Just wanted to let everyone know that I'll be taking a break from skating in a few weeks. I do plan on making my annual trip up to Lake Placid for adult week and plan to skate minimally at the latter part of the week.

Then, I plan to take it easy until my Valentine's Baby is born!

I will miss seeing everyone for awhile.

-Naomi

congrats!!!!!!!

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Recycle Love - Adopt a homeless pet

Congratulations!!

Congratulations, Naomi! We'll miss you at HC and NYI, but look forward to your return.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

CONGRATULATIONS!! HOW AWESOME FOR YOU!!

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If you keep your eyes on God, you can walk on water.

Congratulations!!!

Wonderful news! Take good care of yourselves.

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Congratulations, Naomi!!!

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Cheers,
jazzpants

11-04-2006: Shredded "Pre-Bronze FS for Life" Club Membership card!!!
Silver Moves is the next "Mission Impossible"
(Dare I try for Championship Adult Gold someday???)

Thank you for the support, you guys!!!

Hey Naomi!
Wow! Congratulations!

Congrats! Although, if you're preggy, better not do strenuous stuff like skating or anything. Whatever the docs say about being ok to do strenuous stuff, don't believe em!

You can do anything that you've been doing. Not a good idea to *start* skating while pregnant, if you've never done it before (or anything else that you're not used to), but if it wasn't too strenuous before, it won't be now.

Congratulations!

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"The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
--Thomas Jefferson

www.signingtime.com ~sign language fun for all!

Hiya and congratulations on the pregnancy.

Please be careful if you intend to carry on skating during pregnancy. The reasons being are more for your concern rather than that of the baby.

When you are pregnant your body produces much higher levels of progesterone and this is present from early on. This hormone is released in larger levels becuase your body will have to change and adapt to the pregnancy in order to soften smooth muscle and help with the elasticity of your cardio vascular system. You will be carrying extra amounts of blood plus your muscles will have to become more elastic in order to accomodate the expanding uterus. Of course you need the extra play in your muscles and your bones will become softer so that you will be able to deliver your baby thus making the pelivs slightly wider.

All of your body systems will be affected with the pregnancy. Most of all you will notice that its easier to sprain and strain muscles and ligaments so what you were able to do before you will probably strain much easier (due to progesterone).
Your body chemistry will have also altered so you will deffinately become more tired. As your uterus rises above the symphysis pubis (pubic bone) you will find that your centre of gravity will have changed also, so the balance that you had before will also be altered.

Im not intending to put you off skating during your pregnancy but you will probably find that most health professionals would reccommend that you do something thats less impact on your joints and ligaments such as aqua arobics/natal or gentle swimming that are especially designed for pregnancy.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck with it and many congratulations on the pregnancy.

Andrea xx

Congratulations! Enjoy the journey! (And I"m with Andrea--be very cautious while skating during pregnancy--ligament issues, balance issues [due to wacky hormones], and obviously falling later on can be dangerous. Just use common sense and don't push yourself too much.)

Many congratulations! Hope you have a happy and healthy pregnancy!

As one who skated through her sixth month of pregnancy, I can attest that, though you body does change, if you are comfortable and not prone to falling, you can skate comfortably out there. In fact, I never skated better than when I was pregnant -- I FINALLY figured out where my weight was supposed to be on the blade -- I used to skate too far forward and the re-distribution of my body weight put me further back on the blade. I managed to keep that learned when I got back out there post-partum. I did stop all work on spins and jumps and removed myself from the Synchro team because they move so much faster than I do alone and have far more momentum than I was comfortable with when skating for two. I assisted our coach for months 4-6 and literally got off the ice one the first day of my seventh month.

I stopped stretching entirely during the pregnancy and didn't do anything resembling a lunge as I'm normally quite flexible through the hips and didn't want to become MORE so, LOL!

Huge congratulations to you.

As for whether to skate or not while pregnant, I guess that's really down to you and how you feel.

When I was pregnant my coach didn't want to carry on teaching me and advised me to stop skating while pregnant. I actually felt very poorly to start with when I was pregnant the first time around so skating was the last thing I wanted to do anyway. I actually suffered a threatened miscarriage early on and then went into premature labour with a placental abruption so it was right for me not to skate.

Second pregnancy and I was treated as a high-risk case. Given that I wasn't even allowed to swim, skating was totally off limits for me. However despite taking all the precautions and taking really good care of myself I still went into labour and delivered 10 weeks early.

Of course everyone is different, but skating while pregnant wasn't for me. Even in those really early weeks before the pregnancy was confirmed, I had this overwhelming urge to protect my belly and found it quite surprising just how much that maternal instinct took over!

Nicki

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www.myspace.com/insatiableskater

Thanks for everyone's feedback. My husband and I are very exciting and so far it's been a very uneventful pregnancy. I'm low risk and for the most part have felt fine.

Some might be critical of me as i'm still skating, albeit cautiously. Husband and doctor are fine with it. When I told my doctor about the skating, her response on a 95 degree day was "You're doing what?!" She was more mystified that people actually ice skate in 95 degree heat, and couldn't even believe there were places in summer to ice skate. The sport itself, she's actually fine with!

I still have complete balance and am not showing yet, and plan to skate for only one more month (until 16 wks pregnant). As a high-level silver skater, I am not concerned about falling until by balance goes. My issue right now is more tiredness than anything.

People have opinions based on their own experiences or situations. Don't take it personally that people have voiced concern, it's to be expected. Get used to it, in fact: once you start showing, you'll be BARRAGED with well-meant advice from everyone! Just smile and say thank you. If they're persistant, write it down and throw away the paper later. Just act grateful, so they'll give it a rest. This is the time for passivity - don't let them get you upset. Do what's right and recommended for your health and situation.

Here's my well-meant advice:

Toward the last trimester, stock the pantry and freeze some quick-serve meals. That way, you don't have to worry about HAVING to go to the store.

Spoken like a woman who made her MIL gasp when she took the newborn to BJ's. ("She hasn't been baptized yet! Horrors!") It was 90 degrees and I needed to walk for exercise after the c-section. So what if I bought a few things that I didn't really need?

Am I mistaken or are you about 4 weeks along? You won't see balance changes for a few weeks, but do keep them in mind.
If it's your first baby, you might not "show" until 6-7 months, but there are real shifts internally.

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I'm about 12 weeks along with my first baby

No insult intended - I'm calculator-dependent!

Best wishes for an uneventful pregnancy!

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Best advice is to LISTEN to YOUR body and do what is comfortable for you. ITA with others--you will get so much unsolicited advice once it's obvious you're pregnant. Congrats again!

I agree basically yeah, if you feel ok and your comfortable then do what you feel is right for youself.

As a health professional in maternity services I personally wouldnt reccommend it after 16 weeks, more so for the balance and progesterone affecting bone and muscle issues but if your otherwise very physically fit and being a sliver skater you know what ur doing, just take care. Try not to wear yourself out because pregnancy will make you more tired.

With my pregnancies I was too ill to even go out the front door, was vomiting from as soon as my eyes opened in the morning until I fell asleep at night, thus losing tons of weight and felt very weak. Its great to know that you are feeling fit and well as many women dont.

Congrats again and dont be too hard on yourself

Andrea xx

I've known people who've skated until they practically gave birth on the ice - no jumping, and not much spinning, but working on edges and turns and crossovers and Moves - and others who gave up at once. It's your body - you must do what you are comfortable with!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

A friend of mine (who had had several miscarriages) decided THIS time she was going to skate until she didn't feel she could comfortably. She did give up jumping and spinning at about 4 months, but took her Pre-Bronze Dance tests when she was 8 months pregnant. She joked there was NO WAY the judges could write she and her coach/partner should be in a closer hold! (She passed too!)

I think that the ones that just keep on skating are the types that don't care about their future kid or about themselves......or just not too bright. Not exactly the same as for those moms that smoke cigarettes throughout their pregnancy, but still crazy to have to put that kind of pressure on their body and the child they're carrying. Although, I do agree.....it's their body, so they should do what they want, but deal with any negative consequences that result from not being careful enough during their pregnancy.

Medical needs aside, there are people that believe in "taking it easy" when they're expecting and then there are roadwarrior mamas-to-be that call their boss from the train station to say "Can you pick me up at the train, take me to the hospital, and give my apologies to the client?" It's a badge of honor among some working women here in the US to work until the very last minute.

In terms of skating, no one can give you the correct advice over the internet. We don't know you, your medical situation, your skating situation, or the baby's health situation. There are too many variables to consider.

Everyone who skates "knows someone" who had a unique situation. Let's let NaomiBeth have her own personalized situation.

NaomiBeth: Just do what's best for you and the baby, with the advice of your DH and MD's. Best wishes for an uneventful and healthy pregnancy.

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