The Benefits of Pregnant Exercise (for me)

A couple of days ago I blogged about pregnant running and my experience this time around.  As I approach my due date and am still trying to waddle through a few miles three or four times a week, people look at me in disbelief as my humpty dumpty belly leads the way.

This morning I am going to teach my last bodypump class.  I taught three times a week for most of my pregnancy but for the last 6 weeks have taught twice.  I am a little relieved and a little sad that I am finished after today.  I will miss my classes (and the workout) but do know it is time to let my body rest a bit before labor.  I am still going to try to run until the day I deliver because I am quite the addict.

This pregnancy has been different from my first and I think a lot of that is due to the amount of exercise I have gotten throughout the duration.  For me the following are some benefits I've found from keeping up a fairly normal exercise routine:

1.  Less weight gain.  With three weeks to go until baby day I am on track to gain 15 pounds less than I did with Ben.

2.  Low blood pressure--yesterday at my checkup I had the highest blood pressure I've had this pregnancy a whopping 110/60.  Keeping active has allowed my blood pressure to stay low and has kept swelling at bay.

3.  Low blood sugar--I ate a lot of donuts and bread during my first trimester, they were the only things I could keep down most of the time.  With all of the sugar I was eating I wondered what would happen with my gestational diabetes test.  Instead of having high glucose levels however, mine were on the very low end of normal which my doctor attributes to my activity level.

4.  Better sleep at night--until recently where my belly has hindered my sleeping, the days that I exercise I sleep so much better at night.  My body is able to relax because it is actually tired rather than just feeling tired from the baby growing.

5.  Better mood--I am incredibly grumpy when I don't exercise.  I need exercise like Andrew needs coffee.  Even not pregnant, days off from running/exercising leave me feeling like a grouch.  Keeping up with exercise this pregnancy has made me so much happier most days.

6.  Better self image--going along with the less weight gain I feel like I am really only gaining what is necessary for Caleb to grow and be healthy without a lot of excess which makes me feel happier about myself.

7.  Keeps my bodily functions functioning (if you need more explanation, send me an email.)

8.  A healthy baby--healthy babies are born with or without exercise but studies have shown that women who do exercise have babies born at a healthy birth weight, have more efficient hearts, and may have better memories than babies of women who don't exercise.

9.  A shorter labor (hopefully)-- My sister in law recently told me she read that on average fit women only push for 27 minutes.  We'll see if that is right soon but the hope of pushing less is enough to spur me on to continue exercising until Caleb arrives!