Pregnant women exercise option to stay active

Rachel Booth has been a runner her whole life, and that didn't change when she got pregnant.

The Mountain View, Calif., mom ran well into her third trimester during her first pregnancy, and nine months after giving birth, she raced the Houston Marathon finishing as one of the 10 fastest women out of a field of thousands.

“When I got pregnant, my priority was to make sure I had a healthy baby. It wasn't about the running anymore,” said Booth, 29. “I really enjoyed being pregnant, to be honest, and I feel like part of that was because I was fit and active.”

Thirty or 40 years ago, women were discouraged by their families, their neighbors, even their doctors from being active through pregnancy. Even now, moms-to-be say they sometimes get strange looks at the gym. Booth recalls people staring when she'd go running in the seventh month of her second pregnancy pushing a jogging stroller, too.

But doctors now agree that women should get exercise, and plenty of it, as long as they're facing a low-risk pregnancy. And pregnant women are often eager to comply, their doctors say.

“They're an attentive audience. They want to do the best they can for their baby,” said Dr. Jeannette Lager, a University of California, San Francisco, obstetrician. “I see a lot of patients who have never exercised before, and suddenly they're taking on a whole exercise regime.”

Exercise has been shown to decrease the risk of gestational diabetes, doctors say. It can prevent women from gaining too much weight during pregnancy, and make it easier to shed the pounds after birth. It can build physical and mental stamina that may help a woman during labor.

In fact, some obstetricians say pregnancy is a great time for inactive women to start a healthy new habit.

“It's a lot easier to start the habit when you're pregnant than when you're postpartum with a new infant,” said Dr. Ricki Pollycove, a gynecologist and women's-health expert with the San Francisco-based California Pacific Medical Center. “I put a lot of effort into inspiring them to start exercising early on.”

There are caveats, of course. Women who are at risk of a preterm labor should talk with their obstetricians and might want to take it very easy during pregnancy. Doctors say that all women should avoid impact sports, or activities like skiing and biking that could result in a traumatic fall and injure the woman or her fetus.

And pregnancy probably isn't the time to tackle a major fitness goal like training for a marathon.

But there's no reason a woman can't maintain her regular workout routine, as long as she feels good and scales down the intensity a bit, doctors say. Women who are new to exercise should start small daily 20- or 30-minute walks are perfect. Many gyms and community centers offer exercise classes designed specifically for pregnant women.

“If you're used to exercise, as long as your pregnancy is low-risk, it's absolutely fine to keep doing what you're doing at a lighter level,” said Dr. Amanda Calhoun, assistant director of women's health for Kaiser Northern California who trained for and ran a half marathon during her first pregnancy. “There's no harm to the fetus as long as it's getting oxygen. And as long as you're not huffing and puffing and overexerting, the fetus is getting enough oxygen.”

Women who want to stay fit during pregnancy should pay attention to their bodies, doctors say. They shouldn't be pushing themselves so hard that they're panting or unable to carry a conversation. Exercise should feel comfortable and relaxed.

Pregnancy isn't the time to push through the pain of a workout. If women feel any kind of pain, or if they feel dizzy or lightheaded, they should stop. It's also critical that pregnant women drink plenty of water during workouts. Their blood volume increases during pregnancy, so they can supply nutrients to the fetus, and that makes it easier to become dehydrated, doctors said.

Although exercise is undoubtedly a good idea for the vast majority of pregnant women, doctors point out that research is limited, and there are few hard and fast rules about what's appropriate exercise and what isn't. Common sense should rule, Lager said.

“In general, it's good for their mood, it's great for their sleep, it's a great training for childbirth, with strength and endurance,” Lager said. “There's no great science as far as things like heart rate and level of intensity, but moderate exercise is fine and acceptable.”

Lager said that exercise is one of the most frequent topics of conversation among her patients, and their families.

“Their partners will come in and be concerned on both sides of the equation they're exercising too hard, or they're not exercising enough,” she said. “I tell them that this is the time to really listen to your body.”