Exercising & Pregnant

Getting out the door to exercise is not necessarily the top priority on a pregnant lady’s to-do list.  I’m six months pregnant, my feet are starting to get swollen, I’m starting to waddle as I walk, and I’ve nearly given up on climbing anymore flights of stairs.  However, years ago I made up my mind that when I became pregnant I was going to train for the delivery like I trained for my triathlon.  And so, I find myself heading out the door to try and keep my body in good shape for this intense thing called labor and delivery.  I’ve actually been quite surprised at how much exercise I’ve been able to do, considering of course how big I keep getting.  Sure, I’ve had to slow down a bit (or two or three bits) here and shorten my distances a bit there, but on the whole my workouts have gone (surprisingly) pretty well.  I was feeling so good in the first trimester that I ran a 5K at 7 weeks, which made me think I could run the Belfast half marathon in September.  I talked it over with my GP, who also has a degree in sports medicine.  She told me (wisely) that I could continue to exercise while pregnant, but there would be more half marathons next year for which I could train.  In other words, my bubble was burst…I really wanted to be that super-woman of a pregnant lady who crossed the finish line with a shirt that read, “Baby’s First Half Marathon”.  My consolation prize, however, was to sign up for the Belfast Half Marathon Fun Run (a whopping 1 kilometer) that happens on the same day and on the same track as where Dave will finish running the Half Marathon.  I was thrilled when I found out that I would get to have my 33 weeks pregnant race, after all!  Now instead of training for the half marathon, I am finding other ways to give my baby its exercise in utero and train for that Fun Run race.  The baby has now had its first (and several subsequent) spin classes, several 5K runs (starting to become jogs, and not so much the 5K distance anymore) and several laps in the pool.  Dave has said he’s excited that our baby will come out of the womb already having experienced a runner’s high and wanting more of it.  I’ll just be happy if all this sweating I’m doing now pays off later in the delivery room.  So far the exercise seems to be boding well in everyday life, too, like whenever I find myself having to sprint to make the bus (that happened twice the other day) or when we have our uphill hike to church each week (and I’m trying to keep up with a husband who is in great shape with a very long stride).  However, when I’m having a day when I’m feeling like a ginormous whale of a pregnant lady, I let myself have my pity party and then I remind myself about the end-game and that this is temporary and before I know it I’ll be exercising without my own personal 15 pound kettle bell attached to my midsection.  Until then, though, I just keep putting one foot in front of the other so that when the November 10^th due date comes, I can leap across that finish line.