At 31 weeks pregnant I can barely get myself out of bed unassisted, so when I saw snaps on Instagram of badass mama, Kolby Fahlsing wake surfing at 40 weeks all I could think was “Respect.”
The 32-year-old Minnesota mum was a keen wake surfer before falling pregnant and has kept it up throughout her pregnancy. Doctors generally advise that pregnant women can keep up moderate exercise during their pregnancy provided they are not experiencing complications.
I continued to cycle until my delivery during my first pregnancy, though I ditched my running habit early on this time round (mainly because I’ll happily take ANY excuse to skip the jog). When I lived in ski resorts, friends who were locals kept up their skiing during pregnancy, though often they would trade their downhill racers for the slightly less high octane cross country skis. Still, people love to criticise, and Kolby did encounter a fair bit of disapproval from others.
“There’s this expectation that pregnant women are fragile and should be sitting at home waiting for things to happen,” she told the Star Tribunal. “I’m very safe and know what I’m doing. I think it’s good to celebrate what our bodies can do!”
The sport, despite how extreme it may look, is in fact pretty low-impact. Wake surfers surf the small waves left behind on lakes by speed boats without being dragged by the boat. The mum explained that she was moving quite slowly and had she fallen into the water the impact would’ve been no more than that of her simply jumping in.
“Maybe wake surfing will get things going. Old wives tale?! I’m super uncomfortable, and my legs hurt like none other. It feels like needles stabbing me all over. The swelling. Headaches. Nausea. Heartburn. And some cramping/contractions started. I make pain look good,” she captioned one shot taken when she was 40 weeks and five days.
Kolby clearly has a lovely positive outlook and enjoyed what was a much-longed-for pregnancy. Kolby has a condition called Gonadal Dysgenesis Type XX..
“This means I was born without ovaries, fallopian tubes, or eggs,” she explains on her blog. “I am pure female and have a perfectly good uterus. I just wasn’t born with all of the reproductive organs. I have been on BCP since I was 18.”
Kolby and her husband Jake’s journey to conceive was difficult but thanks to an egg donor and IVF they finally brought home their precious baba, Wilder, this week. In a sweet post, she reflected on her happiness: “I did this. I beat infertility.”
