Misconceptions

This woman is 8 Months pregnant and lifting some pretty hefty weights above her head.

Be honest, how do these images make you feel?

The aforementioned woman’s name is  Leann Ellis, Fit Mom veteran, and she is pregnant with her third child in the photos. I have to admit that the first time I saw the photos a few years ago I was shocked, a tad disgusted, and kind of confused about her intentions. I instantly thought to myself what many of her criticizers are saying to her in the article “But what about the baby? How selfish can she be?”

When I was 7, I remember meeting a 30 year old and thinking “Wow they are ANCIENT”. Now that I’m there, I realize I was wrong, and a bit silly to assume such things. Today, now that I’m well on my way to my 6^th month of pregnancy, I’m realizing that everything I thought I knew about pregnancy was inaccurate. I hate to point fingers, but it’s not only my fault. Twenty years ago, science had conducted very little research on the effects of exercise during pregnancy. Without hard factual-evidence, doctors played it safe and stayed on the side of caution, so they advised a sedentary lifestyle for their pregnant patients. Prior to 2002, doctors advised women to limit their heart rates to no more than 140 beats per minute during pregnancy. 

The information simply wasn’t out there, but rest assured my friends, times have changed! Obstetricians and Gynecologists across North America no longer place restrictions on the heartrate of pregnant women during aerobic sessions. In fact, they encourage pregnant women to stay active because research finds no link between exercise in pregnancy and miscarriages or birth defects. In fact, the only links between exercise and pregnancy are positive ones I’d like to name just a few.

Side effects of Pre-Natal Exercise include:

Labour being “easier” because it provides needed stamina for labor and delivery.

Look, I’ve never experienced it for myself, so I’ll get back to you on this first one because I doubt it’s ever easy, however I’m not making this stuff up. 

“Clapp & Dickenson (1984) found that pregnant women who exercised regularly throughout their pregnancy had a higher incidence of uncomplicated, spontaneous delivery and their labours were 1/3 shorter than the unfit mothers.”

If there is even the slightest chance of me being able to use words like “easy”, “uncomplicated” and “short” when describing my labour experience sign me up please. I could stop here, because that is enough reason to motivate me to keep at it, but there are a few more benefits I’d like to share.

When you are fit, you're more likely to give birth to a leaner baby.

That has nothing to do with aesthetics either, studies have also found that Lean babies are less likely to become overweight or develop diabetes as adults. In fact, Babies born to fit moms have greater cardiovascular capacity from the start. So supermoms in turn end up having super babies with strong hearts?  Again, sign me up please.

Exercise prevents excessive weight gain during pregnancy, which reduces both your risk of gestational diabetes and fit moms bounce back into shape after delivery much more quickly than sedentary women.

I receive a lot of negative comments from women who have had children and seem to have blamed them for their post-baby bodies. Those women say things like: 

“I used to be skinny like you once, wait until you have kids.” 

Or my favorite one lately has been: 

“Hope you weren’t too attached to your crop tops and bikinis…” 

I wish that I was making these comments up! To be fair, they’re usually delivered as jokes however, the words scream bitterness with their own situations.

The bounceback to your "pre-baby body" Is a possible perk, but it definitely isn't the point here. The point is feeling good, feeling energetic because kids are known to have a ton of energy, and keeping up with them is challenging when you're not fit. You can injure yourself with something as simple as lifting them up, or chasing after them and falling. Being active gives you energy and makes your body more durable.  It also helps you withstand stress and improves your sleep. Those things do not change just because you are expecting, nor do they become less important. If you ask me, it's almost more important now that I'm pregnant.

Something I haven't read about, but have experienced for myself has been keeping the negative pregnancy symptoms at bay with excercise. My first trimester was definitely no walk in the park. The only thing that kept the nausea and discomfort at bay was starting my day off with a physical activity. Otherwise, I felt chronically lethargic, sick and very unproductive at work. 

Me this week at one of my A.M. Bootcamps

Lastly, I assume that people mean well when they share their opinions with pregnant women. A few that have been shared with me lately have been the following: 

 ``You know you really shouldn’t be playing sports, think about your baby.``

 I used to respond sacrcastically to remarks like these and say things like

``Really? Are you a doctor?`` 

But what do I gain from making people feel ridiculous? I mean other than them labelling me as a bitter b**tch in their heads as they walk away in shame or annoyance? Instead, I started saying 

``I actually AM thinking about baby, this is helping baby, thanks for caring. :)``

For those that are curious and interested, there is a fit pregnancy community with excellent advice, and support that I’m newly a part of, and anyone can join with a simple hashtag on social media or sign up for updates on the website in the link above.

Now that you've learned about a few of the misconceptions of pregnancy and fitness, please do me a solid : 

Next time you see a fit mama-to-be, know she is doing both her and her baby a service, and congratulate her instead of shaming her. Because a change of perspective is evidence of intelligence.

Thanks for reading.