Shooting while pregnant?

Bigeclipse

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My wife is 6 months pregnant. She loves hunting and shooting but has done neither yet during pregnancy with a gun. All hunting has been with a bow so far. Rifle season starts here in November 16th. Her pregnancy doctor is not a single doctor but rather a group of 4 doctors. So she rotates between them depending on who is available during her visits. Anyways, every time she goes she asks about shooting while pregnant. We have received 3 different answers. One doctor said it is fine. The second doctor said they would not risk it. The third doctor said an occasional shot (hunting as an example) is fine but range shooting should be avoided. I think we have simply decided to play it safe and just not shoot period but I am curious what everyone's thoughts here are or see if anyone else here has any experience with this. Thanks!
 
Recoil is their fear, so if you can find a cartridge that produces very little recoil and still have enough energy to take the game (Like deer) then add a good muzzle brake you have a winning and safe combination. My recommendation would be something like a 7/08 using 120 grain bullets, Plenty of velocity for bullet performance and minimum recoil because of bullet weight. My 7/08 with no brake has around 14 to 16 ft/lbs of recoil depending on the load using the 120's with a good brake it is less than 7 ft/lbs. Anyone can handle that much recoil.

In fact I would think that the bow would probably cause more strain on her delicate
condition that a low recoiling rifle.

J E CUSTOM
 
Recoil is their fear, so if you can find a cartridge that produces very little recoil and still have enough energy to take the game (Like deer) then add a good muzzle brake you have a winning and safe combination. My recommendation would be something like a 7/08 using 120 grain bullets, Plenty of velocity for bullet performance and minimum recoil because of bullet weight. My 7/08 with no brake has around 14 to 16 ft/lbs of recoil depending on the load using the 120's with a good brake it is less than 7 ft/lbs. Anyone can handle that much recoil.

In fact I would think that the bow would probably cause more strain on her delicate
condition that a low recoiling rifle.

J E CUSTOM
Hmm they made it sound like that it's the sound which is the concern. We didn't even ask about the recoil. She shoots a 708 with reduced loads as is and limits shots on deer to 200 yards.
 
My wife was pregnant during hunting season also and she loves to deer hunt with me when we go back home. I got her a 243 and rolled some 105 bergers. For safe measure I added a hellfire brake and man, it is absolutely zero recoil. This was for back East white tails and it was absolutely deadly.
 
Recently had a lady at our range trying to qualify with pistol. Baby was reacting to each shot, most probably due to sound. No hearing protection for the body and sound is not attenuated by the liquids in the body. That is the issue.

Children have very sensitive ears and need protection, so I would take this year off.
 
Shooting? Heck, my Mom was drinking Whiskey Sours every night back in 1966 when I was in-utero. I suppose she'd been shooting too if she had a gun back then, but that was before Dad got his job at Ithaca gun.

Anyway, I would think the primary concern would be lead exposure but that hazard should be reasonably easy to mitigate.
 
I would agree with Doom2 in reference to the sound. Bare with me here....So, one day when my wife was pregnant with my 6 year old I thought it would be funny to blow on her belly (making a loud fart noise) while she was laying down. Well, when I did her belly nearly jumped off her body. It obviously scared the *Rule 4 Violation* out of poor, little Chloe'. Daddy still feels pretty bad about that one. I would think gunfire (especially a rifle with a brake) might be a little much? Just my 2 cents..;)
 
My wife is 12 weeks pregnant and she is hunting but only shot a few times to confirm zero before the season started the other week. By the end of hunting season she will be 24 weeks along which seems to be when articles says when fetuses seem to react to loud noises. So she and I feel comfortable with her taking a few shots at deer but not full on range sessions.
 
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