Just found this thread — just popping in to say congratulations to all the mamas! I have four babies and I can tell you: every pregnancy is different and you should not be ashamed or worried about not being able to work out. Before I got pregnant with my first, I was a total gym rat. Cathe and I were “BFF’s who never met”. I was strong and lean and worked out like a boss.
Fast-forward to my 12th week of pregnancy and I couldn’t even walk around the block without having to turn around and come home. It was so exhausting just to move around the house some days. I never had morning sickness with baby #1, I was just BONE TIRED all. The. Time. It was very different from what I’d read from other mom’s experiences.
If you can work out, do it safely. If you can’t, don’t worry. Try swimming or something else low impact and easy on your joints and tummy. You’ll get your body back!
Just found this thread — just popping in to say congratulations to all the mamas! I have four babies and I can tell you: every pregnancy is different and you should not be ashamed or worried about not being able to work out. Before I got pregnant with my first, I was a total gym rat. Cathe and I were “BFF’s who never met”. I was strong and lean and worked out like a boss.
Fast-forward to my 12th week of pregnancy and I couldn’t even walk around the block without having to turn around and come home. It was so exhausting just to move around the house some days. I never had morning sickness with baby #1, I was just BONE TIRED all. The. Time. It was very different from what I’d read from other mom’s experiences.
If you can work out, do it safely. If you can’t, don’t worry. Try swimming or something else low impact and easy on your joints and tummy. You’ll get your body back!
Hi Kari -
Well homegirl the near is in sight for you!!!! That's so exciting! The time really has flown hasn't it?!? I'm currently 33 weeks and am feeling completely overwhelmed that this is all coming to an end soon. On one hand I'm sooooo ready to be finished being pregnant. But on the other, I feel so unprepared for baby girl to be here. I guess that's normal for a FTM though. We have finished up all our classes at the hospital and are currently working on setting up the nursery. I have showers the next couple of weekends. Like you I hate being the center of attention but since this is our first child there was no way our friends/family were going to let us go without having any showers. I really appreciate everyone's generosity though so I'll just have to suck it up and deal with being the center of attention one last time in my life. LOL. My other two friends who were pregnant along side with me have both had their babies so right now I feel like I'm the lone wolf. I know I'll catch up to them before I know it though. These last 7 weeks are going to fly by. I still feel like there is so much to be done, but I know everything doesn't have to be perfect before she arrives.
I've been very blessed to be able to keep up with my workouts this long. I'm still working out 6 days a week but the workouts are definitely getting shorter. I'm on week 7 of Liift4. When I started this program I didn't actually expect to stick with it this long but honestly it's been a blessing. It's 4 days a week that I don't have to really think about what workout I am going to do. I just go downstairs and hit play and go. I do modify a lot of the hiit moves. Thanks to instructors like Cathe and Kelly I have plenty of lower impact, but still intense moves I can sub in place of things like burpees and what not. For the other two workouts of the week I have been doing whatever I want -- lately it's been Kelly workouts. Sometimes I'll add in a finisher segment to the end of one of her 30 min segments but more times than not lately I've been just calling it quits after 30 minutes. Haven't really been stressing about it, I'm honestly just happy that I've made it this long keeping up with my workouts. We will see how the next 7 weeks go though. I'm fully preparing myself to switch over to light walking at some point.
I'm jealous you are already on mat leave! I'm holding out until baby arrives. Because I'm due in November and my vacation time does not roll over into the next year I have been slowly using up all my vacation days. I have a week off planned for mid-October. It'll be right after my showers so I plan to use that time to get organized, finish getting things set up, and making any last baby purchases. The week or two before my due date I plan on working from home so that will be nice. I have to admit it is getting harder and harder to go into the office. But I just keep reminding myself that it's going to be here before I know it so I just need to relax and take one day at a time.
Good luck with the arrival of your little one! We should keep this thread going into postpartum. I know it'll be awhile before any of us are ready to get back into working out, but I really have enjoyed sharing this experience with you guys!
You are doing sooooo great with your workouts! Try not to stress too much over babies arrival (easier said then done). Everyone feels the way you do especially with the first. This week I’ve had a strong “nesting” urge so I’ve been organizing and cleaning everything. I don’t remember having this with my first. Only 8 more days! I can’t believe it. I’m having low back and pelvic discomfort if I do too much on my feet. Not much sleeping going on either. Just been trying to snuggle my little girl as much as I can before her baby brother arrives. I’m lucky to have my mom 5 minutes away to help take her if I’m feeling to exhausted. We have been living in the pool as being in the water makes me feel better. I would love to keep up with this checkin! It’s nice to chat with you guys and see how everyone is doing. Do you have any social media? If you do I’m on Facebook and Instagram as Karie Hevia. Shoot me a friend request! Enjoy your baby shower. I got away without having one for baby number 2. I definitely miss working out and I’m looking forward to getting back into it come January.
Oh my goodness!!! I can't believe your due date is next week!!! That's so exciting! I must admit I'm a little jealous. While I'm not ready for baby girl to be here yet I'm so ready for pregnancy to be over. I do have social media and just sent you requests on both FB and Instragram. I haven't been posting a lot online during the pregnancy, but I expect that my hubby and I will be posting quite a bit once baby girl gets here. I have my last shower (unless my work surprises me with something) on Saturday. Once that's done I plan on taking an inventory of what all we've received so I can figure out what is still needed and what not. I expect at that point I'll go into full on nesting mode. LOL. And it sounds like we are both blessed to have our moms so close. My mom also lives 5-10 minutes away so I know she'll be able to help me out during my mat leave. I'm absolutely terrified of the first week which everyone says is the worst, but I just keep reminding myself that yes it'll be tough at the beginning but it will get easier with time.
I'm finishing up the last week of Liift4 this week--still can't believe I ended up doing all 8 weeks. The pace and overall timing of the workouts have been great for pregnancy so I'll probably just start the program over next week and see how much further I get. Our treadmill at home has been acting up so my hubby got that fixed last night. I'm super excited because I have a feeling the closer I get to my due date the less I'm going to want to work out and the more I may be turning to something gentler like walking (assuming my back allows it).
Keep us updated on baby boy's arrival. I'll be thinking of you and will be praying you have a safe and uneventful delivery!!!
Hi Karie -
Wow you had quite the labor experience this time around! Sounds like baby boy was ready to come out and he wasn't keen on waiting any longer! That is scary about the amniotic fluid and him having to be in the NICU for a couple of nights. So glad you are both now safe, healthy, and happy to be home!
How have things been going...I think you are going on your second week at home now, correct? I love seeing all your facebook posts. Your adorable daughter seems to be adjusting well to being a big sister.
I'm officially 36 weeks as of today. I had my first cervix check on Monday and was fully closed so it doesn't look like baby girl will be making an early appearance....at least not any time soon. I'm okay with that though! I still feel like there's so much to do in preparation for her arrival. I took this week off so I could spend the week "nesting". I haven't gotten as far as I would like so far, but I keep reminding myself everything will be okay and things don't have to be "perfect" before she arrives. The FTM anxiety is getting pretty high too. I keep waking up at 3am each day and immediately start stressing about all stuff baby. I know a lot of this is just due to me having never been through this before. I know my husband and I are in for a HUGE shift in our lives/lifestyle when she arrives and that's a little scary! Just have to keep reminding myself that while things will be different (and probably pretty hard at first -- I hear those first few weeks at home with a newborn are super tough), that it'll all be worth it.
I'm still trucking along with my usual workouts. I'm on my second week of my second round of Liift4. Plan on keeping up with this until my body tells me otherwise. I find I feel better after working out/moving around vs. when I'm more sedentary (like at work). Already thinking about what kinds of workouts I'll start out with postpartum (after I've been cleared to work out again). Thinking about trying Sara Haley's Expecting More the 4th trimester workouts. I recently discovered Sara randomly on instagram and I like the looks of her postpartum program. She also has a prenatal DVD as well as an online prenatal program that I sort of wish I could have tried earlier in my pregnancy. At this point, I just don't fee like investing any more $$$ in prenatal workouts....I'm just too far along in my pregnancy. I tried to see if any of my local libraries had her DVD's, but alas they don't so I'll probably just hold off and maybe purchase the postpartum set when I'm ready for it. I'm also excited that Kelly Coffey will be eventually launching her own workout app that's supposed to have her RAW workouts as well as her entire DVD collection. I've really enjoyed incorporating some of her workouts into my regular rotation this pregnancy so exploring the rest of her DVD collection in postpartum might be fun--especially since they are typically 30 min or less.
Alright time to get back to my never-ending to-do list for my "nesting week". Hope you are doing well!