Part II of the Mums & Parkour series of articles, new mother and traceuse Sola writes about
her experience during the 2nd trimester of her pregnancy.
Edited by Shi
The second trimester
Well... 2 down and 1 to go. The second trimester is over and I think it can be best summed up in one word: FUN! After all the trials and tribulations of the first trimester, the second trimester seemed like a day at the fair, with all the fun and candy floss too.
It was every bit, if not more amazing and transitional as the first, but without all the nasty bits and with some added fun bits. By 14 weeks, my 'morning sickness' finally completely disappeared and I started to feel good. Here's what's been going on in baby land in the last 3 months:
The baby
At the beginning of the second trimester, all the basic components of the baby are there, but very small! The baby is only around 5-6cm long and weighs about 14 grams. By the end of the second trimester the baby will be around 25 cm long from head to rump (i.e. without legs) and weigh around 1.1kg.
Around week 18-22 (for a first pregnancy) you can start to feel the baby move. I felt my first 'flutters' at around 17 weeks which very quickly turned into kicks that got progressively stronger. You can now 'SEE" the baby moving in my belly.
The baby makes all kinds of developments including developing the ability to react and to hear in this period. By week 22 pretty much everything is there. All that is left is for the baby to gain weight and get bigger and a few more neurological developments. But by 27 weeks (the end of the second trimester) the baby is almost acting as a new born. Opening and closing its eyes, sucking its thumb, playing with its hands, feet or even the umbilical chord. And one very fun thing they also get around this time is frequent fits of hiccups, which had me in hysterics the first time it happened!
Also, in this period, it is possible to find out the sex of the baby and we are having a little traceur!
The Mum
Since the start of my pregnancy, my weight and center of gravity has been constantly increasing and changing! Here are the statistics since the start of the pregnancy: Weight before pregnancy: 54 kg (119lbs) Weight at 2nd trimester: 63 kg (139lbs) Average weight gain in the 1st trimester: 3-4lbs Average weight gain every week during 2nd and 3rd trimester: 1 lbs per week Total weight gain during 2nd and 3rd trimester: extra 25-35lbs The distribution of that weight goes approximately: (Source: American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists) 8lbs = Maternal stores (Fat, protein, and other nutrients.) 5lbs = Increased fluid. 5lbs = Increased blood. 3lbs = Breast growth. 7.5lbs = Average baby weight. 2lbs = Amniotic fluid. 1.5lbs = Placenta. Presently, I've gained 20lbs so far with 12 weeks to go. I was expecting to lose some weight from muscle loss. But I think I've made up for it in the last month or two, carrying all the extra weight around, 24hrs a day!
The most significant change to occur in this time is, of course, that you go from BEING pregnant, to LOOKING pregnant!
At the beginning of the second trimester, I had a small baby bump, but to those who don't know me, it just looked like I'd had a few too many mince pies over christmas! Now however, as you can see, there is no mistaking the fact that I am pregnant!
I have to say that, either, exercising and a good diet, REALLY really helps, or I've been very lucky, as by this stage in the pregnancy most women are suffering from some symptoms due to there expanding bellies. Such as varicose veins, haemorrhoids, swollen ankles, back aches, leg cramps and naval pain. I am very happy to say (touch wood) that thus far I have avoided all of these. I have suffered quite regularly with heartburn for the last few weeks as baby gets bigger, and I was most surprised to discover that my ribcage has got bigger by about 3 inches in diameter. Yep, all new bras.
This resulted in quite a lot of rib pain which can be quite severe at times but I can usually stretch it out or a warm bath sorts it out. I think it's made worse by the fact that the area where I have the most discomfort is where I injured my ribs when I was a teenager. But this aside, I have felt great all through the second trimester and thoroughly enjoyed watching my belly grow and feeling the baby get stronger and more active!
The biggest battle this trimester has been with my posture and balance. As my bump has got bigger, my pelvis has been pulled forward increasing the curve in my lower back and calling to my shoulders to slump forward and my head to jut forward. (It's a sexy look) Think of a sack of potatoes!
I've noticed the increased amount of the hormone relaxing in my system, which increases gradually throughout the pregnancy, relaxing and softening ligaments throughout my body but mainly in my pelvis. I can feel, (and see!) that my pelvis has got wider which has effected the way I move and exercise and especially the way I walk. Yes... I've already got the duck waddle going on. I've noticed a very mild diastasis, which is when pressure from the uterus cause the recti muscles in the abdomen to separate, but at the moment the gap is only small so not too serious, but its something I'm keeping an eye on.
Training intentions:
My intentions for this trimester were very vague. If nothing else, I learnt in the first trimester that you cannot plan anything when it comes to pregnancy. Your body and the baby, have their own plan that you are not part of. And all you can do is try to have your say, but at the end of the day, the final decision is theirs!
Rule number one: You should get the all clear from your doctor if possible that it's ok for you to exercise. You shouldn't do anything too strenuous that gets your heart rate above 150 beats per minute as this can cause your baby's heart rate to slow down. You should also restrict exercise sessions to 20-45 minutes as prolonged aerobic exercise can cause the baby to overheat which causes all kinds of problems.
I knew that I wanted to stay active for as long as possible. And that meant maintaining many aspects of training including cardiovascular fitness, strength training, flexibility, breathing exercises and meditation/relaxation exercises. The method I used to do all of these things was unplanned. I wanted to continue developing the instinctive form of training I had started to develop in the first trimester, of listening to the specific wants and needs of my body on each day.
The doctor recommends that activities be restricted to walking, swimming, yoga and low-impact aerobics. Even lifting weights is not recommended unless you are used to it and you are recommended to stick to lighter reps. Sports like running are okay to do if you did them regularly before getting pregnant but it is not advised to take up any new forms of exercise while pregnant. Sports to be avoided include contact sports, surfing, mountain biking and horseback riding. Later in pregnancy when you start to have issues with your balance, certain sports need to be avoided, such as tennis, step aerobics and bowling.
There are also lots of things you shouldn't do if you have problems with your pregnancy such as high blood pressure, an incompetent cervix or if you've previously had a miscarriage. But if you are healthy and have a normal pregnancy then common sense prevails when keeping active. Obviously for the baby's safety, the first thing to go obviously is anything that involves impact or risks impact. For example, cat balancing on a rail by itself would be a very good exercise for me right now, but I wouldn't do it because of the small risk of falling and taking a blow to the abdomen.
My sister-in-law broke her ankle while 6 months pregnant (not doing parkour) and she couldn't do anything and her immobility brought with it all kinds of aches and ailments, so keeping myself and baby safe is a number one priority.
In parkour, many of the movement starts from your core. During pregnancy your abs take a real hammering. They are stretched and weakened to a horrific state and many women also get a 'diastasis' where the two abdominal recti split down the middle and move apart due to pressure from the uterus. When it's all stretched out by the baby, you can't really see the damage, but after baby is gone, you are left with a saggy pile of mush and sitting up is difficult! If you do nothing after giving birth, then all of your body pretty much will return to normal except for your abdominals. If you don't re-tone them, they will stay stretched and damaged and you will be in trouble! But a simple exercise plan can quickly knock them back into shape. Since the beginning I've been religiously practising pelvic floor exercises. As not only is this supposed to help the muscles recover much faster after birth but it also helps in labour and keeps you from peeing yourself while pregnant! Nice huh!
If you do everything you can to keep your pelvic floor and abs strong during pregnancy, then it is likely you will be able to do very basic conditioning again such as things like just contracting your stomach muscles or sucking your tummy in after 4/5 days. You can start more intensive conditioning and basic exercise (providing you feel up to it and it is low impact) after 2 weeks and regular exercise (such as aerobics or something) after 6 weeks. Obviously this doesn't include big kong vaults (saut de chat) and big drops! But basic conditioning, quadrepedal movement and so on can be started very early.
It's hard to say how long recovery for the pelvic floors and abs will put you out of action for. It depends so much on the individual. There are many factors that greatly affect how 'damaged' you are after birth and how quickly you will recover, namely how long your birth is, how much weight you gained, and more importantly how much exercise you did during and after your pregnancy.
Training reality:
In reality, the second trimester has been an exercise roller coaster.
In the first month, I would say I had a very strong exercise regime, based heavily on strength training and movement with a heavy if not total parkour influence. I spent a lot of time doing monkey work, QM, press ups, squats, the usual suspects. With the coming of spring and the mountain paths opening, I also got a lot of exercise hiking in the foothills of the local mountains. The level of my training was far from its pre-pregnancy level, but still for a pregnant practise, quite a workout! And a lot of fun.
In the second month, I started to incorporate more and more yoga postures and movements. The monkey work which involved holding up my legs while squatting became impossible as my pelvis started softening and moving and becoming unstable. The added weight of my belly meant I had to take press ups on to my knees, then onto a bed edge, and finally against a wall. I started spending a lot of time playing with my ever changing centre of gravity. Standing on one foot to put a shoe on became a serious challenge! Basic balancing yoga poses such as the tree became the peak of difficulty, and others such as the eagle, became simply impossible.
In the third and final month, everything started getting difficult! The added weight and strain on my system meant I had less energy for exercising. Carrying around all this extra weight has made even basic things like walking up the 7 flights of stairs to my flat, or getting out of bed in the morning, seem like a physical challenge. In the last 3 weeks especially, I have had to seriously down grade my exercising. I've started doing a lot more pregnancy specific yoga, things to prepare my body for labour. I've exchanged a lot of moving weight bearing exercises, to more simple exercises that can be done sitting or lying down with small weights.
I've also found it very advantageous to split my exercising into 2 or 3 sessions throughout the day, as opposed to doing it all in one go and being knackered after.
And so...
In conclusion, as the pregnancy has developed, everything has started becoming more and more adapted. More specific. More intuitive. More about feeding the needs of my growing body and baby. Externally, it seems I move further and further away from what I know as parkour. While watching a parkour video recently, I was amazed by the beauty of such extreme movements and it almost seems impossible to me now to not only imagine that I ever did some of those movements, but that I might ever be able to do them again. Yesterday, I had trouble getting out of the bath!
But internally, I am learning more and more every day. I think there are things I know now about my body and things I have reflected upon in the time away from my training, (or at least a certain type of training) that are invaluable lessons for not only for my future parkour development, but for the rest of my life. I have learnt to respect my body and its abilities on a whole new level. The challenge of building, carrying and producing another life, is one of natures most amazing miracles. It is as difficult as it is miraculous, and to see my body doing this, finding a way, is incredible. As things change constantly, my body is constantly adapting, changing, modifying its basic functions to cope with the new demands it faces. It is nothing short of fascinating.
My friend recently described me as looking like a watermelon on two knitting needles and sometimes I feel a bit like a watermelon both in shape and in intellectual capacity. There is a theory that during the last trimester, when you get stupid, clumsy and illogical, that it is your bodies way of taking you away from a logical thinking way of thinking and steering you towards a more instinctive, creative, intuitive way of thinking that will be more beneficial during labour and the early days of being a mum.
Otherwise, I feel really, really good and I'm really happy with everything and very excited to meet the little man currently growing inside me. He is one active little fellow, kicking and punching and rolling and wriggling all day long. Doesn't he get tired? Maybe that's why I get so tired, he's using my energy to beat me up! Cheeky little man!
I'm so far away from the parkour world that other girls live in, it's difficult to relate. It's also a little easier for me to focus on what I can do and what I am doing if I try to avoid thinking about what I'm not doing that is; the thing I love such as jumping on stuff! In some ways being pregnant is like being injured. There was an article on the Parkour Generations blog from James about finding new ways to move when injured. I've certainly had that. Of course, an injury is always hard, but I think it would be just that bit easier to cope with. Also, as an 'older' lady practicing parkour, I have to accept that my body is not always going to do what I want it to do. I think in the future when or if I have an injury, I will find it a lot easier to train because I have had this experience of being so, so limited.
Traceuse Janine Cundy has expressed "Parkour isn't just about dynamic movement, it's about understanding your body and how to get it to listen to you. Anybody at any age can appreciate that, and participate to some level". Learning to accept limitations has been a very hard lesson for me to learn, but I'm sure a very valuable one.
And still 3 more months to go!! I expect the challenge to increase over the next few months, and then the biggest challenge of all begins. But if being a mother is anything like being pregnant, then the joy and wonder far out weigh the pain and suffering.
Another stage of the journey complete, another just beginning. As always in life, more obstacles to overcome, more challenges to face. But again, I feel sure that my experiences in parkour will support me and comfort me in facing these challenges with optimism in my heart and a smile on my face!
Happy and safe training to you all... however you are training!
-Sola