Bloating, seediness, and surprising strength...my first trimester of pole dancing pregnant.

Pole dancing and pregnancy...two terms you don't often hear in the same sentence.  But it's the first thing I googled when I found out the good news that I was, indeed, with child.  And what did I find? Not a lot!  I LOVED this Cleo the Hurricane blog post, which is a fantastic read about her own pregnancy journey, and also deals with people's attitudes to pole and pregnancy.   Here is an informative article which I really enjoyed written by KT Coates, a pole instructor from the UK. Some interesting opinions and experiences can be found on this Studio Veena forum.  And that is about it, no studies, no scientific papers or medical articles.  Ok, I know it sounds ridiculous to say I was looking for a scientific paper on pole and pregnancy, but I at least thought I would find some information on acrobatics or gymnastics and pregnancy.  Pole is a relatively new sport, I understand, but there must be more of us out there!  And so I decided to write a blog to share my experiences with fellow instructors and students from around the world, hoping that in doing so we can all learn more about the strange experience that is pole dancing pregnant!


First I suppose I had better introduce myself.  My name is Roxy and I am an instructor at Bobbi's Pole Studio in Sydney, as well as The Peach Pole Studio on NSW's Central Coast.  I came to pole dancing in 2010, after years of living and working overseas as a professional dancer and actress, and I was looking for something to reignite my love of dancing with no pressure and lots of laughs.  It was true love at first spin, and I was very lucky to quickly be recruited to teach.  Here's a throwback to 2011 and my first ever photo shoot with the lovely Adam Jay.

Fast forward 6 years, several hundred hours of pole, meeting the love of my life, getting a cat and having the best wedding ever, I found myself looking down at 2 little blue lines on a pregnancy test.  Despite 18 months of trying due to a couple of health issues, somehow this news was still a shock...it is definitely a life-changing moment!  Somewhere between disbelief and joy, I called hubby to share the news, then I double checked it with another test, then I triple checked it with the doctor.  Still positive!  Pretty much the next thing that I did, believe it or not, was to sit down and check with Dr Google...Just how risky is pole dancing pregnant?

As I said, there is not a lot of information out there, but I encourage any one in the same position as I found myself in to do as much research as you can.  Speak to your doctor first and foremost and tell them about pole, read everything you can get your hands on about sport and pregnancy, speak to your pole class mates who have kids, speak to your pole teacher and listen to your own body!  Please bear in mind when reading this that I am purely sharing my own experience and this blog should not be taken as any kind of medical advice.  Every body and every pregnancy is different.

So, let's start with morning sickness.  Firstly, it doesn't just come in the morning, and secondly I don't feel the term adequately encompasses the misery some women experience!  One poor friend of mine vomited all day, every day right up until her baby was born!  I have been pretty lucky, thank goodness, as I am NOT good with vomiting.  I just had the all day seediness variety.  I like to describe it as "I drank a bottle of really cheap red wine to myself last night and then started on the white"...a special kind of queasiness and constant headache that I'm sure some of you can relate to.  And I was so tired! So, so tired.  I would often get up at 8am, eat breaky then sit down on the couch and go to sleep until 3pm when I had to get up for work.  Yay pregnancy!

You would think that spinning around a pole would be the last thing you would want to do when you feel nauseous, but interestingly for me dancing and teaching really helped me to get through this time.  Having to be "on" personality-wise, and high energy for my students, as well as the endorphins released during exercise meant that for these first weeks I actually felt the best when I was at work teaching.

On top of the physical symptoms were the psychological fears.  As I said, I couldn't find any science-based information on the effects of pole dancing, or even gymnastics on a foetus.  So, I read as much as I could of others experiences and about sports in general during pregnancy, and then tried to apply it all with common sense.  The general rule that kept appearing on many resources I found, is if your body is used to the activity, and you have a low-risk pregnancy, then you can continue with your training.  Maintenance is a key word, as in don't try to increase the intensity of your program no matter what the sport.  Also listen to your body, it will tell you when you should start to back off and slow down a bit.  

Of course I informed my midwife and obstetrician of my profession.  My OB found it quite hilarious and proceeded to tell me about his son's bucks party, before reassuring me he had treated various patients who were elite athletes and as long as my body was used to it and I proceeded with caution he was fine with it.  I have to stress here that my pregnancy was in no way high-risk and I'm pretty healthy and fit, not to mention I have been poling (from 8-20ish hours per week) for 6 years and dancing for 20-something years before that!  So my body is very much accustomed to the exercise.

While I was cautious and immediately ruled out learning any new tricks due to the potential consequences of falling being higher than usual, I continued to dance at a reasonably advanced level. I teach beginners through to pre-advanced and at this stage I was teaching around 18 classes per week.  I continued to demonstrate the appropriate moves in class, performed class routines with my students and even performed shows for them in performance week.

Despite feeling like I was working safely and within my own limitations, there is always going to be that niggling voice in the back of your mind, quoting that article you read about not over-heating, or pushing your body too hard.  And I definitely found even at just 6 weeks pregnant I got out of breath more quickly, as well as feeling some strange sensations of tightness when stretching through my abdominals and hip flexors.

Some days I felt amazing, strong and full of beans!  I clearly remember in my 10th week teaching an "Intro to Prep" class (pre-pre-advanced for non-Bobbi's students) and we were working on various ways of inverting and I was on fire!  I felt so strong and these moves felt so easy!  This was so weird for me as strength and power moves have never been my forte.

But then some days I felt heavy, bloated and lethargic and, typically, that's how I was feeling the following week for end of term performances.  The last thing I felt like doing was dressing up in a tiny costume and dancing in front of people!  But the show must go on, and considering only a handful of my colleagues and none of my students knew I was 11 weeks pregnant, I had to put on my false lashes, smile and just do it.  A part of me actually really wanted to perform, not just for my students, but I wanted to do shows for myself, to show how amazing our bodies are, and to have a keepsake to look back on and say " I was 11 weeks pregnant when I did that!".  I hardly ever post videos of my week 8 shows online, I am no Miss Pole Dance, but here's a little clip I tacked together of a couple of the shows I managed that week.  Note the plentiful floor work, sloooow spins and proximity to the floor ;-) With hindsight it is quite clear that I'm being careful!

Coincidentally I had had a photo shoot booked for months prior with the amazing photographer and all-round lovely person Emma Salmon from The Black Light.  I nearly cancelled, but I spoke to Emma and let her know my situation.  She reassured me it was still a good idea and that I would be glad that I had done it, and she was right!  She is amazing and I am so happy with the photos.  What an amazing keepsake  and way to mark the end of my first trimester of pregnancy!  I will also, of course, be able to eternally embarrass my child with these, which is priceless.  (Actually, I'm pretty sure baby's going to think her mum rocks!)

So I guess my experience of the first trimester was to expect the unexpected when it comes to morning sickness and also when it comes to what your body may be capable of!  I felt my strengths, my general well-being and my energy levels changed daily so the most important thing is to really listen to your body!  Don't be scared to be active, but also don't be scared to give yourself a break and take it easy!

Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll be talking about my second trimester, which I'm now nearing the end of.  I also want to talk about body image, expectations we place on ourselves and, because I am somewhat of an anatomy and physiology nerd, I have a sciencey post in the works as well.  Thanks for stopping by, and please drop me a line any time! 

Roxy, the pregnant pole dancer xxx