The things that interfere with Zumba

By the beginning of December of 2010 I had been doing Zumba for 11 months. With (or without) the title of this post I'm sure you're probably thinking, she's likely missed a week somewhere in all that time... Am I right? Yeah... Well you'd be wrong.

The things that interfere with Zumba:
1) Nothing

That's right. Okay, yes there were Saturdays that I had to miss, I simply made up the class Tuesday evening. That's something nice about Zumba, many teachers teach more than one class a week. In all that time, not a week went by where I didn't somehow get myself to a class. How can that be you ask? The answer is simply that I love Zumba. I love Zumba enough to push through the allergy attacks in the spring and fall (of which there are at least two per year), enough to push through the colds (at least two...), enough to push through that one bout of food poisoning (thanks a bunch food stand in the mall), and holiday weekends that almost everyone else took off. Remember when I said "Find something you love and just keep on doing it."? I was serious about that and now you now how much.

It wasn't until October of 2011, almost a year later (and fast approaching my 2nd Zumbaversary) that something would finally happen that would bring me up short and end my streak. Morning sickness. So maybe I should amend my previous statement.

The things that interfere with Zumba:
1) Nothing, except severe morning sickness

I was forced to take a ten week break (oh the agony!) while I recovered and then regained the weight I'd lost. I was back after Christmas and sporting a cute little bump. That's right, I did Zumba through the second and third trimesters of my pregnancy with our younger son. The bigger I got, the more often people asked me how long I planned to continue before stopping for some kind of maternity leave. My answer was always the same: "The Saturday I don't show up to class, you'll know the reason why." Don't worry, I took every precaution. I had a medical alert bracelet with all the pertinent information about me and my pregnancy. I had a heart rate monitor wrist watch that I used to make sure I was keeping my heart rate within the safe zone.
**Side note: That's not the easiest thing to do with a song by Pitbull...**
Rae was fully aware of everything and very comfortable having me in class in that condition. I also brought plenty of extra fluids to make sure I was well hydrated. Even when I had trouble tying the laces on my Pumas because I was huge, I still went to class. The baby loved it, as a matter of fact. He would be active until the music would start. Then he would settle down for the duration of class and it wasn't until I'd sit down in the car to drive home that he'd start kicking me. I'm pretty sure he was asleep in there, soothed and rocked by his mama's dancing and then annoyed to be woken up. As an infant, he'd easily fall asleep to songs by Pitbull. I went into labor on a Thursday morning and by lunchtime I was sending messages to Rae and Don to let them know I wasn't going to be in class on Saturday; I delivered late that evening. Sort of an intense process what with the surprise lack of epidural. The fact that I stayed in shape through my pregnancy gave me the endurance to endure. The baby and I were discharged on Saturday morning and I had to ask the nurse before leaving the hospital, when she thought I could safely return to Zumba. Too bad for me, she said at least three weeks. I waited six and got the go-ahead from my OB, so none of you need to freak out. Okay then, a second amendment....

The things that interfere with Zumba:
1) Nothing, except severe morning sickness and postpartum recovery

Best advice: When you do find that thing you love that you can just keep on doing, no excuses!