Biking to Delivery

Credit: jonny.hunter

I didn’t touch a bike during my pregnancy. Mostly because a) I don’t own a bike but also b) I was the clumsiest human on earth while pregnant and had I owned a bike, I wouldn’t have come near it lest I crash and injure myself and my unborn.

So my own personal non-biking experience had me doing a Joey-style “Whoa!” to this woman who biked to the hospital while in labor. The 41-year-old woman made it a goal to bike to all of her prenatal appointments— as well as to the hospital when it came time to deliver. The hospital was just a mile away from her home, and she said that while she was reluctant to get on the bike, she enjoyed the ride, and it helped distract her from contractions.

Because I went from my water breaking to feeling like I had to push so fast it made my head spin, I had a hard time getting in the car to head to the hospital because my body was telling me that even sitting wasn’t going to feel very good. But biking? I probably would have rather given birth in my driveway. But every woman is different. And every labor is different. And every woman copes with pain differently. Does it personally sound like a fun time? No. But had I been just a mile from my hospital? I would have walked.

Would you bike a mile to deliver your baby? —Erin