Oops, I Forgot to Work Out

Exercising during pregnancy is a great idea...if you remember to follow through.

By Meagan Francis

"You sound like you're out of breath," a friend commented when I answered the phone the other day. "Have you been working out?"

The answer would be "yes", if by "working out" she meant "heaving my body out of a chair and walking halfway across the room." These days, something that simple can feel like running a 5K.  

Of course, it's not like I'll be running any actual 5Ks any time soon: the other day, my BabyCenter Pregnancy Calendar recommended that I tone down my exercise regimen a bit.

Tone it down? I never even got it off the ground!

I do this to myself every time I'm pregnant: I start off with the greatest of intentions at the very beginning ("THIS pregnancy I shall walk two miles daily, swim three times a week, and practice yoga morning and evening! I may even take up strength training and Pilates!") Then I hit that so-exhausted-I-drool-on-my-keyboard phase where it's all I can do to stay upright through the day, and all thoughts of exercise go flying out the window. The second trimester start and I feel so fabulous by comparison that it doesn't occur to me I should start working out in earnest now to build up energy for later.

Then the third trimester hits with a wallop, and I realize that even bending over has now become a chore I'd rather not repeat more than once or twice a day. (Seriously, I've taken to doing a complete 360 every time I bend over just to see if there's anything I should pick up while I'm already down there...so I don't have to bend over again later).

What changes between the second and third trimesters that make exercise harder? First of all, it becomes harder to breathe. The hormones rushing through a pregnant woman's body can make her take more breaths, which feels an awful lot like shortness of breath. And as the baby grows, it begins to push upward on the diaphragm and lungs, making it more difficult to take a deep breath.   

That means that a quick walk up the stairs can leave me panting as though I've just spent an hour on the elliptical machine. (Well, I'm guessing here. I've never spent more than five minutes on an elliptical machine in my life.)

Secondly, as your baby grows your center of gravity gets thrown off, meaning you bump into things with your hips and are more likely to fall off a bike or wipe out on the ice (making it difficult to take a mid-December walk in Michigan and just plain dangerous for me--a natural klutz--to even attempt riding a bike).

Third, you're just plain bigger and heavier. And that means it takes more energy to propel your body around.

I'm not a complete sloth. I've been faithfully taking a prenatal yoga class that I just love, and have adapted the class to a shorter home practice that I manage to fit in a few times a week.  When the class ends, (tonight, sadly) I have a few prenatal yoga DVDs I'll be trying out to replace it. I'm going to start swimming soon at the YMCA because the thought of being immersed in water is heavenly. I incorporate walking into my day as much as I can and even do my Kegels...when I remember to.

But once again, a pregnancy seems to be slipping by without me using it as a motivator for getting into the best shape of my life.

On the other hand, I have become a pretty prolific baker over the past 6 months. You can't have it all, right?