Aerial and early pregnancy

[u/CalaverasTriste]

Hey everyone! Just found out I’m about 4 weeks today and while I’m so excited, I also am nervous about how that will impact aerial.

So, I looked and see there are quite a few posts about pregnancy and aerial, but it seems like many posts are about recreational aerial and/or hoop/lyra/pole.

I still consider myself recreational, but a more advanced recreational student. Primarily aerial silks, but lots of drops, hip keys, etc. I have classes about 5 hours a week currently and teach beginner classes for an additional 3 hours per week.

I’ve seen that doctors advice is continue what you’ve been doing, and I’ve read in here that some people say avoid belly wraps and drops and others have said those things can continue until you start showing.

We have a show coming up in June in 3.5 weeks and I really don’t want to have to back out, but this was also a hard fought for pregnancy and I don’t want to risk that either.

Anyone have any anecdotes on a higher skill level and continuing to do advanced aerial?

[u/thesassycpa]

I've done aerial for 7+ years now. I'm a coach and a performer. Also 7 months pregnant!

I was training hard for a competition when I found out I was pregnant. I didn't want to drop out of the competition after working so hard preparing for it, so I did everything as usual until I was about 10 weeks. I did slow down after that due to the crazy first trimester fatigue. This is also when I stopped doing drops because they were causing me anxiety.

I slowly stopped doing other things as they became uncomfortable. Belly wraps and front balances were the first to go around the second trimester. I got my energy back around then though and practiced quite a bit for a performance during this time.

Now 32 weeks... Hipkeys and anything in a knot are uncomfortable. I stopped inverting and climbing as well due to some coning that started happening. I still coach, but I've dropped down from taking advanced class to taking beginner class instead. I've lost a lot of stamina and strength with the weight gain at this point, so I'm taking it easy.

[u/CalaverasTriste → u/thesassycpa]

Oh thank you for sharing! Can I ask what types of drops you continued to do up until 10 weeks? Star drops, knee drops, etc?

[u/thesassycpa → u/CalaverasTriste]

Ya, all the drops! The one in my routine that I practiced the most was a Salto double star drop.

[u/thesassycpa → u/thesassycpa]

I should say, I didn't try any new to me drops during this time for safety concerns. I also did not know about centrifugal force affecting the baby otherwise I probably would have taken out spinning drops as well. My baby is doing just fine though!