Took my first prenatal swim class today at the Berkeley YMCA. Me, and about 20 other women in various states of gestation paddling in a giant circle around a large, gently warmed lap pool.
We resemble a school of chatty and colorful ducks; each of us with our personal choice of floaties. Some prefer the belt variety, with the floatation device across the back, and belt cinched in front, under the breasts; I went for the ankle-type, a band of floatation blocks belted tight around each lower leg and foot.
The drawback with the ankle type is that if you don’t keep your feet and knees under you, you pretty much tip up and get stuck on your back. It takes some effort to get your knees back in towards your chest and tipped back under again. Not sure what the pro is, but I didn’t like the sensation of the waist one slipping around on my belly, and the ankle ones seemed more like what the cool kids do, so I did.
Around we went, kind of moon-jogging, underwater skiing, doing something with our legs called egg-beaters, and later kicking in place while pushing foam barbells through the water to strengthen arms and back.
Of course we also went around and said our names and due date, as one seems to always do in any prenatal class. We also had to answer a question: What is the nicest thing anyone has said to you about your being pregnant.
One woman told this story: She was eating in a restaurant when a much-older man approached her. He said, “I have to tell you how beautiful you look. A pregnant woman is the most beautiful thing in the world.” His wife was standing there too, and she said, “Yes, I did it seven times.”