Driving question

[annettemarie]

I was driving DH's car today (Ford Taurus) and I noticed that either my belly is bumping the steering wheel or, if I move the seat back so my belly doesn't bump, I can't comfortably reach the pedal. I can reach, but it's an uncomfortable stretch. I am 5'3" and due on 12/6 with twins. I haven't tried the van yet, but I'm wondering, at what point is this dangerous for driving?

[gradstudentmommy]

Hmm, I've read it's not good for the steering wheel to be touching your belly, so moving the seat back was a good idea. But not being able to reach the pedals doesn't sound very safe. Can you just drive the van from now on?

[m0xxie]

I believe there are such things as pedal extenders, perhaps you should look into those?

[annettemarie]

I'll need to test it out and see if it's the same in the van. Hopefully it will be OK. I really wasn't counting on this moment coming for another month or so. OTOH, yay for growing babies!

[Ruthla]

Can the steering wheel be adjusted? I had this problem (of barely fitting behind the steering wheel) when pg with DD2, but by the time I was pg with DS (same vehicle, equal bigness of my belly) I never had that problem because I tilted the steering wheel up earlier in the pg.

Another option would be to move the driver's seat back and add extenders to the pedals (like they make for people with dwarfism who otherwise couldn't reach the pedals.)

[annettemarie]

I don't usually drive his car, but I couldn't see where to adjust the steering wheel. I never knew there was a sunroof before today either though so . I don't think we're going to be able to invest in pedal extenders. To be honest, there's not many places I want to drive anyway, and I already told him he's driving us to co-op on Fridays.

[lifeguard]

I'd check under the steering wheel on the steering column - in most vehicles the steering wheel can be adjusted up & down.