Champion napper and award-winning sloth, at your service

This past week I’ve had some setbacks, and since I haven’t blogged yet this week, that must mean it’s time to write down my setbacks and try to think my way through them…

Remember how I was so chipper in recent posts? Well, pregnancy fatigue has hit me like a brick wall, and I am struggling to stay awake until 9pm most nights. I don’t mind going to sleep early (bring it on!), but it means my after-work workout mojo is M.I.A. Plus, in a blow to convenience and my serious tv addiction, the awesome bicycle trainer I borrowed to help me exercise indoors has been recalled to its original owner. I had one good week where I did 20 minutes every night after work, watching tv shows as I pedaled, with the wireless headphones on so I could hear those American Idol auditions over the bike’s noise, really enjoying myself. Sure, it made our small living room even more crowded, and the vibrations were such that I would get uncomfortably numb in, ahem, certain delicate areas, but it was exercise! With! Television! Fare thee well, idyll!

Even the mild Pacific Northwest climate is conspiring against me, with many mornings of freezing fog and freezing temperatures. I thought with a mild winter we’d be mostly into Spring weather by now. Apparently that was a little too optimistic. With the cold as hell mornings and my recent sleep addiction, it just doesn’t seem feasible to get up before work to walk as I was doing in the fall. That will have to wait until Spring, um, springs.

One option is to invest in my own bicycle trainer, but with even the cheap ones going for $80 on Amazon (and not much cheaper on eBay) they are just expensive enough to make me pause. Is that money better spent on credit card bills? Should I get over my cheap instincts and just make the investment? Ignore the vibrations (or is it the bicycle seat?) that limited me to 20 minutes and count some exercise as better than none?

The problem is that I know the correct answer to these questions, and I’m grumpy because it doesn’t really accommodate my rigorous schedule of couch lounging.

But hey, if I’m unhappy with making the right decision, I’m pretty sure my doctor will have some real tough love for me at my first prenatal appointment. Can you picture her reply when I report that rather than take prevantative steps (literally! ha ha) against gestational diabetes and high blood pressure, I’ve chosen to indulge my need to watch culturally engaging entertainment like Daddy’s Girls and Jon & Kate Plus Eight from the vibration-free sanctuary of my couch.  And that it’s easier to imagine making an extra credit card payment (which, let’s face it, probably wouldn’t happen) rather than spend it on a device that can reduce my risk for scary complications.

Okay, I think this blog post has done its duty. I now feel pretty guilty (but mostly silly) for avoiding an $80 solution to a lifelong problem. A bicycle trainer won’t bring about world peace, but it will make me a fitter, happier, healthier mama, that’s for sure.

I like when I can turn around decisions from being about shame (stop impersonating a human sloth!) to being about practicality and self-care. Now I just have to follow through on this one: I will check in on how it goes.