Walking:
Even if you've never exercised in your life before, this is something you can pick up easily in pregnancy. Most of you know that I am a runner. However, soon after I discovered I was pregnant, I developed a sharp pelvic pain while running. Normally I run through pain, but I panicked that something was wrong with the baby. So for the first month of being pregnant, I took up walking. An average person walks a 20 minute mile. Brisk walking is considered a mild-moderate exercise. Health experts recommend you get 2 1/2 hours of mild-moderate exercise per week. So my goal was to take a brisk 2 mile walk every day, which meant that I walked 12 miles a week. Holy cow, that seems like a lot! It generally took me about 35 minutes to walk 2 miles, for a total of 3 1/2 hours of exercise. It was pain (and sweat!) free. And it was something that I could do with Cage, since I pushed him in a stroller. I highly recommend walking to any pregnant woman. It is a cardio exercise that almost anyone can do and is perfect if you haven't exercised before. It was all the exercise I did for a month and I felt great doing it.
Dancing:
Surprisingly, every article I researched suggested dancing as a safe form of exercise in pregnancy. Unless you are literally leaping across the ballroom, any kind of dance is recommended. And the only reason they don't want you leaping is because you could lose your balance, fall, and hurt the baby. Since I'm not much of a ballerina, that wasn't a hard rule for me to live by. I had decided at the beginning of this year that I needed to have a more rounded exercise regimen, so I took up ZUMBA. I've just been doing it at home, mostly following ZUMBA instructors on YouTube. It's a great workout and tons of fun. So I kept up the ZUMBA dancing once my pelvic pain subsided.
Yoga:
Do the phrases "sciatic nerve pain" and "round ligament pain" sound familiar to you? If not, that probably means you haven't been pregnant yet. And while I don't want to ruin the surprise for you, they are just some of the pregnancy pains you have to look forward to. I have both of these particular pains this pregnancy and yoga is the only thing that alleviates them. If you're thinking of taking up yoga, you'll want to get into a pre-natal yoga class. I guess regular yoga classes have some poses in them that could constrict blood flow to the baby (not necessarily good). Once again, this poor college student turned to YouTube and found a pre-natal yoga routine that I really enjoy. Sometimes the instructor is annoying with all her "dance with the baby" talk, but you deal with it. For the link to that yoga video, click here.
Running:
Because I've been running for a few years now, the doctor gave me the okay to keep up the routine. But actually I've been reading that you can begin to take up jogging in your first trimester, even if you hadn't been doing it before. Just take it slow and listen to your body. Now, my husband and I set up some personal limits to make sure that I didn't overdo it. I guess I'm the kind of person who has an over-doing it tendency? So the rule is that I can't run for more than 30 minutes or more than 3 miles. Like I said, that's just our personal rule and not necessarily one to live by. You decide what your body can handle.
As I stated before, I was having some pelvic pain that first month of pregnancy, so I quit cold turkey on the running until I hit pregnancy week 10. I cautiously starting running again and found that whatever weird pain I'd had before was gone. Even so, when I'm running now, I don't push myself to get a certain time or mileage. I run for 30 minutes and I run as fast as I feel like. Nowadays, I get anywhere from 2.5 to 3 miles in a 30 minute run. I'm not trying to beat a time here, just trying to stay in shape. And I think my body (and the baby!) will appreciate that.
My greatest obstacle for exercising this trimester was fatigue. I mean, this baby is sucking the energy from every part of me. It is really hard some days to get off the couch. But I thought about how in nursing school, we deal with chemo patients who are constantly exhausted from the treatment. But we have to tell them that the only way to cure the fatigue is to take a walk. And it works, it's just so hard to get up! But I consistently found an increase in my energy levels and my mood if I got off the couch to exercise. The other obstacle was morning sickness. But in talking to many other women, I find that morning sickness also has a routine it follows. Mine came every night at about 4:30. So I knew that if I wanted to exercise, it was going to have to be some time before then. Mornings worked out great for me. So figure out what your morning sickness schedule is and work around it. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.
So in total, here is how a typical week of exercising goes for me:
Running: 2x/week
ZUMBA: 2x/week
Yoga: 1x/week
I also walk everywhere I can, especially if my destination is less than a mile away.
I also promised some pregnancy stat comparisons, so here goes:
Energy level:
With Cage- hardly could stay awake during class
Baby #2- Still tired often, but most days I don't even need a nap
Feeling:
Cage- I described feeling "blah" most days
Baby #2- I generally feel great and pretty happy
Bodily appearance:
Cage- At this point, I looked like I did pre-pregnancy (except for the little belly)
Baby #2- No swelling yet, looking like I did pre-pregnancy
Weight:
Cage- At my 12 week appointment, had gained 10 lbs
Baby #2- At my 12 week appointment, had gained 1.5 lbs
By the way, in case you were wondering how I remember Cage's pregnancy so easily, I kept a very accurate weekly journal with him. It's called "The Belly Book". :-) Go ahead, say it..."awwwwwww"
Here's what I looked like at the beginning of my 2nd trimester. Look at my little belly starting to poke out! I can't wait to meet this kid.
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