Congratulations, you have found out that you are pregnant! During your first trimester, which is the first 12 weeks of your pregnancy, you may not have even told that many people about the future addition to your family. At this point you may be feeling anywhere from awful to completely normal. The symptoms of pregnancy vary from woman to woman. But, regardless of how awful or how great you are feeling, you should be sure to either continue or embark on a new exercise routine.
If you have been following an exercise routine before you knew you were pregnant, you can pretty much follow that same routine. There are a few things which should be kept in mind though, exercising in your new mom-to-be body:
The best exercises are going to be the ones that don’t require a lot of jumping or bouncing around. Swimming and walking are excellent examples of the type of exercise you should be doing. If you participated in jogging or aerobics before you were pregnant you may continue. Just follow your bodies cues about how far you are exerting yourself – don’t ignore them. This is not the time to push the new forming body to the limit.
Drink plenty of water
Keep your body temperature low. The bouncing of running will not harm your fetus but an elevated body temperature might.
No biking. Biking is not too dangerous. If you love biking that much – make it a stationary bike where the risks of falling or other injuries are limited.
If you haven’t been exercising before you became pregnant it is not too late to start. Now is actually a great time to begin an exercise routine to prepare your body for the rigors of labor. Here a few guidelines:
Begin slowly. Make your exercise goal only 30 minutes a day, a few days per week.
Make sure the exercises you are doing are low impact ones like swimming or walking.
Drink plenty of fluids.
Watch your body temperature. (However, if you are following the guidelines of only doing low impact exercises this shouldn’t be an issue.)
Whether you have been exercising regularly or have just started an exercise routine, there are many benefits during pregnancy, during labor and post partem to continuing to exercise throughout your entire pregnancy. You will feel better, your body will be able to handle the stress of labor better, (as will you) and you will be able to regain your pre-pregnancy body sooner.
In addition to weight control exercises and stamina building exercises, doing kegel exercises to strengthen your pelvic muscles will be a large asset. Kegels are done by contracting the pelvic muscle for three seconds and then releasing for three seconds and repeating for about 10 – 15 repetitions. These should be done daily. By strengthening these muscles during pregnancy you will prepare them for the work that they need to do during labor and delivery.