Yes, I even went to the gym the day my son was born.
I like sharing the story of my pregnancy and the day my son was born. The whole 9 months was nothing out of the ordinary, except that I had this bump in front of me. I toned down my workout and stopped doing focused ab work around the 5th month, but I worked out all the way up until D-Day. I taught my Kickboxing classes through my 8th month and attending Indoor Cycling classes up until a few weeks before my due date. I of course kept my HR down below 150 and lowered the poundage with my strenght training. One day a co-worker of mine comes up to me and says "You know, other women her (the gym) talk about you." He meant it in a way that they were amazed, impressed, jealous, etc. Since pregnancy workout attire is hard to find, toward the end I said screw it (trying to cover my belly with baggy tanks) and just went with a sports bra. I mean who cares? It was just a baby in there.
My due date was 11/29/2004. I told myself I would workout up to the 24th, then get some rest before the big day. I was at the gym the morning of 11/22 plugging along on the elliptical. For some reason, the fire alarm went off and one of the alarms was right above my head. My friend on the elliptical next to me says "If that doesn’t kick start labor, I’m not sure what will?" Come 5pm that evening I wasn’t feeling too well. By 9pm a couple other signs started showing and I was feeling worse… my husband and I were pretty sure this was it. I stayed home through most of my laboring. At 11pm my husband called the Nurse/Mid-wife on call that night to let the hospital know I was in labor. The Nurse/Mid-wife suggested we hold off a couple more hours, then call back before coming in. At 1am the next morning he calls back to give an update on my condition, and we got the signal to come in. I checked into the hospital just before 2am, and my son was born at 2:51am on 11/23. Needless to say, my labor/delivery progressed quickly. Since I was 9 cm dialated when I got to the hospital, there was no time for drugs. When it was time to push, I used all the strenghth in my abdominals and gave it all I had with each push. It hurts so darn much that I wanted to get this over with so wasn’t going to waste a single push.
Now I have a very healthy and active 2.5 year old. The kid does not walk anyway… he runs! He’s the only 2.5 year old I know that will eat his broccoli (plain) before anything else on his plate. Even though fitness has been a staple in my ife for 10+ years, I didn’t really realize how fit I was until I became a Mom. I really owe my healthy pregnancy and uncomplicated delivery to being fit BEFORE starting the process. And post-partum… I was/am in better shape than I was before being pregnant. Now, being a healthy example for my son is what I really live for and what I feel is the most important job as a Mom.
If you have questions about my workout regimin before and/or after my pregnancy, just ping me… I’m happy to share my experience in hopes that it will be helpful for other Moms (present and future).
