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Not much changed during the third trimester, except for maybe my belly size! I was blessed with a fairly easy pregnancy from what I’ve heard. As far as workouts went, I still continued to workout daily and stuck to my aforementioned modifications (mentioned in my previous blog). Play
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I continued box jumps and double unders. I made sure I was being safe (I had no doubts that I could clear the box) and I listened to my body (no leaking or increased pressure). Implementing The “stacked” position while performing double unders helped a lot in preventing leakage and the urge to urinate.
During the 3rd trimester, I didn’t max out on any lifts, although I did PR my 3 rep front squat. And no, I didn’t pee myself, wear a belt, or strain too hard to do it. It just felt good that day! Double dumbbell or heavy thrusters became more difficult for me to control my core so I usually only used one dumbbell or a lighter weight for thrusters. I actually stopped doing handstand push ups, not because it was unsafe, but because they got really hard the heavier I got. As a substitution, I did single arm overhead presses. I did end up rowing a couple times because I got tired of biking, but I just didn’t lean back at the end of the pull in order to prevent my core from coning.Play
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In general, extracurriculars were a bit more challenging. My husband and I like to spend a lot of time outdoors with our friends so we planned a trip to the mountains around week 34. We went tubing down a shallow creek and in order to not get slammed by rocks, I’d have to lift my body up out of my tube, which was really difficult to do without coning. My friend ended up switching tubes with me (his had a net bottom and back support) which helped tremendously!
Fun fact: my fingers started tingling after writing a lot of thank you cards after our baby showers, but the doctor said that was normal and it was just swelling in my hands that mimics carpal tunnel. It would get worse being at work and performing a lot of hands on/manual work on athletes. I would also sometimes wake up with that same numbness, but as long as I kept my wrist neutral, as opposed to bent, it would be fine. (All of this has completely subsided now that I’m not pregnant)
As my due date approached, I felt like the doctors started trying to scare me into an induction. I really preferred to have my baby naturally, even without an epidural, so the thought of an induction didn’t sit right with me. They kept telling me the risk of stillbirth, C-sections, and complications continue to increase the longer we wait. At 39 weeks, for the health of my baby, I decided to go ahead and schedule the induction for 41 weeks. I wanted to give my body a chance to go into labor on its own.
The week of my due date, I tried everything I could to make her arrive without the induction. My OBGYN did a membrane sweep at 39 weeks + 2 days. She said it should help me go into labor in 24-48 hours. It didn’t. I walked for 2 hours that night and did some deep air squats. That didn’t work either. I ate Hawthorne’s “The Inducer” pizza two nights in a row..still didn’t work. I tried hot wings and other spicy foods. I even went and got a pedicure because I heard that was supposed to help. Eventually, Saturday night, the day before I was due, I started experiencing labor pains. I ended up having baby Harper right on time, September 19th at 5:15 in the morning, without an induction and without an epidural..ouch!
everyone’s journey is completely different! but if you’re pregnant and need help with modifications in the gym or if you’re dealing with pain/ leakage, don’t hesitate to reach out! these are such common issues that you don’t have to suffer through! let’s come up with a game plan together!
stay tuned for my next post where I talk about my postpartum journey as I return to crossfit!
