29 January 2015

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.

3 comments:

  1. You look great! I was hoping to see a belly shot. I don't need to see weekly updates like a lot of bloggers do, but there's just something cute about pregnant ladies.

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  2. Glad that the glucose test is assumably (is that a word?) negative! :) You look great! Pregnancy suits you very well. :) You can almost see a foot or a limb poking out of your belly - very cute! I remember those days . .. :) I'm so glad to hear that things are going well for you. I haven't done Zumba, but I've done Jazzercise and heard they are very similar (I believe Jazzercise does weight training at the end) - very fun though! Glad you're still able to keep up your workouts. :)

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  3. That picture you find from Googling "pregnant Zumba" - Haha! Glad to hear you don't have GD. You look lovely!

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