Bun in the Oven

Okay…first I apologize for not posting for awhile (again). However, it’s time to let the cat out of the bag… there is a bun in my oven and it has been making me very tired! Instead of blogging I have been sleeping. 🙂

I’m past the sicky time and feeling much better so now I’ll be back and teaching you ladies everything that I possibly can about pregnancy and trying to remain fit and healthy during this time. (For those of you who could care less about pregnancy…don’t stop reading…it’s not the only thing I’ll be talking about!) Stayed tuned for your regular “programming” with some added pregnancy bonuses mixed in for those of you who have been pregnant, currently are pregnant or plan to someday become pregnant.

After taking 5 pregnancy tests at the end of September I finally believed it! I was pregnant and hubby and I would have a baby in the spring of 2011. Besides severely sore and rapidly growing boobs, I didn’t feel much different at first. My appetite was the same and I felt great working out. I paid attention to what I was doing and made sure that if anything felt weird I took it easy. Otherwise, I continued with my normal workouts.

Around 6 or 7 weeks into this journey I was eating my normal lunch of salad with grilled chicken and had to literally choke it down. The vegetables tasted like poison and all I could think about was macaroni and cheese and peanut butter and jelly. I knew this wasn’t a good sign. Not sure why, but I really thought that because I was fit and healthy when I got pregnant I would avoid any sickness during pregnancy. I thought (and hoped) that since I normally crave vegetables and healthy meals I would continue to do so. Unfortunately, that was not the case. More on this later.

As for the morning sickness situation…I still don’t get why it’s always referred to as morning sickness. I felt great in the morning, but by lunchtime and for the remainder of the day I could barely function. Most of the other moms and moms-to-be I have talked to feel the same way. It was more like all day sickness and much worse at night than in the morning. This was actually good news for my workout routine because I workout first thing so I wasn’t usually sick enough to talk myself out of it.

Tip 1 for early pregnancy workouts: schedule your workouts at the time of day you feel best. If I tried to work out late in the day during that time it never would have happened. I was lucky I had the energy to drive home from work without crashing into anything.

That said, I did start feeling more and more tired during my workouts. I knew I needed breaks. Pull ups didn’t feel right anymore and I knew I had to stop deadlifting the “Beast” kettlebell. I kept most of my workouts to about 30 minutes and I worked out 5 days a week instead of 6. I thought this was a pretty good place to be and I was happy with where I was at. I eagerly awaited the second trimester and hoped for the renewed energy everyone speaks about!

This period of constant nausea, extreme fatigue, lack of motivation and a lovely metallic taste in my mouth lasted for about 6 weeks. Some days were better than others. I generally tried to avoid any late dinner plans or evenings out on the town (not that those happen much anyway now that I am married and living in the suburbs!). There were a few naps in the car at lunch when I thought I might die if I had to sit in my cube for the entire day. There were bedtimes at 7:30pm. And yes, there were lots of peanut butter sandwiches and macaroni and cheese dinners.

So that pretty much sums up the way that I felt during my first trimester. I felt lucky that I wasn’t puking and that I was able to keep food down. I felt confused about my changing taste buds and I felt frustrated about my declining strength and inability to focus on anything. Finally, in the last few weeks, I feel much more like myself (only a rounder version!) and I am so  excited about the baby’s arrival! Salads are no longer repulsive and I definitely have more energy.

I’ll share more about what I did for workouts during my first trimester and will keep you posted on what I’m doing now and things I learn as I progress. There are plenty of resources out there about different physical changes you may or may not experience during pregnancy, but there are not a lot of resources dedicated to fitness during pregnancy (not just walking!) and how an athlete/fit female feels during this time.

Back soon…PROMISE. (For real. :))