When it comes to pregnancy you’re body is doing all kinds of things. Something I was not aware of or prepared for. I personally believe your life shouldn’t stop because your pregnant however, there are obvious things you have to alter and be cautious with. Rodeo was one of those things for me.
If you know me or have watched me rodeo you know I really lean when I rope. This puts my stomach right over my saddle horn. This was something I had to be very aware of. I continued to ride until my belly was too big to fit in the saddle.
I did have one small hiccup when it came to rodeo. The night of my 9 week ultrasound I went to the bathroom before heading to bed. I stood up to flush and the toilet was full of blood. I heart skipped a beat and I got a pit in my stomach. My mom was already in bed so I wasn’t sure what to do. My nurse had told me that some bleeding was common so I went to bed and decided that if it continued I’d wake my mom up.
I woke up a few hours later and went to the bathroom and there was nothing. Relieved I went back to bed. Except when I woke up that morning the bleeding was back. I waited for my mom to wake up and asked her if she thought it was normal. We ended up going to the ER, which looking back probably wasn’t the best idea. They told me that if it was a miscarriage there was nothing they could do. By the time I left there the fertility clinic was opened. As I said in my last post, I was only with them until my 9 week ultrasound so technically I wasn’t a patient of theirs anymore but they said I could come in and get things checked.
That afternoon I went back in for another ultrasound. My heart was racing, paying everything was fine. I started so hard at the screen and listened for that fast heart beat. It seemed like forever but there it finally was. The heartbeat!
The nurse said everything looked fine. She could see 2 dark spots on the ultrasound which she said were blood pockets. Likely one popped because things were shifting and growing. She said it’s pretty common and most women have them but because they don’t get ultrasounds as early as I had them they never know they exist.
She recommended that I take it easy and not lift anything heavy for a while. She made it very clear that she didn’t want me to rodeo anymore just to be safe.
You know us rodeo kids, we never fully listen to doctors but considering it was my baby we were talking about I tried to take it as easy as I could. It was towards the end of the season so I only had a few more rodeos to go. Ryne would saddle my horse and warm her up I’d meet him at the box, jump on, rope and jump back off. He’s take her to the trailer and unsaddle her.
Once September rolled around I had one last rodeo I wanted to compete in. It was our local pro rodeo where it was the first year breakaway was included. Bring in Blackfoot I had to enter. After that I just rode at home and it was only at a walk. It was time to let my body heal and do what it needed to grow a baby.
M&K Adventures 