Exercise During Pregnancy

I have worked out five days a week for most of my pregnancy. 3 days a week I do cardio, weight-lifting and core strengthening. 2 days a week I walk for 45 minutes and stretch. There has never been a physical impediment to exercise during my pregnancy other than exhaustion, which frankly, can be managed. I am in great shape right now and I'm supposed to have a baby in five weeks.

I share this because I am tired of hearing/seeing pregnant women treated like and treat themselves like they are entirely fragile and weak. There has never been a time when I've felt stronger, more physically capable and overall empowered than the last 8 months of my life. I attribute much of this to my daughter's spirit within me, but I also have learned in my 30 years of life that the world loves to 'weaken' women and it's almost always to my peril when I believe the bullshit.

I know some women have horrifically hard pregnancies and obviously this shout out is not to them. I'm also aware that working out is not everyone's cup of tea and that stuff like yoga is preferable for some. Sure. Great. Whatever it is that keeps you in motion and makes tangible the strength you have as a woman bringing a child into the world--do it. And when you do it, talk about it. Because there's a narrative about the fragility of pregnant women that needs to be problematized and it'll only happen if we speak out.

Having said all this...

I've never felt the kind of fragility and tenderness and love before that I am feeling these days because of Aurora's arrival in my life. It's just not a material/physical thing all the time (at least not a majority of the time, though moments of physical struggle do come). I find that the fragile, tender love of pregnancy is spiritual, emotional and relational. There's a softening happening inside me; that's for sure. It just doesn't get in the way of planking or lunging or going hard on the elliptical.

Thank you. The end.