Fit and Pregnant

I'm on my third pregnancy right now with Girl #3.  We shall call her Baby K.  I reflect on how my fitness level has affected each pregnancy.  I pretty much stopped being active with my first and then due to an un-foreseen change of events I was on bed rest for the remainder of that pregnancy.  It was tough on my body, a body that had been fit and had fought hard to be fit.

I gained 70lbs. and lost an interest in being healthy.  It took until my oldest daughter, Princess H, was almost 2 years old that I hit that point of "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"  So I began working with a personal trainer to get started while the hubby was away at Basic Military Training for the Air Force.  I would get up at 4am, hit the gym hardcore, get back home before 6am to be ready for the day before Princess H was awake.  I was so grateful to my parents, whom welcomed us into their home during that time, for allowing me the opportunity and time to get my health back.  I dropped almost 50lbs. with said trainer, but I didn't really learn anything from him.  This became overly apparent when it was time for us to move.

We moved to our first duty station in Albuquerque, NM and I lost all motivation to get back into the routine of things.  Military life was so new and I had no idea what I was doing.  I was barely keeping my head above water trying to learn everything I needed to.  Then we found out I had an injury in my shoulder.  You need those for a lot of things, who knew right?

So ensued surgery.  Problem fixed, finito!  Well, not so much.  Physical therapy was tough more emotionally and mentally than physically.  My body wanted to quit.  It told me I'd never be the same.  I'd never be able to do the things I loved again.  Thanks to a great friend and physical therapy aide, she saw the signs.  She came to my rescue and slapped me out of it amidst scar tissue massage and grueling wall balls.  The time came and it was time to get my health back now that my shoulder had been put in its place.  Then I started going to school to become a personal trainer.  I love helping people educate themselves about their health and fitness and this was a perfect way to do it.

After a 10lbs weight loss doing resistance training and cardio, I found out we were pregnant with Princess R.  She took a lot off of my body.  Close to 20lbs.  Then I gained 20 back in the end of the 2nd and 3rd trimester.  So all in all, healthy pregnancy weight gain.  Only thing is, that 20 didn't go away after having her.  I began my journey again.  Around the time she turned two I had lost 30lbs and finally dropped below 200lbs.  I was ecstatic.  Thanks to TurboFire, Shakeology, and a great coach that got me started as a coach I was able to regain my passion for fitness.  Now by the time we talked about a 3rd pregnancy I had lost another 14lbs!  I also finished my Master Trainer certification from the International Sports Sciences Association as well as my Group Fitness certification from AFAA.  I'm crushing it and still going strong keeping fit while pregnant with Baby K.

I hope my journey with being pregnant and learning that you can still be fit while growing life helps someone out there too.  Being pregnant does not mean you stop.  It means you keep going and learn to listen to your body.  It will tell you when it's time to rest, time to eat, time to drink water.  Plus, the benefits of exercising while pregnant really get me excited to keep going.  Reducing labor is a huge one for me.  So here's to the rest of Trimester 2 and bring it Trimester 3!  Baby K is getting a healthy, happy home to come to.