Zwanger Fietsen Monday, 28th January, 2008
Posted by nomadical in General.Tags: cycling, pregnancy
trackback
I’ve found that cycling while visibly pregnant gives rise to quite a few double takes around the streets of Adelaide. Still on the bike at 38 weeks is not the done thing over here, and plenty of people have passed on well-meaning advice to give it away. Having spent all those years in Holland I guess I’m just a bit more used to cycling being as normal as walking, so I was a bit surprised to even read on a British website that cycling after the 5th month of your pregnancy wasn’t advised. I decided it was time to do a bit of research on cycling while pregnant – but googling in Dutch, not English. So I had a look for zwangerschap (pregnancy) and fietsen (cycling) and it wasn’t long before I’d come across a bit of advice that was typically Dutch:
“Een zwangerschap verandert veel aan je lichaam maar niet alles. Wandelen, fietsen en zwemmen is juist goed tot en met de laatste dag van de zwangerschap.”
For those of you that don’t read Dutch, that is:
“Pregnancy changes a lot of things about your body, but not everything. Walking, cycling and swimming is good right up until the last day of the pregnancy”.
Just as I thought…
In fact, the only Dutch websites I could find that warned against cycling in pregnancy were advising against going on a cycling holiday in the Swiss Alps much after the 6th month!
Nuff respect to ya.
Maybe your baby will benefit from the increased blood flow. Perhaps he or she will emerge with a more developed brain and heart due to the extra flow of oxygen and nutrients :D
It is interesting isn’t it how different cultures have such a different perspectives on the same issue, which appears to be largely based on what is socially accepted. Some years ago, there was a very pregnant women in my netball team, and if she had the chance, I think she would have played right up until she gave birth. In the end, at the request of the opposition teams she was asked to stop playing – I guess netball involves a bit more contact than cycling.
A swedish friend of mine said that she found cycling easier than walking in the 9th month! don’t think it is a big risk (maybe i am also in holland for too long) but judging from the following post, Freya did not mind the bike rides :) congratulations to all of you!!