Shallow aquarium dive in early pregnancy

[Jaybe]

Hi all, I'm new here and looking for some info.

My Hubby bought me earlier this year a gift voucher for a shark dive at oceanworld. It expires at the end of this year, so I only have just over 4wks to use it (and it wasnt cheap). Problem is, I'm pregnant, approx 9wks.

I've been doing alot of googling and have read heaps of info recommending pregnant women dont dive, which I can understand. However most of the associated risks seem to be applicable to problems with decompression or compression issues while diving - is this likely to be an issue at a maximum of 4m depth inside a tank?

I'm an advanced open water diver and am quite comfortable with such a small depth in this early pregnancy, however am just trying to get an idea of whether im best off to throw it in. I'll be sorely disappointed if I have to, I've been looking forward to it for ages and would hate to throw the $$$ down the drain.

Thanks

[Jaybe]

Also thought I should mention I shallow dived (only to about 3m) in my previous pregnancy at around 17wks while taking some photos close to shore with no ill effects on my daughter.

[Walter]

Nothing is worth the potential risk to your child.

[bleeb]

I'm not a medical type of any form, but here are a few thoughts that might be worth considering.

I believe dive physiologists find some degree of bubbling in the blood of just about every diver they've tested, even for 'short' durations at a 'few' feet, whatever that means. (May be worth a bit more research.) But for sake of argument, lets call it 12', which is about double the pressure change from flying in a pressurized airplane, although the rate of ascent is a lot slower in the aluminum tube.

A fetus is a lot smaller than its mother, especially early in pregnancy, so one could imagine that what's a small bubble to the mother looks a lot larger to the developing fetus, with possibly more opportunities to cause trouble, like microstrokes and what not, where the damage may not be coarse enough to be easily detectable.

[ScubaInChicago]

OK, I'm going to chime in here based on memory of an article I read in a diving magazine I unfortunately just threw away less than a week ago. In the article it talked about a group of women who would freedive into the later weeks of pregnancy to collect either shells or oysters. The article also stated that these women had an astronomically high birth defect rate. I know there is a difference between freediving and scuba, but this article was able to articulate the similarities to discourage it.

I wish I could be more help, but If you were my significant other, I would truly recommend against it and consider selling it or re-gifting it. I'm sure if you posted it on SB along with the reason you were selling it, no one would take advantage of you for it. Then just promise to treat yourself to the same dive later...

[DandyDon]

I was amazed to see a woman more along in her pregnancy fly from Florida to the Biminis to avoid the rough crossing that liveaboard used to do, then start regular diving. Always wondered how that turned out. I thot it was pretty risky at the time.

I do hope you can get an extension on your certificate under these circumstances. If not, transfer it to your hubby?

[Thalassamania]

From everything that I've ever read a 4m dive in the first trimester is not any problem what-so-ever. The "medical" advise will always be against it since if anything does actually go wrong the actual cause is passing hard to determine and the "medical" authorities don't what to be in your line of fire. I know plenty of women who have dove much more aggressively and much later in their pregnancies with no ill effects (Sylvia Earle and Eugenie Clark, for two) and I also know women who have had children with birth defects who did not dive (and did nothing else discernible wrong). While it's best to take every possible care, but I don't think that a 4m dive adds any risk.

[Tortuga68]

Mermaid Scuba: Pregnant Women and Diving

[Thalassamania]

All that advice applies (if at all) to dives with a potential for DCS, which means that you have to be deeper than 4m, in fact you'd need to be about twice that depth. Embolism is, of course, always a danger at depths below about 1.4m, but then so is driving a car.

[Tortuga68]

Yes, driving a car underwater isn't recommended

Unless it's a Lotus and you're James Bond