{I’m excited to be interviewing fitness instructor Rachel Doremus for this post. Rachel is expecting her first child in May but is still teaching classes and working out on her own. I will get to the interview after we look at why exercise is beneficial to pregnant mommas, and what kind of exercises that you can do while pregnant.}

 Why should you exercise during pregnancy?

Exercising during pregnancy can help you to have a healthier pregnancy, weight gain will be easier to keep to healthy levels, your immune system will be stronger, labor may progress quicker, you may have an easier time pushing because of stronger muscles, and you may have an easier recovery after birth.

What kind of exercises are safe during pregnancy?

The general rule is that if you are doing something when you get pregnant, it is safe to do during the entire pregnancy, as long as you are listening to your body and slowing down when needed. There are some activities that should be avoided unless you have a doctor’s permission: downhill skiing, water skiing, and other exercises where you need to have balance and quick movements.

Let’s check in with Rachel and see what she has to say. 🙂

Where do you work, what kind of classes do you teach, services do you offer, and where did you get your schooling and degrees?

I currently work at Family Fitness in Fremont, Mi. I teach two classes right now- a Senior’s Aerobics class and a Cardio Dance class. Both of these classes meet three times a week. I also have some personal training clients who I meet at the gym or in their own homes.

I received my Bachelors of Science in Exercise Science with specializations in health and physical sciences from Liberty University. I also have a Refit® certification and I am pursing a personal training certification, through the American College of Sports Medicine, and a yoga certification.

How has pregnancy effected your workout routine?

My workouts have changed from high-intensity workouts that includes lots of jumping, burpees, and weights, to moderate intensity cardio workouts. The change in my routine is mostly due to fatigue, but now that I am nearing the third trimester, and my abdominal muscles aren’t as strong with the extra weight, I’m not able to do the burpees and plank position exercises with proper form. I have stopped running for the most part, but that was mostly due to the lack of sunlight hours in the winter. I also added more yoga and stretching into my routine, as well as more back exercises to combat the low back pain I have been experiencing.

Why should someone workout during pregnancy?

There are MANY reasons a woman should continue to workout, or start a workout routine while pregnant. In most low risk, normal pregnancies, exercise is recommended for 30-60 minutes a day, five days a week. The benefits for the pregnant woman are numerous, including an easier labor, a faster postpartum recovery, healthier weight gain during pregnancy, and increased energy. Exercise benefits not only the exercising mother, but the baby as well. And those benefits can last into the child’s early years. Studies show that children whose mothers exercised during pregnancy had a lower BMI at 5 years of age and older.

Can pregnant women participate in your classes?

Absolutely! As long as their OB has cleared them for exercise, they can absolutely come to my classes. As the pregnancy progresses, they may need to modify some of the movements. Any fitness instructor should be able to offer pregnant women modifications for the classes they teach.

Will you ever have classes specifically for pregnant and postpartum mommas?

This is something I never considered until I found out I was pregnant, but it is definitely something I am looking into. I would love to get a certification to teach specific classes geared towards pregnant and postpartum women. While there is no reason that a pregnant woman can’t attend MOST fitness classes, I feel that many of them would be more comfortable in a pregnancy-specific class.

What are some of your favorite things to do outside of the gym?

Fitness-related things? I love to hike, I do miss living in central Virginia, simply because there were so many beautiful hiking opportunities. I also enjoy road and trail running, as well as road cycling. Non-fitness related: I love crafting, knitting, sewing and scrapbooking.  

{This is the birth story of my youngest son. It was originally shared here.shared here.}

I wasn’t ready to have a baby at 35 weeks, but my baby was ready to be here. My water had broken earlier that evening and my husband and I were on our way to the hospital. I was hoping that we would be on our way back home in a couple of hours since I wasn’t having contractions. But when we got there and were reminded that I hadn’t had my group B strep test yet and learned that most of the time when the water breaks so early it is because there is an infection of some sort or inflammation of the uterus we decided to stay over night and get a couple doses of antibiotics in. All night I hoped that labor would start on its own and worried that I might be sick or that the baby was sick.

Nothing happened. I had a few strong contractions but nothing consistent. My husband had to go back to work to finish up a job so I sent him off the next morning and then hoped that labor would hold off until he got back. I bounced on the birth ball trying to get baby to come down lower and get contractions going. I paced the hospital room. My doula came and we talked about my options and what I was going to do.

When my husband got back to the hospital we decided to go home, try and relax and try to get labor going using any natural ways we could. I hoped we would be back that night. I worried that we wouldn’t be back.  I tried essential oils, pumping/nipple stimulation, visualization, affirmations and more. Nothing was happening. I worried that we might need a c-section if things didn’t start going.

I emailed some family members and close friends and asked for prayer that labor would start naturally and that everything would be okay. My husband and I went to bed and hoped I would wake up with contractions.

Nothing happened. Again a few strong contractions but nothing timeable. My water would leak every once in a while. Sometimes there were bigger gushes than others. Usually after I was laying and stood or after baby moved a lot. All night I kept track of my temperature and using a dopplar did a twenty minute “strip” every four hours.

The next morning we went to Walmart to get a carseat and did a few errands before heading back to the hospital. While there my doctor recommended that we transfer to a larger hospital that had a NICU however my husband and I decided that we wanted to stay under the care of the doctor I had seen the entire pregnancy, we wanted to be somewhere we felt comfortable and that I felt safe. We also decided that since nothing was happening we would start a pitocin drip. I was something that I had always feared. Knowing that a labor augmented by pitocin has a greater chance of ending in a cesarean section it was not my first choice. However none of the natural options had worked, I was nearing 40 hours from when my water had broken and labor seemed a long way off.

I worried that the pitocin would stress my baby. I worried that I wouldn’t handle it well. I worried that the pitocin would make contractions way more intense than natural labor and that I would end up with another intervention. I worried that my baby would need the transfer we had refused. I worried that maybe something was wrong with baby and that was why he was coming early. I worried about almost everything. Having a preemie is worriesome.

The pitocin was started and it wasn’t too bad. Contractions within half and hour. They weren’t bad. They actually felt like normal labor contractions. Within a couple of hours I got ahold of my doula and let her know she could come whenever she wanted. When she arrived I was starting to labor very intently. My husband and doula offered encouragement and ideas. I wanted to be checked and was at a 7 and almost completely effaced. We turned off the pitocin and I got into the tub. I worried that my labor would slow in the tub or stop completely since we had turned the pitocin off. Thankfully it didn’t. It did slow for just a few minutes but soon transition started. By then I was completely in labor land. There was no time or worry. There was a contraction and there was a break, another contraction, another break. Then I felt something I hadn’t felt before.

I needed to push. Right now.

My doctor checked me and I still had a small cervical lip left. So she held it back while I pushed baby through it. I pushed through another contraction and again felt somethind I hadn’t before- the ring of fire. I wanted to stop but I was worried so I pushed through one more contraction and he was here.

Healthy and safe. He was like most other newborns. He was breathing well on his own and he was nursing well. He just was ready to be born.

There was a true knot in his cord, so maybe that was why he came early but we’ll never really know for sure.

Having a preemie is not something that I ever thought would happen to me. It was scary. I’m so glad I had the support of my husband, doula and doctor.