My Pregnancy Exercise Regimen (and other updates)

First of all, thank you all for your kind words and concern after my last post. They never called me after the 3-hour test, so as far as I know (a week later), I do NOT have gestational diabetes. Hooray! I had an appointment today and totally forgot to even ask, but it wasn't brought up.

However, I did bring up my exercise regimen, which has differed from the last time around. Amazingly, I'm working out MORE this time, even though I'm working full-time and have a kid underfoot. Last time, I had a part-time gig twice a week and could hit the free gym on base pretty much any time outside of that. I happily pay for a 'single parent' Y membership now, and it kinda forces me to use it or I feel guilty about paying.

With Cora's pregnancy, I did the elliptical. That's pretty much it. I would go when I could watch my favorite shows on cable on the gym's machines since we don't subscribe at home. I even did the elliptical on my due date. I still remember that workout vividly. I remember trying to picture what kind of birth I would have and how much my activity in pregnancy would help my delivery, recovery, and weight loss.

I did have a good birth with Cora, and the weight came off pretty easily. I'm hoping for mostly the same this time, but the elliptical kinda bores me now. I also haven't gone running since the Thanksgiving race. This might have more to do with the weather--I hate running in the cold!

Belly pic time: 30 weeks, 1 day

I have maintained a goal of working out at least once a week this time around, with a solid attempt for two times a week. I found that going at 5am before work was just not working for me, so I'm now trying to hit Zumba or Zumba Toning class twice a week because I really do love it! The Zumba we do at my gym is so different from the first time I tried it (way back in 2010--you can read about that here). It's such a party in there! And we do a lot of current songs and not so much the stock Zumba songs. The instructor pulls her routines off YouTube. You can see a similar version of the one we do to "Uptown Funk" in this video.

While I am having a blast, I got word from the nurse practitioner today that I'm probably letting my heart rate get too high since I am actually having some slight contractions during it (just a tightening at the base of my belly, but pretty sure that's a contraction?). Ugh. Darned if you do, darned if you don't, right? I do the low impact moves, but I think I'm just having too much fun in there. I might get a heart rate monitor to see if I can keep it below 140, or I might just march in place or step-touch more often from here on out.

This is what comes up when you search "pregnant Zumba." I chortled.

Aside from exercise and my occasional doomsday vibes, this pregnancy is actually going quite well on paper. I've already gained more weight than I did the entire time with Cora, but I'm within the normal realm. (I still hate thinking about how I'm the heaviest I've been in my entire life and I still will probably add another 10 lbs to that!) I'm sleeping well, the baby is kicking a lot, and she got the hiccups for the first time last night when I went to bed. I had almost totally forgotten that was a thing.