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Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

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Get updates on how your baby develops, your body changes, and what you can expect during each week of your pregnancy by signing up to the Mumsnet Pregnancy Newsletters.

Pregnancy

Swimming at 39 weeks?

35 replies

ratfly · 09/01/2007 10:57

Hi. I am roughly 39 weeks pregnant, on maternity leave and incredibly bored!!!

I have always been really active, and really fancy going swimming (which I have been doing on and off during pregnancy anyway).

So, is it ok for me to go swimming at this late stage? I can't bear the idea that, if baby is late, I need to stay inactive for the next few weeks...

OP posts:

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cocokiko · 05/11/2014 23:17

39 weeks and swimming 1.5-1.7 km a week in one go. Weightlessness is awesome, staying active is rewarding, boring maternity leave time passing is worth it. Just doing free style with 10-15 sec of resting after every lap; also read that breast strokes may not be good for the hip which is now with the baby inside. Baby would not kick or move in earlier weeks but now she does. Have cycled every dayish until completing 7. Month and since then swimming once a week and walking else.

yumyum · 13/01/2007 18:41

I swam every week until DS was born and even went 10pin bowling 4 days before the birth! I think its so much better to keep active if you can. Good luck!

Surfermum · 09/01/2007 15:18

Ooh I loved that feeling when you got in the water. But I was never able to swim in the same way with that huge bump underneath me in the water. The best I ever managed was to bob around on a woggle.

saffymum · 09/01/2007 15:01

I swam right up to the end. I can still remember the glorious feeling of weighlessness (I put on 4 stone with baby), its just getting out that you have to be careful of. Make someone swim with you and help you out. Don't slip on the tiles and enjoy!

Rosa5 · 09/01/2007 14:52

I swam up to 40+4 twice a week and towards the end it was more floating on back , gentle kicking and doggy paddle. Agree re comments on breaststroke was not advised as I did classes specifically for pregnant mums to be.
Hope it all goes well with the birth

lulumama · 09/01/2007 14:21

my friend went swimming when in early labour with her first.....so yes ! unless your waters are leaking as has been said.....

themildmanneredjanitor · 09/01/2007 14:19

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

snorkle · 09/01/2007 14:16

Message withdrawn

incy · 09/01/2007 13:38

Believe me - if swimming brought on labour wouldn't have still been pregnant at 42 weeks !

clairemow · 09/01/2007 13:36

definitely keep going as long as you can, and as long as it's not uncomfortable. I used to walk up and down the pool towards the end. With DS1 I was still in the water 3 hours before labour began...!

Avoid breast stroke though as it can make your hips uncomfortable, as they'll be all loosened up for birth...

Sorry if this has already been said, I haven't read the whole thread...

Good luck with the baby!

belgo · 09/01/2007 13:34

I've never heard of swimming causing labour!

BigHotMama · 09/01/2007 13:22

I swam in the 41st week and did me no harm but i was doing it every week. A friend of mine went on the one occasion at 38 weeks and the next day she gave birth, so it could bring on labour if your ready, but on the other hand my ds was 2 bloody weeeks late argh! Go swim and enjoy the sensation of feeling light as a feather

mawbroon · 09/01/2007 13:19

Mine is another vote for enjoying the weightlessness in the water. I did go to an aquanatal class, but the girls there were more interested in blethering than in exercising so I used to stay on for a bit afterwards and do some lengths. Go for it and enjoy the last bit of time to yourself before your wee one arrives. And good luck when he/she does!!

ratfly · 09/01/2007 12:28

I have been looking on the net, and research shows gentle exercise lowers bp, so more confident again. Also, I don't have to vigorously swim, I can just kind of waddle my way up and down the pool.

OP posts:

belgo · 09/01/2007 12:24

I think swimming would help relax you and have a good effect on your bp.

ratfly · 09/01/2007 12:22

She is coming back to check it again later in the week. Didn't say anything about exercise, but did tell me to kick back and take it easy.

OP posts:

belgo · 09/01/2007 12:20

did she tell you not to exercise? What was her reaction to your bp?

My bp also went up to 145/90 at the end of pregnancy, but no one ever said anything about exercise.

ratfly · 09/01/2007 12:18

Well. I just had my midwife round and she took my blood pressure, and it was 140/90.

I forgot to ask about swimming, so I will call her to ask later. Now I am concerned about if I should exercise with bp like that...

OP posts:

MegaLegs · 09/01/2007 12:04

LOL - it's like trying to float on top of a beach ball.

fortyplus · 09/01/2007 11:57

Me too - and with huge bump if I tried to go on my front my legs stuck in the air so I couldn't kick properly, and it was hard to keep my head out of the water.
Backstroke was fine - and it must've given the lifeguards a good laugh!

MegaLegs · 09/01/2007 11:55

I swam alot through my pgs. Just be prepared for your centre of balance to be different. I took ds2 swimming when huge with ds3 and i kept floating off in the wrong direction.

fortyplus · 09/01/2007 11:54

I did until 36 weeks - then got pre-eclampsia so wasn't allowed to move (nothing to do with the swimming of course!)
I swam on my back with bump sticking out of the water - on my front I nearly drowned!

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belgo · 09/01/2007 11:53

ratfly - as long as there are no problems with your pregnancy, it is best to keep as active as possible in the last few weeks of pregnancy! I went for an hour's walk each day, and if I didn't , my ankles would swell up, so I know how important exercise is. Swimming is a great form of exercise for pregnant women.

Hope you don't have to wait too much longer for your baby!

Bozza · 09/01/2007 11:48

yeah but kelly at 39 weeks just being in the water and letting it take the weight felt fantastic.

Kelly1978 · 09/01/2007 11:43

Im amazed at all these people swimming whilst pg, I jsut couldn't. I tried but I felt like a barrel and jsut sunk.

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