pregnancy+exercise goals.

So, I'm not a marathon runner, or even much of a runner or "work-out crazy" for several years now. But I have noticed that frequent (almost daily) exercise greatly affects my emotions.  That being said, the tricky thing with pregnancy (at least for me) is that the nausea that comes with the first 16-18 weeks renders me almost completely incapable of doing any form of exercise since my usually bad motion sickness becomes insane motion sickness during that time.  Anyway, by the end of that time I feel pretty bad about how I'm doing physically.  (probably doesn't help to have that be the "I just look chubby" phase of pregnancy either)
My first pregnancy was almost completely wrapped into the winter months which made it hard/impossible to get outside to exercise.  With the wonderful winter we've had this year I've found the same thing to be true (so far). To combat "house arrest" my first pregnancy I did a whole lot of stairs and walking around and around my house for my daily exercise.  Not super exciting no, but I could do it whenever, didn't have to get myself "presentable" first and didn't have to battle the cold and slush.  I found out at the beginning of this pregnancy that the frequent tightness I felt in my abdominal region during said exercise was actually contractions.  So, I wasn't super keen on doing the same thing for the daily "work-out" this pregnancy.
*Lee came almost exactly 4 weeks early, which actually was a miracle with our timing last spring but brought about it's own trials and is something I'd rather not repeat if possible with this baby.

So this pregnancy I bike.  Yep. Inside, every day (almost.)
Kevin is really into cycling and when we saw a fantastic deal on a women's cycling bike over a year ago, we jumped on it. With pregnancy and a newborn I hadn't been able to do much street riding for a while so I was curious to see how the indoor riding would go.
We purchased a closeout bike trainer and I got started the next day (or so).
*For those who (like me) don't know what a trainer is: it's a frame that holds the back wheel of a bike in place and essentially makes it a stationary bike.

 

progression through the months. aka overtaking of the stomach.

*First hurdle: getting into the regular exercise "groove" again.
It was really hard for me to work a work-out into my daily schedule with Lee.  I already had such a long list of things to do when he was sleeping I knew I'd have to do it when he was awake.  Luckily, Lee handles a half an hour or so of "independent play" really well. 

*Second hurdle: the growing stomach and reaching the handle bars. 
Not a joke. I was finding myself uncomfortably straining to reach the handlebars in a way that would be comfortable for the full work-out time.  So Kevin actually rigged them for me, work like a dream stomach and all. 

I started really consistently in January and I can report that I'm back to feeling a lack when I don't exercise on a given day and that it's become habitual for me again. And again, it makes me feel so much better than when I don't exercise.
Nope, I'm not doing the world's most difficult work-out each day but for me, right now, exercise is exercise and thus it's golden.