Sweat and Growth

First of all, a new carnival! Check out True-Life Tales of the Fourth Trimester: Welcome to Sisterhood Six's second Carnival of Motherhood!

Also, I want to note that working out is very hard while pregnant. It's not just the physical difficulty, though that's not to be overlooked. Almost from the very beginning, I found that I was breathing harder and tiring more quickly. My workouts shortened, then stopped for the remainder of my first trimester (from around the time I started "spotting" and worrying about miscarriage) and didn't resume until well after I felt better, in the second trimester.

Even now, in the height of that mythical second trimester energy rush and before my belly becomes too unwieldy, I tire much more quickly than I used to. My 45 minute workouts have become 25 minute workouts, though they're still about as frequent and intense (don't worry, I make sure that I can still breathe OK, so the baby's not suffocating in there).

But it's a lot harder to make myself go downstairs and sweat to The Gilmore Girls 3-5 times a week. I know that the exercise is good for me, good for the baby, good for the pregnancy and delivery and recovery.

But I'm used to being able to see results from a diligent work-out routine. Yet my weight is slowly creeping up, despite my exercise. Sure, I'm eating some stuff I shouldn't, but I'm not bingeing. It's pregnancy. And while working out doesn't always equal weight loss, there's usually some compensation in the way clothes fit. On that point, too, I'm losing ground (so to speak). Pants that fit last week are way too tight this week, and this trend will likely continue until January.

So working out right now has purely cerebral benefits. I know it's a good thing to do. But it's not easy to sweat so much without being able to see the physical pay-off.

Finally, a tip for the considerate who want to comment on women's pregnancies. Often, this is OK. Often, we pregnant women like to talk about our pregnancies a little. Not always. But often. So we don't usually hate you for asking. Unless we're feeling pretty bad. And if you do it nicely. For example, do you see the huge difference between,

A) How many weeks along are you?

and

B) How much longer do you have left?

It's not that subtle. One question clearly implies that I look like a whale. I do not. I look just fine, if I do say so myself. This interpretation is heightened when the questioner is clearly shocked by my response. "Oh! Really?"

"You're starting so show a little!" a woman I often pass in the office hallway remarked to me today. That was nice. Excitement, not judgment.

I am 21 weeks pregnant. Feeling good. Paul just finished painting the family room and hallway, and the new curtains are in the dryer. The living room and foyer and bedroom are clean (except the floors. I don't do floors.). Work on Ellie's big girl garden room to commence this weekend!