Newly pregnant! Need advice!

W

willowe

Cathlete
Hi All,
I've just found out that I am just over 4 weeks pregnant! DH and I are over the moon - this is our first, so everything is very new and exciting (and a little frightening!).
I've always been a regular exerciser, working out 5-6 days per week. Ever since I found out I was pg I have been worried about using any kind of impact during my workouts. I'm used to giving my all when working out, and love to do the power moves a la Cathe! However, for some reason (and this may sound really silly!) I'm worried that any jumping around will somehow "dislodge" the baby! Is impact safe when you are pregnant? The pregnancy book I have says that jogging and impact is not advisable, but I have read posts and spoken to friends who have carried on using impact until such a time as it no longer felt comfortable to do so. The first trimester is such a delicate time that I am worried about doing anything to jeopardise the safety of the baby. I did PowerMax yesterday and modified everything to low impact on a 6" step but didn't really feel as if I'd had a good workout.
Also, why is it so important not to become overheated? I've seen a couple of posts about keeping your core temperature from getting too high - why is this?
Sorry to ask so many questions - I'm afraid I've slipped into the "mother-to-be-paranoia" and would really appreciate your feedback and advice!
Many thanks in advance.
Kaz.

Today Is The Tomorrow We Worried About Yesterday And All Is Well.
 
Congratulations! What wonderful news for you and your DH.

There's no reason why you have to avoid impact per se, especially in your first trimester -- you won't dislodge the baby, I promise! -- except insofar as any impact takes you over your anaerobic threshold, that is, makes you breathless. You can still do Cathe, but this is not the time for all-out effort (and once that first trimester sickness/fatigue hit, you may not feel like giving anything an all-out effort anyway!). Later in pregnancy as you get bigger, the pressure of the growing uterus and baby may make impact more uncomfortable, and require further modifications. But I know I did hop-turns and other moderate impact step moves up to the day I delivered my daughter, and am still doing them now 26 weeks into my second pregnancy.

As for getting overheated, you want to avoid this especially in the first trimester because that's when all the baby's vital organs and being formed. That doesn't mean that you can't work out at all, or can't get a good sweat going, just avoid working out outdoors in high heat or humidity and again, getting anaerobic.

Dr. James Clapp's book, Exercising Through Your Pregnancy, has great information about this topic -- I highly recommend it. Sheila posted just a month or two ago with the publisher's address for the new edition (not yet available retail), if you're interested.

I'd also scan through some of the older posts on this forum, since questions similar to yours have come a couple times, even just recently.

Good luck, and again, congrats!
 
Congratulations!!
Hazel gave you excellent advice and I just wanted to add one more thing - make sure that you stay hydrated during your workouts! That will help keep your core temperature down as well as keeping you from becoming dehydrated.
I am 28 weeks pregnant now and am still running regularly, although I am slower and adding walking breaks, plus I do Cathe videos and modify anything that feels uncomfortable - mainly plyos, jumping jacks, etc. I didn't know I was pregnant right away (surprise baby) and was running a lot of miles per week, plus doing a lot of high intensity workouts until I found out I was pregnant - this worried me a lot, but I got lots of reassurance that everything was ok. Also, I did have a few weeks during the first trimester where I had to lower the intensity and duration of my workouts because I was so fatigued from the pregnancy. Make sure you listen to your body - it will definitely tell you what you can handle.
When you have time, I definitely agree with Hazel that you should read some older posts in this forum - there's tons of wonderful information about safe exercising during pregnancy.
Good luck!
Erica
 
Hi Hazel & Erica,
Thanks so much for your replies - they were both really helpful. I have been gradually working my way backwards through all the posts here and as you both said, some of my questions (and more!) were answered in other posts. However, I really appreciate you taking the time to give me your advice.
Congartulations, also, to both of you on your pregnancies!
Thanks again!
Kaz.

Today Is The Tomorrow We Worried About Yesterday And All Is Well.
 
Hazel has given you good advice...

Three reasons women might decide to abandon high impact activities during pregnancy are that 1) the hormone relaxin that allows your pelvis/abdominal muscles to stretch for the baby also makes high impact uncomfortable for some women... and more prone to joint injuries, 2) for many women, the protruding belly becomes uncomfortable when jogged around like that, and 3) they begin to experience stress incontinence (i.e. tinkling in their pants... experienced by nearly 60% of pregnant women!) because the relaxin also allows the muscles of the pelvic floor to relax... if you are experiencing this at any point, you definitely don't want to stretch these muscles even further than the baby/placenta/amniotic fluid/uterus are already doing.. and 4) pregnant women have a shift in balance that might make higher impact activities more precarious... But all of that being said, many fit women can maintain a high impact routine (sometimes with modifications) throughout their pregnancies. The key with prenatal exercise is to listen to your body... actually, it should be the key to all exercise, but even more so for prenatal!

As for overheating... again, Hazel is correct... you can protect yourself from overheating by drinking water before, during, and after exercising. Never, as she indicated, go anaerobic (breathless), and don't go to your maximum intensity... instead, work at a slightly hard to hard level where you can still speak in 3-5 word sentences.

This is a great forum -- I have a 2 week old son, and I've enjoyed being here throughout my pregnancy -- I think you'll enjoy it!
Susan
Healthy Moms Certified Prenatal/Postpartum Exercise Instructor
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON May-29-02 AT 01:21PM (Est)[/font][p][font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON May-29-02 AT 01:20 PM (Est)[/font]

Sorry, post to the wrong thread!
[font color=green]BETSY[/font]
 
Susan,
Thank you so much for your helpful & informative reply - I am mortified at not thanking you in my previous post - somehow I managed to skip over your reply before! Blimey, these pregnancy hormones really do make you go a bit "doo-lally"! Congratulations also on your new baby boy!
Kaz.

Today Is The Tomorrow We Worried About Yesterday And All Is Well.
 
Everyone has given great advice here. You might want to check out the fitfor2.com website for answering more of your questions (which you'll have lots of during the pregnancy, that's for sure!).

The best advice I ever got was to simply "listen to your body". If it hurts or makes you sick/dizzy/breathless, then don't do it. This advice served me well for my first pg and is helping this second time around. I was a 5-6x/week exerciser and found that morning sickess made this nearly impossible for the first trimester. There were days that all I wanted to do was sit around and rest. So don't knock yourself if you lapse for a few weeks -- just rest and it's very likely your energy will come back.

Congratulations!!! Cherish every special moment :)

Missys_mom (and soon-to-be someone else's mom, edd Thanksgiving!)
 
Hi Willowe!
I just had to jump in and say congratulations--I am at about the same point as you are! I just took a pregnancy test yesterday and it came out postive. I will be calling my doc tomorrow for an appointment for an official confirmation but I am pretty sure it was accurate. My breasts are killing me already! I went onto ahealthyme.com and they have a due date calculator based on the first day of your last period and it said that I was probably in my 5th week of pregnancy and would be due around Feb. 3. Of course, I realize these might not be very accurate but it was fun to play anyway. They also have a pregnancy newsletter that you can sign up for so I did that. Good luck and keep us posted. I will definitely be checking this Fitmoms site regularly now--I always avoided it before :)
 
Hi Beets,
Congratulations! I am so pleased for you! My due date is 29th Jan 2003, so we are literally days apart! It's nice to know someone who is at the same point as me. Most of my friends have already had children, so I don't know anyone in "real" time to share my pregnancy with. That's what is so great about this forum!
All the best - I'll look out for your posts!
Kaz.

Today Is The Tomorrow We Worried About Yesterday And All Is Well.
 
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