pregnancy and wakeboarding

From personal family experience in case anyone would actually consider this: My wife did wakeboard while knowingly pregnant during her first pregnancy. It resulted in a miscarriage. Since then, she has never wakeboarded (while pregnant) and we have three sons and a daughter. Stick to walking and yoga for exercise while pregnant. Please do not wakeboard or encourage someone to wakeboard while pregnant.

no sh*t... !!!!!!!

What prompted this post?
My wife wakeboarded while 5 months pregnant but she is very experienced and took it really easy. She also had her OB on the boat which just so happened to be my Mom.

Amean RMCronin! My wife wakeboarded the day after she found out she was prego. Like Matthew's wife, she is experienced and was going to take it easy, but she ended up catching an edge BAD and having one of her worst crashes ever on a board. She was very emtional thinking she had just killed our child, but everything worked out and the baby was fine. Needless to say our OBGYN was not happy. We would have never been able to forgive ourselves if the result wouldn't have been as favorable as it was. It surely itsn't worth it!

Is your wife pregnant Dave?!

matthew im glad your wife was ok but why would any parent or future parent take a chance like that with their unborn child.. its sad cause they are totally helpless and are relying on you for safety ... i guess to each his own

William...why would you drive a car while pregnant? How about go up/down stairs? She is pregnant, not needing to be put in a bubble. My wife, with full permission of her two doctors, wakeboarded until 15 weeks. Of course I'm never going to advise that to anyone, as I'm not a medical doctor, but to call people out...well, I'm sure you'd say I was an idiot for taking my 6 month old for a wakeboard ride...so yes, to each his own.

sorry to hear schooledrider.

loren, you're comparing something most of us HAVE TO DO, to something one chooses to do? please don't take offense as i too believe in "to each his own," but i just don't understand why anyone would choose to risk their unborn baby's life for 10-15 minutes of fun.

Mathew "What prompted this post?"

Today's poll on the front page asked this question.

Must have missed that.
My Bad

joe said exactly what i was gonna say

Things happen, it all depends on how far along you are. Did she have an immediate miscarriage or was it later in the pregnancy? If it didn't happen right after, then i think you're reaching.

My wife snow boarded up till about 4 months pregnant, and we had no issues.

you're also assuming that if it happened later, that riding had nothing to do with it.

Actually what I'm saying is that there are far too many variables, and unless it happened within a couple days of riding, it's impossible to make claims either way really. People fall down the stairs, get in car wrecks, are assaulted and don't have miscarriages, while others have miscarriages for discernable reason at all.

(Message edited by cjh1669 on July 27, 2009)

yes it equals miscarriage, the boat wakes impact on the hull can dislodge the embryo, this is what i have heard from numerous friends who were pregnant. To each his own.

Matthew...it doesn't matter how experienced you are. I have heard stories of very experienced riders doing a simple w2w jump and their brain never recovering from the injury from the fall. It doesn't matter how experienced your wife is. A simple fall can rip the placenta from the uterine wall and that is that. The farther along you are, the more of a chance that this can happen. And your mom being an OB in the boat? What can she do at that point except tell her not to do it. I am an OR nurse and I am on the boat all the time. Does my presence make it that the person riding is safer? It all boils down to ignorance. Sorry to be so harsh but that is fact. The fetus is trusting it's parents to make wise choices for it from the day of conception. If you can't do that, you should wait to have them.

My wife rode a few times up to about 9 months. Kept it slow and she just rode behind the boat for a few mins. She has been riding for 10 years so I was not to worried about her crashing. There is always that chance you take but she could also trip and fall walking down the street. Our little wake boarder was born healthy on July 20th and has already been out on the boat twice. If you ask one doctor they will say no and you ask another they will say yes just like on this tread some say yes and some say no. If your wife is going to ride you have to be able to deal with the conciseness of your actions.

wow.

I'm going to leave this one alone.

I agree with Eric, there is a risk, but as long as you take precautions you can minimize that risk. There is risk in everything and there are consequences for every action. In the end you have to look at them and see what you're willing to risk for what reward. I think the statement of boats hitting a wake dislodging the embryo is a little overboard. Hell you can hit a pot hole and have a larger bump. In the end you can live life afraid and over protective or you can venture out a little. It's up to the individual. The farther you are along in the pregnancy the larger the risk becomes, and you should make sure you keep that in mind when you make your decision. Keep in mind my wife only did this with our first child, between that and our second we had 3 miscarriages, and we weren't wake or snow boarding over that time. We believe stress caused those.

Once again, guys PLEASE don't pressure your girl to ride while pregnant. And GIRLS, don't listen to your significant other as he pressures you to "take it easy." It's not worth it!!!!! Is is to each his own, or to each her own? If you don't believe me, ASK YOUR DOCTOR.

No, it is not 100% that the miscarriage was caused by wakeboarding, but my wife goes very large, has been riding for 15 years, and has nasty falls with every ride just as I do. If she's not going big, she's not going to ride. I'm out on this one, just hope someone is listening. I know most people have a clue on this one.

I have never seen J-Rod speechless. Is this a first?

Schooledrider, I hope sharing your experience will save someone else the pain you went through. Thank you for sharing to help others.

Julie - I don't think J-rod is speechless. He just can't understand how dumbass people are. Just guessing.

I look at this way: You blow out a knee, have surgery, then rehab for 9+ months to get healthy to ride again. Tough to do, but you do it for the sake of your health. Isn't a healthy child worth 9 months of sacrifice? If not, get your ride on. Comes down to personel choice and the risk you are willing to take with an unborn child.

Climbing off soap box now.

There are certain precautions you need to take when riding pregnant. It's no different than riding with a healing injury. You don't go "big" with either. This about common sense. You don't go "very Large" while pregnant. It's not even worth discussing. Ask your doctor if it's ok to drive vs. driving in a crash up derby......

Honestly it's like blaming alcoholism on drinking beer, because your wife is one, with out mentioning she drank a case and a 5th of jack a day for years.

Chris....you are out to lunch....or happy hour

It all comes down to this, you can wakeboard safely while pregnant as long as you do it early enough and take enough precautions. Is there elevated risk, yes, but they can be minimized with common sense. If you go out and wreck trying to pull tantrums while pregnant, then say wakeboarding caused your miscarriage, you're a little off. Wakeboarding didn't cause your miscarriage, a lack of common sense caused it.

My Wife wasn't hitting the park on the mountain while pregnant, she was carving and enjoying being on the mountain. Was there a chance she could take a detrimental fall, yes, but it was small. If she was hitting the half pipe and launching 520's then that chance would be extremely high. In the end there is a common sense way to enjoy activities while pregnant. you just have scale back appropriately. That goes for any physical activity, including working out.

Chris....If you wakeboard or snowboard while pregnant, there is no common sense....period.

To each their own I guess. In the end I've known many who have done both while pregnant without consequence, while I've seen others hide in their house and take every precaution, just to have complications and children born with issues. all physical activity carries risk, which is elevated while pregnant, but they also can be controlled when done correctly.

Who said anything about hiding in houses? But any extreme sport while pregnant is stupid. You guys have your "opinions" as you wonder why your fetus didn't survive....and lucky if it did.

Did I say you mentioned hiding in house? i was just making an example that issues can happen no matter the precautions we take, and in my experience those who are too worried tend to be the ones who attract them. I'm not saying go nuts, but there is room for a little sports during early pregnancy.
I don't wonder about anything, nor do I think we were lucky. Casual wakeboarding and snowboarding isn't what I'd call an extreme sport.
My 4 year old is healthy and on the road to both wakeboarding and snowboarding. Her mothers snowboarding wasn't a significant risk to her development. Not only according to me, but also our doctor, as much of an appeal to authority that may be.

(Message edited by cjh1669 on July 28, 2009)

All I'm gonna say is that doing anything such as wakeboarding, snowboarding, skiing, etc while you are pregnant is just plain dumb! Maybe if you were 8-10 weeks along and didn't know if you were then that would be ok, but strapping on a board and hitting a rail park, or wakeboarding period while your 9 months along, is absolutely crazy. You might as well smoke while your at it, and maybe have a few beers in the process. It doesn't matter if your experienced or not. Even the pros catch their edge doing nothing at all. You just got LUCKY that nothing did happen, plain and simple.

No one is advocating any thing late term, or even mid term for that matter. First trimester is about the only time that these activities would be rational, which the 8-10 weeks would be the majority of. 4 months was a little late for my wife, but it was right at the beginning of the 4th month.

Honestly she had more issues when inactive than she did when active.

I don't understand why so many people are judging what others do when it clearly has no affect on your particular life. It's their choice leave them to make it.

On a side not excercise while pregnant will keep the girl from getting unnecessarily large and will help with the losing of the baby weight lol.

Very true on the exercise thing, they just need to be mindful of their core body temp, and the later in the pregnancy the more they need to be aware and try to keep it down.

Steven - I think the "judgmental" people here are looking out more for the unborn child than they are for the adult.

I agree with Breazy why judge what others are doing it has no effect on your life. Do what is comfortable for you don't push the limits that is common sense. It is hard to comment on what others have done when you were not there to see the conditions and precautions that were taken. If you (female) or your wife wants to do something that is your choice you will have to live with your actions. Some may say we were lucky maybe we were but if the time came again I would do the same thing.