Week 33

I was planning to ride my bike up through the end of last week, but cold and nasty weather hit, so my bike riding ended the previous week instead. In early January, I started wearing a wide neoprene support band while running. My comfort during runs seems to depend on her position. On Saturday, I ran for 45 min and felt great; I didn't even have to stop to pee. Today, she was poking uncomfortably into my bladder and guts the whole time. Yesterday's planned workout was scuttled by a 3.5-hour nap. My ribcage is pushed very much up and outward, such that I need to move up a size in sports bras.

Week 28

She had been transverse, which meant that I felt less pressure on my bladder while running. However, a week and a half ago, she turned head down. For a couple of runs, the pressure was tolerable; I only stopped to pee once during the run. Then on Friday, she was hitting it on target, such that I felt a strong urge to go the entire time. I managed to get through the run with only two stops, aided by knowledge from my prior pregnancy that even if I did stop more often, nothing would come out.

I went for my last bike ride on Saturday on my usual 12-mile hilly route, and it took 15 minutes longer than usual. I have now gained 20 pounds and am big enough that it is uncomfortable to ride.

Week 26

I am slow, probably approaching a pace of 12 minutes per mile. Luckily, she's still lying transverse with her head to the left and feet to the right, so her head is not bouncing up and down directly on my bladder. The urge to pee every five minutes while running is not nearly as strong as it was with #1.

Yesterday, I had to give up leg presses and switch to squats on the Smith rack instead. I felt like I was crushing my abdomen too much with the leg press machine.

Week 24

Last week, I had to raise the bars on my road bike by a couple of inches, so I could reach them without crushing my uterus. I have experienced another step change in slowing, and my legs occasionally feel like they're going to burst thanks to increased swelling.

Week 20: Losing lung capacity

Last week when I swam, I noticed a marked decrease in lung capacity. Usually, I breathe every third stroke, but I had to go to every other stroke for nearly every lap. I gave up flip turns long ago.

My belly is protruding much more than at this stage last time. I believe I've gained about the same amount of weight, but since everything has been stretched out before, it puffed out sooner instead of holding everything in and pushing it sideways.

Week 18

I'm at 18.5 weeks. After the nausea (but not vomiting) and fatigue of the first trimester ended around week 13, workouts were much easier and more enjoyable. In the past week, however, I have experienced a step-function increase in weight (about three pounds over the past two weeks to 143 lbs) and slowing in times (2 min slower on a formerly 45-min run and 3 min slower on a formerly 52-min bike ride). Just yesterday, I had to modify my weightlifting routine for the first time, swapping out diagonal crunches for side-lying ones instead.

Week 9: Fatigue + nausea

I have been feeling pretty miserable for the past few weeks, totally fatigued and non-stop nausea. The past two weeks I've gone swimming, I noticed a big difference in my breathing needs. I have had to go from breathing every 3rd stroke to breathing every 2nd some of the time, and after a few laps, I can't handle flip turns and instead need to hit the wall and take an extra breath. The past two times I went running, I felt a mild urge to urinate. This will worsen.