I’m sure there are plenty of things you want to avoid when largely pregnant:  bending over to tie your shoes, trying to roll over in bed.  Mainly because they’re nearly impossible to do when you have a beach ball invading your life.  

But it reality, even though some things may still be easy to do, they may NOT the best for you and baby.  There are a number of activities to avoid during pregnancy that can actually be harmful.

Pregnancy Injury Basics

Pregnant mothers suffer some sort of accidental injury 6-7% of the time, according to Trauma.org research.  Some may be from intentional exercise or habits, other simply from accidents beyond control.  But more importantly 67% are due to falls, discovered by the University of North Carolina in 2010.  When you’re body starts growing so much, you’re muscles, bones, ligaments, joints, everything holding you together basically, gets stretched and is constantly moving.  Your hormones and natural physiological factors soften your tissues just enough so that you’re able to grow with that baby so everything fits properly.

Unfortunately, with that comes side effects like easier loss of balance and quicker muscle weakness, greatly contributing to your likelihood of having an accident.  It is much less common in the first trimester because your baby and belly are still quite small and your baby is still situated in your pelvic cavity, heavily protected.  But farther on, there’s not much between your baby and outside things, increasing the chances of injury.

Please know, however, that your baby IS quite well protected naturally.  A bump or two here and there is completely understandable and normal.   You’re getting used to your size and it’s quite common.  But any everyday occurrence is not something to be worried about.  (Make sure you’re protecting your baby against radiation from your cell phone though with this blanket.)  

Think of it like this:

Your belly and your baby are like water balloons.  Picture a little balloon filled with water INSIDE of a large balloon also filled with water.  Now put the larger balloon inside a tough leather satchel or bag.  

 

Think:  Can you pop the little balloon without hurting the larger balloon?  Not at all.  Your body is much like that  and your baby is very safe.

But things can still happen that mainly only hurt you, but can also lead to injury to your baby, depending upon the circumstances.

Activities To Avoid During Pregnancy

Mainly ALL of these activities are not recommended because of the risk of falling and greater impact when height and speed are increased.  Don’t participate in these while pregnant:

• roller coaster rides
• rock climbing/repelling
• bicycling - now this one has a bit of a fine line.  Cycling is an excellent way to exercise and keep yourself healthy during pregnancy.  But taper it off and switch to indoor spinning or elliptical training towards the end of your second trimester.
• skiing/snowboarding/ice skating
• soccer/basketball/hockey
• gymnastics
• horseback riding
• surfing/water skiing
• wrestling
• scuba diving

Scuba diving is another absolute NO.  The pressure and gas changes you undergo when changing depths in the water is not something your developing baby is able to do yet.  

The Undersea Biomedical Research Journal showed in 1980 that incidences of birth defects rise when pregnant mothers participate in diving.  I’ve never been scuba diving, but it’s not on my radar anymore.

Don’t forget other little things that also can lead to a trip or a fall:

All of these can easily be prevented by simply taking your time and taking care of yourself.

Have You Had An Accident?

See your doctor immediately if you’ve experienced any pain, bad bruising, bleeding, cramping or suffer from the inability to do normal things that you could before.  If you have an emergency don’t wait to visit the ER, ever.  It may be a little embarrassing that you simply slipped going out the door, like a geriatric patient.  But it’s NOT worth the risk if something may be wrong.

There’s no reason to fret over every little scrape, but if anything feels very out of place or wrong, better safe than sorry.  Now you can better your odds of having great balance and strength throughout your entire pregnancy, thus easing your worries or risk of hurting your belly or rump.

I’ve never experienced any sort of mishap while pregnant.  But my mother did have a dog jump on her belly and she eventually started leaking amniotic fluid, leading to bed rest with my little brother.  We’re not sure if it was the exact cause, but it certainly was coincidental.  

There are other things you may be doing that can automatically harm your baby too.

Protect Your Baby’s Health With This Proven Miracle Blanket

What are things you find make is easier or harder to keep yourself from falling?  One thing I’d always do is not let my husband help me up off the floor or from sitting.  Why?  So I could better strengthen myself doing so.  Yes, I held onto a table or chair often at first, but then it became easy and I wasn’t ever worried in the long run.

Let me hear from you!

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