Hi Liza! Congratulations! I'm excited for you
!
I, too, was almost 35 with my first, and I too, was exercising with myself forever, (hee hee;-)). But before I give you any advise, I must say that you have to be comfortable with what you choose to do and of course discuss your concerns and/or desires with your caregiver.
With that said, I think it is very healthy to continue to exercise through your pregnancy as long as you are having a smooth and non-complicated pregnancy. Your overall goal is to maintain your fitness level NOT to increase when you are pregnant.
During your first trimester, you can still do your same workouts but the main thing is to not let yourself get uncontrollably winded. You should put enough effort into your workouts to keep you talking in 2 to 5 word sentences. If you go beyond that, cut back on your intensity some. Also keep very hydrated before during and after your workouts. If you have not been doing kegel exercises, now is the time to start and to also continue them throughout and beyond your pregnancy. You will also find that in the first trimester you may be extremely fatigued or nauseous. This is quite common and you should not force yourself to exercise when you are not feeling up to it. Take off any and all days that you feel completely unwilling or unable to exercise. Reduce your impact if you are feeling any stress in your joints too.
After the 12 week mark is when you should no longer do exercises flat on your back and instead on an incline(in addition to continuing to follow the same "rules" as in the first trimester). Remember that the hormone relaxin is in your body which causes softening of the joints (a bonus during delivery to help push the baby out). Some people experience the effects of this hormone more than others while working out, in any case, you should not lift very heavy weights since your joint stability is somewhat compromised. You may also consider reducing your impact to all low now (please note that does NOT mean low intensity).
By your third trimester, your body shape has changed causing your center of gravity to shift. This most likely will have you modifying quite a few more exercises (in addition to continuing to apply all of the "rules" of the first and second trimester). You may have to do push ups agains the wall, abdominal exercises in an all fours position, bent over exercises on a modified 45 degree angle with full support, etc. Your cardio activities may become uncomfortable now with the additional weight you are carrying, therefore, causing you to reduce the time, intensity, and frequency of your workouts.
Hope this overview is helpful. I stayed somewhat vague in description since you said that you were already reading all of the first time pregnancy posts (where I have gone into more specific detail).
Keep us posted and feel free to ask more questions when needed. Good Luck!
