Swimming

I have to offer my random thoughts on pregnancy and swimming...THEY (being those in the medical profession) say its one of the best exercises us Preggos can do. Whomever originally came up with that notion HAD to be a man, as other than the fact that its pretty hard to hurt yourself, I'm not finding pregnant swimming to be all that its cracked up to be. Perhaps they don't actually mean to swim for exercise...rather just go hang out in the pool and splash around.

First, I have to bring up the whole oxygen depravation issue. Maybe I'm just a crappy swimmer (ok, so I kind of am) but I'm a whole lot more oxygen deprived swimming freestyle than anything else. Sure, my HR stays below 150, but I'm forcing my body to sustain that heartrate with way less oxygen than if I were on my bike or on my feet.

Next, the "elongation" issue. With each stroke, you reach ahead of you and effectively streamline your torso in doing so. This means your baby bump gets squished back up into your chest cavity, from the skin on your tummy becoming more taut as you reach, as well as your abdominal muscles contracting. Today I had the pleasure of it all squishing up towards my lungs so breathing was even more of a challenge. I can't wait until it gets bigger - I'm sure that will be loads of fun...

Finally, having to pee even more than usual (likely due to squishing mentioned above). I can't think of a more inconvenient place to have to go to the bathroom than in the pool. Not only do you have to freeze your arse off by going into the cold locker room, but inevitably, some fat guy jumps in your lane while you're gone. When you come back and are forced to share a the lane, you end up with 1/3 and he gets 2/3 - just due to sheer volume - and you spend the rest of your time trying not to hit your elbows on the wall or hook your fingers in those damn lane dividers, nor brush up against said fat guy as you cross paths. Grumble. I think I'm going to go ride my bike now...