These are the preggy days of my life

So now that the news has been out in the open for a little while (wow - who knew hiding a pregnancy for 12 weeks could be so hard??) I thought I would share my personal journey with all of you throughout my pregnancy. Seeing as pregnancy is such a wonderful and unique experience for every woman - I found these past 3 months to be so interesting to chat to all my clients and hear their stories and their experiences with everything that happens in this roller coaster of a ride and like one of my clients describes it - "everyday of pregnancy is a new surprise and you have no idea what is coming" and I found that to be SO true. Just when I thought I felt better or that one symptom was coming to an end......pregnancy would have a little trick up her sleeve and surprise me with a new one OR just let an old one return with a vengeance! Well played pregnancy.....well played!

So tired. ALL. THE. TIME.

So listen, it's not that we weren't trying to fall pregnant, but you know how that old saying goes "life happens when you are busy making other plans"? In my case, this is exactly what happened! I have always been active and always been maintaining a gym routine at least 3x a week, but recently my husband and I felt like we were stuck in a bit of a fitness rut and decided to take up Crossfit to kick our butts back into proper shape. I was SO excited to start this new adventure with my husband. So in my mind I was telling myself I am going to put the baby plans on hold for a while and train my little butt off for the next few months and what happens, happens.

The first week into Crossfit I was feeling SUPER exhausted, and when I say exhausted I mean pooped, drained, so dead tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open at work. There was seriously a few times I scoped out the area below my desk wondering if people would notice if I took a quick 10 minute nap. I wrote it off to my body getting used to the intensity of the training and didn't think much of it. But by the 3rd day in a row where I slept more than I was awake I told my husband something isn't right and this is not the normal kind of tired and I think I should have my iron levels tested.

That night curiosity got the better of me and I consulted Dr. Google on my symptoms (why do we do this to ourselves??). A tiny thought of pregnancy crossed my mind when most of the results indicated pregnancy as a possible reason for the exhaustion but I didn't have any tests at home - so I thought I would just quickly pick some up the next morning before work. What could it hurt? I bought 2 cheapies and one Clear Blue. I really didn't think I was pregnant so I used one of the cheapies and it came back a solid, big, fat negative - so I shrugged it off and went about my day. But when I had another day where I almost fell asleep in front of my steering wheel on my way home from work I thought it couldn't hurt to do another one....and there it was, a very, very faint little line appearing. So faint I almost had to squint to see it! Long story short, a few more clear blue tests later (just to be 110% sure) it was clear that I was definitely preggies! Excited, shocked, surprised, elated, caught off guard, happy and all sorts of emotions all at once - but the biggest one was definitely the excitement to tell my husband when he got home that evening. He was going to be SO happy and he truly was! That has probably been the best part of the pregnancy so far - when I got to see the look on his face when I told him. Really something special!

It was still super early when I found out (maybe 2 weeks if I recall) so the next few days was all about adjustments and getting used to the idea that there is a little human growing in my belly - I still think that is the coolest thing EVER!!! The 1st trimester hasn't been an easy one for me, I'm not even going to sugar coat it. From being tired all the time, and now I can truly say only pregnant women will understand the tired I am talking about, to being hungry every 10 minutes but unable to enjoy a proper meal due to the nausea (again, well played pregnancy) to just not feeling myself almost every day for the past 3 months has been a bit rough - but in the end it is all worth it because we will get to hold a tiny little "us" in our arms which I think overrides all the horrible days I've had....and that might still be coming. So all I can do for now is eat my little banana (poor baby is either going to love them or completely despise them), nap when I get the chance, try not to think about how much I miss wine & proper sushi and cherish this special time that is truly a gift from above!

The biggest thing I have learnt from this experience is God's timing is ALWAYS good and that no matter how hard you try to control plans in your life, He will always know better and show you that your road has been mapped for you a long time ago, you just have to trust Him and walk the road with Him, hand in hand. And for someone like myself who is an extreme control freak - this was hard for me to accept - what about all the plans I made for the next few months? Well, they were going to have to make way for a much bigger (and surely cuter) adventure that was coming our way :)

I am almost 15 weeks pregnant now & I am still continuing with my Crossfit thanks to the fact that I maintained a good fitness level before pregnancy and it isn't that much of an adjustment for my body. I scale the exercises where needed, listen to my body and rest when I need to AND I have clearance from my doctor. Please note that Crossfit is not something you should take up once you are already pregnant and had no prior exercise experience or if you were unfit before pregnancy. Rather opt for a light - moderate exercise regime (contact us for our amazing PreggieFit classes) and make sure you have medical clearance from your doctor. Every pregnancy is different and every mommy-to-be can tolerate different activities based on their health & wellness and fitness prior to pregnancy and this is the main reason I can't stress enough how important a proper pre-pregnancy fitness routine is. Don't wait until you are actually pregnant - start before and prep your body as best you can so that you can stay as functional as possible for as long as possible during this special, sometimes trying journey.

xxx