Diving in early pregnancy ?

[awall54308]

Is it really worth taking a chance? Have you considered how you would react if for some reason your baby was born with a birth defect?

A little over two years ago my wife and I went on a scuba trip of a lifetime to Indonesia. We found out 1 month before we left she was pregnant. We decided we would still go but she would not dive. She ended up snorkeling for the 2 weeks we there. Two years later we have a healthy baby boy. Ask her now if she has any regrets and I'll bet anything she doesn't. It just wasn't worth the chance!!!

 

[davezwife]

Well, like I said, I couldn't live with the guilt IF anything were to happen. I am just curious what others have to say. A couple people have PM'd me saying they would go. hahaha. shhhh! ;-)

I have actually scheduled a blood test right before we go, since I could be cutting it close and want to know for sure.
And FWIW, obviously my husband would have a say in this, but it's a moot point.
A 9 month SI... lol...

 

[Bratface]

It's not miscarriage that would worry me . . . It's birth defects....

I agree. It's certainly not worth the risk to your suspected unborn child. If you can't determine if you actually are pregnant, snorkel and enjoy the view.

 

[BabyDuck]

the theoretical risks include loss of limbs or digits from microbubble formations. that would be a pretty heavy thing to think every time you looked at your baby.

then again, i dove not knowing i was pregnant. jameson's been further back in caves than most folks, and his issues aren't dive related. (he was very premature due to my severe pre-eclampsia.)

 

[Garrobo]

Maybe DAN has your answer.

 

[ahava]

As much as it would crush me to miss the dives, I would be much more hurt to miscarry and spend forever wondering if it was something *I* did.

I think you answer your own question right here. Its a tough dilemma but you will make the right decision.

 

[boulderjohn]

This past year my daughter-in-law was planning to have me certify her in preparation for a family trip to Cozumel. Because she was also thinking about getting pregnant, she asked me to look into this question, so I did a lot of research. The conclusion I drew from that research was pretty clear--either try to get pregnant or learn to dive. The risks are just too great to do both. She opted for pregnancy. She had a wonderful time snorkeling on the trip, and we are looking forward to a healthy grandaughter in February.

I have a friend who has so far had two children while working as an instructor. In each case, as soon as she decided to try to become pregnant, she limited all her instruction to the classroom. She would not even do the pool work.

 

[Nismo]

My wife had become pregnant just before our trip to Bonaire last year. Her OB said NO DIVING. There is not much out there in research, but realisticly, who would be willing to volunteer to be in that study. She did a lot of snorkling and got to see things the rest of us missed that I would have liked to have seen, since she was on land excursions. It definitely sucks, but certainly not worth the risk.

 

[Ice Mike]

As much as it would crush me to miss the dives, I would be much more hurt to miscarry and spend forever wondering if it was something *I* did.

What would you do if you knowingly were early in a pregnancy? (and guys, what would you want your partner to do?) Dive or snorkel ?

I would like my wife to stick to just Snorkel.

For me the key lies in the unknown.

Imagine something is wrong with the child, which might even show up in later life, how will you handle the "what if question". What if you hadn't made those dives...

My approach would be.. find out if your pregenant well in advance, if so, congratulations if not choose between birth control and diving.

All purely hypothetical ofcourse, my wife doesn't go near the water.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Look at it this way. You can wear your husband out on the trip since you won't be tired from diving. He may not even mind missing a few dives for some extra "surface activity"!