There’s a girl I see jogging most mornings on my way into work, and it is now obvious that she’s pregnant. I’m a terrible judge of things like this, but I would guess she’s around 6 months along. She’s really thin, so maybe she’s showing early, though, and could be earlier in her pregnancy. Or maybe she’s how I was, not showing until pretty late, and is even farther along. I have no idea. All women show and carry their pregnancies differently, so for the sake of this post let’s just say she’s 6ish months pregnant.
Now why did I entitle this one “Impressive”, you may be wondering? Well here’s the thing. Assuming this girl (girl? woman? i never know which to use. is there an age cut-off where you no longer call a girl a girl, but a woman? is it offensive to a younger female to call her a woman if she prefers girl? lady? whatever, i’ll stick with girl for now. she appears to be maybe my age, so we’ll say 30ish. lots of “ish”es here today) is near the end of her second trimester, if not even into her third, to me jogging every morning is certainly impressive.
When I got pregnant with D I was fully planning on continuing my usual workout routine as far into my pregnancy as possible. And this included jogging. For although I was by no means an avid runner at the time, I did try to jog whenever possible (weather permitting, duh), because I really do think it is one of the best ways to stay in shape. Well things happened, plans changed, and my exercise took a back seat to simply being pregnant. And I mean a way back seat. Like if we were in a stretch limo, exercise would have been all the way in that far back area, past the bar and tvs, so far back it could barely hear the conversation.
For some reason, however, I got it into my head to try jogging again during the spring that I was pregnant. The weather had started getting nice again, and I felt like I needed to do something. Why that something took the form of a jog after months of doing basically zero exercise, let alone running, I have no idea. I tend to get these “great ideas” in my head from time to time that really end up being just plain dumb and painful. Yet I rarely learn my lesson and keep trying them.
Well this, indeed, was a dumb one. I was about 4-5 months pregnant at the time and not really showing, but I could definitely feel D and all the pressure she was putting on my internal organs in there. Especially my bladder. I shit you not – I took 3 steps of that jog and felt like I was instantly going to wet my pants. Oh what the hell?? I thought. And of course I was jogging in a park near my office, having decided to workout after work that day instead of heading out from home. Splendid. So not only was I going to pee my pants, but I was going to have to go back into my office building with soiled draws (you know, ghetto for drawers, pants, trousers. not the verb like something an artist does. duh). You must be kidding me. Thinking it may have just been a fluke and my body simply needed to get used to jogging with extra weight, I tried again. Same result – a few steps and the feeling of impending and uncontrollable urination was back. Ok, that’s enough, I’ll walk the rest of the route here, thankyouverymuch. It at least counts as some exercise, and I won’t have to go back into my office sporting soggy bottom.
So that’s why I say this girl jogging each morning while this much pregnant is impressive. I tried it once, for about 10 seconds, and failed miserably. Obviously many, many women run while they’re pregnant, and a lot of them run the entire time with ease. I, however, was not one of them. Maybe next time I’ll try a little harder to be able to run farther into my pregnancy. Or maybe I’ll just skip it again and find an alternative, saying it’s all in the name of keeping my undies dry.
I would call this super IMPRESSIVE. I’m 6ish months pregnant and there is no way that I could run. I can barely walk at a brisk pace anymore. Carrying around that extra weight and all the pressure it puts on your organs makes it pretty impossible for me. Plus my legs start burning now just walking on the treadmill along with running out of breath so easy. Going up a flight of stairs makes me exhausted. I wasn’t a huge runner before getting pregnant but I could at least do a couple miles….I miss those days! Exercise is pretty much in the rear view mirror for me.
Stace, I TOTALLY hear you. I was the exact same way. Especially the flights of stairs – ugh. I walk up 3 from the parking garage at work and by the end I had to take them at a snail’s pace. That’s why every day when I see this girl running I’m like damn, that is awesome!
Jogging? Pregnant? I bow down. Seriously. It was all I could do to walk to my car during most of my pregnancy!
suzanne @ pretty swell recently posted..How to stay sane (or at least appear to be) with two kids under 4
I KNOW!! That’s why I just had to talk about her, because I give her serious props every time I see her out there.
I think I’d have to wear an adult diaper to do that!
Shell recently posted..Pour Your Heart Out: When I Can’t Be Upbeat
Haha – that’s exactly how I felt when I tried it, too! That girl amazes me.
Well, I never tried to run while pregnant. But I did run after being pregnant. And during my second 5K I learned the hard way to go BEFORE the race starts. Even if you don’t have to go, GO! I was probably 1.5-2.0 miles in and I stopped to take a quick sip of water and I totally started to pee my pants (well it was more of a little dribble – but at that moment I thought I was totally peeing my pants in front of the few people who were actually behind me) and I couldn’t stop it. Could. Not. Stop.
So I started running again. And it stopped. I tried to walk a little later because I was dying. Dribble. Had to keep running. I ran across the finish line, past my friends (who are real runners and had finished 3-4 minutes ahead of me) and straight to the bathroom. I honestly couldn’t get my “draws” down fast enough. Horrifying!
Lesson learned: Do your Kegel exercises. Before AND after the baby comes!
Andrea recently posted..Wordless Wednesday… Why Not?
Bwhahahahaha! Oh my goodness, I’m sorry to laugh, but this totally cracked me up! Yes – I 100% agree, strengthen those muscles! Kegels totally work.
But the real reason this made me chuckle is because I’ve been there, except with ACTUAL pants peeing. And I was neither running nor pregnant, eek! Maybe that’ll be a story for a post all of its own… 😉
Oh, don’t apologize. That’s funny stuff right there.
Andrea recently posted..Wordless Wednesday… Why Not?
Oh man. I wasn’t a runner before or after my first pregnancy and definitely will not be at any point with this pregnancy either. I admire the jogging preggo lady, cause damn if that’s not hardcore I don’t know what is!! For me though with all the pressure and possibility of wetting my draws (haha – you said draws. That’s how we say it in our house too). My stay-fit-and-strong-preggo-secret? Yoga and walking. Yoga every other day, walking every single day. Keeps you strong and limber and ready to push that baby out at the end of nine months!
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I should definitely try to do more yoga the next time around. I did some when I was pregnant with D, but really did a poor job of sticking with it. I agree on the walking too – that one I did more often. Great suggestions!