This may be better under general discussion but here goes. 
Just found out I am pregnant for the first time.  Overjoyed but also aware that my weekend, holidays, and social life revolve around caving, usually with husband.  Obviously we are both going to be parents but its going to affect me more by way of no caving when pregnant/post birth (have heard up to a year?) , or the easiest sport to combine with a young family.  Also, most of our friends are cavers/canoeists who dont  have kids, or even seem to be considering it so i could be the solitary mum in the crowd. 
Would love to hear from any of you mums out there as to how it affected your life/caving and whether its a case of hanging up my SRT kit for good. 
thanks.
ps  - usually post under another name but dont want to announce this to the wider world for a few months. 

We took our two into walk around mines as toddlers, and into Goatchurch when the youngest was three. You don't have to stop caving but probably not a good idea to take them down Alum Pot direct route just yet. Good luck!

Ok, I'm not a mum - but i am a dad. I have a 2 + 4 years old and they are always bugging me to take them caving.
Their first years were spent with mum breast feeding and trying to sleep while I snook off when I could for some fun; It does change your life, there's no denying it - unless you are some heartless wimp who wants no part of their childrens upbringing, then everything else takes a backseat for a while. But then you have some nice, balanced, adventurous kids who just want to play outside, no matter what it is.
I have never pushed them towards anything in particular - I have too diverse a range of interests myself - so they want to do everything that mum and dad do. Whether it's baking a cake, riding a bike to the shop or crawling in some muddy hole, they love it!
Caving seems to have everything that a kid needs - exploration, danger (there's bears everywhere, apparently!) secrecy, dirt and adventure.
I've taken my kids into the most basic of caves - ones where you wouldn't normally wear an oversuit or even a helmet. But we DO wear them, and everything becomes more exciting - a boulder that I would usually step over with no thought becomes a major obstacle to be summounted, a shitty little stalactite becomes an amazing feature (probably a dragons tooth, daddy).
Let's face it, you'd be negligent if you strapped your offspring to your front and carried on as usual, but give it time and they'll be getting you back into it before you know it.

George

I know of babies who have done pretty hard trips into Daren and OFD only a few months before they were born - so no need to give it up yet. Also, congratulations

Congratulations but no doubt about it, it changes your life - a couple of years of being sleep deprived (per child) really can take the edge off your desire to do anything other than get some sleep. You can expect a few years (probably around 3-4) with little serious out doors activity together, and even after that it will be one looking after while the other does something bigger.

That said little kids (3-5 years) have no idea of what is "normal" and seem to take their cues from what their parents do. If you are stressed about something, they get stressed, if it is normal to you then it is normal to them. My lad got up Great Gable when he was five - as long as you carry enough sweets and there is enough interest (long "boring" walks, cycles, etc. are definitely off) then they will follow you anywhere. As they get older they form their own opinions and it gets a but harder to get them out of the door, but once out there they love it.

That said they are all different so don't try too much too soon though and turn everything into an fun adventure.

You can carry on caving well into pregnancy. The only problem you get is that in the mid and third trimesters heartburn in crawls can be a problem! I speak from the wife's experience from a trip to Ireland where we did coolagh river cave and it gave Angie heartburn  At http://www.darkanddeep.co.uk/caving_Ireland.asp you will find a picture of Angie at around 26 weeks under the Aille Cascade in the Doolin system. The same page has a shot of Sally a year or so later in the entrance of Crag Cave. Mind you, after they are born caving involves child care issues and on one occasion exploration fever got me into severe trouble! Also camping on the Moliere plateau with a couple of under two's is challenging. However they soon grow and by the age of 4 or so the kids were going down the odd adit or levy and soon up to Goatchurch etc. They both still cave and are now in their mid 20's. Hope this reassures and I see it marries up with other postings on this subject.  PS it's rather good fun to do something like a caving trip as a family as well.

Congratulations 

I'm not a Mum so can't comment on pregnancy but I have heard of women caving quite a way into pregnancy. Not sure why you'd have to wait up to a year after?

I found myself looking after my daughter more or less on my own from around one or so. Whilst nappies and milk and the like are still required then it's a bit harder to get about, I found a small rucksack sufficed to carry all that was required but I notice some people take whole car bootloads of gear for an afternoon out  :

My daughter started coming caving around the age of 5 but then that's when I started caving too so we more or less started together. As has been said the trick is to make sure they are always warm and comfortable, plenty to eat and drink and the interest is kept up.

Also you can always get someone else to look after them for a while if you want to do something more adventurous.

An often overlooked advantage of having young children is that you have a built in excuse to go slower than normal and spend a lot more time looking round, it?s surprising the interest you can find in relatively easy to get to places!

Congrats - please remember you are pregnant, not ill.
Go with mrodocs advice and cave as long as YOU feel happy and comfortable.
Pick the right place and the young one can cave pretty much from birth - the limiting factor will most likely be you until walking makes an appearance.
As Alex says, keep them warm and happy - and give them some responsibility, like carry the flask of hot chocolate. My girls went caving from preschool.
It is impossible to get Summers flask out of her hands when underground!!
Good luck

Ok. I got pregnant when I was 33 and carried on caving until I was 7 months. At this point I couldn't find anyone willing to go with me. They all thought I would go into labour in the cave and they would have to deliver that baby and yucky things like that!

It is no problem at the beginning when you are still not really any bigger, by about 7 months and about a stone and a half extra weight I found that it was much harder to hold my own weight on things. Also, instead of aiming your chest for the biggest gap you have to aim your stomach instead which is more awkward and shows you what men with beer guts have to go through!! My belt ended up right on the limit of its ability to do up and stay done up! I was just a bit less agile that's all, just slowed down the trips I did to suit.

Afterwards I could have restarted at 6-8 weeks without any trouble, but had no babysitter. I had to wait until she was about 5 months before I started caving again.

It will ruin the freedom you were used to but you can adapt. I'm sure you will work out an acceptable compromise.

I'm not a girl nor have I ever been pregnant but I've known of people going caving when pregnant (as has been said above.) What you do depends on your circumstances as every pregnancy is different, you've just got to do what you are happy with or capable of doing..

Becoming a dad did mean less time out caving and walking etc but then I'm happy to be spending time with my daughter. When she was little and not walking / still in pram we took her out for walks along suitable paths (well made, round reservoirs, certain parkland / country parks etc), anything too lumpy and bumpy and she let us know of her displeasure!!

She's walking now so I've been looking at short walks with suitable "interest value" to take her on, just waiting for spare time and decent weather. Not taken her caving yet, t'other half still needs convincing on that one!

Congratulations.

Although a lot of the posts above have been very positive, I do understand where you are coming from. My daughter is now 9 months old and my wife hasn't been caving pretty much since she found out she was pregnant. She was initially far too exhausted during the first 3 months of pregnancy and then too cautious afterwards. We are now having issues with getting our daughter to take milk from a bottle, which means my wife can't really leave her with me while she goes caving, unless it's for a short trip. Personally I have also dropped from an average of nearly 100 trips per year to about 30.

All that said, the caves are still there and it's great spending time with the little one, so don't worry about it!

Congratulations!

Although I have not taken my daughter (2 1/2 yrs) caving yet, she is always asking about it so it won't be too long before I do. However we did take her to a climbing weekend in N Wales when she was only 7 weeks - and we were camping - so it is possible to do stuff, you just have to plan a bit more and be prepared to be flexible if it doesnt work out.

The caves will still be there when you are both ready!

I'd just say - don't push the kids too far - they must finish every trip wanting to go further - and remember babies can get hypothermic quite easily.

I'd have said caving was more fun for kids than mountain walking. Kids don't appreciate views. But everything will depend on the child. All you can do is offer experiences and opportunities - it's up to them as to whether they'll take them up. At 8, one of ours was enthusiastic about caves and canoeing, and now has no interest in caving and  only a theoretical interest in canoeing. The other was into caves, and in eenage years became quite a good climber - now he has given up both, although he still plays sports, goes to the gym and keeps himself fit.

Many congratulations Karstgirl! One of the greatest pleasures in my life was when I first took my kids caving & saw the wonder on their faces!

Just a small request - when your baby's still very small perhaps you would be good enough to take him or her down Eastwater & send them down the Lower Traverse to retrieve the ammo tin I inadvertently dropped down there sometime in the '70s. They'd be very welcome to the Marathon bar that's in there...

Congratulations!

I'm another one daft enough to carry on caving through pregnancy, although I gave up on srt when my harness got too snug at about 16 weeks or so. The highlight was going for a potter down Old Ing, with a 7.5 month enormous belly that I could just about fit into my undersuit, but had to leave hanging out of my open oversuit. Accompanied by hubby and daughter, I had no problem negotiating the cave, but when we came out, I couldn't get back to the car! The stile was one of those slot in the wall ones and I couldn't get my leg up onto it due to the obstruction of my bump. With much hilarity, hubby had to hoik me up, only for me to find I had to do pointiest tippy toes to get the belly through. I have never laughed so much in my life! Unfortunately, the resulting second daughter has no interest in caving.

I found that after my first pregnancy, I was able to get back underground within 6 weeks, albeit building up fairly slowly. However, second time I had a caesarean and it took months before I could even go for a long walk without all my abdominal muscles hurting like hell.


I'm not sure which part of the country you're in, but I'm in the BPC and we've got a lovely little gang of junior cavers, so you'd be welcome to join us in due course.

Many clubs (especially those with huts, for some reason) seem to have a de facto 'families section'; proof, if nothing else, that the need to breed doesn't necessarily replace the need to get underground...

All the rest is entirely individual, in all sorts of ways that are obvious. Only things that one would expect to change:

1. you and husband won't be caving *together* for a bit of time (unless you have understanding parents and a very portable child),

2. Full weekends away get harder, for both of you probably, for a while (depends on your club / hut / caving friends...and how child friendly they are)

3. Expeditions can be an issue, purely in terms of homesickness for the parent who is away!

By the way, we're very lucky because

1. we have an excellent (and indeed, portable) daughter who likes adult company...or at least, that of cavers

2. our main club is full of tolerant, understanding, and generally rather fine people (ta!)...

These two points (plus health) are probably going to be the main factors in terms of how your caving will progress over the next few years.

.
My wife did not usually cave, but for some reason I took her down Bagshaw when she was about four and a half months pregnant. She and baby survived, even though someone fell on top of them.

As a man it astonishes me what pregnant women can do.

.

One of the Eldon girls went down Knotlow the other week, I think she was about 7 months preggers.  :bow:

Wow - thanks for all your kind replies, and excuse the stereotyped title of my message, its great to hear from all you dads out there. Taking the kids caving just sounds so much fun, and very rewarding, I loved your post George, it filled me with enthusiasm.

Elaine  - you sound very hardcore!  my boobs are so sore that I can't bear a cuddle from hubby at the moment, never mind squashing them through a squeeze.  You got back to it amazingly quickly.  My estimate at a year off was based on my sister (climber) although she did have a huge baby, emergency c-section and various associated problems. It took a long time for her hips and lower back to recover but hopefully this is the more extreme end of the spectrum.
Rachel - good to know there are supportive clubs out there.  I am not in a club at present but maybe I will track down the bradford in a couple of years time (assuming all the bradford kids havent grown up by then!)
Sam - blimey.

I've just returned from a long weekend away supposedly MTbiking/climbing/walking and I've never been so exhausted in all my life, expedition caving included.  I can't believe that something the size of a pea has caused such a massive change in my body in such a short space of time.  I think I slept through most of the weekend, feel completely drained.  If this weekend was anything to go by then the next dales trip will be a gentle stroll scouting for child friendly caves!

Hi
This is Mandie, Rhys' wife, mum to our two girls (one of 2 years and one of 10 months), a keen caver and also a GP. Congratulations! You should cave as much as you feel comfortable with before and after baby arrives - obviously you don't yet know how you will feel during your pregnancy, how baby's arrival will go and how life is going to be afterwards so I'm afraid you can't plan for it. Becoming a parent means your life will change beyond recognition - it is amazing but it's not easy, your priorities will change.
I cave more than other pregnant cavers or new mums I know but it is my escape and the time out help keeps me a happy mummy and wife! I caved during both my pregnancies right up to 36/37 weeks a mixture of digging, rescue practices, small trips and some long trips.  I was very lucky with my deliveries so was back to caving about 6 weeks after - and yes I fed both of them and no they wouldn't take a bottle!