Archive for the ‘pregnancy fitness’ Category
The beautiful letdown…
Posted on: December 27, 2011
Here we are, two days after Christmas. I really suck at keeping up with this blog, so I guess my resolution should be to post more often.
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I feel like I’ve whizzed past some pregnancy milestones. Today I am 26 weeks and 4 days. I’ve done the anatomy scan/ultrasound where everything was peachy, gotten to my midwife a few times where I experienced my first real wait in her office. Apparently all of her patients decided to get knocked up in March so there are a slew of births on deck for December/January. Last Monday she was stacked with appointments that were rescheduled from a day where she was at the hospital attending a birth. I guess this could be considered a drawback of not going to a mega OB group with eleventy million doctors, but I really didn’t mind.
Naively I thought I’d escape the glucose test since she hadn’t mentioned it to me, but alas, I was handed a scrip to go to the lab that week. I figured, hell, I’ll just get this over with before Christmas and the inevitable cookie parade that will be going down my throat. I’d just better effin pass because I don’t feel like going through it again.
For those of you that have done this, I have to say it really wasn’t that bad. My midwife told me I could eat a light breakfast before hand with I thought was sane (who expects a pregnant woman to fast, drink that crap and then not eat for a further hour? Stupid.) I had an egg as to not throw off the test with too much starch. I drank almost an entire bottle of water while I did the NY Times crossword and waited. As I took the last sip, the tech behind the reception desk said, “Don’t drink too much water.” Uh, too late. Nobody told me that before.
Whatever. They drew the blood (three vials, jeez) and didn’t mangle me too badly. My arm usually ends up looking like Julia Robert’s in “Steel Magnolias” They asked if I felt okay. I said no worse than usual, got up and left.
I have a friend who owns a local coffee shop/restaurant where DH (my husband’s initials are DH so he’s just Dan now)and I have breakfast every Saturday morning, and we’ve been chatting about pregnancy. She gave birth at the hospital I’m going to with a midwife. She’s given me some invaluable resources about pregnancy, birth, diapers, etc…one of them is metrominis, which I’ve been meaning to go to to take a free cloth diapering instruction class. I know what end to put the diaper on, it’s just figuring out where to start that’s overwhelming me a little. I don’t want to buy fifty of one kind of diaper and say, oh fuck, I should have gotten x or whatever. I also want to do the whole babywearing thing and make my own baby food. This elicits stares, “good lucks!” and swift changes of subject with a lot of people, but I don’t give a shit. I’m not delusional, I know some days will be hard, but I’m firmly convinced in my ability to do a load of laundry. And steam and blend food. If I can make au gratin potatoes with mushrooms and leeks I can boil some freaking broccoli. God.
Anyhow, she was laughing because I told her I am the executive chef for Christmas at my mothers-I transport the side dishes and do the roast there. “Why is it that the pregnant lady is doing all the work?” My husband says “Well otherwise we wouldn’t eat.” Of course I could have backed off this year using my advanced maternal age and pregnancy condition as an excuse, but being type triple A doesn’t allow for such behaviors. I have to say though, the fruits of my labor cookie wise were totally worth it. And anyone in the Huntington/Long Island area needs to get a Buche de Noel cake from Copenhagen. I don’t care if you celebrate Kwanzaa, go get one. I almost broke my “no pregnancy binges” rule and ate half the thing. It almost (almost) made up for missing drinking half the bottle of pink champagne my dad had. Boo.
Of course all this superwoman crap has finally caught up with me and I am freaking exhausted. I slept until 10:30 today and still feel like a zombie. This week is strange for everyone, I suppose, this netherworld between Christmas and New Years. Dan is at work, and it sucks. As it stands now come the new year I will be looking for different work (more on that in another post I guess) which comes at the suckiest timing. Pregnant lady looking for work, great. Anyhow, I’ve been trying not to think too much about it since this week is never really productive for most people.
Dan’s family doesn’t celebrate Christmas (his mother is Jewish and his father is Hindu), so I give him my tales of fuzzy Christmas memories of toy orgies, overindulgence on candy, cookies, gift wrap blizzards, and the day(s) after. Like a bomb went off, a sleepy, pajama-ed week of strewn tinsel, melting snow (sometimes) and toy reorganization. And the thought that after all this, the anticipation, the planning, the suspense, it’s all over for another year.
And now what?
That long wait for the first crocus bulbs of spring…
It’s going to be awhile.
M
A few weeks ago, I could feel my appetite going into overdrive. Now at almost 25 weeks, I truly have the potential to turn into an eating machine.
Dan and I went to Five Guys last Saturday and I ordered a cheeseburger all the way, forgetting that the standard issue there is a double patty unless you ask for the baby burger (or whatever they call it). I figured, oh well I’ll just eat whatever I can.
Except when I was done I looked down at the empty wrapper, sighed and said, “I think I could put away like three more of these. Seriously.” Under normal circumstances having a lunch like that would coat my stomach with a joyful feeling of fullness. But that didn’t happen, and it was almost kind of frightening.
I suppose if one was inclined they would take this as a cue that “baby’s hungry” or whatever and go back up to the counter. I feel like this reaction may be more along the lines of a caveman remnant where our bodies were gearing up for the feat of labor and the charge of a newborn where we would not be out hunting and gathering, so you’d better sock away the calories now. Of course it is 2011 (well almost 2012) and we don’t have to hide in a foodless cave for months, so I don’t feel the need to pad myself with 40 pounds of extra fat.
Though it would be pretty frat boy and badass to see how many burgers I could sock away. And since I’m off mixed drinks maybe I’ll indudge my childhood love of a strawberry milkshake. It’s not quite the same, but, oh well…
I guess that’s my problem with the whole pregnancy eating thing. I’m not really a kiddie food sugar/sweet palate person. Mainlining Haagen Daaz isn’t on the top of my list, and I know it’s crazy but in the past I have had nightmares about “regret eating”. Like eating too much chocolate cake and thinking, “Oh I shouldn’t have eaten that”. Then I wake up and I’m so glad it was a dream. I know I’m a psycho, but that’s me.
Anyhow, I’ve kept up with my exercise regimen pretty well, though I have had tired days and I am slowing up a little bit on some routines. As crazy as I thought it was to have this relaxin substance unhinging me like a snake (thanks pregnantchicken.com) I can feel my pelvic bones shifting in a really weird way. This can limit my movements sometimes, which I’m okay wit. It’s basically just common sense, when something doesn’t feel right, don’t do it. If you work out, you’ll know your body well enough to recognize this happening.
On that note, Urban Baby NY put up a link to Equinox’s page. Apparently a new compilation of studies was published in Obstetrics and Gynecology doing away with the old guidelines from the ACOG. None of this heart rate nonsense, the fear that you’re hard boiling your baby by breaking into a sweat, etc…and you can even work your abs. Wow.
I was of the mind that working your abs would only benefit you, especially in terms of core strength and keeping your back from completely giving out on you. I know I’m not flattening anything, but it definitely helps me keep my back feeling all right.
I’m glad that these guidelines came out. I’m tired of people thinking that they have to shut down entirely during pregnancy. Unless you’re having complications, how is that good for the baby, or you? There’s going to be enough weight to lose after the baby as it is, and precious little time to find for oneself to exercise. Why lose all of your strength and training and gain more weight than necessary? It shouldn’t be out of fear.
M
Calories, calories…
Posted on: November 23, 2011
So of course we’re inundated as pregnant women with information about what to do, what not to do, what to eat, what not to eat, etc… because in the ever wise words of the “Pregnant Chicken” when you get pregnant your brain falls out of your ass and you can’t think anymore.
All that being said, I have still wondered and looked outside of myself for advice about how much I really should be eating at this point, in the spirit of Thanksgiving tomorrow. It is a very strange feeling beacuse I have never had food issues and have never in my life wondered about eating. When I was hungry, I ate. When I felt I was eating too much, I stopped. And I certainly figured out that once I headed north of 25 my caloric intake needed to be adjusted. Lower.
I don’t eat junk, but I’m not exactly a food saint, either. Example: no McDonald’s but for your consideration, see “The Chief” burger at Sapsuckers. A few weeks ago I felt like I could have eaten four of those bastards. Of course I didn’t. And no oreos, candy bars, processed crap, but black and white cookies from Copenhagen Bakery? OMFG. It was buy one get one free last week which I think I mentioned. What could I do?
Nonetheless, I really haven’t been eating too much more than prepreg. And honestly the cookie calories are probably just subbing in for my vodka tonics (did I mention I miss you?) So I did some internet sleuthing and came across a site that had a calorie calculator for pregnant women. You plug in your age, pre pregnancy weight, height, and exercise frequency. According to them at 38 years old, five foot nine, 150 lbs and daily exercise, I should be eating 2620 calories a day in my second trimester. WHAT? And go up to 2810 in my third trimester. Um, I’m not planning on trying out for the defensive line of the New York Giants, so that seems like a lot of calories.
I was pretty much under the assumption that 1500 a day was pretty good for me, and now I’d just tack an extra 300 onto that with the pregnancy. I’m not sure what to make of this. I may get up to that number tomorrow with turkey and pie, but normally I would never get close. And I’m not buying this “packing on fat” for the baby and afterward (for bfing). This would be more plausible if we were back in the stone age and birth/child rearing meant a woman would be sequestered away and unable to hunt/forage/etc…and eating was much less frequent than it is today (read:not 3x daily and certainly not as calorie dense). So having fat stores would be a matter of life and death. Today in comparison all food is “fast food” and this doesn’t seem necessary anymore.
So I’m just as confused as when I started. But I’m not sweating it. I’ll eat when I feel I need to. And I’m certainly not holding back tomorrow, although we’re going to my in laws and I am seriously going to miss my mother’s stuffing. It’s just a classic bread stuffing that she uses Bell’s Seasoning in, but the smell of those onions and celery sauteeing in butter early on Thanksgiving morning is almost better than bacon.
Almost.
I hope she saves me some!
M
20 Weeks
Posted on: November 16, 2011
I was 20 weeks last Friday, and all is going very smoothly all things considered. I had a checkup on Halloween where my blood pressure was slightly elevated (135/78) so my midwife wanted me to come back a week later and re check it.
Naturally this sent me, a normally sane person, into a state of meta-panic. I crawled into bed and laid there like a sloth, worrying that I had pre eclampsia, and I’m pretty sure gave myself a headache by worrying that either my head was going to pop off, the baby was going to detach, or both simultaneously.
Dan actually left work ON TIME and got home at 5:30. It was amazing to think that if he got to leave on time each night he’d actually be home at that hour regularly. He was a great source of comfort and as usual reminded me that I’m not a 1,000 years old and I probably just had a bad day or maybe something I ate or whatever.
Of course when I returned to the midwife a week later my bp was 118/70 and I felt like a total a-hole for getting everyone around me all riled up. Unfortunate side effect is that I am no longer able to imitate a bed ridden walrus and we can no longer subsist on take out each night.
This Friday is our big 20 week sonogram. We’re not finding out the sex, so I’ll have to let them know ahead of time to not spill the beans. I’m still in between wearing my regular pants and my H and M maternity jeans which are awesome. It really sucks that you can’t order from H and M online here in the states. WTF?
We also had a great weekend of moving crap. I went from bedridden bp patient to heavy lifter. Well, not really, but I did help. We had to take off the soft top on my jeep and put the hard top on. And yes, I am driving a 2 door Wrangler, even after Baby Basmati comes so suck it. Then we moved all the crap (most of it anyways) out of the nursery room and into the office, which for a few days after closely resembled some kind of post apocalyptic furniture thunderdome.
Did you know that Benjamin Moore makes about eleventy million shades of green and if you’re not already insane from being pregnant you can nearly drive yourself to that point by trying to figure out what color will be perfect for your gender neutral nursery. (BTW go to the Benjamin Moore website and register yourself and you’ll get a nice 30% off coupon emailed to you.)
M
PS for anyone who wants to see here’s a really crappy photo of me at 20 weeks 4 days. I can’t really produce a bump, sometimes I think I just look thick. Please disregard any toothpaste spots on my mirror. Yes that is my hair it is hippie long and also not getting cut, along with the jeep.
The Wisdom of Pregnancy Books
Posted on: September 19, 2011
So we had a lovely fall like weekend on Long Island. On Saturday my husband decided he wanted to go into town to get a haircut. I thought I’d go browse around while he had his appointment. The fresh air would do me some good since I slept not one wink Friday night. For some reason even though I’m not showing at all and I haven’t gained a pound I cannot find a comfortable position to sleep in. Oh, and DH has been snoring like a Boeing 747. Did I mention that? I’m sure this question has been asked and answered a million times but how the hell does he not wake himself up? But if I shush him he wakes up. And offended I may add.
“Why are you shushing me? It’s rude.”
Um-I CAN’T SLEEP! I AM PREGNANT! I AM EXHAUSTED!
Anyhoo, into town. I walked into our local independent book retailer (yes we still have one of those, our town is awesome) and poked about. I picked up a book about lobsters called, “The Secret Life of Lobsters”. I thought it looked interesting. I just finished “Tomatoland” and before that “The Omnivore’s Dilemma”, so I figured I’d like it.
Then I decided to amble over to the pregnancy books. I had looked a few weeks ago at a Border’s-all the merchandise was discounted since they are going out of business. I ended up with a baby naming book. Naming this kid is giving me palpitations.
But the rest of the lit-kinda lame. I thought I’d give it another try. I picked up a book called something like Your Pregnancy Week by Week or whatever. I flipped to week 12 and read along. Your baby is the size of a plum! Aww…cute (I guess). You may need maternity clothes. Uh, not really, but whatever. What to eat, other symptoms, blah, blah, blah. Then the last paragraph of week 12 had some handy advice about exercise:
(I’m paraphrasing here)
Some women belong to Curves, the women’s fitness club. They wonder if they can continue their workout routine while pregnant. Why yes-you certainly can! Just don’t overdo it/breathe naturally/sit down during the whole routine/do it for ten minutes etc, etc…
Um, excuse me, but who belongs to Curves that’s under 50? And are these women pregnant? What a miracle! The genetic counselor looked at me like I was a fossil, so I’d like to round up some of these Curves-going pregnant women and trot them into her office. Hah! You think I’m old? I’m of “Advanced Maternal Age”? Check out these broads! Later they’re going to jazzercise!
And another thing. Enough of this “Swimming and water aerobics are great for pregnant women”. Yes, getting to a swimming pool is way convenient for so many people. And I’ve got water aerobics right after canasta at the Boca Raton senior center. I’m going with Gertie and Ruth.
I did see a book worthy of any mother with a sense of humor. “Let’s Panic About Babies!” is freaking hilarious. It also reassured me that I didn’t have to lose 50 I.Q. points and morph into a humorless, sofa shaped human being with a conveyor belt of Haagen Daaz leading to my mouth that should be in a perpetual smile of pregnant bliss.
Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy.
Yes! Off the hook for making dinner tonight. Monday night Giants game and DH is bringing home a pizza. Awesome.
We just hammered out the details of telling my inlaws. Friday at a nice lunch. God this is when I miss binge drinking. My MIL’s idea of a nice lunch is going to TGI Friday’s and ordering an appetizer and an entree. Yikes. She’s going to feel like an a-hole when we tell her and she’s been bitching in her head about the restaurant we picked the whole time. I love how this joyous announcement is tinged with spite and shaming. Is this why parents feel superior? I like it.
Next after that will be my parents. But they may already suspect something’s up since I wasn’t mainlining champagne at out last family dinner.
M
Danger! Danger!
Posted on: September 14, 2011
So a few things about me. I have always been active, and going to the gym is practically a daily thing. Especially when I hit my thirties and those happy hour margaritas and chips didn’t just burn off like they used to. You hit a certain point where you realize you need to move more and eat less. A lot less.
So I’ve never been a mindless eater, I don’t eat junk, fast food, etc…I also work out hard. So when I get these emails from pregnancy boards about what to eat and how to exercise I want to put my fist through the computer. A few gems word for word:
1. Exercise at least three times a week for no more than 30 minutes at a time.
Go over thirty minutes and then what? Ever taken a spin class, idiots? What fate has befallen all the pregnant women that have been in my classes?
2. Limit aerobic activity to the low-impact variety, like brisk walking, swimming, or riding a stationary bicycle.
Sooo…no running. Just sit and be fit. Yeah right. Yay Richard Simmons!
3. Measure your heart rate at peak activity to be sure you’re not exceeding 140 beats per minute.
Who the hell came up with this arbitrary number? Um, the fitter you are, the easier it will be for your heart rate to recover. Did you ever think of factoring that in?
I can’t imagine just starting a workout regimen when one finds out they are pregnant. If you’ve gone your whole life without a lick of exercise then you’re going to have issues. And I guess these rules would apply then. But how about getting real, people? Are they really trying to tell us that these guidelines apply to women that have been active and in shape?
Recently there has been talk about running while pregnant, and of course it sparked some controversy. I’m not advocating starting up running if you’ve never run before, and of course there may come a time in your pregnancy where running is not going to be comfortable. But if it’s been part of your routine, I don’t understand why you shouldn’t be able to keep it up. Fit women know their own bodies, and they know when to stop and;or adjust when it doesn’t feel right.
Then there were comments about women who were fit and didn’t gain excessive amounts of weight while pregnant. A commenter (a man of course) vilified women who kept fit saying they were starving their babies for vanity and implying they should become sofa sized instead.
Yeah, that would be great for everyone. Excessive weight doesn’t help your baby. You will have one hell of a time losing it after birth. Your self esteem and energy will plummet. And your husband will probably not look at you with the same adoration when you’re permanently 60 pounds overweight, but he may shoot those glances elsewhere (I know that means he’s probably a dick, but that’s reality people, so stop hiring hot nannies. Hell they don’t even need to be hot). That all adds up to a great recipe for your little family.
Today, at 11 weeks 5 days, I am tired. And dizzy. And short of breath. My workouts have not been as frequent, and I am looking forward to this second trimester energy spike I’ve been hearing about. Getting up to pee 4 times a night isn’t helping, and I’m not sure if it’s anxiety or what that’s keeping me up the rest of the time. Maybe I’m just afraid I’ll wet the bed.
M
P.S. Here’s a link with some real advice about working out while pregnant:
bemybabynow 