Dancing With Myself (and Baby and Jason)

When I found out I was pregnant, one of my first thoughts (I had like 10 million 'first thoughts', mind you) concerned exercise: what can I keep doing? What's safe? What's gonna ruin the baby? Cursory internet perusal reveals that opinions on exercise during pregnancy are---like most opinions on what you should and should not do while knocked up---are pretty damn all over the map. I have been kickboxing regularly for about a year and a half, and when I got preg I was in the best shape I've been in for years. I wanted to keep exercising, but the intense punching, kicking, cardio, and ab work that we do at my kickboxing studio seemed a little scary, especially during the first trimester (I do not do sparring or any kind of combat---I was about to advance to that, but then I got this whole new condition). I took about two months off, and consulted with my doctor, who offered what seems to be the general advice on the topic: if you were doing before, keep doing it, but listen to your body and don't do anything that hurts. Ok then! I resumed kickboxing and have modified my workouts to a slower pace, with no intense ab work or extended jumping (the official jury's out on both ab work and jumping, but I'm going with intuition on this one, as it just feels weird to jump a lot and do major ab stuff). And I feel freaking awesome; strong, energized, healthy, and in great shape, despite my expanding ass and belly. (And I now know why a good, supportive sports bra is necessary; that was kind of lost on me before).

So I'm kickboxing and loving that, and also walking a lot, and once it gets more Spring-y, I'll start swimming (not like it's not totally Spring-y here already, but still...it's an outdoor pool and we're still in Feb.) and will probably do more yoga as I get bigger. Exercising during pregnancy is definitely not for everyone; I can't imagine keeping it up if I was barfy and sick, or exhausted (another reason I avoided it for the first trimester. SO TIRED!), and I imagine that some women are just not into it. But I definitely am.

And so I've added a new element to my workout routine: the Morning Dance Party Freakout, which basically consists of me dancing around my living room to really loud music and occasionally incorporating some stretching and yoga and free weights and geeky vaguely Jazzercise-y movements. A lot of hip shaking and arm flailing. It's super free-ing and dorky and I would be slightly embarrassed if someone encountered me (and someone will, as I do it with my front door open, but when they do I'll just be like "What? I'm pregnant!") but it's very fun and a good way to wake my body up and, I like to imagine, entertain the baby. The key is to be as un-self-conscious as possible, and to have no regard for how totally absurd you look. Today I made Jason do it with me, and we maniacally flailed around to Rihanna, Hall and Oates, MIA, Punjabi MC, The Gossip, Bowie, and Siouxsie. We were out of breath and cracking up. We video-chatted our friend Mark and danced for him and made videos on our Flip. There's one of me dancing that will most likely never see the light of day, but this one gives a good sense of the scene (we decided we should have a workout video series on Youtube. The Pregnant Chick Dance Party Morning Freakout Show!)