 Poster: A snowHead
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I thought i would contribute to this debate after returning last week from a week's skiing while my wife was 17 weeks pregnant. The week before we were due to leave, having thought nothing about going skiing whilst pregnant her midwife had said "NO! you cant even think about going skiing if you're pregnant!!" We endured a bit of soul-searching and discussions about what could go wrong and how to avoid, and also the nature of risk in everyday life in comparisoon and decided not to cancel the holiday on what seemed like a bit of a knee jerk response. We discovered that by taking things easy, slowing down or even stopping when slopes got particularly busy and generally doing lots of nice runs like in the "ski tranquille" area in Val we could still enjoy skiing while being aware of the risks.
The major problems were: me having to drink on my own (9 euros a pint sounds better when you've both had a few...); several instances of burst open salopettes with sitting down on some quicker chairs (both of us, i'm calling it a sympathetic pregnancy); difficulty bending down to fasten ski boots; much harder to get into tuck position for long schusses and possr husband having to carry all of the bags/boots/skis evertwhere.
The Flying Snowplough, Similarly we had been on a chalet skiing trip with 20 friends and relatives in the time before the pregnancy had been announced, I spent the whole week getting extra portions of wine, pate, prawns, aperetifs, port and blue cheese and was in heaven - no one claimed to have noticed any difference!
In summary i think it is definitely worth doing, especially as future years will be much more difficult with travelling with a family etc. Being aware and careful about potential risks, taking it easy and being prepared to spend time in a cafe while the other half does a bit of their own thing seemed to work for us. I wouldn't be put off by risk-averse professionals (or amateurs) either. We had an excellent time and now can put our child into ski school in a couple of years knowing he/she has alreadt experienced the joys of skiing twice! 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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number9dream, let me take a guess that the midwife wasn't a skier?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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beanie1, I'd guess that too. The medical profession seem split into two camps: those who ski say it's alright to ski whilst pregnant; and those who don't ski say it's not alright to ski whilst pregnant.
Both my sons did quite a bit of skiing whilst still in the womb.
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When I was 3 months pregnant we passed Tiffindell ski resort on holiday, ski fanatics like us could not resist South Africa's one and only 'resort', (one button and 800m of quite easy slope) for a one day fix.
Husband took snowboard lessons, but I thought learning would be too dangerous while pregnant.
First son was just over a year and as I was confidant skier and fit enough I skied with junior in backpack. It was not busy and had a lovely day.
My gine had no problems with that, but told me scuba diving and horse riding was out.
At least I now have bragging rights about skiing while carrying both children, especially when they nag about carrying their skis!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thought I might add my experience here too seeing as I went to Avoriaz a couple of weeks ago at 17/18 wks PG. My GP (English - I live in Paris) was totally cool about it pointing out that pregnancy is not a disease & you should pretty much carry on with your life. My gynocologist (an American - not sure if that makes a difference!) was more cautious but still said that while his French colleagues would say that you def shouldn't ski whilst PG, he tended to agree with my English GP that you should try to carry on as normal. He did however point out that I should be aware of the risks if I had a fall or collision.
I decided to go & had a great time. I stayed in my comfort zone & didn't try going down anything challenging (except once by accident when my friend went the wrong way!) & usually stopped fairly early in the afternoon as I found I tired more quickly than normal. I did have a couple of v minor falls but everything was fortunately OK.
I would say that, yes, there obviously is a risk to skiing while PG & it all depends on whether you think that's worth taking or not. You have to be honest with yourself - acknowledge the risks & have to be able to live with the consequences if things should go wrong. You also need to take into account the father's opinion - my hubby was cool about it as he's a mad keen skier too & wanted a 2nd trip himself!
The other thing that helped in my decision was that I had already skied whilst PG with my first without realising it. We went to Chamonix which isn't exactly known for it's easy, comfort-zone skiing! I had a shocking fall there & everything was still OK. Similarly the same thing happened again this yr - I went to Couchevel in Jan & skied again whilst not knowing I was PG. The only difference with the Avoriaz trip was that I made a conscious decision to go with the knowledge I wa pregnant so I could be more careful & therefore it was prob less risky this time round.
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Interesting to read these experiences. It's a very personal decision for the woman concerned - but I guess it's more of a risk when you're unaware early in the first trimester, then when you have a nice healthy bump at 17 weeks! I enjoyed my pregnant windsurfing (up to 8.5 months) but would not even have considered scuba diving!
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I think scuba diving puts a huge amount of pressure on internal organs, eg I understand that the lungs shrink to size of a fist at 30m. Now that wouldn't be comfy for a baby in the womb!
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Actually the danger of the high pressure is the forming of bubbles in the blood, we have filters in our lungs, but babies do not yet .
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