Re: Pregnancy CAN BE harmful

From: bethexton_at_...
Date: Mon, 28 Feb 2005 02:20:58 -0000

>
> And all fascinating stuff - but all this shows is that it is
possible to
> fight despite being pregnant.

I think more broadly, it shows that the effect of pregnancy varies widely amongst women. My wife was one of the fortunate sort that at 7 months pregnant insisted on tiling the upstairs of the house we were moving into, and later happily carried home a 20kg sack of ice melter from the local hardware store when she found it on a good sale. Not exactly death defying combat, but then again she got pregnant just after finishing her masters so this was more physical activity than she'd been accustomed to in the year before getting pregnant. On the other hand, a co-worker was pregnant at around the same time, and active and fit young woman, who was on bed rest after about her fourth month due to severe health problems of various sorts (I think it was eclampsia, not sure anymore).

Although there is the general "morning sickness" (stupid name!) issue and all sorts of complications, there apparently is a small boost in strength (why apparently some east german athletes would get pregnant and have abortions not long before the olympics, if rumor was to be believed), and in the middle part often a surge of energy.

But certainly more often than not, pregnancy is deblilitating to some degree. Hmmm, simple contest of (what?) versus a default 14, result applying to all physical skills for the duration of pregnancy?

The trial of giving birth is of course a whole other issue from how the pregnancy goes! The one does not predict the other for the most part from what I understand (barring a few conditions like gestational diabetes that also correlate with big kids). In HQ terms this could again be modelled as a contest, but probably one with a higher target number. Objective: give birth easily. Most women fail it, with the degree of failure showing the subsequent incapacity.

--Bryan

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