Heavy Lifting

[LemonDrizz]

Am I right in thinking that if you did something pre pregnancy, it's ok to continue during pregnancy?

I work for a friend usually about once a fortnight or so on her farm, sometimes weekly. So lifting bales of hay/straw, emptying wheelbarrows and carrying large hurdles. I have been doing this for 18 months before I became pregnant and have been assuming as long as I am relatively careful, it's fine to continue?

Horse owners etc must continue mucking out and carrying bales around during pregnancy?

The concern with heavy lifting is that you will cause yourself a muscular/skeletal injury so making sure you do a proper risk assessment, good lifting techniques, using equipment to lighten the load where applicable etc should be followed. I looked after a professional power lifter once, and her and her husband took great pride in winding me up showing me her competition pictures at each midwifery appointment 😂

We have our horses at home and DH has very kindly taken over stable duties for me as I’ve found the further along I’ve got, the harder it is to do the things I’d usually take for granted. I did try to move a bag of feed the other day and ended up with a stitch like pain and had mucus when I wiped so I’m now trying to be extra careful.

It's fine in terms of the amount of cardiovascular exercise. During pregnancy your ligaments and muscles get much looser so the risk is musculoskeletal injury to you. So be v careful with lifts etc and correct posture for that reason

My midwife is horsey and told me no lifting bales of hay - it’s not a risk to baby, just yourself - more likely to injure yourself when pregnant. I’ve felt ok so carried on moving the odd bale or sack of feed but I probably wouldn’t do loads. I carried on poo picking with my first and pushing a heavy wheelbarrow, no issues!

I have my 4 horses at home and with my first DD I was still doing haynets, mucking out and pushing wheelbarrows right up until the day my waters broke at 38+5. I’m currently 28 + 3 with second pregnancy and still mucking out and carrying water buckets and pushing wheelbarrows. I try to leave heavier jobs to my partner when he is home but not always patient enough 😂 I’m just careful and know when I have done too much as I can usually start to tell and then I make sure I rest a while.

I wouldn't - I injured my lower back lifting a heavy bag of manure when about 5 months pregnant and it's never been the same. You're more likely to injure yourself whilst pregnant, and if you do injure yourself it's harder for your body to heal as your weight is increasing daily.