Lifting Heavy Stuff

[Twin Sister]

I'm just wondering at what stage of pregancy should you be careful about lifitng heavy stuff? And what is considered too heavy to lift?

I work at a vet clinic and am required to carry 15-18kg bags of food from the back of the clinic out to people's cars. I'm only in my TTW so maybe pregnant, maybe not, but it got me thinking about if it's ok for me to be lifting them or not, and when I should stop if I do turn out to be pregnant?

[Mustang]

Hi, just want to say i wish i was sooo woeking in a vet clinic!... i think lifting anything over the three month mark that is 10kg and over and carrying it, or bending down over to pick it up is too much... i just think its a risk not worth taking..I stopped horse riding at three months and even then i just walked and also at work i wouldnt do any heavy lifting or pushing... cause i worked at a plant nursery and besides the other lovely ladies wouldnt let me carry anything... i made up for what i wouldnt do in other ways... Just see if you can politely ask another staff memeber if they could do the lifting and you could compramise what you could do for them to make up for not being able to heavy lift... People will understand and glady help, espcially if you show your appriciate it!.

[Fire Fly]

Mustang, its not all thats its cracked up to be i can assure you.
Twin sister, i think your main concern apart from lifting would be the x-ray machine. I told my boss at 5 weeks that i was pregnant because i was the Head Nurse there that did all surgery and handled all dogs, cats etc. I wasnt really faized on the lifting thing till later on in the pg, but the x-ray machine i stayed clear of and i made sure the anaesthetic machine had no leakes with gases.
My advise would be, if you know for sure, tell your boss. Especially in that industry. To much can go wrong. You dont want an irate dog barrelling you over or a happy dog jumping full pelt into you. Your work mates can take over a bit of the duties to relieve the risk iykwim.

I should add that it isnt really a concern for your body to keep lifting because its used to it. I used to lift dog food etc around to and bales of hay at home. Its later that its not possible to do it anymore because of the belly. I was even firefighting till 5 months, not really recommended but it can be done.

[AnyDream]

Can your work perhaps buy some sort of trolley and keep the food bags at waist height so there's less heavy carrying involved?
:-)

[Twin Sister]

Thanks for your replies! I feel a lot better now, I was kind of more worried about lifting during early pregnancy since later when you are showing people tend to step in help out a lot more.

I have a lot of pregnant clients and they always tell me they can't lift their dog or carry their food cuz they are pregnant but they don't even have a baby bump yet, so I wasn't sure.

As for telling my boss, I actually told my co-workers and boss a few months ago that we were trying so I haven't had to go near the x-ray machine or anesthetic ever since. They are very understanding. They are usually too busy to help me with the food though but that's a good idea about the trolley. I'm due to test on Saturday and if I'm pregant i will see if we can get one in just to be safe.

Mustang, its not all thats its cracked up to be i can assure you.

That' exactly what I was going to say! It has it's good moments and it has it's awful moments (these last few weeks we lost both our clinic cats, my guinea pig, my co-workers cat, and a couple of our best clients pets. It's been really tough)

[*TamaraP*]

I am a baker so required to lift up to 25kg bags at a time.
I asked my DR when I was pregnant the first time.
He told me, because your body is used to it, and obviously built for it then it should be fine.

Once you feel pain or uncomfortable, stop... easy as that.

[Twin Sister]

Thanks Tamara!

[katkins]

Hi, I worked as an AIN so heavy lifting all the time. I was fine with it untill I started getting the crap kicked out of me by the baby. Every time I lifted, I'd get a foot in the ribs or bladder so I asked the other girls to take a bit of the slack (which they happily did) and I handed my notice in. I had become uncomfortable lifting by that stage and I was swelling up by the end of my shifts. Off topic I know. Sorry. What I wanted to say is ur body and ur baby will let you know when to stop. Take notice of it and stop when it tells u to. U'll find ur bubs will probably kick u after u lift because by tightening the tummy muscles and bending slightly, u limit their space and they don't like that much! Good way to be reminded not to do it again tho *LMAO*.