A question for the ladies, obviously The guys can give me their advice if they've had their partners pregnant and cycling...

Everything I've read says to avoid all cycling during pregnancy (except for stationary biking!) due to falls. I've fallen once and it was a tiny slip because it was the first snow. What really causes a fall? I want to play it safe, but I would still love to commute to work.

How many women have continued to cycle during pregnancy? How experienced were you in the first place? When did you stop?

Thanks for any help!

Jenn

And what does your doctor advise you to do??

Your doctor should know your physical shape well
enough to give you good meaningful (not just well
intenioned) advice on this matter. It does little if
any good to ask questions such as this in a public
fourm due to the very real chance that bad advice
followed will lead to harm for you or your child.

Go ask your doctor , mate and quit playing around.

Jenn, unlike the first responder to your post, I think this is a very relevant question for a public forum. The overwhelming risk with cycling in pregnancy is trauma. You should be fine bicycling until about 20 weeks of gestation. In the last trimester, I would caution you to be very careful or to stop cycling due to enhanced risk of fall with possible adverse outcome for the fetus. For any fall beyond 24 weeks, your doctor will probably advise electronic fetal monitoring.

And I hope that some of the other ladies will share their experiences as well as some of the advice they have received.

Hi Jenn -- first off congrats. When my SO (also named Jen) was pregnant, she cycled into her seventh month but with a couple of precautionary measures:
- she rode on our local multi-use trail, not the surface roads
- i was running alongside (training for a 10k)
- she was on an Elektra cruiser with an upright riding position which was way more comfortable than a road or mountain bike
Once she started getting into the third trimester, her equilibrium began to go wobbly and she stopped riding as soon as it stopped feeling safe. But up until then she was happy for the exercise and didn't run into any problems.

As far as commuting to work goes, I guess it would really depend on the distance and the route. But for sure the absolute "no cycling" restrictions are overstating the case.

I've heard that the pregnant female body is far more aero than the regular shape, due to the high-efficiency tear-drop shape. Windtunnel testing, done at great expense, has shown getting pregnant to be one of the highest performance upgrades you can make. Just make sure you are wearing proper lycra at all times, to eliminate any source of turbulence around your now perfectly aerodynamic body.

Seriously though, the 'old model' for pregnancy amounted to, "Do nothing at all, sit or lay in your bed all day reading romance novels until you have your baby." That isn't the case anymore, but there are definately some holdovers. If you are in good physical shape now, I don't think your doctor would have a problem with you continuing to cycle until fairly far along in the pregnancy. You may appreciate a more upright riding position however. It is my opinion (and I think it is shared by many doctors), that as long as you are careful about it, maintaining physical activity for as long as possible through the pregnancy can only be good for yourself and the baby. A healthy mother will make a healthy baby, and exercise is a part of that picture.

Good luck!

Peace,
Sam

First off: Congratulations. Kids are great. If this is your first, My advice is go out to eat with your partner now because after the baby comes, you never leave the house without your hands full: diaper bags, clothing, baby, toys etc.

As to your question: Similar experience to ahpook. My wife would cycle with me while she was pregnant up until she started having balance issues. That was around 7 months. She started swelling up like a balloon and our little bundle of joy caused difficulty mounting the bike safely, as well as leg motion once she was on. After she almost fell down just trying to mount the bike, I made her stop. Her doctor didn't have a problem with it so long as she kept her HR in zone 1 with occasional forays into zone 2. This wasn't a problem for her since she was riding alongside me while I was training for a half marathon. Her experience was recreational riding. 5 miles was a long way for her to ride at first, but I had difficulty giving her sympathy due to her sore legs from riding a bike next to me while I ran 10 miles

Congrats on the bundle of joy....sound advice would be to check with a doctor but we will all chip in too since you asked. It occured to me that as your body prepares to give birth your ligaments (esp. those in the low back and pelvis) will begin to slacken, although this does vary from person to person as to exact timing and degree. The thought being that cycling in anything remotely aerodynamic position may just be too painful and lead to other injuries. Of course trauma is probably the biggest worry and if you are going to ride make sure to carry something that states very clearly and in an easy to find place that you are pregnant. God forbid you do have an accident that leaves you out cold, but if so, the EMS personel NEED to know that you are an expecting mother. Good luck and stay active even if it isn't cycling!

Consult your gyno, but be aware they are giving cautious advice to protect you, your baby and their reputation.

FWIW, a woman and her partner completed a 100km organised ride last year while seven months pregnant. She rode right up to the birth. I rode past her climbing a hill a month after the century, and was surprised when I saw who it was. Her husband was waiting at the top of the hill. Everyone was fit and healthy at delivery.

The main concern for you appears to be your confidence in handling a bike. Riding in snow would seem an extraordinary event now North America is coming into spring. I don't think there is any point in saying that if you are riding in traffic be careful, because the same applies on shared pathways, or in your driveway.

When you feel you cannot ride confidently without an incident, that perhaps is the time to stop. Keep consulting your gyno in the meantime.

My wife biked well into her 7th month, in urban traffic. She stopped due to balance issues and it became more difficult for her to carry the bike up 3 floors to her office.

She always enjoyed the shocked look on the faces of other women when she walked into her doctor's office with her riding clothes, shoes and helmet.

Her doctor gave her the usual warnings, but also said the benefit of staying in shape should not be overlooked, especially as my wife was going for a vaginal birth after having a cesarean with our first.

I have a friend who biked right into her last week (mounting and dismounting got funny and graceless). Cycling, per se, doesn't carry any risks really. It's falling or being hit that carry the risks, and they're the same risks as you take every other day. So as long as you ride within your skills and don't get too heroic with the traffic, you ought to be just fine for as long as it's comfortable.

Medics will always advise on the cautious side. They don't want to get sued.

Interesting stories here... just make sure that you don't have any complications with your body or baby. Although many here have stated that their s/o's or friends biked up til the 7th month or last week of pregnancy, I had a friend that had to be bedridden in order for her child to survive.

Go see your doctor.

Congrats on the bebe

The American College of OB/GYN in their Committee Opinion on Exericise doesn't specifically mention bicycling. They do state that those exercise activities with a high risk of falling or abdominal trauma (for instance downhill skiing and ice hockey) should be avoided during pregnancy.

Of course there are some conditions that contraindicate aerobic exercise in pregnancy: hemodynamically significant heart disease, multiple gestation, preterm labor during the current pregnancy, preeclampsia, etc.

The primary concern specific to trauma in the pregnant patient is placental abruption. This is a condition in which the placenta separates from the uterus prior to delivery. It may cause, bleeding, pain, contractions, and in the worst cases shock. Abruption of the placenta may also occur in a setting of even minor trauma. At the U. of Michigan all traumas occuring after 20 weeks of gestation are monitored for at least 4 hours. If there is any concern about contractions, etc., the monitoring may be extended to 24 hrs.

In my opinon, noncompetitive biking over relatively smooth terrain is a reasonable exercise up to 20 weeks for those women who do not have contraindications. Increased caution should be observed beyond 20 weeks of gestation. And given the change in center of gravity and resultant awkwardness, it may be prudent to switch to walking or stationary bicycling in the last 13 to 20 weeks of pregnancy.

The doctor route is very good advise. My wife was recently pregnant and was told to get exercise, but to keep her pulse below 120ish. If you are in good shape to begin with, this shouldn't be a problem. We ride recumbent trikes, so balance was not going to be a problem.

Given the doctors suggestion, riding would be fine as long as we didn't push too hard.