Just found out she was pregnant

[LariatAdvance]

I'll put my Cheetos down long enough to recommend that your wife refrain from diving completely. You (I assume) don't want to experiment on your unborn child.

Now to get this bloody orange powder off my keyboard.....

Best regards,
DDM

That's different though. You went to Duke. God went to college at Duke.

 

[RyanT]

Why risk it?

Exactly! Doing some shallow dives would "probably" be fine, but seriously, why even take a small risk? The ocean will be there another day.

 

[divad]

Right.... Just looking for her to do non strenuous dives less than 1 meter.

She may as well be snorkeling.

 

[Edward3c]

So wife found out she was pregnant and is currently 4 weeks along. We have a dive trip to the GBR on a liveaboard for 4 days in 4 weeks. What can we do? Should she scratch all diving or do you think shallower sites will be ok? Say 40' and under.

The BSAC guidance is:

Pregnancy
Medical evidence as to the safety of diving whilst pregnant is not conclusive. However there is evidence that deep diving may cause harm to the foetus. Certainly decompression illness and its subsequent treatment could be harmful to the foetus. Consequently if a woman is pregnant, or is trying to become pregnant, she is strongly advised not to dive. Women who decide they wish to continue to dive whilst pregnant, or trying to become pregnant, should only undertake shallow dives, ideally less than 10m and no deeper than 20m, and remain well inside no-stop times. Even at shallow depths there remains a risk of pulmonary barotrauma which could require recompression treatment and cause harm to the foetus. If a woman discovers she is pregnant and has been diving during the pregnancy, she is advised to discuss her case with a BSAC medical referee. The scientific evidence is not clear cut and ultrasound studies, together with other indications, may be useful to allay fears and help in the decision as to how the pregnancy should be managed

Congratulations.

 

[DiverDownD3]

Medically speaking, I'm not a doctor, so I don't know.

As a father, I would say don't dive. Just not worth the risk.

Congrats on the news though

 

[RDRINK25]

Thanks all. I am not willing to risk it at all just didnt know if anyone has any concrete studies on it. She will be snorkling for sure.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

Does she want to be on a boat for 4 days? I'd think having both morning sickness (if she gets morning sickness) and sea sickness (if she gets sea sick) would be a miserable combination. Depending on the liveaboard, and what type of berth/room you have, being sick could make it worse for all concerned.

Congratulations on the baby, cool thing is he/she is already diving!

Safe travels,
Jay

 

[Jumana Ameeri]

I totally agree with jayfarmlaw. I'm at 8 weeks myself and the thought of diving is not at all tempting at this stage. With the morning sickness and all I cant even imagine getting on a boat putting on my diving gear and diving. But again we are all different and if she can then y not if its gonna b a shallow site and for a short time. Good luck ! and keep us updated on how it went as this post seems to be a few months back.

 

[boulderjohn]

I think you are getting good advice on the diving. If you still want to make the trip, I can tell you that my wife, a snorkeler, has done two GBR liveaboard trips with me and greatly enjoyed the snorkeling on each one.

 

[Rilelen]

I've looked into this a bit, as a 30yo woman who does expect to have children in the future. I think the posters here have given you a pretty good rundown of the current research, which is maddeningly inconclusive. I know it sucks and is probably a disappointment to both of you, but I just couldn't justify the risk - there will be lots of trips in the future, let your wife take a raincheck on this one.