Namaste

So around the 7 week mark I got morning sickness and was also hit with a complete lack of appetite. Before 7 weeks I'd been going to ballet class, but after the sickness hit I sort of gave up exercising. I know...that's not good. But I was only able to keep down about 600-800 calories a day and figured I didn't have much to burn off in a work out.

My Mom told me I should start to feel better by 16 weeks. At the time I couldn't believe her. I think I was 10 weeks at the time and another 6 weeks of sickness was unimaginable.

But here I am at around the 16 week mark and magically I can eat again.

So back to the question of fitness.

When I first met with my doctor I had asked him what type of exercise I could do. He replied 'Walking is really good.' But really? Nothing by walking for months. I just couldn't do it. I asked about my ballet classes and he said its fine. Just no jumping, no twists, and no raising my heart rate. Great! I'll just take half a class and stretch the rest of the time. He replies 'No stretching too much either.' Damn.

So I looked up all kinds of pre-natal exercise. First I found a water aerobics class. Sweet! Water fitness is something I've always wanted to try. Too bad the class only meeting during the work day. So, moving on.

Finally I settled on pre-natal yoga.

This is kind of what I pictured. A few gentle poses and getting in touch with the momma I'm about to become.

The reality was very different.

First off the teacher talked about some of that mumbo jumbo universe stuff. Sorry, but I hate this part of yoga. This probably means I'm not really a yoga sort of person, but oh well.

But what followed was well...hard. We did several series of poses that worked every one of my muscles except my abdomen. Even my hands were sore. Little did I know that I wasn't putting my weight on my hands correctly while doing downward facing dog. My triceps haven't hurt this much in like years. At some points I thought class would never end, but suddenly it was over and I was surprised it went so quickly.

As I hobbled out of the room I had a mental conversation with myself.

'How do you feel?'
'Tired and hungry.'
'Did you enjoy class?'
'Um...kind of.'
'Should you do this again?'
'Absolutely.'
'If you don't sign up for more classes right now, will you come back and sign up?'
'Nope.'
'Okay fool, then sign up now because you NEED this.'

Then I waddled my butt over to the counter and signed up for more classes. Because yoga was hard in the perfect way. And it will be good to challenge myself a little bit. My triceps will thank me in the long run.

I'm still going to do ballet once a week too and walking Dottie of course.