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| Messages 1 - 34 of total 34 in this topic |
Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Original Post - May 20, 2012 - 01:56am PT
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My wife, who dearly loves to climb but finds it uncomfortable (and dangerous) to use a normal harness, would like to know more about her options. It seems a full body harness is the way to go.
Does anyone here have experience with this...and do any Vancouver people have one sitting around that they would not require anymore?
Thanks!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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May 20, 2012 - 02:06am PT
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a full body harness is the way to go
... tied to the bed until she gives birth.
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Ben Emery
Trad climber
Australia via Bay Area via Australia...
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May 20, 2012 - 09:16am PT
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Hey, congratulations!
My partner used the petzl full body harness for gym climbing until she was at least 7 and maybe 8 months pregnant with no complaints (she backed off on the outdoor stuff).
That said, she's recently loaned the harness to someone else (who I'm guessing would be at ~5 months?), but they found it too uncomfortable to use.
Probably depends on the individual, but yes, I think the 5-point/full body harness is about your best option.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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May 20, 2012 - 11:33am PT
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I'm usually pregnant with anticipation before a big climb. Have fun and be carefull!
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Hannes
climber
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May 20, 2012 - 01:38pm PT
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The petzl full body harness was the standard choice for the pregnant at the wall I used to work at.
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Gene
climber
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May 20, 2012 - 03:05pm PT
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Count me in with those that urge caution. I have heard of women engaging in sports until the contractions were a minute apart, but....
What's the doc say?
We lost a child in the sixth month of pregnancy from what 'might' have been caused by a unsuspected physical activity stress factor.
Wishing you the absolute best with the family!
g
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kennyt
climber
Woodfords,California
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May 20, 2012 - 03:06pm PT
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Do you really need to ask this question?
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 20, 2012 - 03:08pm PT
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My wife is an ob/gyn so don't get her started on sh!t like that. She'll
come slap ya. Sure, a lot of people get away with it but is it worth the risk?
It is quite selfish and wanton behavior if you take an honest look at it.
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Hannes
climber
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May 20, 2012 - 05:31pm PT
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Let me quote an obstetrician I worked with "it is really, really hard to dislodge or hurt a baby while in the uterus"
The risk of problems from some light to moderate exercise is very small and the exercise is likely to be beneficial for both mother and baby. Obviously don't overdo it.
Tami, as for the eclampsia, some people just get it and no one knows really why just they get it. If you're overweight or have a family history you are at higher risk and also if you have had one before. Heck, we don't even really know why it happens, there's a number of good theories but I wouldn't blame being active on it.
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Trad climber
San Francisco, Ca
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May 20, 2012 - 08:47pm PT
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Truth is climbing is over for several years, and pregnancy is the least of her/your upcoming impediments to crushing.
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bit'er ol' guy
climber
the past
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May 20, 2012 - 11:33pm PT
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why?
Enjoy it
take a break
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ncrockclimber
climber
The Desert Oven
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May 21, 2012 - 12:20am PT
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My wife is due in July of this year. When she got preggers, we talked about her continuing to climb and she decided to stop. Although we both felt that it was pretty safe, we decided that the risks were not worth it. She has continued to do yoga and other types of exercise, and she is looking forward to climbing again after our son is born.
Best to you and your wife for a healthy and happy pregnancy!
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ncrockclimber
climber
The Desert Oven
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May 21, 2012 - 10:11am PT
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Thanks Lolli. It is a first for both of us and we are VERY excited.
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Tony Bird
climber
Northridge, CA
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May 21, 2012 - 11:06am PT
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lolli's advice up there is the best. tami is way too athletic, and i'll bet her kids grew up with some kind of jealousy complex.
i'm going to have to warn you about one thing. my wife climbed like hell with me for a couple years before we had our first of two children. then she shifted into mothering gear, which has been wonderful, but i've never gotten my climbing partner back. "one of us has to come back from these adventures" was her original excuse, but the kids are grown and, sort of, gone, so now her excuse is an absorbing ceramics habit. if i get argumentative, she asks to play scrabble. life and children bring changes, and you should expect some curve balls. i still find partners to climb with, but they're not nearly as handy, and often far less charming.
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FrankZappa
Trad climber
80' from the Hankster
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May 21, 2012 - 12:23pm PT
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My wife climbed pretty far into her pregnancy, but never maxed herself out. Just did routes she had done before and were not too hard for her.
Full body harness was the way to go.
Everyone is different, which is why she did exactly what her doctor advised, and was probably a little conservative to boot.
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SCseagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz
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May 21, 2012 - 12:38pm PT
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and often far less charming
That is sooooo sweet! I could just feel the affection you have for your wife. Sometimes the simplest turn of a phrase tells a story.
Gene...so sorry...had same experience but not so late...never goes away...who they might have been...and as my son used to ask.... "would you have had me?" in a sad little voice....ahh
Sorry for thread drift...but I chime in with the majority....I'd dial it way back....and if must climb...perhaps gym climbing since you can control the circumstances....no tripping on approaches, no bee stings, so snake bites, close to help if needed etc etc
Susan
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rectorsquid
climber
Lake Tahoe
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May 21, 2012 - 12:39pm PT
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I know absolutely nothing about being pregnant but after a shoulder injury, I didn't climb for quite some time. All that means is that if your body is not in a good condition for climbing, don't climb. Pregnancy is for making a baby, not for rock climbing.
Plus, the littlest slip might have some big ramifications for a fetus. What does the doctor say?
Dave
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Jussy
Trad climber
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May 21, 2012 - 01:21pm PT
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i am using the petzl full body harness (currently 35 weeks).
if she feels well, has an uncomplicated pregnancy, and knows her limits i see no reason why not to climb. good healthy workout.
i have stopped leading and bouldering, and will only do single pitch routes with no abseilling involved. have dropped a grade or two but really enjoy getting out and doing some easy routes.
best of luck with the pregnancy. every woman is different and you just need to see how she finds it herself.
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2012 - 08:18pm PT
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Thanks folks! Tami, thanks for your comments and caution too.
Our doc says no problem, so we wanted to hear what others have been doing because it's our 1st and most of our climbing friends are pot smoking bums, not family people...! I fit both categories...
We feel that the most dangerous aspect to climbing with a bun in the oven would be tripping hazards on the walk in and out. My girl's balance is off obviously.
Congrats and best of luck to the other people this thread having kids, I hope they turn out healthy and happy, and that you remain that way too!
-peace-
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - May 21, 2012 - 08:55pm PT
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I'm looking forward to being interrupted, and my wife needs her sanity. Managing risk is the key, and top roping short 5.5's seems tame, we aint doing A5 on El Cap.
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sudarkoff
Trad climber
Sunnyvale, CA
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May 21, 2012 - 09:13pm PT
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My wife climbed the day before my son was born with her OBGYN's blessing. Don't be stupid, use caution, don't do anything your body's not used to and have fun!
My wife used a full body harness from Petzl. I added a few stitches here and there to prevent various parts from sliding around. It's not the mosts comfortable arrangement, but it works for toproping.
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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May 21, 2012 - 09:34pm PT
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Hey Fishboy, I have no kids or experience with pregnancy but common sense tells me the obvious thing to do in this situation would be for her to acquire the full body harness, quit climbing, & focus more on belaying you, It will build much character & patience in both your wife & unborn child. Marathon belay sessions will help her to deal with & prepare for the stresses & challenges of parenthood. Not to mention giving you a chance to crush a bunch of meaningless, inanimate projects before your climbing life screeches to a temporary halt & the real project begins. Congrats & Best of luck :-)
Of course you'll owe her some serious rope gunning once the baby's out & she's back in action!!
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rosiemaple
climber
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May 21, 2012 - 09:39pm PT
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I switched to a full body harness (petzl) when my regular harness became uncomfortable and enjoyed climbing in it until the day before my kid was born. Climbing can be a very safe activity when done properly.
We had a great birth experience and an exceeding healthy baby, and I think staying fit and active was important for that. Furthermore, continuing to do the things that you love, and learning adapt them to a new lifestyle while pregnant is great preparation for having a kid and sharing fun activities with them.
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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May 21, 2012 - 11:50pm PT
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Your lovely lady can and should decide what is right for her, taking qualified opinion into account.
Pregnancy does not equal disability. Some pregnancies will have problems. Most will not. Listen to her body.
Every woman's body is different. My only pregnancy with any issues was the one when I was not active, merely in college. My blood pressure skyrocketed. Child was OK, normal despite my tiny weight gain. Probably stress and age related.
My second pregnancy, I ran up to the day I delivered. My doctor was wonderful. There was no data on exercise and pregnancy then. He discussed the warning signals with me and gave the tools to manage the situation myself. Absolutely no issues, and a healthy baby. I set PRs up to my 7th month of pregnancy before I slowed down. Race directors tried to keep me out of their races, and people looked at me with great concern.
My third pregnancy came ten years later. I climbed, skied and ran up to the day I delivered. Climbing stopped at 7 1/2 months because it was ski season and indoor gyms did not exist. I am a coward, so well protected leads and top roping is always my modus operandi. Truthfully the skiing was much harder on me as I was teaching children. Try getting out of the beginners chair carrying 25 extra pounds on your middle and 50 pounds of child on your left and 50 pounds of child on your right. Child 3 was a healthy 8 pounds. I didn't need a full body harness at the time that I stopped as the seasons changed to frigid New England winter by the time I got that big. I would have continued climbing and rigged a chest harness if the weather was warm and dry weather.
People mean well. But it is her mental and physical health. It does drive me crazy to see guilt inflicted on women.
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rockgirl
Sport climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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May 22, 2012 - 10:18am PT
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I climbed through both my pregnancies and used the Petzel full body harness both times. It's comfortable enough. I climbed The Chief when I was 2 months pregnant and swapped leads and even took a fall- no problems. I stopped leading around 2.5 months. Switched to full body harness at 5 months. Stopped lead belaying around 6.5 months. Sent a 12a on top rope at 8 months pregnant (http://mamaclimbs.com/8-month-pregnant-5-12a-preggo-point/); and climbed until 37 weeks. I was planning on going out on my due date, but I went into labor instead ;)
The day I went into labor, I took the dog for a walk and shoveled snow.
I was also featured on Good Morning America for climbing while pregnant and I'm surprised some of the comments here actually are similar to those of non-climbers. Hopefully, they are just trolls.
http://mamaclimbs.com/15-minutes-well-4-counting/
Comparison of "taking it easy" pregnancy vs "climbing as hard as felt good" pregnancy: http://mamaclimbs.com/staying-active-pregnant-results-post/
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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May 22, 2012 - 10:02pm PT
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One of the stupidest things I have ever seen was a visibly pregnant woman rideing in a hunter jumper show. As the show photographer I see all kinds of weird and ocasionaly scary stuff but this was right up there. She got loose in the saddle and hit the saddle hard as it was coming up hard while shen was comming down, got thrown and went into premature labor right there in the dirt. Most likly pretty hard to process that over the years. I often never know what really happens @ those events once the meat wagon takes em away. Sometimes you hear rumors and sometimes not.. I don't recall what the final outcome of that one was but it sure as hell looked sketchy when it went down...
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 14, 2012 - 09:12pm PT
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He popped out a few days ago, on my birthday actually! Farley Cadel de Kam is Squamish's newest climber/biker/skier to be!
My wife rode her bike 16km's to her last midwife appointment, got home and her waters broke...then it began. That was many of the funky things she did, including walking out to Garibaldi Lakes a month ago....they are both very healthy!
-peace-
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Oct 14, 2012 - 09:42pm PT
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Way to go fishboy! 16k bike ride to breaking water, there's a story!
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Fossil climber
Trad climber
Atlin, B. C.
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Oct 14, 2012 - 09:46pm PT
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Any kind of roped climbing has a potential of pretty sharp trauma. Why not just go for walk-ups for a while? It won't be all that long. Time flies.
Cindy (my wife), with the approval of good ol' doc Sturm in Yosemite, climbed Mt. Dana at 8 months. As we went up, I wondered what it would be like to pick-a-back her down if something went wrong. Tried it.
She might have survived, but I wouldn't. But she went up and down and everything came out all right.
We loved Doc Sturm. He used to say when confronted with a sleepless baby, "A teaspoon of whisky for the baby, two tablespoons for mom." We didn't find out until later that he was kidding.
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Wen
Trad climber
Bend, OR
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Oct 14, 2012 - 10:40pm PT
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Congrats Fish Boy, the next phase will feel amazing and hard and tiring and rewarding all at the same time.
Like some of the others, I climbed and randonee skied until 8 months with my first baby. My good friend who was preggo at the same time skied until 6 mo and went into early labor. Our pregnancies were similar until that point, we worked out together until she went into labor. All I can figure is it happens to some women, not to others.
I climbed and mountain biked until 7 mo with my second, and again no problems.
To all the preggo moms wondering about this stuff, I think it's a very personal decision, and no one else can tell you what to do. My OB gave me good advice...listen to your instincts and make the decisions that feel right for you.
It's the same with parenting actually. There's no cookbook, just your instincts combined with the opinions of others.
My $.02.
Wendy Laakmann, mom of two amazing children who love the outdoors
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Oct 14, 2012 - 10:53pm PT
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Congratulations!!! She sound like a great life partner, and she'll be a great mom, too. I was on the side of an active pregnancy if she feels well. Now you'll get different advice -- she can take two weeks of doing nothing but bond with baby and heal. I didn't after my first and felt tired for weeks. I did nothing for two weeks with baby 2 and 3, then jumped into all my activities again and felt fabulous. Life will never be the same again for wither of you, but it will be a new adventure. Enjoy!
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ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
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Oct 14, 2012 - 11:31pm PT
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any surprise that this thread is full of anecdotes? why even ask the question
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Fish Boy
Trad climber
Vancouver
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Topic Author's Reply - Oct 14, 2012 - 11:40pm PT
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Anecdotes is what I was looking for. Thankfully here in Canada we have a great healthcare system which answered our questions.
I assume you haven't read the thread, just the first post or two. Why would you bother to post here, ya w@nker!
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