Climbing While Pregnant

I just found out I am pregnant! Woohoo! I enjoy bouldering and sport climbing inside and outside. If you have climbed while pregnant, what advice do you have? Safety precautions, do's and don't, how did you hide it (before ready to make the announcement) while taking those precautions, etc...

I want to still climb, but I also want to do it safely!

Have fun? The preggos i know just kept climbing. Mitigate risk as you see fit. Why hide it? You do you

Congratulations! 

My wife climbed while pregnant. My advice would be do things pretty normally in the first trimester, don't wear a tight shirt and people won't notice.  Once you get into the 2nd trimester just top rope. You can stay in shape and have fun w/o risk of a fall that could cause problems. Even just a twisted ankle would suck on top of being pregnant.

It's easy to get caught up with the pregnancy and forget that you'll have a baby human that requires round the clock care once it's born. So also by the 2nd trimester prepare a baby's room, have a crib, changing station, nursing chair, etc. all ready. In the third trimester you may not feel like doing much of anything (my wife was on bed rest) so try to be ready by 6 months. So you can chill the last 3 months.

Your kid's life stages get longer as they age. You have a baby for only 12 months. It's the hardest stage but it goes the quickest. You'll be exhausted, but then remember you'll only have this baby for 12 months so appreciate it. Then you'll have a toddler for 2 years from 12 months to 3 years. Still a lot of work but you can sleep all night. The kid becomes self sufficient for up to an hour of so at a time. Then you'll have a young kid from 3 years to 7 years. They start going to school / day care can hike with you, etc. 

Congrats!  Everyone has different risk tolerance so you will have to find your own. I read Exercising Through Pregnancy book which was helpful but I wonder more updated books are available now. I am a doctor so I asked about 6 OB’s as well as mine about risks and did my own research too.

So what I decided was to lead until 12 weeks, then only TR or follow after. But some bad ass ladies lead all through their pregnancy. I continued all other exercises including weight lifting too. Only hiccup for me was that I developed pelvic instability that made it painful to do some of the activities, but otherwise I didn’t feel the need to slow down much.

You will need a pregnancy harness at some point. Don’t be sad if your feet grow and can’t fit into your old climbing shoes.

Listen to your body. It’s an amazing part of the motherhood journey. Ok I hated it but I wouldn’t take it back either because birth-now is amazing. I am mom of 3 kids all birthed by me and youngest is 9. Good luck to you!  

My partner tried a full body harness while pregnant and didn’t like it at all.  She opted to go with a full strength chest harness (the new BD one) and her normal harness.  She found this to be a more comfortable solution.  Though she sorta thinks she should have transitioned to the body harness towards the end so the knot wouldn’t press up against her belly so hard.

I think she went about 16 weeks before she stopped leading.  And went top roping till 2 weeks before labor. 

I am an early one to stop leading and even lead belaying (on anything they could reasonably fall on, which not everyone does of course) when I find out I’m pregnant. Which is tricky if you don’t want to tell people until you get to that 12 week mark, or wherever.  For me, I just had to tell my 2 climbing partners right away as they would be impossible to fool for 10-12 weeks and would see through any facade.  For other people who in the gym who would ask why I wasn’t leading, I said I had tweaked my back so was avoiding big falls and big catches. That was the best I could come up with for an injury that would cause me to potentially stop leading, catching, and bouldering haha.   Maybe some people didn’t buy it especially since I was still trying really hard on top rope lol but it stopped any questions until I was far enough along that I didn’t mind telling people.  Just offering that up if you’re looking for an excuse for the extra precautions until you’re comfortable telling!

"In 1988, chasing one more high before she would be grounded for a while, Alison climbed the north face of the Eiger. She was five months pregnant. She sought medical advice and the doctor thought the risks were slight, but warned that a big expedition to Alaska (her original plan) might appear 'unseemly' — so he recommended the Alps. Alpine climbing in second trimester pregnancy was uncharted territory. Alison managed the climb, but it proved difficult. She slept badly on the bivouacs as the baby kicked inside her. With legs swollen like balloons, she walked off, exhausted. Her climbing partner said that she didn't look pregnant before, but she did after."

https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/alison_hargreaves_climbing_her_mountain-15063

YMMV

All of the advise above is sound. One thing to be aware of is that your connective tissue might loosen up—my wife suffered a subluxation of her patella (kneecap) while climbing pregnant when her foot slipped during a drop knee move. Just be careful on those joints!