Question:
As you can see from my sig my normal Net home is the rec.bicycles groups, but it's been suggested that I post this request for info here as well A friend of mine has just learned that she is pregnant. She's over-joyed, but a little worried about how this will affect her cycling. Would anyone like to share their experiences of cycling - or doing any other aerobic exercise - while pregnant and are there any OBs out there who can make recommendations? I don't read this group, so please reply by e-mail.

Answer: -From all what I have read (and did), it is quite safe to do aerobics during pregnancy (and that includes biking). A lot of them recommend to take it easy the first 12-16 weeks (due to the high probability of miscarriage, high body temperature is quite dangerous for the fetus throughout the pregnancy). It is recommended that one takes frequent breaks if you intend to workout more than 30 minutes at a stretch and drink fluids in between workouts. Biking, especially statioanry bikes is one of the highly recommended forms of excercise during pregnancy (of course walking is included too). Some easy weight lifting for toning the upper body is also good. On a personal note, I did workout right till the last day of delivery. Towards the end, it was mostly 3-4 mile walks (good speed). Overall I felt pretty good (except during the early weeks of nausea) and in my opinion, excersising gives you added energy, whether one is pregnant or not. (of course if there are some medical reasons that forbids you to perform them, that is a separate issue) -I don't think that there is too much of a problem. I was told by my doctor not to cycle, ride horses or do a lot of extra walking when I was pregnant and that was because I had varicose veins in the vaginal area. So from that information I figured if I hadn't had them (which by the way was kinda painful to walk) I would have been allowed to do those things, but as always with pregnancies - each one is different and if you are worried about anything at all - the best thing to do is check with your doctor, listen to the advice of friends and relatives and others and then based on all the info you get - make your own decision. Also remember this, doctors are human too and sometimes will tell you not to do things such as exercise etc. - being overly cautious. You know your own body better than the doctors in most cases. Just my opinion.