Although babies are still quite a ways off for our family, I’ve been focusing lately on preparing my body to eventually (hopefully) be pregnancy ready. I don’t think that it’s a good idea to get knocked up and then decide that I need to get into shape, eat healthy, and generally just be healthy. I do think that it’s a good idea to focus on bigger things when I get knocked up – like figuring out what I’ll drink every night when wine isn’t an option. So, with that in mind, I’ve made the following changes in my life over the past few months:
- In October 2011, I started working out at least five days/week. Since then, I’ve lost 10 pounds and gotten into pretty good shape. Don’t challenge me to a push up contest, because I’ll definitely loose that. However, I can at least be active and not get winded. I wasn’t trying to lose weight, but it does feel good to more comfortably fit into my clothes. I admit that I am totally vain and am a little bummed that I’m loosing weight just to eventually gain it, plus a ton more, back. But I’m also hoping that my faithful gym routine now will eventually help my body bounce back after popping out a kid.
- I started taking vitamins – DHA, calcium, and a daily vitamin. According to the Internet, which pretty much guides my entire life, I need to start taking vitamins 6 months prior to getting knocked up. If I have a vitamin deficiency, that will give my body enough time to resolve that. Also, to guard against spina bifida, I really gotta get that folic acid in my system before I pregnant, not after.
- About 1 1/2 years ago, my dental hygienist finally shamed me into flossing my teeth on a daily basis. Shame is a powerful motivator. Now my gums are strong and healthy, which will be super important when I’m preggers.
- I’ve gotten all of my adult vaccinations – flu (yearly, of course), DTP (every ten years), Hep A series (every ten years), Hep B series, and even typhoid fever (every five years). My husband is also up-to-date on his flu and DTP shots. We don’t want to give our kid whopping cough or the flu!
- I started drinking 8 glasses of water/day. Eventually, when/if I’m pregnant, I’ll need to drink even more than that, so I gotta at least get used to drinking what I’m supposed to now. This is easy for me to do during the week when I’m sitting at my desk all day, but it’s harder on the weekends to remember to stay hydrated. Drinking all this water, although easy to do at work, is super annoying because I’m generally a very lazy person at work and when I get in and sit down in my chair, I prefer to stay there for 9 hours. Drinking all this water, though, means that I actually have to get up and walk to the bathroom to pee.
- I started switching out my personal care products for natural/fragrance-free products. I still use perfume and I’m pretty sure I’ll still use nail polish when/if I get pregnant (I don’t even remember the last time – 10+ years? – that my toes were not painted), but my shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, dish detergent, laundry detergent, and dryer sheets are all now natural and fragrance free. I use very little makeup, so I’m not worried about that. As for cleaning products – well, I just steer clear of those all together, thanks to our maid.
- I started a serious (well, more serious than doing it a few times a year) yoga routine. This one is new. My gym offers yoga classes, but the times aren’t very convenient (unless, of course, you are a SAHM and have the flexibility to do yoga at 10am on a Tuesday). I went to a yoga class at the gym last Saturday morning and felt it in my abs and arms for two days. Today, though, I went to my first hot yoga class at a real yoga studio. I found an awesome deal on Groupon for 20 classes at Beyond Hot Yoga and so I purchased it. My plan is to do cardio on M, W, and F and yoga on T and Th and maybe Saturday (at my regular gym). So back to today – like I said, it was my first time ever doing hot yoga. I didn’t sleep well because I was so nervous about it. In fact, I had a dream that I was having trouble getting to class on time because I was living in the Midwest and it was January and I had to get to the studio by scooching on my butt the entire way (the studio is probably about ten miles away from my house). Luckily, in reality, I was able to get up and get to the studio before the 6am class. So far, so good. When I walked into the yoga room, though, I felt like I had descended into hell. It was HOT. Oh my gosh. I was seriously worried that I might faint during the class. I got used to it, though, and after an hour, can say that it was a great class and I got a great workout. I’m excited that I’m adding it to my workout routine – it will definitely help with strength and flexibility. I’m also hoping that getting into a good yoga routine now will mean that I can stick to it (without the heat, though, of course) when/if I get pregnant because I don’t want to be relegated to doing pregnancy yoga DVDs, which, in my opinion (oh yes, I’ve done many of them with pregnant friends before!) give you about as good of a workout as tying your shoes (which, though, now that I think about it, might be a pretty good workout when you’re pregnant).
That’s me – on the left – doing beach yoga.
The things that I am NOT doing include giving up wine, beer, liquor, certain fish, and soft cheeses. In fact, I’m drinking and eating all of these in large quantities, as I feel that I need to “stock up” on these wonderful things since I’ll eventually have to give them up for a long time.
