No. 1 Piece of Pregnancy Advice

At roughly 31 weeks along, if I were to offer my Number 1 piece of pregnancy advice, it would be this:

 

Exercize. Every day.

 

Nothing alleviates the fatigue and sicky-feeling-ness of pregnancy like getting the blood circulating. I know you think you need a nap. I know dragging yourself out for a walk seems unthinkable. Do it anyway. I promise, after a half hour, you will be a new woman.

 

Before becoming pregnant, I usually ran 4.5 miles about 4 times a week and did Pilates several times a week. This worked well for most of the first trimester; in fact, I ran the Nashville half marathon (albeit slowly) at 15 weeks. I was dismayed when the heat, my utter inability to rouse myself more than three minutes before I had to leave for work in the morning, and now the recommendation not to jostle little boy any lower than he already is prevented me from continuing to jog.

 

Pregnancy offers many gifts of wisdom if I will settle down and hear them. I've probably relied on the running a bit too obsessively in the past to keep in shape, and one of the lessons I've learned being pregnant is that guess what, moderate exercise in the form of walking, biking or doing prenatal exercize videos most days of the week is enough to keep me well, and even toned. Before this time I would have almost panicked at the thought of not being able to run, but I've been surprised at the contentment I feel at doing a daily Prenatal pilates video at my parents' during lunch break (Mom usually joins in when she's around :-)). I haven't run in months and won't until after baby comes in October, and I have a peace with that fact that I didn't know I would.

 

But my advice remains: some kind of exercize every day will do more for you than a nap or a medication or a meal. It's a beautiful, free gift from God in how he made our bodies. 

 

I've researched dozens of Prenatal exercize videos on the internet and purchased three. My favorite is Suzanne Bowen's Long and Lean Prenatal Workout, and I'd recommend this to anyone pregnant or needing a low-impact workout. She doesn't coddle her pregnant audience, but rather challenges them with strengthening and Pilates-like moves that both increase the heart rate and tone muscles. I'll be purchasing her non-pregnant workout videos in a few months!