[Erica13]

Just starting to get into exercising this week. The doctor gave me the okay over a month or so ago to start doing prenatal yoga, but for some reason I'm just now getting started. I feel so out of shape now! Being on doctor mandated rest for a month during the first trimester didn't help either. Now I'm a bit nervous about overdoing it so am trying to start slowly and hope to eventually build up to doing prenatal aerobics.

Is anyone else doing any of the exercises from spinning babies? I've started doing some of their recommended daily exercises this week. Some of my back muscles are so tight I can't do the yoga or the spinning babies very well. With my first pregnancy, the more I practiced the yoga, the more flexible my body became. I'm hoping that I can get in shape to be ready for birth. Only three months to go!

Would anyone be interested in checking in on this thread periodically to encourage each other in our prenatal exercises? The pain of birth is a good motivation for me to exercise and get in shape, but talking with others about our exercise routines and faithfulness is always an encouragement for me too.

 

[funfunkyfantastic]

For me I have been focusing on walking exercises mostly. Last pregnancy I stopped exercising around my 7th month and then wasn't able to stand up more than 10 minutes at a time. So I hope if I do a lot of walking now, it won't be so hard at the end. As for yoga, I can't seem to motivate myself at all. I should I know, but it's hard to get in the habit.

 

[sarahl918]

I would love to use this thread to encourage each other to exercise! I personally need it badly. I have used having a toddler as an excuse not to exercise but I know that isn't good enough... I am fortunate to not gain much weight with pregnancy (only 23 lbs with DD1) so I use that as an excuse to not work out either. I'm "skinny fat" - hah!

I need to find a good yoga class in our neighborhood and make the time to go! I am so stiff in my shoulders and my flexibility has really gotten down to nothing. I did Pilates almost my entire pregnancy with DD1 and I'm sure it helped me loads with delivery. I'd love to get into swimming too, I know that is wonderful for the expectant mama.

I'm going to look into those spinning babies exercises too - I love that website!

 

[dahlia810]

I've been doing ok with staying active most days. I take walks with my daughter and the little boy I watch, usually a mile to 2, if it's not too hot. I'd like to do some yoga but haven't been able to motivate myself to do it yet.


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[sarahl918]

I'm happy to report I did yoga this morning with my toddler! She was fascinated by the ladies on the computer telling me what to do, liked running under me while doing down facing dog, but after about 30 minutes told me I was "all done" haha. Better than nothing! The rest of the day she was saying, "yoga? yoga?"

Amazed at how much harder it is than it used to be for me - I must be out of shape! Badly needed!

We also have two flights of stairs in our house and between cleaning, laundry, cooking, and DD saying "chase me!" I am pretty beat at the end of the day.

 

[funfunkyfantastic]

I had some fun on the treadmill at the gym today. 30 minutes of fast walking. Darn looser pubic bone makes it difficult towards the end of every workout now it seems though. I was hurting in that region in the last few minutes.

 

[xixstar]

Walking up a few short flights of stairs yesterday was an eye opener. If I was that tired from that, how do I expect to work through labor? Must get more movement going.

 

[taters]

I love this thread! I didn't know the spinning babies site had exercises (beside inversion stuff), I'm going to check it out! Sometimes I convince myself that running up and down a big flight of stairs many many times a day counts as exercise, but it really doesn't. I have been a little better at walking, but not enough. And I'm trying to just do different asanas instead of a whole yoga routine....it seems like that's easier to remember to do wherever I am than devoting time and space to a specific practice. I felt so sexy and beautiful with my first pregnancy, and am definitely not feeling that now. I'm sure a lot of it is starting off with a different body and having a toddler take priority over devoting lots of time to feeling sexy and tapping into that, although I still try a bit. I am also doing a fair amount of yardwork which definitely gets my heartrate up. I swear I will take the dog on a long walk today, will report back later!!!

 

[sarahl918]

@xixstar, reading birth stories has lit a fire under me too. It's like I suddenly remembered how much work it is, and how beneficial having kept in shape can be in that moment.
@taters I use the toddler excuse so much... it IS a lot of work, but it's different! I felt so great stretching during yoga today. I did a "gentle prenatal yoga" video on the Gaiam website. It was perfect.

Two days in a row of yoga for me... DD decided to only take a 30 min nap so she woke up in the middle of my practice but I just kept going with her and she played around me, and tried to do some of the moves which was so precious. I took her to the Y this morning too and we signed our family up for a membership - they have a pool and I might check out some of their group swim classes, since I'm a terrible swimmer on my own.

 

[funfunkyfantastic]

@sarahl918 Can you link me to that gentle yoga? I need something gentle, lol.

Today our whole family got some exercise. We all went to a local aquatic center (the biggest and most expansive public pool i've been to in our area.) I can hardly wait till i'm done with pregnancy so I can enjoy some of the other attractions the pool has to offer such as their "hot" pool of 102 degrees, Their super big water slide, and their surfing simulator. Today we just swam around a bunch, played in the toddler water area that has a jungle gym of sorts with two small slides. I tried one of the slides... it was hard to get up after, so I only tried it once, lol. The toddler area is basically a wading pool/spray park. There's also a lazy river that can really zip you right along. It gets crowded though. We put DD in a life jacket so she could enjoy slightly deeper areas of the pool. She can't swim yet, and it really helped her feel more secure, especially in the lazy river. I stubbed my toe big time in the river. I was having trouble floating correctly. I saw on the website mentions of intertubes but found none at the aquatic center. So I brought a pool noodle in with me later and that helped me float through there a little better. I like the pool over all because there are no deep areas. The deepest part is only 4'6". Neither DH or I swim well. DH can't swim at all, and I can just barely make do. All in all it was a fun time out. I think I still have a bit of saltiness in my hair though. It was a salt water pool. Another plus, since pool chemicals tend to be a bit drying.

 

[sarahl918]

@funfunkyfantastic here it is... its a paid subscription video but the first month is only a dollar! http://www.gaiamtv.com/video/gentle-prenatal-flow

 

[Erica13]

Loved hearing about everyone's exercise! I started for a couple days and then stopped for a week. My toddler loves the prenatal aerobics and stretching DVD that I have though (maybe he "remembers" it since I did it when I was pregnant with him and sometimes used some of the steps and music to get him back to sleep when he was a newborn). Today he asked me to put the DVD on, so I exercised about 20 minutes at his request. Since I'm not used to the aerobics yet I don't want to do too much at once. I ordered the exercise DVD from spinning babies too so hope to get it soon.

 

[funfunkyfantastic]

I'm just wondering what kind of exercise to do when my joints eventually give out on me like they did last time. My poor legs, hips, and feet couldn't take the enormous amount of weight gain and just quit on me. Then to top things off I had pre-eclampsia. I don't want to be be in that boat again but my body is already complaining with just walking. I'm wondering if I'm just supposed to push through the pain or something. I went for a walk today and my poor feet were just screaming at me while my sides were aching. It is probably because I've already gained 35 lbs. My body likes to pack it on and torment me for some reason and I can't for the life of me figure out a way to curb the gain. It sucks.

 

[xixstar]

@funfunkyfantastic - Can you do thinks with a exercise or birth ball? Or look into seated exercises as well - they can look deceptively easy but still be a good option for getting the heart rate up.

I am doing more with the ball because the SPD is increasing dramatically making hiking more and more difficult (anything with an incline is a challenge).

Also, you mentioned curbing weight gain, one suggestion is to be sure to balance every meal and snack so that you're getting protein and fat with any carbohydrates and opting for complex carbs over simple sugars too. If I get a craving for something sweet, I make sure that I'm having some protein/fat with it or right before it as well. I started testing my blood sugar just out of curiosity and found that when I stick to the plan my numbers are great but when I just go for something sweet or bready (and sweet) then my numbers spike up much higher. Protein is also important when trying to help prevent pre-eclampsia as well. If you're already doing these things, I get that too -- some bodies just like to pull in ample stores during pregnancy too.

 

[sarahl918]

@funfunkyfantastic what about swimming or water aerobics? That couldn't be easier on the joints. My Mom is pretty overweight and working to get in shape but finds most exercises too painful on her joints, so she does a lot of water classes. It is super effective! And the water feels great when preg. I am probably going to sign up for a class soon myself.

 

[funfunkyfantastic]

I'd do a water aerobics class if I could afford one. I might try switching to using the bike at the gym. I'll look into getting a birth/exercise ball too. I was really hoping walking wouldn't become an issue this time, but it doesn't look like I have a choice in the matter. I can still exercise though as you've both pointed out. Thanks for the encouragement.

 

[Erica13]

I'm just wondering what kind of exercise to do when my joints eventually give out on me like they did last time. My poor legs, hips, and feet couldn't take the enormous amount of weight gain and just quit on me. Then to top things off I had pre-eclampsia. I don't want to be be in that boat again but my body is already complaining with just walking. I'm wondering if I'm just supposed to push through the pain or something. I went for a walk today and my poor feet were just screaming at me while my sides were aching. It is probably because I've already gained 35 lbs. My body likes to pack it on and torment me for some reason and I can't for the life of me figure out a way to curb the gain. It sucks.

Have you tried any prenatal yoga or Spinning Babies exercises? I just got the Spinning Babies Exercise DVD and it is excellent - it has a 30 minute segment of the daily exercises they recommend and then a 30 minute segment of Yoga with many of their recommended exercises included. Perhaps the Yoga and stretching would help more than walking to reduce the pain. I know when I did Yoga with my last pregnancy it really made a difference in hip and back pain. When I skipped a day the pain was miserable. I hope you can figure something out that will help!

 

[sarahl918]

I'd do a water aerobics class if I could afford one. I might try switching to using the bike at the gym. I'll look into getting a birth/exercise ball too. I was really hoping walking wouldn't become an issue this time, but it doesn't look like I have a choice in the matter. I can still exercise though as you've both pointed out. Thanks for the encouragement.

Is there a YMCA in your area? I'm not sure the quality there, but they're surprisingly affordable. Or maybe now that it's summer, even just swimming laps at a public pool would be worth while. I think you can get birth balls for around $15 on Amazon, I know I got mine for around that at Target a couple years ago. It's not super high quality, but it works! Hope you are able to find something that doesn't put you in pain.

 

[xixstar]

Thanks to this thread, I watched a pregnancy workout video on YouTube. I think I picked they wrong one because I would have had a hard time keeping up with them before pregnancy, lol. I need to keep looking.

 

[funfunkyfantastic]

@Erica13 I've tried prenatal yoga but had trouble with some of the poses because I didn't have the props the video had. I guess I gotta keep looking for a better video. I haven't tried anything from spinning babies yet. Is it free?
@sarahl918 there is a ymca nearby but I'm unsure about how the membership works with classes. I don't have a membership so I'm not sure what the class cost would be. I'd love to at least have some sort of swim membership though. My dd would love spending hours at the pool, lol. I do have a gym membership for a gym that's only $10 a month. It's a nice enough gym but doesn't have a pool or childcare. So unfortunately I have to work out a time to go when someone can watch dd. She only has a week of school left, so I'm bracing for an unending "I'm bored" marathon.