weight lifting while pregnant

tubbytubby87
tubbytubby87 Posts: 10 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I just switched to a midwife who spent the last ten year in an Indian reservation and told me if I work out at all I can have a prolapsed uterus. She said im only allowed to walk. She saif she only lets all her clients walk. I find that odd since I weight lifted with my one year old and my ob never said anything. I feel kike she just is against working out while pregnant period. Regardless of if you are healthy. has anyone who weight lifted ended up with a prolapsed uterus. Have you known anyone who has?

Replies

  • Flab2fitfi
    Flab2fitfi Posts: 1,349 Member
    edited October 2014
    Nope not heard of anyone and i know several people who run right up to giving birth. One of my friends ran 10 today and is 27 weeks along. They suggest you do not take up anything new or increase intensity while pregnant but you should be safe doing what you did before pregnancy.

    Just be aware that your body does release hormones that relax the muscles so its easier to injure yourself but if you listen to your body and be careful you will be fine. There are numerous studies that have shown the positive effect of exercise on the unborn baby especially as there is an increase in blood flow to the placenta. Women who are active during pregnancy also tend to have easier labours and recover much more quickly.

    http://www.fitpregnancy.com/exercise/prenatal-workouts/weight-training-pregnancy
  • LoraF83
    LoraF83 Posts: 15,694 Member
    While midwives are well-trained in the area of childbirth, I would ask your doctor about the exercise while pregnant.
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
    tubbytubby87 wrote: »
    I just switched to a midwife who spent the last ten year in an Indian reservation and told me if I work out at all I can have a prolapsed uterus. She said im only allowed to walk.

    She is an idiot, full stop.
  • Popp28
    Popp28 Posts: 13 Member
    I would advise you to carry on doing your normal exercise routine, we just advise that you don't add anything new really :smile: Your uterus won't prolapse, I don't even know how that's possible! However, I wouldn't say that midwives are trained in the area of childbirth - they're trained from conception through to childbirth and the postnatal period; and most know a lot more about normal pregnancy than doctors :smile:
  • Popp28
    Popp28 Posts: 13 Member
    I mean as in, that's not the only area they're trained in.
  • onefortyone
    onefortyone Posts: 531 Member
    edited October 2014
    I personally would stick to low impact exercises. I have heard that you can keep doing the same things you were doing before pregnancy, but I would be high-risk so I wouldn't take any extra risks. Especially considering looser ligaments/muscles, centre of balance changes, and even abdominal muscle tears. However it is obviously up to each individual person and their pregnancy. A rule of 'only walking' is a bit extreme, but there must be a balance you can achieve and still do what you enjoy.
  • maoribadger
    maoribadger Posts: 1,837 Member
    Midwife = nuts. I kickboxed through my first pregnancy and did my blackbelt grading at 7 weeks pregnant. Wore a HRM to make sure I didnt go too high and rehydrated regularly. If its something you already do you are set to go just dont add stuff
  • MaintainCats
    MaintainCats Posts: 222 Member
    I kept up kettlebell, HIIT, etc through 40 weeks pregnant. Ended up with the fastest labor ever (not for real but for me, 2 hours from first contraction to baby) and a super easy recovery. If you have been lifting I wouldn't stop. Just be careful of keeping up form because it can be easier to overextend etc due to the relaxin.
  • Carrieendar
    Carrieendar Posts: 493 Member
    the only real worries I have learned about with regards to this is that, depending on the exercise, heavy weight lifting (ACOG has said 30+ pounds) at the end of a pregnancy can shunt blood away from the placenta/baby during the strain in the lift itself. we can't say what the effects of this area, but we can look at other developing cells and tell you what happens there when you get that temporary blood loss. they haven't said anything about earlier, but I did see an article where a doc from ACOG said it is a risk at all points of pregnancy.

    That said, I still lifted, did martial arts and ran with all my kids. I just didn't go heavy, didn't do anything new, and was really careful especially late in pregnancy.
  • BramageOMG
    BramageOMG Posts: 319 Member
    edited October 2014
    I saw a woman give birth while on the squat rack last week. Looked like it was a pretty easy delivery.. just sorta popped out. Everyone was so excited.




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    Mom.jpg
  • tubbytubby87
    tubbytubby87 Posts: 10 Member
    Thanks everyone! I do weight lift 4 days a week and cardio 1 day. I did the same witg my 1 year old and just lowered the amount of weights depending on how my body felt. I was completely freaked out when she said to stop because women who work out get prolapsed uteruses. I think im going to stick to my routine as I did with my previous pregnancy.
  • ViolaLeeBlueberry
    ViolaLeeBlueberry Posts: 182 Member
    Hey tubby, let me just add that if working out during pregnancy caused that level of problem, there'd be a heck of a lot of women walking around the world half-crippled, and would have been for the last ... oh, gosh, certainly since the advent of agriculture :smile:

    I'm sure some of the women who, like my MIL and SIL and pretty much everyone else in rural villages around the world for millennia, carried water and firewood and cut forage in the jungle and squatted to cook and cut rice etc all through pregnancy may have ended up with a prolapsed uterus. But common? Uh, no.

    Of course heavy loads would naturally be reduced during advanced pregnancy, or eliminated if there are problems ... but for much of the world, what the West calls "working out" and "weightlifting" is just everyday life. The reason we have to do it now in programmed increments -- "30 minutes of cardio," etc -- is that the current urban / desk job / sitting-in-a-car lifestyle is the one that's not "normal." Granted, I wouldn't exchange it to carry firewood on my head each day. But just saying :smile:
  • StarChanger
    StarChanger Posts: 605 Member
    Popp28...the ONLY midwife that knows more about normal pregnancy than an ob/gyn is one who has gone to medical school, residency, and passed a licensing and board exam in obstetrics to BECOME an ob/gyn. They may know how to make you more comfortable, more relaxed, and will very likely spend MUCH more time holding your hand during labor and delivery...but make NO mistake, that is much, much different than knowing the anatomy, physiology, chemistry of pregnancy. Any "normal" pregnancy can turn very, very bad in a heartbeat, and guess who that midwife is going to call desperately for help?? An Ob/Gyn...
  • StarChanger
    StarChanger Posts: 605 Member
    (ps - the midwife is WRONG about not exercising in pregnancy and that it will cause prolapse. You're actually LESS likely to develop prolapse if you have a strong core, and are of a normal weight. The pregnancy weight you gain "should" be mostly fluid and baby...although the reality is that most women gain some fat as well due to inactivity. Often, due to poor advice like you were given...)
  • Carrieendar
    Carrieendar Posts: 493 Member
    I would definitely question any Certified Nurse Midwife who gives advice like that. Now...a CPM or DEM...I would question simply because they don't have the education....the CNM should have learned this in pre- nursing kwim?
  • Popp28
    Popp28 Posts: 13 Member
    StarChanger wrote: »
    Popp28...the ONLY midwife that knows more about normal pregnancy than an ob/gyn is one who has gone to medical school, residency, and passed a licensing and board exam in obstetrics to BECOME an ob/gyn. They may know how to make you more comfortable, more relaxed, and will very likely spend MUCH more time holding your hand during labor and delivery...but make NO mistake, that is much, much different than knowing the anatomy, physiology, chemistry of pregnancy. Any "normal" pregnancy can turn very, very bad in a heartbeat, and guess who that midwife is going to call desperately for help?? An Ob/Gyn...

    Hey :smile: I think that midwifery in the US might be completely different to midwifery in the UK, I'm not sure what training they have in the US, but in the UK they study at University and learn about the anatomy, physiology etc of both normal pregnancy and complicated pregnancy and are actually the main care givers in both normal and complicated obstetrics, and are usually only supervised by doctors.
  • mrsdjordan
    mrsdjordan Posts: 16
    Maybe what she meant was a subchorionic hematoma? I gave myself one moving some 25kg sacks of dog biscuits at about 12w with my second child. I was on a 'no lifting anything' (aside from than my other child when absolutely nessesary) ban for the rest of the pregnancy. I stopped bleeding a few weeks later and all was well after 20w. I was used to lifting the sacks, but I'm not a weight lifter, so I must be quite weak compared to you. Plus I'm high risk due to many many losses, so not exactly the norm.

    I could see how weight lifting could possibly cause a prolapse in the first months after birth though, if you suffer any significant damage down below.

    But if you've done it before then you know you are fine anyway!! Good luck!
  • karenj_m
    karenj_m Posts: 215
    BramageOMG wrote: »
    I saw a woman give birth while on the squat rack last week. Looked like it was a pretty easy delivery.. just sorta popped out. Everyone was so excited.




    .
    Mom.jpg

    This is great!!! :)

  • Carrieendar
    Carrieendar Posts: 493 Member
    Popp28 wrote: »
    StarChanger wrote: »
    Popp28...the ONLY midwife that knows more about normal pregnancy than an ob/gyn is one who has gone to medical school, residency, and passed a licensing and board exam in obstetrics to BECOME an ob/gyn. They may know how to make you more comfortable, more relaxed, and will very likely spend MUCH more time holding your hand during labor and delivery...but make NO mistake, that is much, much different than knowing the anatomy, physiology, chemistry of pregnancy. Any "normal" pregnancy can turn very, very bad in a heartbeat, and guess who that midwife is going to call desperately for help?? An Ob/Gyn...

    Hey :smile: I think that midwifery in the US might be completely different to midwifery in the UK, I'm not sure what training they have in the US, but in the UK they study at University and learn about the anatomy, physiology etc of both normal pregnancy and complicated pregnancy and are actually the main care givers in both normal and complicated obstetrics, and are usually only supervised by doctors.

    This is very true!! CNMs are the only American midwives that are comparable to midwives in the UK.

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