Care & Feeding: My Pregnant Daughter is Going To Kill Her Baby With Her Crazy Exercise Routine

[minoanmiss]

How do I make her stop this?

I’m terrified my daughter is going to kill her unborn child. She is 32-weeks pregnant and continues to do HIIT workouts like sprint drills or Tae-Bo daily and is lifting weights three times a week! She even increased her weights from 10-pound dumbbells to 20 and a 44 barbell during her third trimester because she said the smaller ones weren’t cutting it anymore! She says her OB said it is fine, as long as she exercised at this level before (which she did) … but come on. She is going to hurt herself or the baby! And she continues to get laser facials (four this pregnancy) with topical numbing cream (she says the OB and dermatologist both said it was fine and less risky than getting a Novocain injection) and uses glycolic acid body lotions (again, she claims to have been told glycolic is safe) to prevent stretch marks. This is going to come back to bite her by hurting the physical or cognitive well-being of her kid! Please help me make her see some sense!

I’m one of those “power of positive thinking” types, and I say let’s never use that first sentence from your letter ever again! Don’t claim or give energy to such a terrible thought. I understand why you are concerned, but it sounds like your daughter is working with her medical team to make sure that the things she’s doing during her pregnancy are safe. She isn’t the first nor the last to work out or get beauty treatments while carrying a baby, and you and I both know that pregnant people take far greater risks on a regular basis without the support of prenatal care. If you have specific articles or other texts that talk about the negative impact of these specific actions on a pregnancy, share them with her if you must. However, even with some evidence, you’re likely to be fighting a losing battle if she’s getting different information from her doctors. In fact, I’d be willing to be that if you did some research, you’d find more info to side with her and her team than you would to support the idea that she needs to sit down for nine months. Don’t be afraid to speak up if you’re deeply concerned, but I’d recommend stopping short of telling her that her baby is “doomed.” Instead, just let her know how much she and this baby mean to you and that you only want the safest possible pregnancy for them both. Wishing you luck, and calm.

Comments

[movingfinger]

This person needs to be put on an daughter and grandchild information diet STAT.

[julian]

"My daughter is doing all kinds of medically approved things, and it makes me nervous!"

[azurelunatic]

20 lb dumbbells is ... probably less than my purse weighs????

[sporky_rat]

Less than mine does, for sure. (I do need to go through it...)

[azurelunatic]

I measured and mine is around 15 right now, with a full water bottle. (I have started not-answering my dentists' questions about WTF is in there with "I used to lift in high school" which has the benefit of being true.)

[sporky_rat]

Yeah, mine gets answered the same. (Mine weighs less than it did then, since e-readers are a thing and I don't need four books at once anymore!)

[cereta]

I mean, it's pretty much what the average toddler weighs at just 18 months, and no one tells pregnant women not to carry older kids, unless those kids are like 10 years old.

[fred_mouse]

this would be the thought I was having!

[conuly]

Somebody needs to lay off the exclams. One per letter is enough.

[cimorene]

Whole letter writer disposal service please.

[cereta]

Okay, it's been *checks notes* holy fucking shit 15 years since my third trimester, but last I heard, the third was actually safer for most things. Like, even daring to take a sip of wine things, much less kicking the air.

[gingicat]

Just because her daughter is Bobbie Draper...

[cereta]

I really need to watch that show.

[minoanmiss]

that's a glorious mental image.

[xenacryst]

I know peoples who have done aerial circus throughout their pregnancies, so stop it with the weight training is evil nonsense.