Preparing for Baby while you're pregnant means more than just painting the nursery or picking out a crib. Babies take a great deal of emotional and physical investment, and smart women prepare themselves long before their wee ones arrive on the scene. One of the best ways to ready yourself for the physical challenges of motherhood is to strengthen your calves and thighs before parenthood places a demand on them.

Lynelle Wilcox, a mother of two from Salem, Ore., was able to enjoy her leg toning passions right up until she gave birth. "I worked, walked, hiked and biked right up until the day before I had my first child," says Wilcox. "I did the same with our second child, two and a half years later, with the addition of one or the other of us having our first child in a sling or baby backpack for hikes and walks and a bike seat for biking. For me, it was wonderful to be able to do the things I loved doing and to feel like pregnancy is a natural part of life and not a reason to stop my life."

While Wilcox isn't sure that strong legs necessarily make for an easier birth, she is fairly certain that all the walking, biking and hiking she did during her two pregnancies helped her face the rigors of mothering! "Strong legs do seem to be a huge benefit after having the baby, since you now have this child, getting heavier and heavier, to carry around," says Wilcox. "Whether it's in my arms, in a sling or in a baby backpack, they get heavy and it's hard work carrying them around everywhere! So I'd guess that even if walking, hiking, and biking were not beneficial to childbirth, it was quite helpful for the ongoing work afterwards."

Pregnancy brings all sorts of leg issues into play. Fatigue, swelling and cramping are only a few ailments that could possibly strike a woman's legs just at a time when she needs all the energy she can muster. Part of the reason is the extra weight women gain during pregnancy. The average weight gain is 25 to 40 pounds from start to finish. This is quite a bit of extra weight your legs are being asked to carry around. This, along with the changes in your veins during pregnancy, often cause cramps and swelling in your legs. Strong, fit legs and regular stretching can help lessen some of these problems.

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