Skiing while pregnant - late season European resorts

[lisamamot]

My sister was also pregnant at the same time. Hers was high risk so she was not out in the waves with me that day. He was born very prematurely a week after my guy passed. Thanks to neonatal care, and his cousin as a guardian angel, he's today at a college visitation meeting with administrators to the honors program he was accepted into.

Huge hugs to you - I am so very sorry for your loss. What a beautiful thing you did to take your little guy boogie boarding and I so hope that memory brings you some peace.

My sister was also pregnant with her younger son when I was pregnant with my boys, and our due dates we were only a few weeks apart. I had struggled with many years of infertility and finally was pregnant due to the medical science miracle of IVF, whereas my sister's pregnancy was a surprise and she had no complications. As devastating as it was for us, it was also so very difficult for her to be there for the burial of our sons that fall, and to be the one that brought her son home that winter. My holding my nephew that Christmas was one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking moments for us all.

 

[Amie H]

@lisamamot Yes, I totally get it.

I couldn't go back to Philly for Xmas that year bc it was too raw for me.

Being in an awkward place with the people with who you should feel most at ease is an odd feeling.

 

[mustski]

Having had multiple miscarriages, I feel obliged to point out that generally miscarriage has nothing to do with the action or inaction of the mother. Even if someone goes skiing, falls, and then has a miscarriage it does not mean that the fall was the cause of the miscarriage. Coincidence is a real thing. My one successful pregnancy was a result of an amazing ob/gyn, medication, multiple ER visits, and bed rest for 12 weeks.

That said, I stopped skiing for a number of years while we were trying to conceive because I never knew when or if I was pregnant and could not have lived with myself if I had another miscarriage after a ski fall.

My point is this … if you are healthy just continue with whatever activity your body is used to. If you have had issues, relax and follow your doctor’s advice.

 

[newbieM]

Hey Divas, I got some nice help here last week so I want to share my experience for someone in the future.

I found out I was pregnant (yay!) last Saturday, and on Sunday we left to go skiing. I was still reeling tbh and didn't stop to think about wether I 'should'.

Well on the Monday I did start to wonder - am I making a huge mistake? So I started checking online and most sources have a patriarchal, fearongering guilt based advice. Can you live with yourself if something happens?

Ski Diva was different, and had the real experiences of women who have ski experience. It gave me some info to digest and in the end I decided to ski.

So here's the data;
Me - reformed snowboarder, 13 years of skiing under my belt and a season as well. I would consider my skill level to be close to expert and I trusted myself to judge the risk.

Resort - Sauze D'Oulx and the Milky Way resort chain. Truly la Dolce Vita skiing - nice wide slopes and carving heaven, as opposed to the hardcore french resorts.

How pregnant - 4/5 weeks

Busyness of slopes - empty until wednesday due to it being midweek and so late in the season. The 'Dutch Week' kicked off and and suddenly there were 6ft men drinking on the slopes from 10am onwards.

Snow - snow on slopes. Grass and dirt on slope was a bigger risk than ice.

Approach - I really listened to my body and went in each day before I was tired. I mostly cruised around blues and reds, one or two blacks, no off piste. Only skiied the bluebird days. I skiied half days from wednesday on and not at all on the last day as it was cloudy and the last day of dutch week.

Feeling - I was excited to be there and about the pregnancy, so overall it was very special. I was lucky we were in Italy and not in, for instance, Chamonix, where I probably wouldn't have been able to safely ski. I also enrolled my parents tinto the secret withy husband and I because I am usually a big apres ski fan after some hardcore shredding ,so the change was too noticeable to hide. I was also EXHAUSTED and slept at least nine hours every night.

So I hope this is useful to someone else trying to make their choice.

So happy you got both! Congratulations. The human body is really amazing at protecting future baby especially that early. Glad you got to create some amazing memories. Wishing you an easy journey.

 

[newbieM]

Big hugs to all the mamas sharing their stories. I had three miscarriages and I don’t wish that pain on anyone. But I do know that nothing I did or didn’t do made a difference.

 

[floatingyardsale]

Hugs to all the loss mamas. It's so hard.

On the question, I didn't start skiing until my youngest was 2. But I was active through all pregnancies. The rule of thumb I used was that once something was too much, I was done for the rest of pregnancy. Both times I stopped running in the first trimester and lifting in the third , but I swam or ellipticaled the whole time.

A friend of mine snowboarded through five months, and another took the season off when she learned she was pregnant.

At 4 or 5 weeks there is literally nothing you can do to make a pregnancy take or not take short of medical intervention. And even later in the pregnancy, most of the risk is to you, and the trickiness of getting treatment (e.g., torn ACL, broken wrist) while pregnant. Personally, my joints get loose about six seconds after implantation, and I would have been in the third trimester when the ski resorts opened, so I probably wouldn't have bothered.