Pregnancy and dance

Should you dance when pregnant?

What should you limit yourself too?

When should you stop all together?

When should you return to dance after the birth whether it be natural or ceasarian?

I am currently 7 months pregnant with my second and still dancing, working and taking care of my busy 14 month old. My most frustrating remarks are from other mums who say " You shouldn't be doing that ". To make the case worse for myself my first baby was breech (so is my second at the moment) and all the parents of the students I was teaching and friends said it was because I was dancing, not only dancing but dancing too much. I was still competing at 5 months and on tour at 6 months. Of course in their minds it had nothing to do with the shape of my uterus or the fact I had a massive horse riding accident 4 years prior and shattered my pelvis nope they chose something I had been doing my whole life and my body was quite climatised to.
Lucky for me one of the mums was a midwife and we had a chat about it all and I did lots or reading and went along with my gut feeling a lot so here is my answers to the questions above.

Should you dance when pregnant?

You should do everything you previously did before you were pregnant, so if you just used to boogie in front of the mirror then keep doing that, if you did one class a week then keep doing that if you danced 4 or 5 days a week then keep doing that. Your body was already fit to deal with what it was doing previously as long as you aren't increasing the work load then it is fine and the key point is as long as you feel comfortable and happy doing it, don't ever do something you are feeling uneasy about.

What should you limit yourself too?

This is totally up to you. I did absolutely everything for the first 5 months, then I started to cut out things like backward rollovers, eased up on the sit ups etc. I just went with what I felt comfortable in my own body doing. I believe a dancer is very in tune with their body and they have an instinct about what they can and can't do so just work with this. It will also depend on how your tummy grows as well. I carried very high and compact so my tummy was never in the way just imagine dancing with a basket ball stuck up your top.

When should you stop all together?

This is up to you, I didn't. I was very easy on my body the last 4 weeks but I didn't stop. I always felt great and free after a class even though the motivation to begin got harder. I danced and worked right up until the day before my ceasarian.
When should you return to dance after the birth whether it be natural or ceasarian?
I went back after 1 week. Again I eased myself into it and paid very close attention to my body. I took it very easy for 2-3 weeks and then I strted to feel strong enough to slowly increase my level of participation.
It is up to the individual but as long as you are not doing things you have never done before and you are aware and listening to your body then just do what feels right, as long as you are happy because happy mums make the best mums.
I look forward to your thoughts
Jessica Schaefer from www.cjdanceshop.com