The surfer came flying straight toward me, his heavy longboard speeding toward my head.
I couldn’t swim out of the way as wave after wave crashed into me, locking me into my position. It was during one of best swells of the season in Malibu a few years back. This surfer was determined to ride the entire wave, and he had no plans on stopping, despite me being directly in his path.
I ducked under the wave, and prayed his board wouldn’t knock me unconscious or his fin wouldn’t slash my face. I held my board tight, but the wave ripped it out of my hands, causing it to collide with the other surfer.
He came out of the water screaming. I came up from the water screaming. He walked to shore, angry. I paddled back out, fuming.
That night, I found out I was pregnant.
The “what-if” scenarios flooded my mind, and I vowed to put the board away. I was pregnant with my first child, Kai, and there was no way I was going to mess this up. So along with giving up coffee, Coke, sushi and many other simple pleasures, I hung up my wetsuit and board for nine long — extremely long — months.
Whenever a fun swell would show up on the forecast during those months, my husband, Jon, would wake up early and slip out of bed to hit the surf. Before finding out I was expecting, I would’ve been right by his side out in the water. Instead, I stayed dry on the sand or did a yoga session.
Much of my pregnancy was during the colder winter months, and the thought of the chilly water and squeezing into a tight wetsuit with my expanding body didn’t sound all that appealing. At least, that’s what I told myself on those surf-less mornings.
But something interesting happened when I found out I was pregnant with my second child a few months ago. I was thrilled when I heard the news, because we wanted our children to be close in age and the timing was perfect.
Perfect, except for the part about being pregnant all summer — when the skies are sunny, water is lukewarm and the fun south swells hit.
This was not going to be easy.
But did I have to give up surfing so easily this time? Many people say you become more relaxed during your second pregnancy, and I certainly feel that way. Perhaps I could surf a little while longer, just until my baby bump got too big to lie on the board.
Just weeks after learning about my second pregnancy, I had the chance to chat with Bethany Hamilton, an American pro-surfer who had her arm bitten off in Hawaii in a shark attack in 2003. I didn’t want to know about her life as a celebrity after the movie “Soul Surfer” came out, or how she manages to be one of the world’s top female surfers, despite the challenge of having one arm.
What I really wanted to know was how and why she still surfed, even as she reached the seventh month in her pregnancy.
“From my understanding about health, for myself and the baby, as long as it doesn’t hurt me, we’re both OK and we’re fine,” said Hamilton. “I’ve been surfing all the way through my entire pregnancy.”
Much of it is for her mental health.
“For me, getting in the ocean is my resting place. I don’t know if I can handle more than four months out of the water,” she said.
But how, I asked, do you surf with a big baby bump? Hamilton broke down the logistics.
“I put all my weight on my ribs and lift my belly up with knees, so my ribs and knees are taking all the pressure,” she said. “It’s really easy, it’s not hard to do.”
Pro surfer Holly Beck also kept surfing as she reached 35 weeks into her pregnancy. She told the Huffington Post in an interview last year that if she goes too long without catching a wave, she gets grumpy.
“My doctor and midwife have both warned me not to surf, although they say swimming is fine,” she said in the Huffington Post interview. “But they aren’t surfers and don’t understand the sport. I just listen to my body and get out of the water when I’m feeling tired.”
I dreaded posing the question to my own doctor. I’m no pro surfer, so I promised to only paddle out on mellow, easy days. She paused as she thought about it for a second, and then gave me a good compromise.
“I think you can go until 15 weeks. Right now, your baby is protected really well behind your pelvic bone; but, at 15 weeks, the baby starts moving up toward the ribs, and there will be more risk,” she said.
Fifteen weeks. That’s almost four months, and almost half way into my pregnancy.
I can deal with that.
I’m certainly a lot pickier about my surf days. There’s been more than a few mornings where the wind is whipping too much, or the waves are too big, and I’ve decided to pass and watch from the sand.
But then, there are the perfect days.
The same day I had my doctor’s checkup and the clearance to surf for a few more weeks, I found myself at San Onofre on a perfect day with small waves rolling in and hardly anyone out in the lineup.
I caught a perfect right-hand wave, and I spoke out loud to the baby sitting in my belly as I glided along the water.
“This is surfing, baby, isn’t it so much fun!”
I can’t wait to tell my second baby about his or her first surf sessions, even before being born — and hopefully, the joy of surfing has already been planted.
