I know that, as a pregnant person, one of the toughest psychological challenges is avoiding getting down on yourself. For some women it’s about their weight or “evolving” shape. For other women, it’s dealing with the way everything seems to “slip” (self-maintenance, home maintenance, marital maintenance). For me? The toughest part so far has been trying to balance my uber-competitive athleticism with the natural (and social?) limits that pregnancy places around your physical capabilities.
I’m actually so frustrated by this I could cry. And I did cry. But I could totally cry again. It’s wall-punchingly tough. And my partner, while my teammate and an impressive ballplayer, just can’t relate. Though he does support me and all of the decisions I’ve made.
What exactly is the big deal, you might ask? Well, for starters I want to keep being ME, even though I’m pregnant. And when I play softball, I’m one of the most aggressive athletes you can imagine. I taunt pitchers. I dip my shoulder and target wayward catchers. Yesterday I had a hot streak and I heard one of the infielders nervously ask another “where’s he hit it to?” The shortstop admitted “he can hit it anywhere — be ready.” Then he giggled and yelled, “Hey batter! Where you gunna hit it this time?” I smiled and yelled back arrogantly, “WHEREVER YOU AREN’T.” I then proceeded to hit it to a beautiful gap in left center, with nary a defender to be found. Was that the end of the exchange? [sigh] The nervous pregnant lady in me wishes. Instead, as I went around the bases, I was all about the chatter. Asking base person after base person if “they’d missed me” since the last time I’d gotten on.
Am I an asshole on the field? Yeah, probably. But this is my alter-ego. This is the fantasy I live out on the diamond and have continued to for nearly 25 years now. If I had to pick a religion, it’d be sports. And if I had to pick a method of worship? It’d be aggressive softball playing. It fills my spiritual cup in a very serious way. It’s no accident I met the love of my life on the softball field. And it’s no accident that I’m still playing in my second trimester, side by side with that same man. If my heart were a puppy, this would be her dog park. It runs wild and free here. Untethered and ecstatic.
I’ve now been playing pregnant for over two months. In that time I’ve dove, slid, dropped a shoulder to a third baseman, charged into second to break up a double play, taunted countless pitchers, infielders and base runners and argued with an umpire. I’ve also hit the ball harder and farther than I have in years, been a rock-solid infielder, and contributed to overall scoring with aggressive and decisive base-running.
I’ve said from day one that I’d stop playing if ever my game suffered because of my pregnancy. But if anything, I’m a better ballplayer this season. Which makes it really, really hard to tell myself I have to stop playing because I’m somehow endangering our fetus. Or because society gets too nervous watching a pregnant lady determinedly round third. I don’t want to feel guilty or slow down one bit. It feels so natural to me to play and to play pregnant. And I love being pregnant.
Quick guide to getting started in roller derby
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When it all boils down to it, I feel powerful in a really cool way. And my team is in awe of me. As well those boys should be. I feel like I’m teaching them an important lesson about what pregnant women really are and what we’re really capable of. A lesson I now know I’ll be able to share with my kid when he’s old enough to understand how badass women are and how insanely amazing the human body is. There’s also a satisfying lesson in it for me, too: I am as powerful and beautiful and strong as I’ve always thought I might be. There’s no place I’ve ever felt as powerful and beautiful and strong as I’ve felt while playing pregnant this season.
When Dan and I had our first appointment with our midwife, one of my first questions was, “Can I keep playing softball? And if so, for how long?” My midwife grinned and said I could play on — indefinitely. At the time I sorta laughed because I thought it showed her ignorance of the sport, thinking that I could contribute to our team’s offense OR defense with a 20 pound bowling ball strapped to my midsection. But it’s been a great comfort to me that she endorsed my playing.
At this point, I still feel like I’m doing the right thing. I’m being a healthy mama living an active lifestyle — and I’m being ME. So maybe the hard part isn’t that I find myself constantly having to reevaluate whether or not to continue playing, but that at some point it may not be within my control to make the decision. Honestly? This incredibly painful question tugs at my heart after every game now: Was THAT the last play of my career? And if I’m able to come back after my pregnancy, as I plan to, will I ever go three for four again? Have I played my last game with fire in my belly and bravado in my swing? Or simply played my last game?
The truth is that this pregnancy may mean I only miss 10 games and then I’m right back at it. But it has made me painfully aware of something I’d never considered before. The idea that my “career” will eventually end. My eyes opened. Now, part of me knows it’s coming, as it does for all of us. The last game. The last play. The last time I pack up my bag and hear an opponent walk up and say over my shoulder, “You’re better than most of the men in our league.”
Maybe it’s the not knowing that makes it so damn hard.
As a roller derby player who has watched women leave for injury, pregnancy, and general life, and then return with gusto to every skill they had before, I can tell you that last game is totally within your control. Doesn’t matter if you stop at one kid or ten. You might need a babysitter in the stands on game day and need some extra help to make it all work. Don’t sweat it. You can “retire” when you want to, and there is no one that can tell you otherwise.
Thanks throttler228! This is definitely what I *want* to believe, so I appreciate the support.
throttler228, me too! I had my first baby over 3 years ago, and as hard as it was to leave during my pregnancy I came back as soon as I was cleared to skate and made it back onto the travel team where I’ve been competing since. Now I’m pregnant with our second and I plan to do the exact same thing this time around!
The difference for me was that my midwives told me no derby at all, as soon as I got pregnant. Maybe it’s the preconception of the different sports, or maybe because softball isn’t defined as a full-contact sport like roller derby is, but I was basically told “absolutely not” when I asked about continuing to play–I felt as strong as ever and had a very healthy pregnancy, and for first pregnancies you don’t even start to show until well into your second trimester. I knew I COULD continue to play, but when faced with the risk of potentially hurting our baby, I had to acquiesce. I know my teammates and other players wouldn’t feel comfortable playing normally with me if they knew I was pregnant, and holding back or expecting anyone to hold back in derby just doesn’t happen. So this was one of the hardest adjustments to make–going from 4+ practices a week (plus bouts) to nothing really sucked. But it forced me to concentrate on other things (like getting our horrendously junk-filled spare room converted into a decent nursery), and I was still involved with my team and my league in other ways. And let me tell you, that first time back on the rink was so! great! It was easier than I had feared it would be to get my endurance & footwork back. You can do it, mama 🙂 Best of luck to you, Kate.
Thanks for this. As an equestrian, the idea of not being able to do what I love [for a while] is the cause of my main hesitations for expanding our family. Opinions differ greatly in the horseback riding world too about whether one can/should ride during pregnancy. I do a lot of groundwork with my pony anyway, so I guess I’ll just shift to that for a while when the time comes.
Thanks FriendlyDalek, I totally get it. One thing I’ve found out in my research into the risks of contact injuries (I looked into everything from softball collisions to car accidents) is that the location of the placenta really matters. If your placenta is healthy and well attached in the back of your uterus, your “set-up” is a lot better protected than if you have placental attachment in the front of your uterus. You can usually find this out during one of your earlier ultrasounds and it may help to give you a better sense of your more individualized risks. From what I found, a placenta that’s attached in the back is protected by your spine, your mid-section, etc. – whereas in the front it’s a lot more vulnerable.
Best of luck to you, though, and definitely talk everything through with experts that you trust. You’ll totally figure something out to get your fix in. 🙂
My doctor and midwife both said that they had no issue with me riding for as long as I wanted during pregnancy. What I didn’t realise was how quickly I would become uncomfortable getting off my horse. Getting on and riding were no problem, but tipping forward to dismount became an issue from around 5 months. I’ve shifted to groundwork as well. I’m a little concerned how that’s going to affect my mental health as going for a good hack is my way of unwinding and without that I wonder if I will end up getting a little more wound up about everything. Time will tell, and in the mean time I am keeping both myself and Nelly (my mare) fit and active so that we will be able to carry on where we left off when I am ready to begin riding again.
Would it be easier to do a crest dismount than a traditional croup dismount? I know it helps with certain types of disorders for therapeutic riding. Also a good mounting block might help too.
My riding instructor rode into her eighth month with her first and her seventh with her second. She said her balance was really off with her second, so she stopped a little earlier. I am pregnant, high risk, right now. I was diagnosed with a miscarriage very early on and then, suddenly, there was a gestational sac and a heartbeat. The bleeding scared me so much (it continued even though I have a viable 17-week pregnancy now; this apparently is just how I roll… the moral is, don’t panic!) that I am not riding at all in keeping with my doctor’s advice. Although I do not currently own or lease a horse right now, there’s wonderful Tennessee walker whom I adore and ride for lessons (and aspire to lease one day.) Yesterday, in a fit of hormonally-related anxiety, I noticed, “You know, these apples are a little bruised, and I’m not really gonna eat four bags of baby carrots all by myself…” And off I went to the barn to lavish a little love on my big, sweet girl. She just gets me. She snuffled my neck and was all nuzzles, and I think she understands why I can’t ride her. She knows I love her. The relationship with “my” horse hasn’t ended even though I can’t ride her, and that connection means more to me than any technique I could be perfecting over the next nine months.
My mom always said that she was more likely to fall while skiing when she was stressing about whether or not she should be skiing while pregnant. When she just decided to ski and do her normal thing, she was much less likely to fall.
Right!? Half of the things “they” tell you to avoid or worry about during pregnancy make up about 90% of the worry they INSIST you cannot have in order to have a healthy pregnancy. While everyone totally has to make an individualized, fact-based decision about their own health for themselves – I did a little math and risk assessment based on my own experiences. In the 25 years of competitive softball I played I only endured one emergency room-worthy injury and it happened because sometimes 7 year old girls are a lot stronger than they are savvy. I got screened at the plate by another little girl coming home and I’m pretty sure just about all of us on the field were out of position at the time. 😉
While I get the point of this post, it’s not just you and baby impacted when you play.
Might be safe for you guys, but at a certain point it becomes unsporting for the other players. Because they other pull back to avoid hurting you, or they *don’t* pull back and if something happens they’ll never get over it. It’s not very sports-person-like to put others in a position where they can’t also play *their* hearts out as freely and openly as you are.
All that said, I know ladies in their 60’s who just started playing hockey, and a male goalie who was playing (and awesomely!) in his 80’s. While there might be a day….you likely have more years left than the ones you’ve already played!
Thanks kiki! I totally struggled with this, too. I have a deep respect for the game and for all of the players and officials who share my “dog park” – even if I am uber competitive and demonstrative. Ultimately, I did hang up my cleats because I felt totally sick one day when I shouted at an infielder who was clearly obstructing the base path while I was rounding second. The infielder wasn’t aware what he was doing and started yelling back that he shouldn’t have to get out of my way (he had no play on the ball/me) just because I was pregnant.
Now, that guy didn’t understand obstruction rules (or even how out of position he was) but he was clearly upset that in his view, I had assumed infielders would move out of my way purely because I was pregnant. I realized then that (while that guy was 100% wrong) my pregnancy was like a whole other player on the field that I couldn’t account for. Every infielder would play my “situation” differently, and so in my mind, another set of invisible rules had been created for my pregnancy without my knowledge. There *can’t* be two, three or more sets of rules in a single, fair game. That’s why I ultimately decided to sit out the remainder of the season. So, kiki – I feel you. And I totally, 100% agree with you. Until all players know how to play a big ‘ole pregnant lady sliding into third or rounding second, it just seems unfair.
I hear you, but I have to disagree. Kate knows the physicality of her chosen sport, and has made her decisions based on her own knowledge and the advice of medical professionals. The potential discomfort of other players is not her responsibility. While I agree that it would be unfortunate if other players treated her differently, or if she sustained an injury, the point is that she knows the risks and made an informed decision. The other players can do the same if they find themselves injured, temporarily or permanently disabled, or otherwise operating under different than usual circumstances.
In case that came across as harsh or unclear, let me sum up: I absolutely agree that other players treating her differently or feeling differently about playing with her can be an issue. But I think addressing that issue is the responsibility of all parties, not just her.
“Kate knows the physicality of her chosen sport, and has made her decisions based on her own knowledge and the advice of medical professionals.”
And you could sing that til the cows come home, but deep inside, people are going to worry about injuring the pregnant lady. If I were to accidentally hurt someone’s unborn child, no amount of “well the mother weighed the risks, she wouldn’t have wanted me to hold back…” would make me feel better about it.
Absolutely. I’d feel horrible too. But I hope I’d have the wherewithal to acknowledge that those are MY feelings, about MY actions, and take responsibility for my own emotions. I realize that’s incredibly hard, and I respect anyone who would rather stop participating than deal with the potential guilt/resentment stew. But I would hate for someone to be shamed or guilted out of participating in something they love because other people are worried about how they’ll feel about it.
ZOO, the entire point here is that it’s no sporting to make everyone else adjust their play. It’s not about feelings and emotions – it’s about how you play the game. It’s not about anyone being “shamed or guilted out of participating”, it’s respecting the sport and the competitive level of play that Kate engages in.
People pay money to participate in a sport at a particular level. Expecting them to adjust that level of play isn’t sporting, but expecting them to simply ignore that someone is pregnant is unrealistic.
If it was a casual league that might be a totally different story, but it’s clear that for Kate that it’s a more competitive level, and that’s what she loves about it.
Yep, this is at the heart of it for me, A. Thanks for writing in. As I mentioned in my response to kiki’s initial comment, this was ultimately the reason I hung up the cleats for the remainder of the ’14 season.
Thanks for this discussion. This has actually made me reconsider how I will continue to rock climb when/if I become pregnant.
I play ultimate frisbee, which is a coed sport and is very physical. Technically it is no contact, but when 2 people are jumping or diving for the same disc, there’s contact.
I see a lot of women miss a season to have a kid, and then they are right back on the field for the next season. There is usually a little playpen on the sideline where the kids play together during the game. And sometimes there’s even breast feeding on the sidelines, too. Seeing these women continue to do the same things they did before they had kids is really reassuring to me. And when the kids get older, I hear conversations like “Well, on Saturdays we watch you play soccer, but on Sundays you watch us play frisbee!”
YES! Thanks, justanothersciencenerd. This is what it’s all about for me. Seeing those incredible women come back from having their first child and watching the incredible ways they make it work for themselves, for their kids, for their partners, and for their teammates. It’s so incredibly inspiring.
You and Alysia Montano, showing the amazing things pregnant women can do. 🙂
http://olympictalk.nbcsports.com/2014/06/26/alysia-montano-pregnant-runner-usa-track-and-field-outdoor-championships-olympics/
Thanks Alissa! Can’t tell you how nice it is to hear support for what is a super tough decision for any athlete. 🙂
I practice a very intense form of yoga that takes place in a hot room heated to 105 degrees F with 80-90% humidity. When I first started practicing 7 years ago there was a woman who practiced with me until she was 9 months pregnant. It made me very nervous to watch her. She modified some poses as her belly got bigger but I was always afraid she was going to pass out (she never did and I am pretty sure she practiced almost until the day she delivered).
Now as a married 30-year-old contemplating starting a family I am hanging on the the image of that woman as an inspiration. In addition to practicing yoga, I have also just started to do triathlons. I was afraid of getting pregnant accidentally and that it would ruin my ability to participate in the sports I love and thinking about trying to time it perfectly around big races. With the memory of that super pregnant yogi in mind I am committed to participating in intense athletics throughout any future pregnancies. It helps that many people involved in triathlons start later in life (30s and up) so I also see lots of people in their 60s in the sport
Absolutely Daisy6564! And the good news is that many midwives will support your continuing on in endurance sports – including triathlons and hot yoga, so long as your body is used to doing the training and your pregnancy is not a high risk pregnancy. I can’t tell you how many midwives (hospital midwives and home birth midwives) told me along the way that they supported me 100% and that they had delivered babies of women who had run marathons while 9 months pregnant. I think it’s a slightly different conversation when you’re an athlete in sports where contact is a part of the game (even if they’re “non-contact” sports), but again – for me, it’s all about individual risk assessment and seeking out as much information as you can get your hands on.
Just checked back and I totally agree; contact sports and team sports are way different than my individual sports. I actually quit playing rugby in my early 20s because of a knee injury. I wanted to have a fit life for years to come and sort of freaked out when I got injured and decided that I did not love rugby enough to risk becoming immobile.
My point about looking to the athletes around me, whether pregnant or middle aged, was that I have seen by example that the body is capable of amazing things at every age and stage. It is good for the women (and men) around you to see that pregnant woman are capable and not fragile. I hope to be healthy enough and low-risk enough in my pregnancies to continue my sports until delivery.
I understand and respect you for knowing when to step away. Know that you will be able to come back and keep growing as an athlete.
Probably the most controversial decision I made while pregnant was to keep boxing through the first trimester. I did a ton of research and here’s what I found out: The baby is super-insulated inside the womb and fluid around them absorbs almost all impacts. So as long as you try not to take any serious belly shots and your partner is not at a Mike Tyson-like level of strength, you’re probably safe.
I didn’t tell a lot of people, mostly because of the reactions I knew I would get. I mean, few things would appear more dangerous to a pregnant woman than boxing. But in the end, it’s really not. People are bad assessors of risk on the best of days, so I wasn’t really keen on using first impressions to make decisions.
Also, let me just add that I did martial arts up until the due date. Ever heard of something called Relaxin? Pregancy joints are super-freaky flexible and loose. I never had such incredible flexibility then in my last trimester. I was doing things that impressed other people in the dojo, it was amazing.
Hey Ashley – I totally empathize and am super happy for you that you were able to find an informed level of risk that felt comfortable for you *and* that allowed you to continue to compete in a sport that you love. I agree that in general, people are bad assessors of risk – especially people that don’t know your sport particularly well. This is actually one reason why I did a LOT of research on top of just asking various midwives for their opinions. A lot of them understood “softball” to mean one thing, when to certain kinds of players it means something entirely different.
I find the same about mountain biking….some people think it means a jaunt on a mountain bike along a paved path, while others know it means getting dirt in your teeth as you scream downhill, and that it doesn’t count unless there’s at least a little blood. 😉
Super happy to hear from another fighter! I’m 32 weeks pregnant and still doing Thai boxing. No sparring though. 🙂
And the relaxin thing is awesome. I love seeing how high I’m able to kick now.
“I know that, as a pregnant person, one of the toughest psychological challenges is avoiding getting down on yourself. For some women it’s about their weight or “evolving” shape. For other women, it’s dealing with the way everything seems to “slip” (self-maintenance, home maintenance, marital maintenance). For me? The toughest part so far has been trying to balance my uber-competitive athleticism with the natural (and social?) limits that pregnancy places around your physical capabilities.
I’m actually so frustrated by this I could cry. And I did cry. But I could totally cry again. It’s wall-punchingly tough. And my partner, while my teammate and an impressive ballplayer, just can’t relate. Though he does support me and all of the decisions I’ve made.”
THIS. I needed this so badly today. I’m a roller derby player sidelined by pregnancy, just too much contact to reasonably stay on skates even in the first trimester. I’ve also been dealing with heinous morning sickness for 12 weeks now. I had a melt down at work this morning after screwing something up because I had to leave it to go vomit. I felt like no one got it, I hated my body for not being able to do what I need to do let alone what I want to do. I just really really needed to hear that other ladies get down on themselves too during this and I’m not a horrible mom-to-be for having these feelings.
Thank you for the best timing ever and good luck with your season!
No way, Jess! Not a horrible mom-to-be at all! And honestly? This shit is for *real*, yo. So many of the things that used to be in our control are just so suddenly totally, completely, utterly NO LONGER in our control. I think that especially hits us athletes at home because part of being an intense athlete is striving to control and maximize your inputs and your outputs – physically and mentally. This is training. This is competition. But pregnancy throws in all kinds of interesting challenges and opportunities… So definitely hang in there. You’re doin’ great, mama.
Jess, I’ve SO been there! I think you’d like this: http://www.qcrg.net/blog/being-a-derby-mom/
hang in there, it’s tough but it does get better <3
This article is great! I’m the first on my team to have a baby while playing so I really don’t have any real life derby mom role models. I’m going to book mark it and go back to it when I need a pick me up.
Just wondering how you are going to cope if you ever get injured and cannot play. I am currently on week seven of not be able to walk, of barley being able to move due to a back injury. I am going to miss an entire season of my chosen sport if not two. That is just life. Something you have to accept. At the moment I am just doing my best so I don’t have to give up my career as well. You can play sport again once you have had the child. If temporarily stopping a sport is one of the side effects of being pregnant then that is something you just need to accept as part of the procreation deal. Being pregnant is not a disability but it does make you awkward for a while there, that’s all. It is temporary.
Hey Lauren! Thanks for your comment and for reading the submission. I hear you. When you said “If temporarily stopping a sport is one of the side effects of being pregnant then that is something you just need to accept as part of the procreation deal” it totally hit me hard because that’s really the crux of it! Is it a side effect of being pregnant – or is it just something that society has decided for us? Is there science to back it up? If so, is that science well considered and reliable – and does it fully apply to me in my specific circumstance? The not knowing and the risk assessment is so hard. At the end of the day your injured body *tells* you it can’t do something – so you take the time to heal it up. But at the end of the day your pregnant body isn’t injured, it’s just in an altered state. Your pregnant body may have a depth of strength you never had before – and untapped mental toughness just ripe for your applying to your sport. It’s different for every woman, no doubt, but that’s just it – it’s worth thinking through. Especially if you’re a hungry athlete who’s batting above her non-pregnant average. 🙂
I powerlift and have continued to do so until my pregnancies ended. I credit the lifting for a smooth delivery. That said, I read about a dozen profiles of pregnant lifters at Cassandra Forsythe’s site. 90% of them said, ‘I went out too strong after delivery and hurt myself. Added a couple months of rehab.’ Listen to your body post-delivery; don’t assume that you are the same as pre-pregnancy. You might be, but check in with your joints and coordination.
This is great advice, Megan! Thanks!! I could totally have seen myself going out too hard and trying to get in too many miles/reps/lbs, etc. after our daughter’s birth. I’ll keep this in mind and work myself back up one step at a time, paying close attention to how I’m feeling after workouts. Thanks for the heads up!
I love that you are still playing, and I think that society needs to see pregnant women playing sports and working out. It’s natural and normal (unless it’s a high risk pregnancy for obvious reasons). Though I stepped down from rugby for a season, I kept playing touch football well into my 6th month of pregnancy (I had to step down when I pulled a ligament in my groin).
The next summer? I was back on the rugby field. I had a 10 week old baby hanging out at the rugby fields with me, and it was actually pretty fantastic. If she was fussy and I was on the field there was always another mom there who wanted to hold her. If I had to leave the field a teammate took my position and we kept playing the game. I’ve been back to playing rugby for 4 seasons now, and my three year old is always there with me. It’s her second home, she get’s to be outside and run and play with the other kids, everyone at the club knows her and looks out for her. It’s broadened my daughter’s family really and I couldn’t be happier with it all. Hell, my rugby team even has a mother and daughter duo playing (which one day I hope to do with my daughter if rugby ends up being her thing).
You’re career in sports may one day end, but it probably won’t be for a while and it will likely be on your terms. I’m 29 now, and I don’t see myself slowing down or stopping anytime soon.
You keep doing you!
Just saying I really enjoyed this post! 🙂
I’ve never been pregnant and I’m not about to be pregnant anytime soon and I’m not an athlete, but I loved reading this post! I like reading about maintaining your sense of self while being pregnant because I feel like so much of the media assumes that you lose your sense of self when you get pregnant and become a mom. I’m hoping to keep up my Zumba and competitive karaoke league when I get pregnant and your post makes me feel like I can.
One of the things that gets me about the whole sport and pregnancy thing is that everyone has an opinion and some of those opinions are incredibly badly informed. At the end of the day it is a risk, but if you have done your research and you are happy with the level of risk then I don’t really see why there should be a problem. The one that really made me laugh was being lectured about continuing to ride horses while pregnant by a heavily pregnant lady who was smoking while she lectured and had just finished telling us about her drunken binge the week before. Now they are risks that I am absolutely not willing to take, but I would never see it as my place to tell her that she had to stop doing it. A risk is just that, one person may play sport right up until their due date with no problems whereas another may get into trouble fairly early on. I salute your continuance and I admire the amount of thought/research you have put into it.
This is such an awesome post, and really hit home for me.
When I was pregnant, I was in intense fitness bootcamps and Zumba, which meant a lot of high heart rates, sweating, jumping around and heavy lifting between the two. My midwives gave me the all clear as long as I didn’t try to step up my intensity level, modified my exercises and kept track of my heart rate/breathing to make sure I kept it at a safer, lower level. I had been doing these classes for 2 years, and was well-acclimatized to them.
However, the gym that hosted these classes (a women-focused privately run gym), did not want me participating in these classes as a liability issue. If I passed out, or something happened to the baby while I was doing their class under their supervision, they would’ve been on the hook. So I was “gently encouraged” to stop those classes and start their prenatal classes (which included a prenatal fitness bootcamp and a prenatal pilates).
I understand the gym’s uneasiness having a pregnant lady in their most intense offered classes, but I wish I hadn’t dropped the classes so quickly as the prenatal ones were too easy for me until I was well into the 2nd half of my pregnancy.
This was a few years ago for you, and I played confidently pregnant with my first, but she was due in December so I was able to keep it secret for most of the season. This baby is due August 4th, and I am facing a lot more judgement. I play on 2 leagues, both friendly, one pitch to own, one balls and strikes. Like you my playing and batting is amazing! The baby must be helping me out… I also chose out of respect for other players to take a pinch runner from first. But still, people are making decisions for me, and making me feel bad for playing, like I am endangering my baby. I point out that their reasoning is flawed, because considering the amount of car crashes and bike accidents should I stop these two activities too? But the choice has been made for me and I have been forced to hang up my cleats on one of the leagues for the season. I also have started to feel a bit paranoid because of nay sayers.
This is a great post and reassures me that it is ok to trust myself and my body. When did you get back to playing in the end? Thanks!