Forging an Elite Fetus: 5th month

Blog I wrote for www.crossfitktown.com on March 8, 2011...

Ah, the sweet challenge of a new human being entering your CrossFit lifestyle.  As everyone knows, I’m pregnant and due to have a sweet little miss on or around May 15.  Many of you have asked questions, guys and girls alike, about how exactly this whole CrossFit thing works while you’re pregnant.  Well, I’m here to hopefully shed some light on being a preggo CrossFitter.  Remember to keep in mind, this is my experience only and every woman has a different experience during their pregnancy.

Weeks ~18-22 of pregnancy make up the fifth month.  This is actually when we found out that we were having a “she” entering our lives.  Poor Ben… our two dogs, Hoolie and Rica, are ladies, too, so he’s going to have more estrogen going on in the house than he will know what to do with from here on out!

During my fifth month, I continued to struggle with my changing body and additional eliminated movements.  Up through this month, I still didn’t feel the little lady kicking which is something that most people crave, but I was thrilled.  Why?  Because my abs were that strong!  Hello, CrossFit!  I started showing preggo belly a little bit more, but not until the end of the month.  Let me tell you how not fun it is when you don’t feel comfortable in a t-shirt.  A t-shirt!  Those who know me are completely aware of the fact that I live in baggy, comfy clothes – when I’m not working or dancing my booty off at the hippest, hottest clubs in Ktown.  Muahaha.  But really, clothing of all kinds were getting tighter and getting to be wildly uncomfortable aka I was becoming super self-conscious.  Ugh!

In addition to the movements previously eliminated [anything that puts me on my back or on my stomach during the movement - bench press, bottom half of the turkish getup, back extensions, sit ups, etc.] other movements cut from my workouts were toes-to-bar [totally bummed about this one; no kidding] and the traditional deadlift.  I started subbing any ab exercises with tucks while hanging from the pull-up bar.  While it doesn’t do as much as far as strengthening the core goes, I was still stoked to be able to focus on my abs which are currently resting between my skin and the baby.  For the deadlifts, I was just having too hard of a time keeping good form, so Coach G recommended moving to sumo deadlifts.  I know this isn’t a movement we typically do at CFKT, but it’s been a great substitute.  You utilize more legs which, of course, makes me happy.

I had some great CrossFit WOD moments in the fifth month; two WOD’s in particular.  My favorite workout was the “Nightmare before Christmas,” programmed on the fly by yours truly and Coach Miss J for a free Saturday class.  We had a blast coming up with it, but boy, it was a beast, eh?  Watching everyone struggle through this workout made me yearn to do it.  So, I took the first opportunity and did everything prescribed, with the exception of step-ups [instead of box jumps], tucks [instead of abmat sit-ups], and band back extensions [instead of GHD back extensions].  I think it needs to make a comeback.  Maybe in the dead of the summer…

I also did my own workout, “Erin… as in Slocum,” in 22:03, just a few minutes shy of my Rx score from July.  Not too shabby as it consists of 5RFT: 5 BS at BW, 25 push ups, 5 PC at 70% BW, and 25 sit-ups [I did tucks].  I tell ya, that felt good.  It was becoming apparent that I felt much more comfortable listening to my own body while doing these longer, intense WOD’s.  I took breaks as soon as I felt the urge, which is super difficult when you’re so used to competing for every second.  For the record, the singing while working out trick is working!  Too bad I can only think of Christmas songs during WOD’s.  Huh.  Anyways,  here’s to looking forward to the 6th month blog…

Peace, Love, and Feeling good,
Coach E$ Mama