So this is Pregnancy...

Hello readers! First of all, thanks for dropping by I so appreciate your interest in this blog. Was pleasantly surprised more than just my husband voted yes to wanting to read this. I promise to provide useful information through my videos and evidence based summaries and at the very least, keep you mildly more entertained with this blog than you are at your job.

Since we are jumping in here at a somewhat random time in pregnancy (week 29?) I thought this first blog should be a bit of a summary of what the last 28 weeks have been like, what this blog is all about and where I’d like it go in the future.

So, did you know I’m pregnant? Did I mention that enough? Did you see my video(s) with my giant belly? Good, just want to make sure you’re up to speed. Obviously being pregnant is new to me. Exercising while pregnant is very new to me. Maybe you are also pregnant, have been pregnant, are married/dating someone who is pregnant, are thinking about becoming pregnant one day and want to know what it’s all aboot.

Drinking game - have a shot for every time I say pregnant. UNLESS YOU ARE PREGNANT. Good god people, be sensible.

Coming up this October we will be celebrating our second wedding anniversary which means we started seriously considering having kids about a year ago….keep in mind we have been together for nearly 9 years now. At one point Mike had a cat that was older than me. THAT’S how young we were when we started dating.

How did we know it was the right time? Great question. Some people aren’t lucky enough to choose, pregnancies can be welcomed (but otherwise unplanned) or just not possible when you really want them to be. You spent a lot of time being worried about GETTING pregnant and then at some point you worry you won’t be able to GET pregnant when you want to. We all remember the first time one of our friends got pregnant ON PURPOSE and instead of saying OH SHIT you said CONGRATULATIONS….and it felt weird…

EVERYONE is different but our vague life plan was to get our asses working after we graduated to afford a house and eventually start our own peach tree (aka have a baby in case that was too inside for you). Once we got the house and we were both just working full time living it up we kind of realized we weren’t really waiting for anything else before starting a family so what was the hold up?

While I’m not going to explain the birds and the bees, we were lucky enough to conceive right away. Yes sometimes it takes a long time, sometimes it happens right away, who knows what your story is/will be. But for us, we found out we were pregnant a month after moving into our new home. SO ROMANTIC YOU GUYS.

First trimester was great. I was SO lucky not to be the least bit nauseated which seems like just the worst thing ever. I was really tired, lots of evening naps….and weekend naps….and lots of just lying around because you feel like you just recovered from a cold. But after about 8 weeks the fog started to lift and I started to get more energy! Hallelujah. I basically kept up all my normal training since physically I felt the same and had an otherwise uncomplicated pregnancy. Oooo but the baby was a SECRET! That part is hard, keeping it to yourself for 12 weeks (if you choose to do so). Who am I kidding, we told our families right after taking the test! But waited to tell work until the pregnancy was out of the ‘danger’ zone for miscarriages.

Once we told work it wasn’t too long after that I started showing. AWKWARD phase of looking “full” without any noticeable shape to your tummy. Pants start getting uncomfortably tight but you are not quite ready for full blown maternity jeans that pull right up to your nips. That phase lasted a while….

Into my second trimester I started having a “bump” which was great. Cue strangers commenting on your body…that only gets worse. For whatever reason people have free range to tell pregnant women how they look. Something I will never understand. Second trimester is when my body confidence started shifting daily from “I LOVE my pregnant body” to “What is this baby DOING to me?!”. Hormones I guess?

Worst symptom to date has been heartburn. Even at the apple stage of pregnancy (track your pregnancy by the size of fruit the baby is….just DO IT), I felt the heartburn. Now that he’s squash sized it’s like every meal just feels the need to revisit my esophagus instead of draining into my stomach WHERE IT BELONGS. Anyways, I digress.

With my growing belly I have had to modify my training a LOT….basically cutting out any supine exercises that cause my belly to “cone” and anything prone lying directly on my bump. It is weird to think that I haven’t just laid down on my stomach for months. DON’T take it for granted people. All you stomach sleepers out there you just live it up before pregnancy.

I think I have been doing a decent job logging my workouts for you to see and taking videos when I can so you can follow a long as I modify week to week and month to month. Promise to do the same post-partum.

JUST started third trimester and so far it’s not too shabby. Very obviously pregnant now. Bit sleepier I would say? HUNGRY AF….good lord I eat a lot. Never ceases to amaze me how hungry I am all the time. No complaints here though, food is delicious.

I’m not going to write much more here, I would like to share with you my experience with pelvic floor therapy (something all pregnant women should check out). Promise to do an evidence based summary soon. Curious what is on your mind! Do you want to know more about strength training during pregnancy? Do we want to go in a totally different direction and find out what taking collagen is all aboot? Maybe what the most effective glute building exercises are? LOVE taking your suggestions. You guys are the best.

Love,

Coach P