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ccowden

Women jumping while pregnant

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I was reading the article in the latest Parachutist and it got me thinking. I am not really sure I am in agreement that it is ok for a pregnant woman to keep skydiving while she is carrying. And by "ok" I mean that it doesn't sit well with my views on the subject.

I had never really thought it over before, and when I first saw the article I didn't think anything wrong about it, but as I considered it more, I started to change my view. I mean, when women get pregnant, they stop doing all kinds of activities because of the fact that it may cause their baby harm, so why should skydiving be any different? I think if most of us saw a pregnant lady riding a motorcycle or waterskiing or jumping on a trampoline, we would probably think it was a bit irresponsible. So why is skydiving ok? Is it because of the whole "It's my life and I will do what I want" thing? Or is it because they truly believe they can't have an accident or even a bad landing that could hurt or kill their baby? Or is it that they don't care and are willing to take the added risk?

I haven't totally decided how I feel about this yet, but I found it interesting that the article was run in Parachutist and it got me thinking. I mean it is one thing when you are risking your OWN life to jump out of planes, but doesn't it change when you are now risking someone elses? Risking doing harm to your own baby? I understand that driving a car or other activities could hurt your baby, but to me, this seems like a risk that doesn't need to be taken and there are way too many things that could go wrong that would harm your baby. A hard opening, a freefall collision, a bad landing, etc... Are these added risks to your baby worth it?

I am asking because I really would like to know how others feel about it. Maybe my views have just changed because I am now a father, but I just am not sure I am ok with the idea of a woman who is carrying a child to do such a high-risk activity. I imagine their are a few women on here that jumped while pregnant and I am wondering what their views are. Why is THIS particular risk ok to take with your child?

I certainly have no bad views of any woman who would jump pregnant and am definitely not bashing here. Like I said, I just got thinking about it and was curious of other's views. I just find it interesting that there are many activities much less dangerous that women stop doing because they are pregnant, yet some skydiving women will still choose to keep jumping. I know quite a few personally who did so. I mean look at the reaction Shayna Richardson got when something went wrong and people found out she was jumping pregnant. Is it ok just until something goes wrong?

I don't know. It just seems like a huge risk on so many levels to take doing harm to your child. I just don't know. I would imagine that if you took a poll of non-jumpers, it would be overwhelmingly against jumping while pregnant, but amongst jumpers, would be much more in favor of it.

I just think it is interesting to think about from a different perspective. What do you think about it?


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A woman can be jumping while pregnant - without knowing it. It could take a month (or longer) before a woman realizes it.

I know that doctors say to cut back on what you're doing. i.e. If your working out for 45 minutes, work out at 85% of what is normal and, of course, listen to your body the whole time.

As for me, I'm not sure what I would do with skydiving. I would not stop riding my motorcycle just like I would not stop driving my car or working out or... If there came such a time where my balance wasn't good then the motorcycle riding would stop until after the delivery but not just because of being pregnant.

**not pregnant so the following views on jumping could change if that ever became so**

The more I think about it, I'd probably continue skydiving until such a time as I felt that I couldn't - i.e. if I felt uncomfortable with the harness fit or just felt "off" while jumping. I'd probably, also, switch to doing a lot of hop 'n' pops (high or low) so that I wasn't in the air with that many people.
Life is short! Break the rules! Forgive quickly! Kiss slowly! Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably. And never regret anything that made you smile.

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doesn't it depend on how advanced the pregnancy is?

It seems to me that when the fetus is still only the size of a chicken McNugget it is still pretty well protected in there.



That image made me giggle. :D

As for the original question, I've never been pregnant, and probably won't have kids, so it's not a question I've pondered for myself. However, I think like most decisions related to pregnancy, it's a decision for the woman in question, her family, and her medical team. Certainly some are going to cut out skydiving altogether, most if not all are going to cut it out at some point during the pregnancy. Most that I've heard talk about it also talk about making different choices re: jumps, canopies, landings, etc., while they're pregnant.

Women out there do significantly riskier things to their bodies during pregnancy; this one doesn't get me all riled up.

Edit to add I don't have my Parachutist yet so I haven't read the article and am not responding to anything in the article.
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." -P.J. O'Rourke

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i think that that has everything to do with it. my wife did 12 jumps during the first month of pregnancy with our first child. after that she said it would still be ok to jump but she just didn't feel comfortable with it.


"Your scrotum is quite nice" - Skymama
www.kjandmegan.com

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Oh, I am FAR from riled up about it. I just thought it was interesting to ponder and wanted to hear other views. I agree that it is most certainly each woman's personal choice, and like i said, I am not even 100% sure how I feel about it yet. But, my perspective on life has changed a HUGE amount and got thinking about it from an outsider's perspective and from the perspective of a new father.


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I can't say whether or not pregnant women should jump, since I have never been and never will be pregnant, nor am I a woman. But don't think I would ever jump with a pregnant woman. Our sport is risky enough, I just can't fathom the guilt I'd feel if I were the one responsible for unintentionally injuring the fetus, or worse.

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It is scary to think about. I mean, you hear of canopy collisions all the time. Can you imagine if someone hit a pregnant woman and hurt or killed the woman or the baby?

Pregnant women get in car wrecks too. I hear about them all the time. You gonna stop driving around them too?

P.S. Canopy collisions used to be pretty rare. Now people are flying faster than they can think.

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It is scary to think about. I mean, you hear of canopy collisions all the time. Can you imagine if someone hit a pregnant woman and hurt or killed the woman or the baby?



To me, it wouldnt be that much more tragic then hitting and killing any other jumper...
Remster

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If I were pregnant (which I'm not, rumor mill).. I would take a break from jumping. I'd also quit drinking, drive a little slower, and try not to trip and fall down any stairs. Anything I can do to care for my body while my child is growing inside me would become a very high priority. My life experience has taught me that shit always happens when you push the envelope. I'd go a little crazy from not jumping, but theres no question that its not worth the risk.
There. Thats where I stand.. since you asked. ;)

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I've been doing some thinking about this since Travis and I got married. We're thinking of having babies in 3 years or so, and we've talked about me skydiving while pregnant.

I guess my thought is that I wouldn't be comfortable jumping at any stage of the pregnancy if I was aware of it. Even though the fetus may be very small, I would know that there is a little life in there. And it's my personal belief that even though things could happen while I was driving a car or walking down a street, I would increase that chance exponentially if I went skydiving. I've taken some very hard hits in freefall, and I walk away from the DZ with huge bruises - and I don't know where I got them. It's just too much of a risk for me.

However, I do think that this is a personal decision. I know a few women who have jumped up to and into their second trimesters, and that was the right decision for them. It's just not the right one for me. I'm not arrogant enough about my abilities (and those of the people on the jump) to think that nothing's going to happen. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

Brie
"Ive seen you hump air, hump the floor of the plane, and hump legs. You now have a new nickname: "Black Humper of Death"--yardhippie

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I'm not going to have kids of my own and have never been pregnant, but if I was, I would probably still jump as long as comfortable and assuming both I and the baby were in perfect health. Although it helps that there's an ob/gyn jumper at the DZ, so I'd probably quit when he told me to.B|

Do or do not, there is no try -Yoda

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It is scary to think about. I mean, you hear of canopy collisions all the time. Can you imagine if someone hit a pregnant woman and hurt or killed the woman or the baby?

Pregnant women get in car wrecks too. I hear about them all the time. You gonna stop driving around them too?



Using a car for transportation is ALOT different than jumping out of airplanes for recreation. Driving is about as "necessary" risk as you can have in this life. Skydiving is the complete opposite.

But, I knew there would have to be at least ONE person to use this argument.:S


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I'm not arrogant enough about my abilities (and those of the people on the jump) to think that nothing's going to happen. I'd rather be safe than sorry.



And when I started thinking about it in terms of protecting a child, this is what it pretty much boiled down to for me too.


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I had a miscarriage at a time when I was a whuffo and didn't do anything that would be considered even remotely extreme. I know how easy it is to lose a baby, so I'd have to say no to jumping while pregnant. It's really not that big of a deal to skip 9 months of jumping to minimize danger to your baby. I certainly wouldn't be able to live with the guilt if something did happen while jumping.

I don't look down on women who do continue to jump while pregnant. I just consider it a choice thing, just like I choose not to do hook turns while plenty of other women do them. To each their own.
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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I kid, I kid!



Pfffftttttt! :P You're so lucky you live far away!

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How long after your last child was it that you started jumping?



Hmmm...Nick was just shy of 9 when I did my first tandem. It wasn't that I put off jumping until then, I just never even thought about skydiving before that.
She is Da Man, and you better not mess with Da Man,
because she will lay some keepdown on you faster than, well, really fast. ~Billvon

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I don't see anything wrong with pregnant women jumping, at any time during their pregnancy; it's a personal choice to jump or not to jump, and opinions on this matter vary greatly from person to person; it's interesting to see/hear.

People have this radical idea that pregnant women should wrap themselves in plastic bubble paper and never leave the house, never eat fish of any kind, never do any kind of physical activity, never do this, never do that, and it cracks me up. I think women should just live their lives like normal (minus drinking, smoking, and/or drugs).

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I gave some inputs for the article, so clearly I have jumped while pregnant.

But -- I did it with the knowledge of my carefully-picked obstetrician. My physical condition and general likelihood of having an easy pregnancy (women in my family pretty much all have easy pregnancies) made the decision easier. Also, I knew at least 2 other women who had done it.

I cut back my skydiving intensity a notch (you do get clumsy), ate more often, drank more often, and quit when it began to become uncomfortable, when I was about 5 months along. My OB had told me I should quit by 5 1/2 regardless, so I was ahead of her schedule on that.

I kept teaching FJC, and was, in fact, teaching in an ICC when I went into labor. Very healthy boy born on the due date.

I played volleyball (not very well) until about 6 months too.

My OB had told me that riding a bicycle and horse were more likely to harm than skydiving. Not sure why, I didn't do either at the time.

If I'd had a history of trying to get pregnant, or problem pregnancies, etc I might have made a different decision.

Wendy W.
There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

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Well, I certainly don't think women should "wrap themselves in plastic bubble paper and never leave the house, never eat fish of any kind, never do any kind of physical activity, never do this, never do that,".... but, I definitely don't hink they should just go about their lives exactly the same. Especially when it comes to activities that are dangerous or strenuous. My wife passed out and took a header into the floor when she was about 1 month in and it was just from doing a bit too much housework. So, I think skydiving is pushing it a bit.


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That's all well and good when everything goes right. I understand that skydiving is an activity that pregnant women can do safely, but it is the risk of all the things that can go wrong that I have the trouble with. All it could take is one slightly bad landing to end a pregnancy, no matter how good of physical condition you are in or what OB gave you the blessing.

Do OBs give the ok for women who are 4 months pregnant to go downhill skiing?


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Every woman's pregnancy is different - your wife passed out doing light housework, and I had a 6-month pregnant aerobics instructor kick my ass...

It's about a.) knowing your body b.) knowing your history and c.) making an informed choice based on the welfare of the baby.

Wendy's story exemplifies the process I think I would go through if pregnant and jumping... though I might come to a different conclusion based on history or how I actually feel while pregnant.

you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel loquacious?' -- well do you, punk?

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