Pregnant runners' club

Have any of you bought any books on pregnancy or pregnancy and exercise that you would recommend. I bought Pregnancy week by week by Lesley Regan and to be honset, reading through the introduction and info on first trimester, there isn't much that i didn't know.

MMJ - glad to hear the BP is ok. and i'm sure the neurologist appt/scan will be fine. obviously, you are going to worry, but i know LOTS of people who have scans and it generally comes back negative - well, they find a brain but nothing else.

hopefully, they will find an explanation, but a non-serious one.

mrs o - i bought 3 books on pregnancy.

the rough guide to pregnancy, which is quite funny but not really THAT informative.

i also bought running & pregnancy, the runnersworld book. it's OK, and it did what i needed it to do - ie it reassured me that running was fine after my GP had told me not to do it because it might 'jiggle things about a bit'!?!?! but it's pretty american, and all the women in it that they case study seem rather evangellically perfect: ie they all have 74 children, all ran all through their pregnancies, all go out running at 5am with their friends etc. it gives you a few exercises to do - which i haven't done, of course - basic pilates ones really, and takes you through running in each trimester.

i also bought exercising through your pregnancy, by someone called Clapp (haha!) actually it's James V Clapp III Phd or something, so another one of those american books. it's very theoretical and goes into the case for exercising both from the mother's point of view and the baby's. it's more interesting than the running one, but if you aren't needing to be convinced that running/exercising is safe and beneficial, then it's probably not that much use. it is probably good to put in front of over anxious mothers/mother-in-laws (except neither of mine would read it!)

so actually, i probably wouldn't have bothered with either of the exercise books if this thread had been around when i first found out i was pregnant, and i could take or leave the rough guide - because hegs, MMJ and marijke are far more useful with advice than it is!

Mrs O, a friend of mine bought me "Pregnancy, Childbirth & the Newborn" written by Penny Simkin, Janet Whalley & Ann Keppler (ISBN: 1-8651-5792-9) as a pressie when I found out that I was expecting. I found it really useful as it talks about everything. Thats the only book I had, along with the "Bounty" ones yo uget in your pack which discusses your baby week by week.

I bought one book that included details of a rectal examination in the first chapter.... needless to say I put it straight back on the shelf and never opened it again ;o)

"What to expect when you are expecting" is quite good apparently, and I must admit that I have "what to expect: the first year" which is informative (but does tend to state the obvious!).

I guess it depends on whether or not you have a good network of other mums to ask too, but I found that I got quite a lot out of watching Sky tv (I spent a lot of time on enforced rest so the TV became somewhat of a lifeline!) - programs such as Portland Babies, etc, but avoided the American ones after I saw a woman giving birth in front of a full length tilting mirror with her father videoing the whole thing, her mother taking photos with a normal camera and her husband holding her hand (I kid you not!).

Re: exercise in pregnancy books - I had Pregnancy Yoga, but I can't remember who it was by - sorry!

Hegs x

PS. The rectal exam is not common practise in the UK, but is in other parts of Europe and the US apparently!!

what on EARTH are they looking for in a rectal exam during pregnancy???

ok - maybe don't answer that.

I never read that far.....

It did make me giggle, though, remembering the near heart attack that I had when I saw that!

Scary books! I got a little book by Cassandra Davis, which is called 'Running for Pregnant women and new mums'. I found it quite useful but did skip quickly over pages about women who would go for a run the day after delivering their baby!! She said it was painful.....why do it then!! But there are some good bits in it too. There's very little to read about later on in pregnancy, but I think as we have all said in previous threads; listening to your body is probably a good thing to do. I never felt the 'bouncing ball' effect whilst running, I did wear a support belt, you can by them by mail order from Blooming Marvellous (or on the internet). And my boobs never changed size until I my milk came in three days after my daughter was born!! I was sooo looking forward to bigger boobs, but it never happened during my pregnancy. It has happened now though, no doubt about that!!
We've just booked our holiday to Sharm El Sheik too, going diving in October, so still a long way off. We're going with some friends, so will have chance to dive myself again, which will be lovely, and nice to know that Liesje will be safe with my friends and not with strangers. Will stay off all foods dangerour though.. Would like to hear if the place is child friendly, we're going to a hotel called Sonesta Beach Hotel.

Congratulations Mrs O - I am so pleased for you!!I have logged on to have a moan I am afraid. I just wanted vent my frustrations. I have had a really queasy day all day. I am never sick and sometimes I feel it would be a relief if I was. Anyway despite feeling very sick

Don't know how my old post ended up here again?? Anyway I used "what to expect when you are expecting" which is fab. And it answers all those awkward or embarassing questions that you might feel silly asking your GP or midwife

How hard do you lot run when you are pregnant ? Do you just stick to running at conversation pace ? I find i am having to slow down a lot to feel like i'm just jogging along and not working too hard. Is it ok to get a wee bit sweaty and breathless or should you be trying to avoid that altogether ??

mrs o
it's difficult to find any concrete guidelines about exercise intensity when pregnant. every book says that it's down to the mother and how she feels.

i run with a HRM and try to keep my HR below 160bpm, which most of the time is ok, but some days my HR seems to be at 150 just breaking into a trot.

i'm definitely breathing heavily and sweating when i'm running. but i can maintain a conversation.

the key is to make sure you feel OK, so i should think that you are fine to exercise at the intensity you are, and maybe even a bit harder.

in one of my books (i think it's the James Clapp one), they talk about women who have done interval sessions and got HR up to 170 and above with no problems. and certainly he advocates that you exercise at an intensity and for a duration where YOU feel like you are getting benefit from it.

the thing to watch is that you don't overheat - which if you are running outside at this time of year is not THAT likely. and that you have plenty of fluids.
hope that helps!

I have not used a heart rate monitor, as it th e guidelines are not realistic. I have found that my pace has naturally slowed anyway. I am unsure if that is a physical or mind thing!! I have a number of unavoidable hills on my routes, and have found that I need to be warmed up and take them steady to avoid the stitch!

I have just been seeing how I feel and using the scale of exertion - i.e moderate exertion. I am finding breathing hard to use as a judge as the hormones make you breathless anyway. I even pant a little up a flight of stairs.

I know it is hard to judge and I am not an expert, but I think going with how you feel is an important measure. I have slowed from 8 min miles to around 10 just naturally.

Hope you find your groove!

Many thanks for that caramel and clare, you lot will probably get fed up with all my posts over the next few months asking all sorts of questions, glad i found you all and hope everyone is doing well.

not at all mrs o. that's what this thread is here for! and so far you've not asked anything which i wouldn't have asked myself if this thread had been here in the first weeks after i found out i was pregnant!

hope you keep feeling ok!

i'm having a bit of a downer day today. even though i went to bed at 9.30pm last night, i feel absolutely shattered. i was awake about 4 times in the night, and just don't feel refreshed at all. and my back is aching so it's uncomfortable sitting. i was planning to go for a swim first thing this morning but gave it a miss.

some days you just feel a bit 'fleurgh', i reckon. and i'm having one of those days today.

I am sorry you are on a downer today. Pregnancy is a bit of a roller coaster ride. Sometimes it is best to accept you feel rubbish and just wallow for a little bit. I hope you feel brighter soon.

I have felt much brighter today although the constant bad taste in my mouth is driving me mad!!! I had the same with Sadie.

Managed to get out for a run today with new sports bra and it felt great to be out again. I don't care how slow I am as long as I am still running.

I have a number of hills that I can still manage albeit very slowly! In a month or two I think will have to start walking on these. This will be hard as they were my motivation when I started running again after Sadie. My goal was to be able to run up them again without stopping asap. It will be hard to take that step back again and start again (but worthwhile sacrifice I know!)

I have relented and bought an eliptical trainer too (I am not a cross training fan). Has anyone had any experience on them while pregnant or reccommend any good programmes?

Hi everyone! I liked Miriam Stoppard's books when I was pregnant with my little boy and knew absolutely zilch about baby wrangling. I no longer have the book but it had illustrated guides to bathing the baby, changing nappies, breastfeeding, etc and it really helped. Another good one was the NCT guide to pregnancy.
So far as exercise books are concerned, I got the runners world book, mentioned above, out of the library and couldn't relate to anyone in it. In fact that's why I started this thread, way back--because i couldn't find anything worth reading!
I am still doing no running at all and really miss it. Been to the gym instead, using cross-trainer, bike and treadmill. Can't stand all the sexist rap videos. Just want to shout at the women, put some bloody clothes on!

hello americano!
great to see you, and don't worry at all about not running! please continue to pop in and see us anyway!!
It's great that you are using the gym, though, and any CV stuff that you can do will be good for you and baby.
Are you still feeling very sick?
I am 19 weeks today, and am STILL feeling nauseous. Yesterday, I had a huge retching fit about 30 mins into my run. I was running past some oystercatchers at the time on the mudflats, and they looked a bit startled!
Hoping to find out on Tues what flavour of baby we're having, as am having my anomaly scan. Will report back if/when I find out!
Am hoping it's legs aren't crossed!
How is everyone else doing?

Turtle - how did your scan go?

clare - meant to say - about the elliptical trainer: try doing some mixed sessions on it to break up the boredom. presumably yours has intensity settings on it, so try putting up the intensity by one notch every minute or couple of minutes. sometimes they have programmes on them, like hills or random etc, and they can be less boring as well. you can replicate running sessions on them doing intervals etc, but that may not be too sensible at the moment, because that may be too hard work. try just playing around with the various settings for variety's sake. it's very good exercise, and much less bounce-making than running!

Managed to get out running y'day and it was bliss even though my liver decided to play up half way round the village. Totally improved on time and its only my 5th run after the baby (2nd run this year so far). Hoping to get out tomorrow as weather not bad here just cold, also need to get in to my size 10 suite I've just bought for baby's christening, next month!

Caramel - talking of oysters/fish, I use to love grilled salmon before I got pregnant, but low and behold once pregnant I couldn't stand the smell of it and just retched constantly if hubby cooked the stuff. Would make him open all the windows and doors in the house until the smell had gone - bizzare.

Mini MoJo, good for you to be out again. Does your husband look after your little girl when you are out? I'm nowhere near back in my normal clothes yet, just in some stretchy jeans that I got before I got pregnant! I'm starting to believe that my pelvis has expanded, never to go back into size 10 trousers again! (But deep down I know that it's not bone, but bulge that is stopping the zip from doing up!). Have been for three runs this week though, so am feeling much much better. Feel bad for moaning, when you have been struggling to get back on the road, sorry! Oh and Clare, what is an ecliptical trainer??