Wednesday, September 24, 2008

It's a pregnancy miracle!

I turned off the light last night at 11 PM, and didn't wake up again until 4 AM! No hourly pee trips! Hurrah! Of course, when I DID wake up, I couldn't feel the entire right side of my body, and almost had to run to the bathroom but it's a small price to pay!

I attribute a lot of my sleeping well evenings to my 'workouts'. I put that in quotes because let's get real. My favorite work out before I got pregnant (well, actually before I started IVF) was either Bikram Yoga (super hot and intense) or spinning (pedaling a bicycle as hard as you can for 60 minutes in a dark room with pounding music). Now, I have three things that I do.

The first is swimming/water aerobics. That is my most fun - when in the water - I mostly don't even feel pregnant. Only thing that I'm hampered when doing is flip turns - but I'm still doing them as long as I can - trying to keep my tummy strengthened. But my buoyancy has changed so much - it's pretty funny to experience! But in the water I'm weightless, and cool. Blessedly cool.

I also love to take walks. Aaron coaches soccer 2 nights a week at a field that is a great walk from our house. I only need to walk for about 3/4 of a mile on the road, and the rest is through conservation land. I bring the dogs and tire them out with me. Now that the weather is cooling down - I'm able to take a nice walk any night I want (this summer, I would only go in the evenings when we were under 70 degrees!). If I'm not taking the dogs, I also have quite a few walks mapped up around my neighborhood from when I was training for the Breast Cancer Three Day. None of these walks are at a record setting pace, mind you!

And, if the pool is closed, or the weather crappy, I'll hit the gym and do the elliptical machine. This is my least favorite - but I make it more enjoyable by bringing a book along. This is also the one thing that I've actually had to stop because I felt like crap.

But anyway - I try to do one of my 3 exercises at least 3 times a week - plus one class of prenatal yoga. I've actually managed to do something active about 5 times a week (ignoring last week when I had a cold and did nothing). It's interesting - because it's really the first time I'm honestly only working out because it feels GOOD and not to worry about losing weight or keeping weight off. That is sure one thing I love about being pregnant - for the first time in probably my entire life, I'm not dieting (or feeling guilty that I should be). And a think my body is thanking me for it.

10 comments:

HereWeGoAJen said...

That is a miracle! I've managed that a couple of times when Matt has given me really good backrubs before I go to sleep.

You are working out a lot more than I am!

Meghan said...

What a great night's sleep!!! I remember that happening every once in a while.

And yeah you for keeping up that exercise...very impressive!

Beautiful Mess said...

I am very impressed about you working out so much! I couldn't do ANYTHING when I was pregnant, no fun! I did love the whole "no guilt over eating" part though. Such a relief! Here's to many more good nights of sleep!
Enjoy your day!
-D *ICLW*

George said...

I commend you on the workouts...it's great that you can work out comfortably! I didn't really work out thru my pregnancy, other than long walks...I still do those, but it's exhausting. I can totally see how your workouts help with sleep - keep it up!

*Brandi* said...

That's great you're still getting exercise. I have to ask, were you able to do it even in the first trimester? I really want to start walking, but when I get home at night all I want to do is lay down, and if I don't, I feel exhausted the next day.

Simply AnonyMom said...

Happy ICLW

Congrats on staying active while pregnant.

I also loved to "float" in the pool while pregnant.

Oh and CONGRATS on the not peeing 500x a night last night. Real sleep is awesome.

Anonymous said...

Wow! So awesome that you've kept up your workout routine. Well done!
Here from ICLW.

Mrs Woggie said...

Great to hear you are enjoying exercise for your wellbeing and not for looks sake, I'm still not on that page!!!

Here from ICLW.

Geohde said...

Any sleep at this stage is a big plus :)

As for the exercise, I used to run 10K and now I get puffed walking with the stroller- bedrest really knocks things about.

J

tobacco brunette said...

11 to 4 - no pee breaks? I'm SO jealous. Glad you're enjoying your workouts! (Also, taking your dogs on the walk to tire them out? I didn't know Boxers could GET tired out!)