why can't you lift heavy things during pregnancy?

[bumbly]

what is the fuss all about?

what could it possibly do to you or bump?

esp during end of pregnancy...I mean by then what could it really do? start labour?

just get so angry with people saying - you should be lifting heavy things etc...blah blah blah

generally been a very strong girl before so keep lifting things within norm of course and of course not weight lifting..but lifting a tub of paint surely won't do any harm...

plenty of women in third world contries working hard away well into their pregnancies..eg on farms

pregnant women are not supposed to be felt as if they can't do anything...we sometimes are made to feel all delicate and vuulnerable when there is actually no reason...GRRRR!!!

when there is a relqa reaosn - ie medical emergency/problem then of course that is a idfferent matter..but to tell a pregnAnt women don't lift that chair, paint tub, shopping bag...grrrrr!!!

sorry for rant!

I think it's just a general protective thing - people want to love and cosset pg women and think it's a nice thing to do! I mercilessly took advantage of it at work to get out of loads of stuff, but it irritated the hell out of me at home.

But I do know a friend of a friend who strained a ligament in her uterus - yikes! So it can happen.

i think your ligametns are laxer?? could causeback ache.
i was grr about it til a pregnacy acquaintance suggsted i make the most of it, it is one of the rare times you can ask for help, so go for it.

Early on in pregnancy it's the fear of bringing on a miscarriage through strain on the abdominal muscles. My mum was forever going on about it. I did read somewhere (don't ask me where - I'm not making it up though) that abominal strain can hinder implantation in the very very early stages.

Hi Bumbly!

Advice stems from the fact that once pg, your body releases a hormone, called Relaxin, which does what it says on the tin and relaxes all your ligaments, mainly to help your pelvis relax to prepare for birth - big baby shape, small hole-type affair!!

Anyway, this process starts right at the start of pg, so if you lift things while pg, as your ligaments are already relaxed, it can mean injury. So be careful. As long as you lift with your back straight, legs bent etc and are used to it, you should be fine. Just don't over do it! Some poor women (me included) seem to suffer from over-relaxed ligaments, which leads to unstable pelvis and something called symphis pubis dysfunction, which can be completely excrutiating and debilatating.

but you're right, my grandmother used to swear that easy birth stemmed from scrubbing kitchen floors on her hands and knees throughout pg, but then she only had my Dad, so maybe it wasn't that easy after all!!

Good luck!

A big thing to be careful of is your pelvic floor. When pregnant the muscles are under a lot of strain anyway. Heavy lifting can place enormous strain on those muscles causing ireversable damage to them in the future.

I think it's because you can cause your stomach muscles to separate and strain your back because normally your abdominals come into play when you lift stuff.

Also I had a massive bleed at 15 weeks when I decided to get back to normal physically after the end of my 1st trimester. That was lifting and carrying heavyish stuff and climbing over stiles. They couldn't figure out where it had come from or exactly what caused it but recommended I didn't do any more.

Now a mother of ridiculously healthy 13 week old though so didn't do any lasting damage

and then with 2nd and subsequent pg's you are carting your older kids around and thinking - all that heavy lifting i avioded the 1st time round!

lol
no heavy lifting, um aprt from of course your own toddler!

I'm 25 weeks pg, and found out this week that I have developed a hernia in the front of my tummy, ie the layer of muscle that should stretch over abdomen wall has given way a bit. Doctor says, it probably happened because I 'overdid things'. In the last week I did a lot of lawn mowing and a couple of weeks ago I was lifting heavy items into the loft. She stressed the point made above, that ligaments relax during pregnancy, therefore 'we are not as robust and we ordinarily are'.