Gearing up for Baby # 2

Well it has been 2 years and 1 month since the "Birth of Zelda Eden" and I am ready for another newborn in my life!  My husband and I are weird in that we are planners when it comes to our baby's births. My husband is a teacher so we try to time the birth for the beginning of the summer so that he can be home with the newborn and myself for the entire summer! For us that means the goal is to become pregnant in September or October. So what am I doing to get ready for pregnancy? Exercising and eating well of course! I believe women would benefit from getting their bodies strong prior to becoming pregnant! Pregnancy causes our bellies to grow and our ligaments to become lax, making it more difficult for our muscles to hold everything together. This is why many pregnant women find themselves uncomfortable and dealing with all sorts of aches and pains they've never had before. I believe these common pregnancy complaints can be diminished, alleviated, and possibly eliminated by staying active and strong prior to and during pregnancy! Which muscles should be focused on for strengthening? I would say primarily the ones that attach to the pelvis; we're talking Glutes, Hamstrings, Quadriceps, Abdominal muscles and even the Erector Spinae and Latissimus Dorsi muscles attach to the pelvis! For me all this really means is I'm continuing my normal weekly exercise routine of  running, weight lifting/calisthenics and stretching/yoga. If you don't already have a weekly exercise routine some good starting exercises I recommend are squats, lunges and planks.  So right now instead of training for a particular race I am focused on my next pregnancy! That's how important pregnancy and birth are to me, with the end goal being of course, to deliver a healthy baby without the assistance of drugs! I do realize that labor can be unpredictable (this is also what makes it so exciting to me) and we cannot always control the course our labor takes, however I also believe that our bodies were meant to be active during pregnancy and labor and staying strong and exercising throughout pregnancy will help myself and my baby to better handle the stress of labor and birth.

 A look back: Me, about 5 and a half months pregnant with Zelda, exercising on the stability ball