Denise Austin's Ultimate Pregnancy Book: How to Stay Fit and Healthy Through the Nine Months--and Shape Up After Baby

By Brand : Denise Austin

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Product Description :

Denise Austin, popular television fitness celebrity and exercise-video leader, is also the mother of two little girls. She stayed in shape through her pregnancies, keeping meticulous records of how she did it, and she wants you to understand that you can, too. Denise Austin's Ultimate Pregnancy Book describes how to stay fit and healthy through each trimester, and how to bounce back after the baby is born. Austin includes health tips, nutritional information, an exercise routine appropriate for each trimester (including how to modify your favorite exercise choices), recipes, sample menus, weight advice, and beauty tips. After the baby is born, Austin shows you how to get back into shape, including how soon to start exercising and how to lose your baby fat, especially in the abdomen (with clothing tips to disguise the problem in the meantime). Austin gives tips on getting rest, breast-feeding, and enhancing your body's healing. The book is personal and friendly, as if Austin is your pal who is sharing her stories (including morning sickness in the first trimester and her shock at seeing her "mushy tummy" after delivery) and advice with you. --Joan Price

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Chicago Tribune Denise Austin probably could motivate a statue. Her nonstop encouragement and exercise expertise form the perfect combination.
CHAPTER 1\"I Can't Believe It. I'm Pregnant!\"All I kept saying was, \"I can't believe it. I'm really pregnant.\"We were going to have our own little baby and become a family. I wanted to tell the whole world. I was so thrilled and excited. I know some people say you're supposed to wait until after the twelfth to thirteenth week, but I couldn't help myself.I'm from a big Catholic family. My mom and dad had four girls and one boy, and all my sisters and my brother had had children. I knew I always wanted to have kids. Having a family was the most important thing to me. I never wanted to be just a career woman. Jeff is from a big family, too; he's one of five kids. So we couldn't imagine life without building our own family.There were already lots of grandchildren on both sides, so my family was never pushing me to have a baby. It was usually my friends. I share everything with my sisters, so of course this was a \"big topic.\" Even before I went to the doctor, I called my sisters and told them the pregnancy test was positive. They screamed! They were so happy for us. Since I talk to my sisters almost every day, they got the details of both pregnancies, and I mean everything -- so let me share it with you!One of the fears I shared with them was having to get into a leotard for my work. But guess what! Some of my biggest career accomplishments and successes came while I was pregnant. So if you are a career woman, don't worry that motherhood will interrupt your career path. It won't. In fact, it will probably make you a more efficient, as well as happier, person. Nurturing a child will bring you the greatest rewards, and love will never seem richer.If you think you're in love with your husband now, just wait until you experience the complete joy of having a child together. It will enrich both your lives and your marriage.After I took the home pregnancy test, I went to the doctor for a blood test. It was positive. Wow! I'm going to be a mother. Now it was for real. He gave me my due date, which was August 11. I thought to myself, well, that would give me six weeks to get back into shape after delivery because I was scheduled to begin filming my television show on October 1.Like you, I had hundreds of questions for the doctor; he also had questions for me. He wanted to know about my medical history. I told him everything I knew, and fortunately there was nothing in my family background to suggest I would not have a healthy baby or healthy pregnancy.My biggest concern was whether I would be able to continue exercising and keep up my travel schedule while filming my television show. Would it be safe to do aerobics? I didn't want to do anything that would harm my baby, and I even told my doctor I would quit my job to have a safe pregnancy. He assured me that I did not have to stop everything. I could continue my regular 30-minute-a-day exercise routine and continue traveling as long as everything was going well.In fact, research by James F. Clapp, M.D., the world's foremost researcher in the area of exercise and pregnancy, has documented that exercise can reduce labor time by two hours. Exercise during pregnancy can decrease the incidence of C-section by 24 percent, reduce the usage of forceps by about 14 percent, and help babies have higher APGAR (responsiveness) scores when born. Dr. Clapp was also recently published in the Journal of Pediatrics documenting that children of women who exercised when they were pregnant had significantly higher general intelligence and better language skills! Exercise is not only healthy for the mother but also important for the child's future.One detail researchers now suggest is that obstetricians be aware of whether you were a premie. According to a recent University of Utah study, women born before thirty-seven weeks' gestation have nearly a 20 percent greater chance of delivering prematurely -- and the risk more than doubles for women born before thirty-two weeks. Since premature births account for nearly 70 percent of newborn deaths of otherwise normal babies, it's important for your doctor to monitor you. So remember, tell your doctor everything!I continued exercising on