Pregnancy can be a beautiful and sexy time and, if you do the right exercise, try to eat healthily and relax properly, you'll feel great the whole way through your nine months. Follow our tips and ideas for a great pregnancy...

The latest research finding show that women who continue with moderate, regular exercise throughout their pregnancies are doing themselves and their babies a favour. Benefits include:

Did You Know?

When pregnant, from around 20 weeks onwards, your heart beats an extra 10 times a minute. That equates to 14,000 extra beats a day!

• shorter labour and an on-time delivery.
• a reduced likelihood of common complaints such as backache and heartburn.
• making it easier to get your body back into shape after having your baby.

There are plenty of safe forms of exercise you can do throughout pregnancy to maintain your fitness and muscle tone. However, it's important to realise that pregnancy if not the time to embark on a strenuous get fit programmer. Pregnancy is a time to maintain the level of fitness that you have not to improve it.

Stay Safe
Whatever type of exercise you do, stop if you feel tired, out of breath, start to ache, or have abdominal pain. While exercise is safe for most pregnant women, there are some exceptions. Consult your GP if:

• you have a history of premature labour or miscarriage.
• you have high blood pressure.
• you are carrying a small-for-dates baby.
• your baby has had an abnormal heart reading.
• your pregnancy is due to fertility treatments.
• you have persistent, painful, Braxton Hicks' contractions.

Safe Forms of Exercise
When undertaking any of the following activities, make sure your instructor is qualified to teach pregnant women.

Antenatal Aerobics or Fitness Classes - A low-impact aerobics class is ideal for pregnancy, but you shouldn't do more than 20 minutes of aerobic activity in one session. This is good for stamina, strength, posture and flexibility.

Exercises you may do include half squats to strengthen your leg muscles, pelvic tilts to keep stomach muscles toned (you should not do sit-ups after 16 weeks) and upper body exercises (but no weights).

Aquanatal Classes - There is far less risk of injury when you exercise in water and it's considerably safer than many other forms of exercise. There are some moves that aren't normally suitable on dry land during pregnancy but which are safe to do in water because you are supported. Aquaerobics is good for stamina, suppleness and muscle tone.

Walking - This is an excellent way to maintain your fitness in pregnancy and is one of the easiest types of exercise to do. It's very safe and will help to build up your stamina, improve your breathing and keep your posture in check.

Swimming - This is a great all round exercise for your muscles. You can continue swimming at your own pace throughout pregnancy as no matter how big your bump gets the water will support you. As well as being relaxing, swimming improves stamina and keeps you supple.

Activities To Avoid
After the 16th week of pregnancy, it's best to avoid any exercise that involves you lying flat on your back with your legs raised, as the weight of your uterus (womb) can put pressure on the major blood vessels. After 16 weeks you should not be doing sit-ups or abdominal curls, as your stomach muscles will have separated to accommodate your growing uterus.

Jogging, running or any other kind of sport that puts pressure on your joints or your back should be avoided, as these body areas are more prone to damage in pregnancy.

Avoid any sport where you might get knocked over, or there's any chance you might get hit or fall, such as netball, squash, judo, horse riding, skiing or windsurfing.