Cathe's w/o at 35 weeks

B

briee

Cathlete
Cathe,
I have been greatly encouraged by your site and your picture with Eric was darling. I am 38 weeks now and workouts are still going really well. Last pregnancies (I have four children) we're miserable at this point, but a vegatarian diet and workouts approximately 5-6 days a week this time have made for an incredibly wonderful pregnancy. I was wondering if you could share what you are doing in your workouts currently at 35 weeks. What kind of weights do you use for squats at this stage? Push ups are getting hard for me, but I'm managing them mostly on my knees now. Also, when do you start lifting again after baby is born. I am so scared of losing what I've worked so hard to achieve. I've been alternating weight days (3 per week) with aerobic/light weight days (3 days a week) and have been religiously sticking to this six day w/o through this pregnancy. Thanks so much!!!
 
Hi Briee! Nice to hear from you. I'm happy to hear that you are having such a wonderful pregnancy.

I was teaching my 6 classes per week without many problems (of course modifying here and there) until last Friday when I noticed that my pubic bone has softened quite a bit making my workouts less comfortable now. I walk much more cautiously and slowly. Today I had kickbox and did the warm up and about 10 minutes worth of mild and very low kicks before I decided that it was time to talk the rest of the class through for the remaining time. Currently I teach 1 Kickbox, 2 to 3 Body Pump, 1 Circuit, and 1 Step class per week. I stay with light weight for my Body Pump classes since these are very highly repetitious movements. So I only use about 20 pounds to squat. I have been doing mostly bent knee push ups but on occasion I do wall push ups instead. I started mild lifting about 3 to 4 weeks after I had Eric simply because we were moving at the time and I was very busy. I returned to work 7 weeks after having Eric and then I lifted much more diligently from that point on.

Don't worry about losing what you worked for. You'll bounce back very quickly. You may even find that you are very light on your feet since you are no longer carrying a heavy load around. Take Care :)!
 
Cathe,

Thanks so much for responding. I can definitely feel my pelvic bones and surrounding bones softening and becoming sore just in the last few weeks. I take Lotus (form of Karate) twice a week also and last night during the kicking forms I was in a constant state of contraction and decided I can't continue that part of exercise, I can't imagine doing the kickboxing for a long time.

I've been getting lots of sharp low pains, probably the pelvic bone, when I stand up.

We birth at home so I haven't spoken to a doctor until today and she mentioned that sometimes women who exercise a lot have a longer labor due to their muscles being so developed. She said they are so tight that sometimes it takes longer for the baby to come down. This just didn't seem logical so I jumped on the internet and looked up OB/GYN studies that all said it can make labor shorter. (The doctor did say that it makes pregnancy much more enjoyable, but not to get my hopes up when it comes to shortening labor). I want to know if any women out there have had tough labors and then exercised during pregnancy and what their experience has been for their labor experience after regular exercise.

I've had four very painful labors and I will let you know what I find hopefully in 2-3 weeks. This is the first preg that I've really worked out. (The doctor measured me and found me to be around 35cm, but commented that my belly was ALL baby and I appeared to be very healthy, I'm due April 3). Thanks for your motivating tapes and forum!!!
 
Well, I am just one data point but I do fit your description. I exercised a lot during the pregnancy, it was completely free of any discomfort. I didn't have morning sickness, swelling, pain, back pain, nothing. My stomach just got bigger and bigger. I gained 35 pounds, had an 8 1/2 pound daughter a week past full term. But I was in labor 39 hours! I tried to have her at home, but after 7 1/2 hours pushing, the midwife said give up and go to the ER in the blizzard, so we did.
Logan was born an hour after arriving in the hospital, they had to use the little suction device. Even though I am not a small person (5'8", 130 pounds pre-pregnant), I couldn't push her out no matter what Cathe-worthy abs I had! I wondered if maybe my muscles were too "tight", but honestly, I dont think that was it. I think Logan was just past full term, her head didn't "cone", it was just a long long exhausting haul. The good part is that within 2 or 3 months, I looked like nothing had happened to me, except for the little remora attached to my chest! :)
 
Hi Briee-
I will give you my .02 on what exercise did for me during my pregnancy: Prepregnancy, I was an advanced exerciser (5-6 days/week, usually 1 to 1-1/2 hours/ day... weights and cardio. When I got pregnant, I continued to workout, listening to my body, and modifying when needed. I exercised up to the day I delivered.
Other than bad morning sickness, I never experienced any of the usual aches and pains that are typical.
I had a tough, but fast delivery. Sam got stuck in my pelvis (he was face up instead of face down), my epidural never kicked in, and I had almost a 4th degree episiotomy due to a forceps delivery. I was able to deliver vaginally, which the doctor told me afterward he would have never done if I hadn't been so fit and strong. Labor was about 12 hours.
Recovery was a breeze.. Discomfort and soreness was much less than I expected.
While I am not saying being fit will help all women have a vaginal birth, over a c-section, it did in my case according to my doctor's judgment.
Hope it helps. Good luck on your delivery, not far too go!!

Lynn
 
I've seen this question about whether working out shortens labor come up several times on the VF forum, and I think the consensus has been that while working out can make pregnancy much more enjoyable and easier to cope with, it does not necessarily have any effect on the length or difficulty of labor and delivery.

I was very fit going into my first pregnancy and was able to maintain a fairly high level of activity throughout, and I was convinced that not only was I going to deliver 2 weeks early but that the baby would just "whoosh" right out with almost no effort. Ha! I spent 35 hours in labor, including 2.5 of pushing. By contrast, my other girlfriends who had babies around the same time I did and did not exercise at all had labors of 5 and 8 hours, respectively. Let's face it, in labor the only muscles that matter are the ones in your uterus, and I haven't figured out how to train them yet!

I do think that being fit helped me to have the endurance to get through such a long labor, and it DEFINITELY helped make my recovery a breeze. I had very little pain and discomfort, was able to walk very soon after the birth despite the epidural, and was working out again (lightly) within 10 days.

Good luck to you!
 
Thank you all so much for giving your input, but you were supposed to tell me that this is going to be a breeze since I've worked so hard!!! Just kidding! As my husband says, don't get your hopes set on a short labor or you may get discouraged (during the labor) and I'm sure this is true. It would be much wiser to have a realistic approach going into labor and be thankful if it happens to be shorter or easier. I appreciated the comment on exercise helping the endurance level. I'll let you know soon, I hope.

Briee
 
Yes, just remember however bad/long the labor is, it is still relatively short and it ranks as an intense, meaningful, interesting experience. Then you have a new baby to get to know and take care of. After awhile, you barely remember the labor. By being healthy you do have an easier pregnancy and recovery even if the labor ends up being long. One thing I thought of that made it easier for me during the endless night of contractions was "Do it like a man!" This was very funny to me, but helpful. No whining! No anesthesia! No doctors! Do it like a man! I hope you will be amused, rather than flame me. My intention was to entertain.
 
had to laugh...

I don't think most men could handle the pain of labor with no whining, no anesthesia and no doctors! :)
Erica
 
the research shows...

that in a normal labor, women who exercise have (on average) a shorter PUSHING stage...

I think (and I'm highly biased from Sheila's training and my own experience) that it has to do with how well you have trained yourself to use your kegels and abs during labor. If you know how to use your abs effectively - navel to the spine... willing that baby to go out of the place that he is... and to fully relax your kegels at the same time (the place where the baby needs to go), then you will be more efficient when you push.

You can have trained abs but not use them during pushing, and, of course, that wouldn't help at all!
susan
 
RE: the research shows...

I did get on the internet and found some good articles and research that supported the labor being somewhat shorter for women that exercised and I'm sure this depends on many things. It was helpful to hear your thoughts. I have noticed that when I go to stand up after sitting a while, I get some sharp low pains accompanied by a contraction which my natural reaction is to tense up and I've noticed that when I do the reverse of tensing, stomach breath and conciously relax that area, the pain tends to go away really quick. The minute I tense again it returns. I need to remember this when I'm punching the walls in transition. (yes I did bang on the walls, so much for dealing calmly with transition).

I will take it like a man!!!! ha-ha
 
my experience

I excercised for my first 2 pregancies and the labor with my first child was so short that there was no time for an epidural. 5 hour labor total, delivering 2 hours after I got to the hospital. Second child, I rushed to the hospital, got my epidural (which usually slows labor) and delievered 2 hours later, so it was a 3 hour labor total. I am 25 weeks pregnant with number 3 and my doctor told me whatever I did with the first 2, keep on doing it and that my excercising probably contributed to fast labors. (that and heredity, my mother had fast labors). I am going to rush in fast this time!!

That being said, I think everyone's labors are different and they react to excercise differently BUT excercise does make the pregnancy more pleasant, and the bounce back time faster!

Plus, I have read that studes show babies of mothers who excercise during pregnancy tend to be smarter. ONe therory is increased blood flow to the uterus.
 
RE: my experience

Maybe it's just that people who exercise are smarter, so we pass on our brain power to our children!
 
RE: my experience

I loved reading all you posts. I love hearing stories about pregnancy and birth. When I found out I was pregnant I was exercising a great deal. Then I found out it was twins. I went to a nutritionist and she recommended a high protein-low carbo diet. I gained a total of thirty-seven pounds and walked a lot. The tapes had to go... I could not see my toes. At the beginning of my eighth month people were asking me if I was due yesterday. Towards the end of my pregnancy I was sooooo tired. My belly was 52 inches around. I'm 5'8" and weighed 140 lbs. when I got pregnant. It was my first pregnancy and I could not understand why I was so tired. I literally stood at my kitchen window and debated all day long whether I should go outside and get the newspaper that was twenty feet from the door. My husband would come home and ask me what I did all day long. I was embarassed to tell him that I could not manage to get the paper. I just could not believe how tired I was. Two weeks later I gave birth to two healthy babies. A baby boy weighing 9lbs. 4 oz. and a baby girl weighing 7.6 oz. Now I know why I was so tired. I am still trying to bounce back. It may take my lifetime but it was worth it. :) KB
 
RE: my experience

Hi Kelly-
Yes my twins birth weight was amazing. My son was the largest baby in the nursery and he was a twin. I was the talk of the town. People I did not know were stopping me to tell how shocked they were. The mother of twins club reported receiving phones calls from other regional clubs. I honestly have to admit that I since I was a first time mother I did not understand all the fuss. But looking back on it now, I really do understand why I was so tired. I feel that all the prior exercising I did helped me to carry this pregnancy to full term along with being a taller person. I do not have any scientific research on the height thing but I have been told by several people that it makes it easier. :) KB I
 
Wow!!

Now I feel like a major wimp... you were carrying almost 16 lbs. of baby. With my first, I was a major whiner at the end, and he was only 9 lbs. 2 oz. I thought that was more than huge!

I am inspired :)
Susan
 
RE: Wow!!

Mogambo
You are too funny. My DH took my pregnancy just like a woman. Not only did he have the sympathy pregnancy and gained twenty-five pounds, he also passed TWO kidney stones in one night. It's a good chuckle that always makes us laugh. KB
 
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