Getting Real with Kira Hazledine
I do enjoy a good workout. Only a few years ago, you could find me at a gym. You still could if the local gyms offered daycare, but they are stupid and they don’t. So I stick with at home workouts that I am pretty happy with. They are something that I can modify throughout my pregnancy, and even though working out is the last thing I really want to do, my toddler drags the yoga mat out and we do it anyway. This is so different than when I was pregnant with said toddler. So maybe it’s my karma?
Exercise during my first pregnancy wasn’t a thing.
Only a month before finding out I was pregnant I gracefully fell down the stairs and sprained my ankle pretty badly. This stopped all walking, running, and working out up until conception. How fun, right? My doctor advised that I really shouldn’t jump right back into a workout and suggested some light walking once my ankle felt better. Ok, cool. Shouldn’t be hard.
But the morning sickness.
Oh my goodness, the around-the-clock nausea was so brutal. I tried to be dutiful and go for regular walks but everything that involved movement made the nausea worse. I spent so much time running to the toilet that I didn’t have the energy to run anywhere else. My diet was based on what my growing fetus would tolerate, which really wasn’t much. I gave up before the end of the first trimester, and I never looked back. I just didn’t have the energy. I crossed my fingers that my previous level of fitness would carry me through 9 months. I would start working out later when I wasn’t being occupied by a soul-sucking baby.
By the time my second pregnancy rolled around, I had gotten back into the regular habit of exercise.
Hallelujah. I felt great! I was seeing results from my efforts and watching my muscles tone up again, and I had a lot of fun with my toddler while doing it. Took longer than I had hoped but we got there eventually. And then, yay, pregnant again! I was pumped because I already had this exercise stuff down, and I was interested to see if my pregnancy would be any different with exercise included.
It is an unfair comparison, though.
I had a bit of nausea early on, but nothing like the sickness I experienced with my first. I was tired, sure, but a toddler really doesn’t let you be tired. So I continued on with my workouts when I could stand them, aside from cramping and headaches that had me laying down on the yoga mat. But after powering through the first trimester, despite the differences in pregnancies, I do think there is a definite influence from my exercise.
I’m not as tired as I was the first time around, despite the toddler. I’m not as worried about the changes happening to my body because I feel like I’m still in control of some of them. I’m not concerned about weight gain because I’m working out regularly enough to balance the extra cravings. I’m really hoping that this will also pay off in labor and recovery, which they say it’s supposed to do. It’s hard to stay motivated, but the most important part of continuing exercise is that I don’t want to lose myself completely to motherhood again. Exercise helps me stay grounded within myself, and it’s more than just a level of fitness. It’s a mental health thing for me, and I think a fit pregnancy makes all the difference.
