Karen's pregnant blog

Great thread... Question for you pregnant or formerly pregnant swimmers. How long could you wear your pre-preg swimsuit? Were you just able to size-up as the months progressed? It's also interesting to see the difference between swimmers and runners. There is admiration for swimmers when they train and race through pregnancy but if you are caught at a running race and obviously pregnant, you are accused of hurting your baby - especially by men!

Swam Wed July 31st, last LCM workout. Some warm up sets and then the Tempo Set. Kerry sets up cones every 10m. The set is 10 x 100 @ 2:00. The first 100 is 90% easy, 10% hard; #2 80 % easy, 20 % hard, you get the idea. I only got down to 1:21. My stomach didn't feel good at all, not exactly pain, just not good. Total meters: 3,200. Didn't swim Th or Fri to give my tummy a break. Planned on swimming the 8:30 am workout on Sat, however 2 out of 3 children were sleeping in! Leaving for CT Tuesday morning for 2 weeks, hoping to swim there. Total weight gain so far, 12 pounds at almost 17 weeks. I hope CT is a fun vacation! 12 pounds is pretty good. What are you aiming for? (Strangely, I gained exactly 29 pounds with each kid and they all arrived on their due date or -1 despite pre-term labor.) Anyway, at this rate, you'll be in great shape when #4 shows up! :bouncing:

I wore my pre-pregnancy suit (34 Speedo) for 12 weeks, and then switched to a TYR 38, which was a little loose. At 6 months, I'm up just under 20 lbs and still in the 38. I recently tried a 40, but it's too big. I figure it will come in handy toward the end of the pregnancy, and then again once I can get back into the water. Overall, I've been pleasantly surprised that sizing up is a workable option. I swim 3 to 4 times a week, and the biggest problem I've noticed is the one we all face: the regular wear and tear suits endure from chlorine. Hope this helps!

I hope CT is a fun vacation! 12 pounds is pretty good. What are you aiming for? (Strangely, I gained exactly 29 pounds with each kid and they all arrived on their due date or -1 despite pre-term labor.) Anyway, at this rate, you'll be in great shape when #4 shows up! :bouncing: Leslie, We are twins seperated at birth! I gained exactly 29 lbs with both of my girls too! Add it to the list of things we have in common! Karen, I'm sorry your tummy doesn't feel good. Take care of yourself and enjoy your vacation! :wave:

I am so glad to find a place for pregnant swimmers! I a 35 and pregnant with my 3rd. I am twenty-eight weeks and have gained sixteen lbs. Here's my thing though, I just started swimming again after about eight years off. I tried to swim two years ago but I kept getting extremely tired. I found out that I was extremely anemic due to Crohn's disease which explains why I was so unmotivated to swim for so long. I couldn't even jump off of the diving boards without getting out of breath! Now, after surgery I am better and started swimming LC every day at the beginning of July. I am S-L-O-W!! I am finally up to 2000 meters but I couldn't even do 5 X 100 on 2:00. HA! I had to do them on 2:30. I know that it will take awhile to get back in shape. Now I am going back to work on Monday and I am SO afraid that I will not stay with it. I have two other children (one swims age-group and the other plays baseball). We don't have a master's team around here but I will be coaching a beg. group of 8-10 year-olds so hopefully I can get in with the age-groupers! Good Luck to you Karen! I love my kids but I am not going to lie and say that I love pregnancy:laugh2:

Flaky, flaky blog! It's now over one month since an update... Swam Labor Day and did a whopping 3,650 (for me it was whopping). Then swam the next day and did 1,700. Took 10 days off and swam last Saturday 9/15 and did 3,000y. I also swam this morning before work and got in 1,800. All in all not ideal. With the weight gain and swimming so inconsistently it's getting harder to swim. I've also been having a lot of pain in my stomach (out of the water)- I think because it's getting SOOOO big. Flip turns hurt for the first few hundred, but then things loosen up a little bit and I'm fine. My teammates find my turns most humorous. Leianne Crittenden got quite the chuckle out of my "slo-mo and wide knee flip turns"! I don't like getting creamed off my turns :shakeshead: I'd like to be swimming more but school started again and I'm finding myself having to choose between family time and swim time... I'll almost always choose family time. I'm still in my 38 Speedo water polo zip up suit at 24 weeks (end of 6 months). I imagine I'll jump up to a 40 in the next month or so. BTW, my breaststroke fins came and I'm in love!!! They are awesome. A lot of people at practice (breaststrokers and heathens) have tried them and really like them too. They really help to narrow my kick- I had lost that feeling of a proper kick and I'm so excited to get it back again. I've noticed when I take them off my feet are FAST. I really have to turn over my hands to keep up. It's great :cheerleader: Don't know if I'll swim much the rest of the week or next as Pat was just approved for the first K9 at his department. He's going to trainings and to Riverside to pick up the dog next week. He's beside himself with excitement. He's waited 13 years for the PD to get a dog! He's been running and swimming about 2x/week...

Oct 2, 2007 Swam probably 5 times in the last two weeks, which is good for me, lately. Some swims over 3,000 yds, some just under 2,000- it's that whole time permitting thing! I'm at 26 weeks and now up, drum roll please, 26 pounds. So far I'm within my goal of the pound per week thing, knowing full well that in the last 5 or so weeks I'll gain a ton as the baby (boy) grows exponentially compared to prior weeks! Went to the USAS convention in Anaheim and had to leave unexpectedly as my dad went to the ER, my hubby was picking up K9, and my mom had the kids... dad's OK now, was home Saturday. So, on Sunday, for giggles and stress relief, I went to the Sacramento Pentathlon. It's SCM with a 50 of each and a 100 IM. I was actually happily surprised with my times (given my girth and lack of training): fly and back were :40s, *** was :44, free :37 and 100 IM 1:24. And all with no starts :cheerleader: Gave me hope that I can get back in shape eventually! I hope everyone else out their swimming and pregnant is doing well and that moms and babies are healthy. And everyone else, just stay healthy :notworthy:

Phew, almost went a month since my last entry! Swam at the Pac Champs two weeks ago. It was fun. Very relaxing given I had absolutely no expectations :) I enjoyed just hanging out and talking with friends, and swimming. I was actually a heat winner at one point, very exciting- I got a $10.00 gift certificate :cheerleader: Someone on my team (not a very popular person) accused me of sandbagging my times! I told her that I've never swam a meet 8 months pregnant, and that I achieved the time I entered! Sheesh. Have not swam since then, and really not much before that. Any remote chance I had of being in any kind of shape is totally gone! My stomach is so huge, I think I'll give birth to a moose. Unless this little guy comes early, this baby will easily be over 10 pounds, and the owies in my stomach confirm it. It is stretching A LOT. I'm rarely comfortable, and my ankles are starting to swell and the feet hurt. Weight gain is 26 pounds at 30 weeks today. Surprisingly, my 38 still fit at SCM Champs, although it took a fire captain and retired cop to zip it for me :doh: I imagine swimming would probably help a ton with the swelling, and I'm actually wanting to go workout at the gym! I realize I couldn't do anything but go through the motions, but I think it would be good to move! October was just an absolutely crazy month with family and work (mostly not good) and I really needed that oasis that was SCM Champs at our pool. Anyway, starting to ramble (like I did on the Nationals forum earlier)... Time to go home from work. Enjoy your swim workouts :)

Swam today for the first time since our SCM Champs. I went during a break from school and got in 1200y. It felt soooo good. And it was wonderful to talk to people the people I haven't seen in awhile. Tomorrow is a Sat practice at 7:30am and I think I get to go. With Pat's new K9 at work his schedule is a little off... yippeee. I just always remember an article Mr. Swimmer Bill Volckening wrote, years ago now, about time in the water. Every time I get back in the water I wonder why I stayed away! I was very disappointed however that I can't do flip turns anymore. This just confirms I will give birth to a son of moose-like proportions. With the other three I was able to flip up until a few days before they were born... I'm only at 31 weeks. I'm hoping to include a picture one of these days of my largeness. My husband, a trained observer :lmao:, said to me last night, "Wow, you're really sticking out. You're not wide because I can still see your ribs. It's just all in the front." Thanks, Einstein! Happy swimming and I'll see if I can figure out how to attach a picture. Or better yet- can someone tell me how?

Bad news for me. My resting heart rate (laying down or sitting) is over 100; and standing, between 120-140. Not good. Not planning on swimming at this point... beginning week 33. I go to the doctor on Tuesday (11/20) and will see what he says. :( Will try to post pic of my largeness next week when I'm on vacation! Quite amazing.