Post pregnancy cycling

On 2008-01-28, LotteBum (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

With only 6 weeks to go, I'm getting more and more desperate to get back
on my bikes. Does anyone here know how soon after birth one is able to
get back on bikes and ride? Even if it's just short rides, I'm really
keen to get back on the bike as soon as I pop....

Hope to get some answers here as Google hasn't really helped me at
all..

Welcome back Lotte.

I reckon by 3 months old, you'll already be taking him/her/them on the
bike in a kiddy carrier, for short 600km rides.

If the GVBRs are anything to go by.

--
TimC

Quoted message said:

You seem to be implying here that one gets rich after gaining a PhD?

Of course one does. The other 99 out of a hundred get bitter.
-- Paula responding to TimC on ARK

TimC said:

On 2008-01-28, LotteBum (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

With only 6 weeks to go, I'm getting more and more desperate to get back
on my bikes. Does anyone here know how soon after birth one is able to
get back on bikes and ride? Even if it's just short rides, I'm really
keen to get back on the bike as soon as I pop....

Hope to get some answers here as Google hasn't really helped me at
all..

Welcome back Lotte.

I reckon by 3 months old, you'll already be taking him/her/them on the
bike in a kiddy carrier, for short 600km rides.

If the GVBRs are anything to go by.

I think the default period is about 6 weeks as that's when most gyno's
schedule the major post natal checkup. You may or may not get the Ok at
that point and it will depend on the type/ease of delivery.
My little one is now 6 weeks old and the wifes main issues are staying
hydrated for feeding. She had a 9lb naturally and is still very tender
around her girly bits and according to her there would be buckleys of
getting back on a bike at this point.

On Jan 28, 7:09 pm, LotteBum <LotteBum.33v...@no-

mx.forums.cyclingforums.com said:

Does anyone here know how soon after birth one is able to
get back on bikes and ride? Even if it's just short rides, I'm really
keen to get back on the bike as soon as I pop....

Two words:

preineal tearing

IANAG [1], but I don't think there's any major medical reason to not
ride a bike after birth other than your own comfort.

You might be lucky - my mother in law was riding a horse within 10
days of delivery - but it might be a while before you can look at a
bike saddle without wincing.

tim

[1] BITALA

In aus.bicycle on Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:46:22 -0800 (PST)

tim said:

On Jan 28, 7:09 pm, LotteBum <LotteBum.33v...@no-

mx.forums.cyclingforums.com said:

Does anyone here know how soon after birth one is able to
get back on bikes and ride? Even if it's just short rides, I'm really
keen to get back on the bike as soon as I pop....

Two words:

preineal tearing

Two words.

Ouch!

Recumbent.

Zebee

Aw, none of this is what I really want to hear.... but alas I'll walk like all the other birth-givers.

Now all I need to do is work out a way for Peanut to travel in one of those Chariot carriers... looks like by the time I'm ready to ride, she'll be old enough to sit in one of them :-/

Lotte

LotteBum said:

Aw, none of this is what I really want to hear.... but alas I'll walk
like all the other birth-givers.

Now all I need to do is work out a way for Peanut to travel in one of
those Chariot carriers... looks like by the time I'm ready to ride,
she'll be old enough to sit in one of them :-/

Lotte

Lotte,

It comes down to the individual. My wife had a friend in her mum's group
who was out jogging the week after the baby arrived, and her hubby has
been stuck in a bed for six years with some disastrous back injury... so
she was out pushing bub all the while. Our first was an emergency caesar
after 25 hr's labour, so my wife wasn't even allowed to drive a car for
nearly two months, and had difficulty picking up the baby! I guess
you'll know yourself exactly when you can get back on the bike.

Best of luck and enjoy!

On Jan 29, 8:36 am, LotteBum <LotteBum.33x...@no-

mx.forums.cyclingforums.com said:

Now all I need to do is work out a way for Peanut to travel in one of
those Chariot carriers... looks like by the time I'm ready to ride,
she'll be old enough to sit in one of them :-/

http://www.cargocycles.com.au

</self-promotion>

tim

Bean Long said:

after 25 hr's labour, so my wife wasn't even allowed to drive a car for
nearly two months, and had difficulty picking up the baby!

Hey Bean, my understanding is the no driving for 2 months is an
insurance company stance (and varies), not a medical one. The lifting in
and out of the car is an issue (fixed capsule versus lift out makes a
difference), but I recall for my wife the doctor was happy for her to
drive after 4 weeks.

DaveB

DaveB said:

Bean Long said:

after 25 hr's labour, so my wife wasn't even allowed to drive a car
for nearly two months, and had difficulty picking up the baby!

Hey Bean, my understanding is the no driving for 2 months is an
insurance company stance (and varies), not a medical one. The lifting in
and out of the car is an issue (fixed capsule versus lift out makes a
difference), but I recall for my wife the doctor was happy for her to
drive after 4 weeks.

DaveB

From my understanding the no driving thing was a "what can happen
during sudden braking" thing after a caesar. Apparently sudden movements
like that can cause a tear to an incompletely healed wound. Whatever the
case, when my wife finally got back into the car she said to me one day
that she wanted a "baby on board sticker" on the car so everyone would
understand she had a reason for being a bit dippy on the road! I was
only too happy to oblige after she also told me that she turned around a
round-a-bout and then wondered if she'd done it legally or on the wrong
side of the road!! Eeek! This is the sort of thing to expect Lotte!
Brain rot is quite severe after childbirth.

Bean

LotteBum said:

With only 6 weeks to go, I'm getting more and more desperate to get back on my bikes. Does anyone here know how soon after birth one is able to get back on bikes and ride? Even if it's just short rides, I'm really keen to get back on the bike as soon as I pop....

Hope to get some answers here as Google hasn't really helped me at all..

Cheers,
Lotte

LotteBum,

My wife had twins, and I was back on my bike later that afternoon.

Hope this helps.

cheers,
Monsterman

On Jan 29, 8:57 pm, monsterman <monsterman.33y...@no-

mx.forums.cyclingforums.com said:

LotteBum Wrote:> With only 6 weeks to go, I'm getting more and more desperate to get back

Quoted message said:

on my bikes. Does anyone here know how soon after birth one is able to
get back on bikes and ride? Even if it's just short rides, I'm really
keen to get back on the bike as soon as I pop....

Quoted message said:

Hope to get some answers here as Google hasn't really helped me at
all..

Quoted message said:

Cheers,
Lotte

LotteBum,

My wife had twins, and I was back on my bike later that afternoon.

Hope this helps.

If you'd spent more time on it in the first place she might not have
got herself into that condition!

Graeme 🙂

"LotteBum" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

With only 6 weeks to go, I'm getting more and more desperate to get back
on my bikes. Does anyone here know how soon after birth one is able to
get back on bikes and ride? Even if it's just short rides, I'm really
keen to get back on the bike as soon as I pop....

Hope to get some answers here as Google hasn't really helped me at
all..

Cheers,
Lotte

Hey Lotte,
Suz says over my shoulder "riding the bike put less pressure on my pelvis
than walking. The vibration of walking was not umm comfortable 🙂 And sorry
to get gross but you probably won't have any pelvic floor muscle control for
a while. I did a crit two weeks after a difficult delivery...fat wobbles and
all but I found any slight rise (col de nundah) and I was walking instead of
riding. You will be awake at 4am anyway why not go riding and leave bubba
with Paulie, sleep when the baby sleeps!!! Hope it comes quickly and commit
this phrase to memory 'I would like an epidural NOW please'. And
*apparently* women come back stronger after childbirth. What doesn't kill
you makes you stronger. GO GIRL!!! "

Thanks for the great advice everyone, especially MM. 🙄

What has been said on here makes me wonder (even more) why some women opt for elective ceasars when clearly they're worse in the medium term. The thought of a caesar scares the wits out of me.... :eek:

I think what I might do is keep a diary about my physical recovery once Peanut is evicted - otherwise I'm sure I'll forget all about it all!

Lotte

LotteBum said:

What has been said on here makes me wonder (even more) why some women
opt for elective ceasars when clearly they're worse in the medium term.
The thought of a caesar scares the wits out of me.... :eek:

Well, my wife's caesar was an emergency after number 1 son gave an
indication of things to come and showed his recalcitrant behaviour in
the womb! My wife's preference was au naturale but sometimes things
don't go to plan. Number two was a little more well behaved though...
and has been ever since! Funny how birth experiences seem to be an
indicator of how things will turn out in the future. :-)

The important thing Lotte is that if you are still thinking about bike
riding after bub arrives then everything else must be going well!!

Bean

Exercise is good for PND. Lack of sleep caused by a newborn baby is bad for PND. Take every chance you can to get some sleep. Definitely get some exercise, initially by pushing a heavy pram around (baby isn't heavy, it's the nappy change bag etc. that is heavy), then cycling when you want to put some distance between you and the baby. Avoid the car driving while you are chronically short on sleep.

One of the people in our ante-natal class said she took out her hearing aids when she went to bed. That way she got more sleep at night, and her husband woke up to settle the baby.

There is no medical reason not to get straight back on after a normal delivery (unless blood loss is more than usual), but your undercarriage will be the limiting factor. My partner wouldn't have dreamed of riding within 2 months of the delivery, due to a recovering tear. There may be a heavy discharge of lochia for longer than you expect. Sleep deprivation can be pretty extreme.

I dont know about that Lotte - I had 2 Caesars, Neither was elective. After
30hrs labour with the first a caesar was the ONLY option and I was back on
my feet within a couple of weeks. I can remember seeing the new mums who had
delivered the usual way walking quite bowlegged LOL at least I could walk
with my legs together!!!! First Caesar was a classical scar and it healed
quickly.
Second time around a failed natural ended the same way and once again I
watched the naturals walking bowlegged. Who knows what is the best way and
how long the recovery is - we are all indeed different. (mind you all this
was 24 yrs ago so times might have changed)
A few years ago I had an awful abdominal surgery complete with blood
transfusions etc and was doing a 10 day hike in the wilds of North Qld
within 6 weeks carrying up to 20kgs so really I think anything is possible.
Dont let anyone tell you what you feel you are capable of - just do it 🙂
I rekon the main thing is that if you have a partner who is willing to watch
Peanuts while you go for a ride then you go sister!
Kathy.

tim said:

[1] BITALA

And here I thought it was going to be either
[1] BILLAV
or
[1] BIKWIL

BTW have you managed to either wheely or bunnyhop a bakfiets yet?

(PS Anyone in Sydney with a recumbent and a sense of humour feel like
letting Kanangara and me try something a little silly?)

--
Dave Hughes - [email hidden]
If you drink Real beer, you become horizontal... so, if you
drink Imaginary beer, you become vertical... -- Thorfinn

Lots of good advice coming through. Thanks heaps to you all.

Just wanted to clear one thing up though - I wasn't in any way having a go at anyone who had a caesar, rather I was wondering why anyone would have an elective caesar because the recovery time seems to generally speaking be a lot worse. Oh, and I'm scared of operations. I'm not one of those people who thinks every child should be born naturally at all, and if a woman wants a caesar then go for it. But I'm scared of them - really, truly petrified. If a caesar is my best option, I'll go with it... as a matter of fact, if my mother had been given a caesar when I was born, I wouldn't be wearing hearing aids now. So please, anyone I offended, I apologise - it was not intended that way at all.

On that note, that's great advice about turning hearing aids off at night - I already do that and can't hear squat without them! We're yet to test out the ultra baby monitor we bought and I have a feeling I may not even hear that. How blissfully convenient. Poor Paulie.

Gotta run - bladder breakdancing in progress.

Lotte