Bladder Control

When I'm saying that title I'm actually singing it like I've retitled a Prince song you may or may not know. - Dorky, I know.

I couldn't help myself but blog a little more about my experiences thus far with the lessening control over my bladder functions. I am the type of person that is used to being able to go all day without having to empty my bladder. From very early on in my pregnancy, I now have to wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom. I know this is preparation for having to wake up many times in the middle of the night for a screaming child, but I was hoping for just a little while longer of enjoying my uninterrupted sleep. Plus, the increased amount of water that we are supposed to drink while pregnant just exacerbates the having to use the restroom all the time. I'm not sure why this is so distressing to me, but it just is.

Those of you who know me on facebook may have seen my post Tuesday about the spin class I took. I felt like I was going to pee all over the bike for the whole class. I had to sit up several times and try to physically force my baby boy up off of my bladder as much as I could. It also didn't help that as I was riding, my belly was starting to get a little in the way. I'm definitely going to have to start adjusting how I have the bike set up. I am determined to keep riding, though.

I also had my first sneeze that could have been a very bad situation. I did control it and hold back the bladder, but it was a new awakening of how much I'm going to have to hold those muscles whenever I sneeze from now on. Any of you that have been pregnant before know how much doctors recommend kegel exercises. These muscles are so important now. When I think of kegel exercises, I still think of when a mysterious stainless steel item was a gift for several women in my family one year at Christmas. None of us knew what they were and there was a pool of guesses going. My sister's guess was that they were kegel weights which caused uproarious laughter among the family. I had never heard of such a thing (I forget how old I was, maybe 14), so that is when I learned what they were. It turns out the gift was a cow magnet (very strong magnet used for picking up sewing needles), but that is still what I think of when it comes to kegels. One of my prenatal workout videos has a kegel section to it which I may have to utilize even more now.