When does the safety zone begin?

[Maxine45]

My doctor advised me to hold off on telling people until "six weeks".
He also advised me to keep my exercise very light "at a walking pace" until Six Weeks.
He seems to feel that Six Weeks is a time when a magical buffer comes down and surrounds me and everything will be fine if I can just make it to six weeks.

Is this six weeks from the start of my last menstrual period? or six weeks from implantation? what is it?

Does anyone know much about this? Does anyone have their own idea of when the magical safety buffer comes down?

[sewaneecook]

I'm not sure, but I can take a guess at why the six wk mark is so magical. Usually that is when you can hear the heart beat for the first time and the risk of m/c drops significantly. As for exercise, I've heard that you shouldn't start any rigorous program, but if you have been active before getting PG, you can continue. I think the 6 wk mark is from LMP. My LMP was 10/02, so I'm counting myself as 4w 3d.

I hope this helps!

[midwestmom]

yeah, it would be 6 wks from LMP. I really think it is whatever you want to do on telling people and I didn't change my exercise routine either in the first 6 weeks.

[luckymama]

lol - 6 weeks. some people say don't tell for the first trimester. i, for one, can't keep my mouth shut that long, really. however, i will only tell people early on that i would be likely to turn to anyway if anything went wrong, kwim?

and yes, 6 wks from lmp ...

as for exercise, you already know i think that i don't change my routine, except that i'm just too durned tired to get my butt up and do something.

[SoCalGirl]

I have no idea. I finally talked to a midwife yesterday, and she told me I should just keep on exercising, having sex, etc. etc., just like normal. She said there's nothing you can do to prevent a miscarriage if it's going to happen, and exercise is not going to cause one. (Regardless, I was running up until I got the positive preg. test, so I saw no reason to stop running just because the second line showed up.)

However, I don't know what to make of all the conflicting tales of when the risks decrease. I've read various things from 6 weeks to 12 weeks and all from what seem like reputable sources. I can't make up my mind about when to feel "safe" telling people!