How are you mentally/emotionally dealing with significant activity modification?

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verajosefine

New member
I’m a runner, and I’m 34+1 today. I did an 8-mile long run at 32 weeks, and it felt like I was cruising. It was a glorious run. My long run last week was cut short (at 1.5 miles) by significant lower abdominal pain. My OB and I think I pulled some rectus fibers away from the origin. Now I’m having some infrequent preterm contractions. I’m 2.5 miles away from hitting 300 miles for this pregnancy!

My OB says I can run in 0.5-1 mile increments to hit my 300 goal (as long as no pain/contractions), but then I need to switch to walking until I hit term. I am obviously going to do what is best for my baby and start walking, but y’all...I am so bummed about it. How are you giving yourself a little grace in these situations? How are you coming to terms with having to modify your activity so significantly?
 
@verajosefine Remember: you used to run. Now you’re growing a human and also running! That’s amazing. You ran close to 300 miles WHILE GROWING A HUMAN. You are awesome and your body is awesome for being able to do that. And if you need to make some moderations for the last six weeks while you finish GROWING A HUMAN, then that’s ok. It’s ok if you had to make them all the way through your pregnancy.
 
@glory2jesus This is a great mantra! “Now you’re growing a human and also running.” Thank you for some perspective. It can be so easy to get caught up in our emotions and forget the amazing thing our bodies are doing.
 
@verajosefine Great mantra, I needed to hear this. My activity level has massively reduced. Running stopped at 20 weeks after 6 consecutive runs cut short due to round ligament pain, all my usual exercises involved fall risk (climbing and circus) so was told to stop end of first tri. Now down to 45 mins of yoga of work days and at 29 weeks it gets me down that this feels like enough
 
@jzhanglsw It’s so hard sometimes to rationalize giving up these things that keep us healthy in order to...keep us healthy. You’re doing a great job with keeping up the yoga!!!
 
@verajosefine It sucked. I had a few runs where I wanted to cry because I was just so slow. I wound up having to stop at week 35 and made a step count goal instead. Having some kind of goal helped keep me sane. I'm now 4 weeks postpartum, and I had my first one mile "run" after 2 months of pure walking. It felt so good even though it was slower than when I was 35 weeks pregnant. Pregnancy isn't permanent. You can do this! Plus, all the work you've put in will make labor and delivery easier.
 
@verajosefine I’m envious of you guys! I wasn’t much of a runner to start- 2.5 to 3 miles, 5x a week.. but my first trimester I was too exhausted to do anything! Essentially the day I began my 2nd trimester I had energy again but I get winded so easily now! I now just walk at a 3.3 mph pace on my treadmill for 30 minutes daily and do 30 minutes of prenatal yoga. Hopefully I can get back to my (short) runs again post baby- I’m 25 weeks now. Keep up the great work, Mommas! Our bodies truly are amazing.
 
@katrina2017 Similar here! I was a low key runner before pregnancy but the first trimester wiped me out and I stopped completely and just did some walking. I'm at 14 wks and keep telling myself I'm going to get back into running any day now lol! I'm super impressed with OP's 8 mile run.
 
@verajosefine Struggling with this now at 12 wks. I lift weights (now in my basement instead of the gym), and on friday as I started my lower body session, I started gushing bright red blood and clots. According to the doctor, it's likely caused by low lying placenta and should correct itself within a month or so. Until then I'm not to really lift (although he said picking up my 25ish lb toddler is fine); nothing high intensity or too heavy. Theres a possibly I could start bleeding again and I'm terrified, but I'm going to try sticking to the orders as best as I can. For someone who has been moving all pregnancy, even the 4 days of couch rest I had to do before seeing the MFM was hard!
 
@zoss Yes! I took a week off last week and doing nothing was so hard. Plus, I felt so much guilt about wanting to exercise even though I needed to rest. It sounds like you’re doing a fantastic job caring for both your little ones!
 
@verajosefine I thought of it as modifying the way I would for an injury and recovery. It’s a temporary thing!

I ended up needing an emergency c section so now I really am recovering from surgery and it’s so important to let my body heal so that I’m good long term. Thinking of it in training/healing terms and not omg my life is over is helpful. We’ll get back to it!
 
@ktorres08 I said insertion but really meant origin. Oof. Anyway, your rectus abdominus muscles start at your pubic crest (the origin) and attach to the cartilage of some of your ribs (insertion). The pubic crest is a little portion of the pubis in the front. I was totally pain free and then had sharp, severe pain just above and to the right of my symphysis pubis. It honestly felt like a muscle tear (sudden, sharp, worse with use, no pain at rest). It took a couple of days to fully go away.
 
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