I thought I'd posted this yesterday but I don't see it. My apologies if it did end up floating around here somewhere.
Hi. :) I'm new here although I've been popping in and out for a couple of months to read various discussions. I am a 28 year-old female who has been swimming competitively for most of her life. I'm doing low-mileage masters now to complement my running and lifting activities and quite enjoy it.
Last week my husband and I found out that we are expecting our first child. Now that it's sunk in, I realize that my routines will have to change a bit. I think my swim practices should be easy to modify. However, I had just signed up for a local summer competition league when we found out. There are six SCY meets total with short events (longest being IM & 100 fr), and the first is this Thursday.
Based on reading I've done online and a call to my health insurance Nurse Help line, it appears that I probably should not do dive starts from the deck even as early as I am now at 5 weeks. Has anyone else heard of this or heard differently? I'm going to call my ob/gyn doctor tomorrow to verify but there really seems to be a limited understanding in the medical community of competitive swimming.
I'm especially curious about this because we're trying to keep the pregnancy a secret for a couple of months to make sure it sticks and avoid news spreading too soon to my company. In-water starts will certainly raise eyebrows so I might need to pull out of the competition league and just stick with practices if I can't dive.
Any thoughts are appreciated. Thanks!
I have seen one or two pregnant woman compete at Masters Meet and started from the pool. Actually, one college swim coach's wife actually did a triathlon probably 5 weeks pregnant or so and actually beat her husband in the triathlon. Compete if you want but start from the pool and probably do open turns. There was one woman at my practice that actually did butterfly a week or two before she gave birth. She said that this stroke didn't hurt as much as the others.
I have seen one or two pregnant woman compete at Masters Meet and started from the pool. Actually, one college swim coach's wife actually did a triathlon probably 5 weeks pregnant or so and actually beat her husband in the triathlon. Compete if you want but start from the pool and probably do open turns. There was one woman at my practice that actually did butterfly a week or two before she gave birth. She said that this stroke didn't hurt as much as the others.
