Pregnancy Fitness: What I wish I'd know thirty weeks ago...

I have always enjoyed being in shape. I'm not always in very good physical shape, but I try to exercise somewhat regularly. I've certainly noticed that it makes me feel better. Last year, however, was not a good year for exercise. I spent the summer driving around the country (19 states, and one stretch with 10 different beds over the course of 12 nights) and studying for the bar exam. This was not conducive to regular exercise. In fact, when we finally arrived at our new home in Madison, I was physically, mentally, emotionally and in all other ways exhausted with no energy for something like exercise.

Nevertheless, I figured I would soon get back on the wagon. Unemployment is so well-adapted for things like fitness programs. I started looking at local gyms (too expensive, I was still unemployed after all), looked into the YMCA, and walked around town as much as possible. Then, I found out I was pregnant. Being a first-time pregnant person, I was somewhat paranoid about what things I can and cannot do (and especially eat). After all, I want to be a responsible parent, right?

Unfortunately, the nebulous advice I always got on exercise was "up until 20 weeks you can do whatever you were doing before you got pregnant." What? This guidance was so uninformative you'd think a lawyer came up with it. What about people who are normally in pretty good physical shape but have recently fallen off the exercise wagon entirely and would really like to get back on before nine more months go by? "Up until 20 weeks you can do whatever you were doing before you got pregnant." Thanks.

Now it's true that between taking the Bar and moving to Wisconsin I went on a 20+ mile hike for two days, but that was more a demonstration of my newly developed physical limitations than any great abilities. So...once pregnant I kept up with the walking. And I did walk, quite a bit. But let's remember that I live in Wisconsin, where winter is no laughing matter. Fortunately, the weather remained beautiful and I definitely wore short sleeves and sandals on Election Day when I walked to my polling place. But by the end of November it was downright cold. And yes, it really does get WAY too cold to go outside if you don't have to. There was also the added ice component, which made walking outside fairly out of the question.

Of course, I was still unemployed for all intents and purposes, so the gym wasn't going to happen. Someone did suggest that I go to the mall, where apparently the doors open early to let people walk the corridors before the shoppers crowd them out. But was I really going to get up at 7am in the freezing cold to go mall-walking with hoards of nice old ladies? Apparently not.

Finally, in January, I decided that enough was enough. I got on my wonderful local library's website and found myself a pregnancy workout DVD. Okay, I found several. And, being indecisive, I basically got them all. Now, without even leaving the comfort of my apartment, I could exercise! And best of all, I knew it was safe because it they were pregnancy workouts! I started slow and small, but quickly found that the workouts weren't that physically taxing. I was amazed at all of the things I could do, all sorts of movements that I'd have wondered about as a paranoid first-time pregnant woman. There are a lot of exercises that help you prepare for labor and delivery, which is very assuring for someone as afraid of pain as I am (I think the anticipation is probably worse than the pain itself, in my case). Now I feel like I might survive it. Best of all, I both feel and sleep better. Who'd have thought the second half of my pregnancy would be the first time in my life I'd actually be able to do those dreadful tricep dips I've always avoided like the plague? But I really like working out, and I think it has kept me sane over the past ten weeks. Endorphins are great! Now if only I can make it through eight more weeks of being pregnant.

So, for anyone who is thinking of becoming pregnant, I recommend getting in shape now, before you get told not to try anything new. And for anyone who is pregnant, go ahead an start doing something. It will make you much happier when that day arrives that climbing four or five stairs leaves you winded like you just ran a mile. Then you really can, in good conscience, tell yourself that at least you did a hundred squats this morning and blame the baby for hogging all the space that is supposed to belong to your diaphragm.