How To Birth LeBron James


Funny thing about being pregnant (which I’m totally not – Hi Honey!), everyone has advice for you. And I mean everyone. Even your 65-year-old never-been-married nor-had-a-kid-who-looks-suspiciously-like-him postman.

There was the good (“Wipe him down with a scented baby wipe just before people come to visit – that way they’ll think he just had a bath. You look like a great mom AND hygienic.”), the bad (“Feed your baby peanut butter right from the beginning. That way he’ll get used to it and never have peanut allergies.”), and the just plain whaaaa…? (“Don’t raise your arms above your head or your baby will get tangled in his umbilical cord.”)

Hands-down the weirdest thing anyone ever said to me when I was pregnant:
Single Male Coworker: (points to my belly) So does he cry a lot? You know when he’s hungry and stuff?
Me: (stunned silence) Well seeing as vocal cords need air to produce noise and he’s encased in bag of warm liquid (recycled baby pee if you want to be precise) then… no.
Him: (aghast) But how does he breathe?!?
Me: (loving it now) He has gills. Evolution, duh!

For all I know John is out there right now sharing his little tidbit of knowledge with some other middle-school health class flunkie.

Pregnancy Is Not An Illness
But the most irritating advice I got while pregnant? Almost all about exercise. People were simultaneously amused, horrified and outraged when they saw me jogging around my block, rock climbing (which I only did up to my 8th month), kick boxing and doing headstands in yoga – all the way until delivery, baby!

People would tell me on the weight floor that I shouldn’t lift more than 10 pounds (um, hello, my toddler weighs 40). My kickboxing instructor told me to keep my heart rate under 130 – which for me was achieved just by tying my shoes. A woman in my yoga class told me all the jarring would make my baby motion sick – and hey, maybe she’s right, he did spend the first six months puking on me. People everywhere told me I should take it easy, relax, pick nursery colors.

Placentas and Paella
After my third son was born, my OB declared that I had the biggest placenta she’d ever seen. Best compliment anyone could’ve given me at that moment! I’d show you a picture, but somehow no one wanted to take one for me. (For those of you non-gestating types, the placenta is the organ that delivers oxygen & nutrients to the baby. It is birthed right after the baby. Then sometimes made into a placenta paella and served to guests. Kidding!)

Turns out I was right to keep exercising at the level I was comfortable with. A new study shows that women who exercise at a “moderately intense” level during pregnancy have healthier hearts than non-exercising mamas. And the benefit is passed on to their child as babies born to exercising moms had lower and more robust heartbeats at every stage of pregnancy. It is thought that this effect leads to stronger hearts well after delivery.

Caveats
Exercise is good for everyone, including pregnant women. BUT – and there’s a list of warnings so long it makes the Alli booklet look like a refrigerator magnet – you should always always listen to your doctor and to your instincts. Women with high-risk pregnancies obviously shouldn’t work out hard, or even at all, depending on what restrictions they are on. Women with crazy bad morning sickness (mine was only moderately bad) are also excused, if only for the reason that it’s hard to run and puke at the same time. Don’t exercise in extreme temperatures. Don’t get dehydrated. Don’t sit in hot tubs. Don’t eat lunch meat or soft cheese. (Listeria! Hellooo! How are you ever going to be able to care for an infant if you can’t even remember the 2,000 things you aren’t supposed to consume?)

Just be smart about it.

10 Comments

  1. Placenta paella! That is too funny!!!!

  2. “Him: (aghast) But how does he breathe?!?
    Me: (loving it now) He has gills. Evolution, duh!”

    Oh, that had me laughing. I so want to do a one armed push up like that kind in the picture. Where do you find these gems?

  3. I’ve been doing quite a bit of research on this myself, lately. We’re hoping to have our first in a year or so (wow, that’s kinda scary. We need jobs first!) There’s also a lot of anecdotal evidence from women who kept working out, running specifically. Many have decreased morning sickness, easier labors and deliveries, and get back into shape more quickly. And hey, if it’s good for the baby and good for you, why not?

  4. Gena – that was certainly my experience. My labors are under an hour and I have 10-lb babies. I don’t have any complications with pregnancy or delivery. I should have mentioned this in my post but I read a GREAT book called “exercising through your pregnancy” by Dr. James E. Clapp. He actually did a bunch of research on pregnant women that supports all your anecdotal evidence plus it shows the effects on the babies (apparently they are happier and have less incidence of colic)! Good luck with your trying:)

  5. “the biggest placenta she’d ever seen”

    Just take a picture of a Chicago style deep dish pizza with extra pepperoni and it will be close enough 🙂

    Dr. J

  6. determinedtobefit

    I’m glad to hear this too. I plan to start trying in a year. I’m scared to death that if I just stop working out using pregnancy as an excuse that I will never get started again. One of my favorite step DVDs with Seasun Zieger has her 6 months pregnant friend in the background doing the routine. I always find myself silently cheering her on (and berating myself for getting tired).

  7. Thanks for the book recommendation! I’m going to bookmark it right now so I don’t forget it!

  8. Cute video. And related to the pregnancy and exercising, I really like how gyms and books and dvds are really trying to accomodate for everyone. You find classes everywhere specifically designed for pregnant women or seniors and so on; it’s great that exercise is now being encouraged no matter what your stage in life.

  9. Dr. J, you don’t happen to practice in the San Francisco area, do you? I want a doc like you for my family!

    I worked out throughout both of my pregnancies, and everyone at my gym was SO NICE!!! And when I came back after giving birth, a lot of folks stopped and asked how I was doing, how the baby was doing, etc.

    Plus, I always think that babies who are in the womb while mom is running must be having so much fun,lol!

  10. Wow, 10-pound babies! And I do have pictures of my placenta from my third, because the midwives “forgot” to dispose of it and left it in a bowl in our sink (I think they did it on purpose, playfully, to mess with my husband, and what did he do with it? I think the dog got it. Seriously. Is that really gross?).

    I sat on my fat lazy butt most of all 3 of my pregnancies. If I have more, I won’t do it again. My first, I was too young and didn’t know better. My second, okay, I actually walked my daughter to and from school most days with that one, so that’s 4-5 miles of walking a day probably, so I guess I was fairly active (and he was my biggest, healthiest baby). The third I had pubis symphysis dysfunction (the pelvic bones separate too early), and it hurt just to walk or roll over in bed, so I was lazy. And I had a little, colicky, “high needs” baby.

    But I agree with everything, especially that pg is not an illness. The dumbest questions I ever got? “Are you sure it’s safe to eat hot peppers?” Because of course, jalapenos will kill an unborn baby or cause birth defects for sure. @@