As the days of morning sickness fade away, a crazy woman has taken over my body. Yesterday I decided that instead of attempting to sleep an extra half an hour, I should get up and workout before all of the kids woke up. Charis, my almost one year old was already awake, but that still left the living room quite peaceful.
I jumped out of bed, put on my workout clothes, and grabbed some toys for the baby. My husband looked over at me in shock. I love sleep. It takes me awhile to become fully awake and chatty most mornings. Let's just say, Tim is usually up before me. The rest of the family is usually halfway through breakfast before I appear still looking glazed. Somehow, I just needed to workout right away. It was so important to me.
During all of my pregnancies I have tried to keep in the best shape possible. With the first one I barely had to try since I worked in a job that had me walking around a hospital a lot. My husband and I also made a point of going on an evening walk everyday after dinner as well. By the time baby number two was on the way I slowed down a bit, but we still managed to walk about once a day. Walks are just fine with one baby half asleep in a front pack or stroller. I even managed to walk a lot with two kids in a double stroller until my oldest turned four.
Being pregnant with my third taught me more about working out pregnant than ever before. My older kids no longer found a ride in the stroller thrilling and they refused to walk with me, so I needed to figure something else out. One day at the library I stumbled upon a prenatal fitness video. I felt foolish checking it out because after years of watching my mother struggle through workout videos I had secretly decided I would try to workout different ways.
Boy was I wrong about workout videos. I have been a huge fan of Erin O'Brien's "Prenatal Fitness Fix." The first time I tried this video I felt like I had run a marathon. This is some challenging stuff, even for a person like me who thinks a "real" workout is running about six miles. As my tummy got bigger, the workout continued to challenge me and it is just relaxing enough to leave me feeling calm after a workout instead of overly hyped up.
Of course I would love to continue the tradition of going on a walk everyday, but that is just not realistic at this point. The one thing I will say about Erin O'Brien's video is that I have learned a lot about what muscle groups I can still work on while pregnant. I have also found that my body has been in better shape post pregnancy because maybe I cannot keep up with situps, but I can still work my obliques.
So there I was at 6:00 AM, working out in my living room with my little baby crawling around me. Of course I had to pause when my other kids woke up, but then I went straight back to work. After this brilliant experience, I found myself with more energy for the day. So often a whole days go by and I have done nothing for my own sanity. There are days when finding a bathroom break is challenging! My mood was much better than usual and I had more patience for my four children. This is hard work no matter what, but anything that might help is a plus as far as I am concerned.
I was able to make it through most of my workout video today as well. My goal it to try and workout three to four morning a week. Let's see if it really happens. I hope it does. With my last baby I managed to reach this goal during nap time, but since two of my kids no longer nap, the morning is my best bet. By 6:00 PM I find myself counting down the hours until bedtime. All I know is a fit pregnant me is much happier.
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