Reaching while pregnant: will it harm my baby?
My friend's Oma told her not to reach for something on a high shelf when she was pregnant because she said the raising your arms above your head would wrap the umbilical chord around the baby's neck. Oh, that's a nice thought Oma. My friend was all "That's just an old wives tale." then proceeded to grab something off the lower shelf instead.
Who comes up with this stuff? Did somebody see a pregnant woman raising the roof at a party and decide she was having a little too much damn fun so they figured out a way to shit on her toast?
The truth is the umbilical chord sometimes does get wrapped around the baby's neck but it isn't from reaching, stretching or giving high fives at the all-you-can-eat buffet. Unfortunately it seems to be a bad luck of the draw and there's nothing you can do to prevent it. Even then, complications from it are still relatively rare.
So feel free to stretch in the morning, do yoga or boldly raise your hand when someone exclaims "who ate all the cake?!". You won't be hurting the baby. 
search: reaching while pregnant, stretching while pregnant
6 Comments
Reader Comments (6)
I'd really like to know how anyone (that is, anyone with a normally functioning body, cheers to my man Stephen Hawking) can go through life *without* reaching for something at least one time in nine months.
Woman 1: Could you pass me that magazine? It's on the table there about a foot away...
Knocked-Up Lady: Oh, I would if I could, but you know, the baby and the reaching...
Woman 1: WTF?
Can't stop laughing: HILARIOUS!
My mum told me this weekend that i shouldn't be lifting above my head. I said to her, how do you think i wash my hair? How do i do anything?? Its so funny where these things come from!
At 25 weeks pregnant I was smacked for reaching above my head because the baby would fall out. At what point did we loose all common sense?
My Russian co-worker told me not to raise my hands above my head after the baby is head down because it will give her room to flip again into breach position. I wisely decided to ignore her 20-year old Soviet medical advice.
I guess my thought wouldn't even be about the umbilical cord but about earlier in the pregnancy, like stretching the abdomen (not reaching, but like doing core work) during the early days of pregnancy. Is there a difference or an I being paranoid?