiing while pg. I took it easy, was fine and when weather bad stayed in the hotel. I was however far more tired than usual when skiing. Gave up by 3 pm most days.
I honestly believe that compared with sensible skiing, commuting to work is more dangerous.
Altitude can be an issue above 2500 m, so I stayed below that, easy in my resort.
It is a personal choice and I find op's opinions useful.

Ps had discussion with ski instructor and his wife skied to 6 months pg 3 times. He said this was v normal in France.

Am very glad you had a successful holiday and nothing untoward happened.
As with most things during pregnancy I advocate the approach that people should weigh up options themselves taking into account their own particular circumstances and risk attitude.

My scenario is that I'm a very experienced snowboarder (and was slightly miffed that I didn't get pg immediately at the end of last season, so I could be having some limited snowtime this year!!!). For me the risk of falls largely relates to snow conditions and how busy slopes are that lead back into resort. Because I can't predict either of those as I don't live in the mountains and can make a daily decision on whether to go out or stay at home I didn't want to fork out for an expensive holiday only to find the week we've picked doesn't have favourable weather/slope conditions, or we end up in a resort thats been also chosen by lots of other people.

Also I'm in second trimester and am finding that I am very tired and my balance/centre of gravity is shifting. Given that I had a fairly nauseous first trimester I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it too much then either.

This is like so many things in pg, and its not always as simple as just eliminate the highest risks in order, you need to combine that with other personal factors. I know that my biggest risk factor is probably my daily drive to work, but that is both hard to avoid without significant impact on family life that would happen if I gave up my job as soon as I was pregnant. Snowboarding would be lower risk, but is easily avoidable for me, and has the benefit of saving me a bit more money towards my maternity leave. (But similarly I decided that although its easily avoidable, I judged the risk of a medium steak and the odd glass of wine so low that I've had the odd one during pg!)

Anyway the most important question is the choice of resort for next winter . Where can we go, with a decent selection of challenging runs and off piste that are close to a resort centre with fabulous childcare and shops/bars/cafes for the days I or DP stay with the baby rather than snowboard and where we can get a good priced ski in/ski out apartment with parking! But thats a whole new thread for next November

StuckOnARollercoaster on my list for next year is Disentis went once briefly years ago just for the day but have heard so many good things. I guess a chalet would be a good option too. We usually just ski with our ski club so is hostel, hotel type places, but then we never had a baby on board before. Maybe next year it might have to be a chalet shared with grandparents?

I would also really recommend Andermatt it really is a covered gem of the Swiss alps. You'll probably look at the piste and lift map and think there is not enough, but honest to god this is not true. Ok there aren't many lifts and runs, but where you're going, boy you don't need runs as the off piste is amazing. It is not for the faint hearted!

I have never really done ski in/ski out, always found the expense too much and where I want to ride you need to get a few lifts anyway so not much point.

Otherwise good areas could be 4 valleys, Nendaz as opposed to verbier though as it could well be cheaper.

Or if budget not an option then Chamonix every time! :-)