I'm a great believer in exercise as an aid to good mental health

So, I decided to look into exercising whilst pregnant.

The general theory is: during pregnancy, if in doubt, leave it out. In the ‘old days’ this advice included exercise and pregnant woman were told to put their feet up (if only!).

However, these days, most women are advised to get at least some exercise whilst pregnant as this can help avoid excessive weight gain, deep vein thrombosis, varicose veins and possibly even pre eclampsia as well as promoting a feeling of well being and stimulating the digestive system, which can become very sluggish.

You should not embark on any new rigorous form of exercise during pregnancy. Conventional wisdom says that running and high impact activities should be avoided. I was also told that it is best not to let you heart rate get above 130bpm (which for me is barely getting started on a decent work out). Abdominal exercise is also contraindicated after 3 months.

Aqua fit is recommended.

So the general advice was that exercise is a good thing but the emphasis should be on more gentle forms of exercise.

I got a book on exercising when pregnant: Exercising through your pregnancy by James F Clapp. The author of this book had looked into various aspects of exercise and concluded that exercise was generally a very good thing with many unexpected benefits as long as expectant mothers did not feel unwell whilst doing it and as long as the babies maintain normal growth.

His studies seemed to demonstrate that, two of the potentially adverse predicted effects of rigorous exercise, overheating and increased heart rate, did not affect the foetus as directly as some has predicted as there are inbuilt mechanisms to protect the baby.

Now, obviously, it is horses for courses, I’m not saying that all pregnant women should don their fell running shoes and head for Ben Nevis. As with any exercise programme you should seek medical advice before hand- this is especially true during pregnancy.

I can only go by my own experiences which are obviously affected by the level of fitness which I enjoyed before I became pregnant and by the type of exercise to which I was accustomed. As I was already used to exercising quite a lot, I decided to keep on going roughly as I had before and see how it went.

I set myself a few rules:
- Not to let my heart rate get too high
- To stop if I was overheating
- To stop if I got dizzy
- Not to continue with anything that made me feel unwell or overtired
- Wear the correct clothes
- Stay well hydrated
- Be aware of the changes in the elasticity of tendons and reduction in core stability (this is a side effect of being pregnant)
- No hill walking alone (obviously!)

What I found was that, in the early stages, everything was pretty much OK, although I needed a much more supportive sports bra (in fact I used to wear two). Lying on my front quickly became uncomfortable, so I stopped doing any exercises in that position. I also found that if I lifted the same weights as I used to, particularly with my legs, I would sometimes get a bit dizzy, so I eased off on this. However, I could still do most things in the gym, cycle and carry on with my other normal forms of exercise- although taking a great deal of care not to do anything where I might fall.

I did carry on indoor climbing for a short while but gave this up fairly early on, as apart from the risk of falling the location of the harness is not ideal as it wraps around the abdomen.

I joined an aqua fit class. I absolutely love it. I find that it is not only excellent exercise, but really social and jolly. It always makes me smile.

The doctor agreed that hill walking was probably OK as long as I avoided very strenuous days. I also looked for hills where the risk of slipping and falling was lowest- no crags or sheer slopes. I did try it a few times and kept an eye on my heart rate. Last time I went out was a few months ago and it was OK but I did have to ditch my rucksack for some parts in order to keep my heart rate down- this would not be practical in even slightly dicey weather- and it was much harder work than it used to be and I get more breathless.

Now I am further on in pregnancy, I have had to rule out hill walking altogether as I can barely make it up Calton Hill these days let alone anywhere else. I become very breathless, the loss of core stability makes coordination walking up hill quite difficult and it tends to cause me pain in my ribs. I’m pretty much sticking to the canal for walking these days. Also, as complications with twins are more common, I don’t think it would be very responsible to go anywhere too remote. I am more of a waddler than a walker these days.

I have also had to stop running altogether as it is too uncomfortable. So these days I stick to walking, swimming, aqua fit, and some short spells on the bike, exercise bike or cross trainer. I have also been very busy with DIY which has limited the amount of time I can spend on exercise and also tired me out quite enough by itself as I have to make seemingly endless trips up and down the stairs bringing in materials and getting rid of debris.

I miss hill walking and I do find having to walk much slower and not being to go up hill without feeling the strain quite humiliating after being used to being fit. It is a small price to pay though and it is not for long.

I am looking forwards to my holidays.

I hope to be able to keep up exercising for a while but at 5 months I am already getting a bit bulky, so I will just have to see how it goes. Possibly my other half will just have to start pushing me about in a giant buggy while I eat cake.

Fortnight commencing 09/07/07

Medication: None
Exercise: 7 hours (mostly walking and some swimming)
Alcohol: 3
Anxiety: Moderate, mostly caused by the pressure of trying to get everything organised.
Anxiety Level (0-10): 3
Number of Panic Attacks:0
Severity of Panic Attack (0-5):NA
Depression: Occasional and short lived. Although I am still prone to bursting into tears this is not really related to sadness as much as to completely random triggers. I could do with a bit less stress.
Depression Level (0-5): 1
Mania: Occasional bouts of being a bit twitchy about how much needs to be done but nothing serious.
Mania Level (0-5): 1

Summary

Feeling quite good if a little awkward and bulky. I rarely sleep well though.