Swimming and exercising during pregnancy.

Should you still be swimming at 39 weeks, today could be the big day.

I have sat and listened to countless stories from all my wise friends and family telling me to go on long walks, hikes, you name it, the baby will then come theirs surely did. Was this the exercise or was the baby just ready? Who knows? I wake up every day wondering if today is the day, analysing every twinge.

Well my exercise is swimming. I try to go two to three times a week, dread each time I go and feel extremely large in my costume, but once I have done my first few lengths I feel so much better, lighter and more comfortable. I have always gone swimming with Alex before I was pregnant as a form of exercise and just carried on swimming whilst pregnant, the costumes have changed obviously as I have grown in size but I never bothered with a maternity costume it seemed a waste of money I just bought myself a plain black costume a couple of sizes bigger than what I was and the costume has stretched with me.

This last swimming session I must have looked like I was about to give birth. I had so many people talk to me about my bump it convinced me that today was going to be the day.

As usual I got changed as slowly as possible always dreading getting into the water. Alex had gone off to start his 100 lengths. I walked to the showers to shower before getting in the pool and this lady started chatting to me. She had a daughter my age. She told me that she was about my size when she was pregnant and she asked about how I was coping with the heat wave. (I think maybe she had forgotten to look outside as it was raining and definitely not warm today.) She told me to sit with my feet in a bucket of water. We discussed the count down to baby arriving and she told me as everyone else has to exercise and swim to bring the baby on. She said she only had two large contractions and that was it the baby was born. She said it worked for her as she walked off she tapped me on the shoulder and said oh yes another thing plenty of sex helps too. Well ... from a stranger.

I got into the slow lane and started my lengths and a nice old gentleman got in. He said he had four children and seven grandchildren so he was fully clued up on the pregnancy thing. I thought mmm but I bet you have never had to carry one for nine months. As I approached the deep end my nice old friend was there taking a break he asked when the baby was due, to which I replied any time now. He looked at me with concern and said to get swimming you do not want to have it in the deep end, and then he laughed.

I went to the hospital for my check up and was asking the midwife about swimming at this late stage. I was concerned that if my waters broke whilst swimming I would not know. She said that I will know as it may be a bit pinkish in the pool to which Alex decided that he would never swim behind a pregnant woman again. She said that if you did not notice whilst swimming you would know when you got dried and on the way home. She said that it is not like people say a gush of water but a constant trickle as the babys head acts like a plug.

It is never boring going swimming especially when you are in the very slow lane, the people are friendly and for an hour my mind is taken off the aches, pains and weight I am feeling at this late stage of the pregnancy.

I really do feel that swimming is good for you and should be done as long as you feel fit to carry on doing it.