Pregnancy Recap and Catching Up

Hello All! Happy to have a few minutes today to check in and write a bit. Haven't blogged in about two weeks. Honestly, the last few weeks of this pregnancy totally. kicked. my. butt. Sleep was literally non-existant, I was in a lot of pain from SPD, and I was more or less on bed rest. I was able to venture out here and there but workouts literally came to a screeching halt and I spent most of my time on the couch. I was desperate to stay mobile but walks around the block even became unbearable. I had to start my maternity leave a little early because of all of the discomfort. I'm on my feet all day as a hospital therapist so that didn't help. If I worked an office job it may have been a different story but there was just no way I could be on my feet for that length of time. I'm glad I decided to dip out a little early, it allowed me to get some rest (sort of), spend some quality time with Connor, get some things done around here, and not aggravate my discomfort more. It was incredibly difficult to have to become so sedentary. I'm clearly used to being on the move and staying active during pregnancy actually makes me feel great so I was so bummed to have the energy to move most days but not be able to physically. I had intentions of developing some pregnancy workouts and share some exercises I'd been doing but that never came to fruition. I may still work on that in the coming weeks and months since I don't necessarily need to feature myself pregnant but we'll see. It's on the back burner for now.

Today I finally had a moment to catch my breath and I was reflecting on how utterly fast the past 9 months went. I wasn't entirely expecting to get pregnant again so soon (Connor was only 9 months old). We had definitely been talking about it and agreed we wanted our kids close in age rather than further apart but I think we both expected that the process would really kick into high gear by Connor's first birthday. God had other plans and we are eternally grateful for that of course. My pregnancy with Declan wasn't a whole lot different than with Connor. I felt mostly the same. Maybe a great sense of exhaustion in the first trimester this go-round but then again I was chasing a kiddo on the brink of toddlerhood. Thank god Connor sleeps 12-13 hours a night! I was also able to stay super active for the majority of this pregnancy and was able to teach my group fitness classes until 30 weeks...same as last time. As I have mentioned, had to throw in the towel due to SPD and not wanting to injure myself...plus the class I teach just became to complicated for me to modify so it was best to hand it over to my awesome group x teammates for substitutes (thanks again ladies!) I must admit, my eating habits weren't the BEST this time. Rather than exercise the 80/20 rule I think I came closer to 60/40. With Connor, I CRAVED and I mean CRAVED vegetables, fruit, you name it. This time, I wanted McDonald's Cheeseburgers, salty snacks, ice cream, cookies... I'd like to think I fueled this pregnancy with mostly good things and stuck to our typical healthy eating habits with lots of lean proteins, whole grains, good fats, fruits and veggies but I would be a liar liar pants on fire if I didn't fully admit to MANY indulgences. I always tried to strike a balance though and for each less than healthy food choice I made I tried to make a good choice for the next snack or meal. It didn't help that the bulk of this pregnancy hit every major holiday with treats galore available like Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day... I took full advantage.

Despite the precipitous decline in physical activity towards the tail end and frequent dietary indulgences, I only gained about 30-35 pounds with this pregnancy. Well within the normal range for my pre-pregnancy height and weight. With Connor I think I gained about 20-25 pounds. I was extremely lucky to have been able to bounce back quickly after Connor and therefore was in fairly good physical condition to support another pregnancy so soon. For the record, I RARELY look at a scale. I use pounds gained only as a loose overall benchmark for pre/post pregnancy fitness tracking. I consider it one of many factors in evaluating postpartum fitness recovery and I'm really not worried about the number at all. I was actually a few pounds less upon getting pregnant with Declan and I was with Connor.

Either way, my primary goal right now is refocusing my nutrition to support breastfeeding. Really need to reign it in there. I'll also briefly state that I'm so fortunate to have been cleared already to resume light physical activity as tolerated. You won't see me at BodyPump for a few weeks but I'll be able to return to instructing in May and I'm already able to do some walking and abdominal/pelvic floor strengthening exercises. I'll actually address my return to exercise in another post over the next few days with more details. I'll tell you, it feels so good to be able to move again! I actually feel 100 times better after this delivery than I did with Connor. But that is a whole other story and I'll share some snippets of Declan's labor and delivery with you tomorrow. It was exciting that's for sure. I'm actually attributing how good I feel now to how that all played out. I'll explain more soon. On that note, gotta run for now. Please stay tuned as I have some more posts coming up that I'm excited to share... I'm still working on some posts about the following:

• How we have evaluated our budget so I can work a more flexible schedule
• Why group fitness is THE BEST...with some feedback from group fitness lovers and some of my awesome participants
• Prenatal exercises 
• Declan's birth
• My postpartum fitness routine
• Returning to group fitness and new classes I will be teaching
• Upcoming fitness certifications
• My acceptance as an ambassador for Sweat Pink and FitFluential! 
• And much more...

I'll be back soon!