I just found out that I am pregnant, and would like to continue skating (even though I've been off the ice for 2 months now for different reasons.) I think that I'm just going to stick with moves in the field and maybe dance, and save freestyle for after I have the baby. How many of you skated while pregnant, and how long did you continue to skate into your pregnancy?

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Jessica

http://ilove2skate.livejournal.com/

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Congratulations!

I only skated very early in my pregnancy, but that was due to lack of ice time, not anything else!

My best skating friend skated through probably her seventh or eight month, but then, she didn't do more than 'stroll' around the ice (she wasn't a competitive or even lessons skater). She was very stable, however.

Given the chance, I would have skated as long as I felt stable on the ice, probably cutting back on jumps, etc.

I had a coach who coached on the ice into her ninth month with no problems other than swollen feet.

Just a warning though---some people will give you some VERY opinionated answers--most are thinking about safety (and you'll need to as well), but remember that you know yourself best.

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--Thomas Jefferson

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

Your decision. My personal choice in this position would be to stop. I love skating but I wouldn't be willing to take any risk with my baby. My worse falls have always been doing the silly things. You never know when they will happen. Being pregnant lasts a short time, even though it seems forever at the time. You decide what's right for you. Best wishes.

teresa

Congratulations, jcookie!

Thought you might be interested in the fact that Jamie Sale performed in SOI tour earlier this year throughout her first trimester! She's been posting a few updates on:
http://www.sale-pelletier.com/forum/...1c9f378b20fa18
Of course we aren't of her caliber, but... gives you some perspective on what "can" or "cannot" be done...

I would think the first obvious thing is to reduce the risk of falling. I suppose you must have considered that, to give up freestyle for the time being. But if you are working on new/difficult moves, there is also a risk!!

I heard that pregnant women should ensure good blood circulation, especially to & from the feet... and uh, squeezing the feet into tight boots and then keeping them cold doesn't sound like such a good idea. There is also the point about hormones affecting the sense of balance - but I think that would be an issue later in the pregnancy.

Lastly, this is something I have been wondering about - if getting pregnant changes the CG, why practise when pregnant and then have to re-adjust after???

Eventually, you do have to listen to your body and adjust according to your own comfort level on the ice!

So, since I'm posting about this, I suppose I should come out too, and say:
I too found out, almost five weeks ago, that I am pregnant.

Ergo, I haven't been posting on the practise thread lately... It was a coincidence with my coach leaving, and I had to tell the other coach why, after bugging him for lessons, I suddenly didn't sign up. Ever since then, he has been giving me disapproving looks every time he sees me at the rink!

In the last 4 weeks I haven't been skating much but I still coach, although I have told the rink I will not take any more new students. This is not so much because of what others tell me but rather because I was really very tired. My sister (a medical doctor) forbade me from jumping or spinning, and I "obey" her mostly because I myself don't feel up to it. Nonetheless, I do sneak in a loop, or a little spin now and then - to show my students. Once or twice I did feel a little "off", so would abort it.

I am lucky I do not have any morning sickness, so I try to skate 'for myself' at least once a week, at times when the rink is quieter (less risk of people running into me and making me fall!). This would usually be at lunchtime, which is heavenly peaceful, as all kids are in school! I would work on basics, moves and spiral sequences, and when I feel like it, dance. I do this just to keep active and get some sort of exercise (yah, I'm really bad at exercising in this darned hot weather here!). Usually I skate just 30-40 minutes, as my feet get really tired after that.

I am following the principle of: skating can wait - I want my baby.

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Congrats to you too Chowskates! I guess I will go to the rink this week and skate around a little bit and see how I feel, and if I'm at all wobbly, then I'll hang up the skates.

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Jessica

http://ilove2skate.livejournal.com/

http://www.myspace.com/sk8fabulous

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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!

Congratulations to both of you!

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Tidesong

Congratulations!

I had a coach who skated during all three of her pregnancies. Well, by "skated" I mean "coached." She seemed to do fine on the ice, taking little breaks when she felt she needed them and making sure to stay as close to the boards as possible, especially in her final trimester. Unfortunately, she was hit by someone setting up a lutz once and went down, but she and the baby were all right. Still, it was definitely a little scary for herself and other skaters who constantly had to be on the look out.

My old coach also cut back on the amount of demonstrations she did during lessons. I mean, by then many of her students already knew what to do so it was somewhat easy to tell them verbally.

I guess it all depends on your personal feelings. While my old coach skated up to the day before she gave birth, another coach I know ended up off the ice for most of her pregnancy (morning sickness and other complications). I would say that as long as you feel up to it and are careful as possible - definitely let other skaters and coaches know you're pregnant - you should be fine.

Again, congrats!

You might want to see how your husband feels about it.

Personally, if my wife were pregnant, I would be a little "anxious" to have her continue skating. JMHO

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Keeping School Figures Alive!!

Congratulations!

As far as skating in pregnancy is concerned, that's very much a personal choice but I didn't with either of my pregnancies. As soon as I got that positive test result my coach wasn't happy to continue coaching me and to be honestr I didn't feel happy skating while pregnant. I felt so sick anyway that the last thing I wanted to do was skate, and that aside you have to consider the fact that your weight change affects your balance and your ligaments soften making you more prone to injury. I do know people (coaches) who have continued to skate far into their pregnancy, but they weren't actively skating.

Nicki

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Congratulations!!!! However I have no advice about skating pregnant (this womb is going unused)

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Revised Official 2010 Goals checklist
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Hola! First of all, congratulations!!!

I'm the resident "skating while pregnant" expert as I've skated well into both of my pregnancies. I stopped jumping, spinning, and sakting on my synchro teams at about 10-12 weeks with both, but still got out there to teach the tots in Snowplow Sam and help coach my synchro team until 6 months the first time and 7 this time (I'm due in early September with a baby girl).

Truthfully, when I'm just stroking, my balance is fine. After 12 weeks I haven't really attempted much more than that... Stroking and gliding.

The reason I got off the ice this time was because I wasn't able to lace my skates comfortably. I looked like a comedy sketch the last
time I tried to lace them -- I as reall, really glad that I was in the coaches' room alone, LOL!

As I said, I've never had issues with balance while pregnant, but I belive that is unusual. I have also been very fortunate in that my feet have not changed size either time. I am a naturally flexible person, so I stop stretching the instant I'm pregnant because the LAST thing I need is loser hips -- the relaxin your body produces starts loosening you pretty early on -- you may find that you have a split that you didn't know you had, LOL! Some people can't deal with morning sickess on the ice -- the rate of movement and rotation send some women lurching for the bathroom. And you're extra, extra tired, particularly in teh first and third trimester.

Coming back from pregnancy is not easy -- your abdominal/core strength is completely shot. I wobbled for about 9 months before I felt like I was "back to myself" and starting to make some forward progress in my skating instead of trying to get back into shape.

As a PP said, you will get a varying response to this thread -- I know that both times that I've announced a pregnancy I get a HUGE congratulatory response, followed by eight thousand people asking me "How long are tyou going to stay on the ice?" I believe that I know my body better than anyone and would never, ever take a risk that I thought would hurt me or my babies. That being said, exercising your mind and body throughout a pregnancy helps you prepare for labor and delivery. If you're in good shape and have a positive body image, you're going to have an easier time at the end.

Enjoy your pregnancy!!!

I skated to about 4 1/2 months, and would have gone much longer except we bought a house and that chewed up all my time till the baby came. My doctor cleared it, he said the baby is very well protected. Mind you, I was FS1 then and only doing 1/2 jumps.

Those few months helped a lot, I didn't start gaining weight till I stopped skating, and I felt stronger with less back pain and other aches than my first pregnancy, when I wasn't getting much exercise at all. Plus I was feeling the heat more and the cold rink air felt wonderful.

Spinning went out the window long before I started to show, but spirals got nicer as joints loosened up a bit.

Congratulations!!!!

When I first starting thinking about trying to get pregnant, I went to the library to check out books on pregnancy. Wouldn't you know, the first book I opened up - the page that magically "fell open" was a list of what sports were considered safe & what was not. It said that ice skating was pretty much off limits, unless you are an experienced skater, in which case no jumps or spins. It also said that the added body weight could throw off your balance in a way you're not used to.

I know of one coach at my rink who taught right before she had her first child. She was more concerned about someone bumping into her, & knocking her over.

I also heard that another coach was recently pregnant, then fell & lost the baby.

My coach now has told me that I am not to skate while pregnant, based on the previous story.

Personally, I am a worry wart, & I would probably be too nervous for fear I would lose the baby. Then again, I'm a bit of a klutz, so my fears may be warranted.

Just wanted to share. The decision you make is yours - just realize that the farther along you get in your pregnancy, the more comments people are bound to make.

Best of luck!!!

Congratulations!!!!!

Congratulations jcookie1982 and chowskates!!!!!

I have no advice to give, as I've never been pregnant. One thing did occur to me though - don't your feet swell, or even gain a 1/2 size or so, at some point when you're pregnant? That might make skates a little uncomfortable.

I have nothing to add on the pregnancy angle I just wanted to say

Congratulations to both of you!

and to jcookie I take it you are not skating synchro this season ?

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Visit my skating journal

LOL, no, but I'm shooting for the next season.

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Jessica

http://ilove2skate.livejournal.com/

http://www.myspace.com/sk8fabulous

Well, my last pregnancy I was in a car accident where my SUV rolled 5 times, I almost died, and my baby was totally unharmed. That makes a fall on the ice look like nothing, but I guess its better to be safe than sorry.

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Jessica

http://ilove2skate.livejournal.com/

http://www.myspace.com/sk8fabulous

CONGRATULATIONS TO YOU BOTH!!!!How exciting!!!

I skated for about two months and then morning sickness (actually all day sickness) took over!! Yuck!! Then that was the end until I went back. My doctor thought it was fine to skate, because I had been doing it all along. But... he felt that if I fell forward and on my abdomen I was risking a miscarrage and/or premature birth.

In my early weeks of pregnancy ( I didn't know at the time) I fell twice on my butt. Other than feeling weird and more achey than usual the falls did not affect my pregnancy. But, like everyone has been saying we are all different and all pregnancies are not the same.

Anyway.... Congrats to you both and keep us informed!!!

I mentioned this to coach2 this morning - she taught on the ice until the day before both her sons were born. After the first boy was born, she taught from the barrier for two weeks, and said she was told no skating for six weeks ("but bother that!"); she was back on the ice (and holding another skater in the harness) two days after son number 2 arrived!

She did say, though, that there is a huge difference between teaching and skating! She wouldn't have done any massive jumps or anything while pregnant, but she was comfortable on the ice. I do remember, though, her saying at the time, a few weeks post-partum, that she kept forgetting that certain moves hurt when trying to demonstrate them!

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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!

Quarkiki, congratulations to you too!

Since Monday, my mom has been telling me to stop going to the rink. She is very worried that something will happen. Though I don't skate anymore, I am still coaching and would like to continue, until around October or so. I don't know how to respond

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Blog: http://chowskates.blogspot.com

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Tell her there's a vast difference between coaching and skating! Which there is. And our coach2 said that she felt no more clumsy on the ice than off it - she fell off her chair, but not off her skates!

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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!

I've found that people respond as if your level of skating is *their* level of skating. As in--they would stumble around the rink and fall every three seconds---and they'd get hurt doing that. So, because that scares them, they transfer that over to you, and assume/are afraid that your skating level isn't much better, not really.


The way I see it is--you need to assess your acceptable level of 'risk', and continually assess your level of stability. If you stay within those ranges (and they'll be different for everyone), then you should be fine.

Like someone mentioned, Jamie Sale has been skating throughout her pregnancy so far. IIRC, so have a lot of elite skaters, for a while, at least. Their level of stability is, of course, much higher than most of us! So, they're fine still jumping, being thrown, etc--but I bet they're not pushing it 100% either.

I'd say, rule-of-thumb, cut it back to 75%, or even 50% of what you do when you're going full-out, and you'll probably be within your personal 'safety range'. Of course there's still a risk--but you take a risk just by going about normal everyday activities as well. (My BFF stepped off her front step and broke her ankle early in her pregnancy--stuff happens.)

Just remember that people see it from their own perspective. If it would be terribly risky for *them* to do, then they often think it would be for you, too. You've got to pay the most attention to you, not them.

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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!

That's a good point. Thanks!

Yep, I mentioned it. Then, I went to search for their SOI program on YouTube, and noticed that she did no jumps, no throws, no spins...

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Youtube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/chowskates
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