My So-Called Fit Pregnancy

I never knew if my husband and I would have kids.  We have a great life together and most of the things we enjoy aren’t conducive to children.  We enjoy European vacations, long weekend trips to Napa Valley or Vegas,  boating, flying, and just doing whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.  Sounds great, right?  Well we reached an age where we crossed many things off our bucket list and we thought we’d just stop birth control and see what happens.
So of course my mind started wandering.  Am I going to be a good mom?  Is my job going to be the same when I return from maternity leave?  What do I do with all of my personal training clients?  Who will watch the baby?  But what often times came to mind is how will my body handle pregnancy.  I always pictured myself being the fit pregnant woman.   I would still eat incredibly healthy, eat all organic, and continue with my workouts like usual.  That was just how it was going to be.
Not so fast.
I got a call from my doctors office saying that I was pregnant while at work, not the ideal place you’d like to find out.  But this incredibly exciting news was followed by very troublesome news, that I had to “take it easy” because I was taking a class X drug when I got pregnant.  Class X means it is a drug that should NOT take during pregnancy as there was a higher risk of miscarriage and other issues.
This was the first time in my life that I took a break from my usual exercise routine.  After hearing this news, I limited myself to walking on the treadmill which I did almost every day for 30-45 minutes at a leisurely pace.  I watched the entire first season of Orange is the New Black (if you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it on Netflix).
But the other thing that I did was take a break from my healthy eating.  I didn’t mean to do this.  I almost felt out of control.  I was always in control and easily passed up on cookies, cakes, brownies, and donuts at work.  Eating unhealthy just didn’t appeal to me especially if it wasn’t for any special occasion or celebration.  But now I was eating things I never usually eat.  If my stomach went without food for more than 3 hours, I felt nauseous.  What’s the easiest thing to keep in my drawer at work to snack on in between patients?  Wheat thins!   I once limited my starchy carbs and now all of a sudden I finished a box of wheat thins in 3 days.  I even grabbed a cookie once from the office and my coworkers stared and pointed at me saying, “What are you doing?!”  I thought, they are totally going to know I’m pregnant!
I did lots of research on healthy eating during pregnancy.  I knew I needed more healthy grains and carbs so I ate more oatmeal and sweet potatoes, but also had more unnecessary bread products.  Dairy previously wasn’t a big part of my diet and I know I needed to get more calcium.  So what hits the spot during the summer and gets me some good calcium?  DQ!  I had more Dairy Queen in the past 3 months than I’ve had in the past 10 years!   Yikes.
All of this new eating coupled with lack of exercise and I gained 5 pounds.  This is the first time in my life I’ve been over 120 pounds with the exception for when returning from a few vacations but that was only for a few days TOPS.   I was originally pissed that I gained 5 pounds, but all things considered, that isn’t so bad for how fast my healthy habits went out the door.
So now I’m in my second trimester.  I cleared the first trimester and also have my energy back to return to my workouts.  I’m having my husband do the grocery shopping for me so I don’t get tempted to purchase unnecessary things (remember, I was out of control and not my usual self).  Greek yogurt has replaced Dairy Queen (most of the time), and I’m slowly weaning from unnecessary carbs.
Here are some things I’ve learned and accepted:

1. The minute I saw the heartbeat, my entire outlook on life changed.  I can’t believe I didn’t  even WANT a glass of wine anymore.
2. My body is going to go through many changes.
3. My husband is the best husband ever (I already knew that) but he comments daily about how he loves my new curves and soft belly, even though I still say every day, “My abs are GONE!”
4. I’m entering that, “Is she or isn’t she pregnant” phase, so therefore…
5. Leggings and trendy loose tops are going to get me through the winter.
6. I’m lucky to have the blessing of getting pregnant and making it through the first trimester.
7. I’m lucky I didn’t really have morning sickness or any other weird pregnancy side effects (yet).
8. If there are no complications and your doctor approves, one can do any workouts that your body agrees with – from yoga to weightlifting to CrossFit.
9. I can’t get embarrassed that the top button of my pants burst open while treating a patient.
10. Babies R Us is a scary place.  Do we need 50 different prints to choose from for a baby swing?!
11. I still got slightly offended when my parents said, “Oh my gosh, you have a belly!” but…
12. This is temporary; I WILL get my body back!