Interestingly, when I was searching the web for an image to illustrate the previous post (on confinement) I came across a number of links to "pregnancy" and "confinement" that ran along the theme of "pregnancy is no longer associated with confinement." See the picture of the active young lady celebrating her pregnancy here.
And I quote:
Pregnancy is not the confinement that the relics of the Victorian era will have women believe. It is a cause for celebration, not hibernation!
Exercise has become a vital part of many women's lives. However, theoretic concerns have been raised about the safety of some forms of exercise during pregnancy. For pregnant women exercise has added benefits. It has been accepted for some time that the general health of a mother during pregnancy is of profound importance to the development of her baby. Unless problems restrict activity, it is advised to maintain your pre-pregnancy exercise levels. There have been no studies in humans that have shown problems in developing embryos caused by moderate exercise.
I'm not sure what this writer means when s/he refers to "the relics of the Victorian era" who would "have women believe." But s/he certainly is in tune with the contemporary ethos of pregnancy, which is that you need to keep going to the gym, working out, running, swimming, yogi-nating etc. as long as you can. This was the year that the English marathon champ ran a race three days after giving birth... It is pretty hard for any of us to imagine ourselves taking time out from our professions and obsessions. People ask me how much time I'm going to take off when the babies arrive, and a large blank space appears in my mind, which is my experience of the incapacity to compute.
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