- The Duchess of Cambridge was criticised for being too active on holiday
- Our writer insists it is beneficial to keep on exercising through pregnancy
By Shona Sibary
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Still active: The Duchess of Cambridge did not let her pregnancy slow her down when she went sledging in Switzerland
Halfway down a black run, high above the French resort of Val d’Isere, I stop to consider my options. This is, after all, no ordinary black run.
It is La Face â€" the men’s 2009 Olympic downhill course â€" and the next bit of it, the one I am about to attempt to ski, is so steep, so sheer, it is terrifying.
Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t hesitate. But I am four months pregnant and â€" standing there on the lip of this heart-stopping vertical drop â€" I pay a momentary thought to my growing baby, obliviously cocooned in my womb, and have a sudden wobble of conscience.
So do I take the sensible route, remove my skis and call for help? Not on your life.
Call me reckless, but what I do instead is take a deep breath and go for it â€" all the way to the bottom, where I head to the nearest bar for a brandy to steady my nerves.
Even today, that memory does m ake me cringe a little.
But the baby I was carrying is now a healthy, thrill-seeking 12-year-old girl who seems hell-bent on pushing her own boundaries of fear at every turn. No surprises there.
Of course, I wasn’t carrying a future heir to the throne like the Duchess of Cambridge, nor was this my first baby â€" both understandable reasons for Kate to play it safe last weekend when, on the slopes of the luxury Arosa resort in Switzerland, she decided to give skiing with the rest of the royal party a miss.
She was there â€" along with Princes William and Harry â€" for the wedding of polo player Mark Tomlinson and Olympic dressage champion Laura Bechtolsheimer.
And while everyone else headed straight for the slopes, the Duchess â€" herself a keen skier â€" chose to opt for the ‘safer’ pursuit of an afternoon’s sledging instead.
But her choice of recreation still attracted criticism. One onlooker said: ‘She tucked her legs up and just went. I thought it was very brave for a pregnant woman because it was on quite an incline.’
Snow baby: The Duchess enjoyed walks around the luxury ski resort of Arosa while The Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry went skiing
Almost as soon as the pictures of the Duchess, sledge in hand, were published, the reaction was instant. People damned her for being cavalier with her safety and that of her unborn baby.
Sledging, as anyone who’s ever done it will know, can be a bit hair-raising. After all, nearly everyone falls off. You can see why more cautious types would steer well clear â€" especially when pregnant.
After my skiing exploits, though, sledging sounds pretty tame to me. But, of course, the pregnancy police would probably much prefer that the Duchess had stayed inside, rug over knees, with a hot chocolate and had no fun at all.
But, as I know from four pregnancies, there is little point in wrapping yourself in cotton wool for nine months. It just makes the whole, drawn-out process of being pregnant even more boring than it already is.
Indeed, not only did I ski while carrying all of my babies (although I did, eventually, steer clear of black runs), I also cycled, ice-skated, roller-bladed, went on a 42ft-high zip wire across a lake, jet-skied, jogged, flew across the world and â€" shock horror â€" rode on the back of a motorbike.
It may sound as if I specifically hunted out hedonistic pursuits in a bid to liven up being pregnant. But this couldn’t be further from the truth.
I just refused to put my life on hold and morph into one of those dreadful expectant mothers who have to let the world know they are carrying precious cargo, placing stickers on their car saying things like: ‘Mum-to-be woman on board.’
I’m not alone, either. When she was five months pregnant, marathon champion Paula Radcliffe admitted running 14 miles a day in training. Which just goes to show that women need not â€" and in most cases should not â€" take pregnancy sitting down.
On the contrary, the benefit of exercise i s undisputed. It not only makes for an easier labour and delivery, but can also help prevent excessive weight gain, which reduces the risk of gestational diabetes and pre-eclampsia (pregnancy-induced high blood pressure) which is a leading cause of illness and death in mothers and babies.
Of course, there’s a big difference between staying healthy through pregnancy and putting yourself and your unborn foetus in unnecessary danger.
But where do you draw the line? A survey for the baby charity Tommy’s and healthcare company Johnson’s Baby found that 45 per cent of expectant women have been left confused by conflicting information they have received about pregnancy.
Baby bump: Catherine with her bump clearly on display as she talked to Prince Harry at the wedding of Laura Bechtolsheimer and polo player Luke Tomlinson in Arosa
There are virtually as many opinions on what’s safe in pregnancy as there are people to give them.
I admit I probably pushed the boundaries more than most when pregnant with Flo, 14, Annie, 12, Monty, ten, and Dolly, three.
Certainly, that moment at the top of the mountain is probably pretty exceptional for a pregnant woman. But something my mother said to me early in my first pregnancy has stuck with me ever since.
Future parents: Prince William with the Duchess of Cambridge on their holiday to Switzerland before the arrival of their baby in the summer
‘Don’t treat growing a baby like an illness,’ she advised. ‘Just get on with your life as normal. It’s a far healthier approach.’ And she was right. On that basis, I drank a glass or two of wine every night once morning sickness had worn off.
My GP even told me that Pinot Grigio was better for the foetus than me being stressed, which seemed to make perfectly good sense to me.
On holiday, I ignored recommendations that pregnant women should not eat raw shellfish, soft cheeses and pate â€" because of the risk of harmful bacteria, and food poisoning such as listeria â€" and indulged in prawns, cheese platters and even, on one occasion, foie gras.
I didn’t do that again â€" not because it made me ill, but it gave me terrible heartburn.
Not only did I have happier pregnancies because of this relaxed, non-neurotic approach â€" but I also believe it set the pattern for my entire attitude towards motherhood afterwards.
My body may have been hijacked by a being that hadn’t even entered the world yet, but â€" from the moment of conception â€" I flatly refused to have my personality hijacked, too. And that didn’t change once they were born.
Today, I have four healthy, thriving children â€" despite my adrenaline-fuelled, Brie-consuming pregnancies. But I’m still recognisably ‘me’, too, and hopefully that will never be compromised.
I sincerely hope the Duchess of Cambridge continues to enjoy a trouble-free pregnancy. But I also hope she doesn’t get so bogged down with worry that she forgets how to enjoy herself.
My advice would be to ignore the pregnancy police and do what feels right. And if that means whizzing down a hill on a wooden toboggan â€" or even skiing â€" then she should go for it and enjoy every moment.
I’m sure the newest heir to the throne would understand. After all, who wants a boring mother?
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