Monday, March 18, 2013

A Guest Post From Jillian :: Exercising While Pregnant

Hi, my name is Jill!! I have a little old blog over at itallbeganwithamaninablackjeep. I basically just write about being a mommy on a daily basis. It's nothing fancy but I started blogging four years ago right before I got pregnant with my first child. I have two girls, Emerson (3 1/2) and Ansley (2). We are expecting our third little girl (Charlotte) in July. We are currently building our dream house and it will hopefully be done in late May or early June!! Just in time for our baby girl to be born.  I stay home and my husband works at the airport as an air traffic controller! Oh and I am a Speech Language Pathologist. I love it and will eventually go back! Maybe not full time but part time.  Enough about me..... let's move on to the topic:) 

I want to point out that I am not an expert in fitness! Not in the least! I have been working out in a gym since I was 14 so I would say I have a great base but I am not an expert!! Always, Always consult with a doctor before working out while pregnant!  All that business out of the way... :) 

I am on my third child, I have worked out for all three of them! I have worked out differently thought for all three of them! I love to workout. I love to run, sweat, burn some calories!! I'm kind of obsessed. I actually just finished Insanity right before getting pregnant with baby Charlotte! Working out is my therapy, some people like alcohol, some people like eating (me too actually:) but me?? When I'm having a bad day? I need to work out!! I crave it,  I love it!! So when I'm pregnant that does not change!! 

With my first child Emerson, I worked out (spinning was my obsession at the time) until 25 weeks. I then had complications and I was put on bed rest until 35-36 weeks! That labor was long and hard! I pushed for 2 1/2 hours!! 

With Ansley I was running the day before I gave birth to her! We did not belong to a gym at that time so I took lots of walks with Emerson, ran 2-3 miles 3-4 times a week and went on lots of bike rides! That labor was EASY! I pushed for 2 1/2 minutes!! 

With Charlotte? I am 24 weeks pregnant, I belong to a gym and I workout 6 days a week! And my workouts are pretty intense. I have modified them a little bit but not much! I do body step three days a week, body pump mixed with the stair climber twice a week and one day a week I just do an hour of a variety of cardio. I'll let you know how this labor goes ;) 

This third pregnancy has been my most pain free pregnancy to date! I am working out about the same, but I am eating healthier! We juice, I make my own bread, eat clean about 90% of the time and I am seeing a chiropractor once a month.  This does not mean I do not splurge, because lets face it, I'm pregnant :)  I am going to indulge, I'm going to eat my cravings because this is my last pregnancy and I want to live it up! With my first pregnancy I craved hot dogs and ate almost one a day, YUCK! With my second pregnancy I drank a cherry Dr. Pepper every day, another YUCK! This pregnancy I allow myself a soda about once every two weeks! Only because I gave up caffeine a year ago and being pregnant and taking care of two young children? Sometimes you just need caffeine!  This pregnancy I am also doing good with salads, fruit, meat, peanut butter, etc.... so I am eating much healthier this time around. And don't ask me about weight! I don't know my final weight until the day I deliver! I can't stand looking at scales it would drive me insane! I gained 25-30 with both of my girls so I assume that is what will happen with this one! 

Also I get this question a lot... what about a heart rate monitor? Well I have one and at the beginning of the pregnancy I used it but... I haven't used it since I was about 11 weeks. My doctor is pretty laid back and never told me to use one. His motto is if you did it before your were pregnant you can do it during. And he pretty much just told don't worry about the number of your heart rate just make sure you can talk and workout. If you can't talk, you can't breath well, which means baby can't breath.  And most importantly he told me to listen to my body. I know my body and if I don't feel right I don't do it.  

When I'm at the gym I get such a mix of looks and comments. It is split 50/50, some people think what I am doing is amazing and impressive! To them I am a rock star (whatever:), the other half? Look at me like I am killing my unborn child.  I get told a lot to be careful, watch out, your making me nervous... etc....  I just laugh and smile and say I'm fine don't worry. It doesn't bother me all the time but I'm glad I get to talk to my doctor once a month because he assures me that I'm healthy, the baby is healthy and I keep going as long as I feel good!  I mean a women ran a full marathon a day or so before giving birth. And her time was decent! Her baby was healthy, she was healthy, exercise is HEALTHY when your pregnant!  


Great chatting with you.... :)

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Good for you! I was always too sick to work out when pregnant, but think it's wonderful when women do! And congrats on your third sweet girl. My youngest is named Charlotte as well:)

K said...

When I was going to the gym, there was this pregnant girl who used to come in right around the time I was ready to call it quits. She looked like she was ready to pop and was KILLING IT on the elliptical. She made me stay an extra 30-45 minutes EVERY time. I figured that if she could do it, then I could do it. It was the best!

Shelley said...

I only worked out (other than walking) in the beginning of my pregnancy but I was so paranoid about losing it somehow. And so I stopped, tried one more time when I was about 25 weeks and could barely move, had a complete meltdown from seeing all the "fit" girls (who weren't pregnant) and just felt horrible about myself. I'm hoping that since I'm getting in shape now, the next time I get pregnant I will be able to keep up with exercise and not have any problems!

Jennifer said...

Wow - very admirable! I ran a marathon when I was 6 weeks pregnant, and after that, I was so sick of running and training that I stopped working out. It was December and it was cold and I was nauseous. Bad decision to completely stop. I took a lot of walks throughout pregnancy, but didn't push myself.

I can proudly say that I ran today at 25 weeks pregnant, but I had some pains. I might have to slow down or just walk. But I'm glad I'm doing something!