KEEPING FIT : Expectant, New Moms Huff, Puff at the Gym : Pregnagym program at the Irvine Medical Center helps tone up and retain the muscles that normally break down in childbearing.

While her mother rides the exercise bike, 3 1/2-month-old Rebecca Frauzem is doing her own workout: She’s learning how to roll over.

Over on one of the weight machines, Deborah Drie-Perer, nine months pregnant, exercises her legs. Her due date is only days away, and she’s more than ready for labor to begin.

As they work out, the expectant and new mothers discuss some of the folk-medicine methods of bringing on childbirth: hot showers, eating sage dressing or other spicy food, raspberry tea.

“I had Mexican food,” Drie-Perer says. “It didn’t work.”

A generation ago, women were advised to take it easy during pregnancy, for the sake of the baby. But now, even the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends not only that women who already exercise should continue, with certain common-sense precautions, but that women who haven’t been working out before pregnancy should begin a program and stick with it, for the baby’s sake as well as their own.

That’s how Pregnagym came into being.

The natural changes that occur in a woman’s body during pregnancy, such as increased body fat and loss of muscle tone and endurance, are the opposite of what a pregnant woman needs, says Arlene Turner, a women’s fitness specialist. During both pregnancy and delivery, women need muscle tone and stamina, she adds.

Pregnagym, a program of Irvine Medical Center’s Women’s Choice Health Pavilion, is the first facility of its kind in the county. With more than 15 exercise machines, two fitness specialists and a part-time physical therapist, the center offers programs for women from the 12th week of pregnancy to six months postpartum.

All participants must have a doctor’s approval to participate, Turner says. Many clients are referred to the program by their doctors.

“We try to strengthen the areas normally weakened during pregnancy,” Turner says. “A lot of women have problems with the lower back. We use the equipment to strengthen those muscles and teach correct postures.”

The women are more closely supervised than the typical gym patron. Staff members check their pulses before and during exercise, supervise positioning of the equipment each time it is used, and make regular reports to the women’s doctors on their progress.

The program follows American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidelines, keeping the women’s heart rate at less than 140 beats per minute, with no supine exercises, and no exercise more than 15 minutes in duration, Turner says.

“We get people in here with varied exercise histories,” she says. “Some work out regularly, but others don’t, like one woman we saw who hadn’t exercised in 12 years.”

The women who come to Pregnagym say they’re pleased with the results.

Chris Roffi, four months postpartum, started coming to the center when it opened a year ago. “This was my second pregnancy, and I didn’t want to gain as much weight this time,” she says. As it turned out, she gained the same amount--31 pounds--but this time, “I felt better and lost the weight much faster afterward.

“Exercise helped me a lot, especially at the pushing part,” Monika Frauzem says.

Toni Summerill, whose first child is due Oct. 21, says her doctor recommended Pregnagym. “I had always exercised, and I wanted to keep doing something while I was pregnant,” she says.

Now that she’s nearing the end of her pregnancy, Summerill says she has slowed down a little. “I don’t ride the bike as long because my pulse is high,” she adds.

“It’s given me more stamina, and my muscles are firmer now than they were before Igot pregnant,” Summerillsays.

“During my first pregnancy, I didn’t do anything,” Drie-Perer says. “But this time it’s much better. My thighs have stopped jiggling, and I feel fitter. I even got my husband to enroll in a fitness center.”

Weight training during pregnancy is still controversial, Turner concedes. “But ours is not a strenuous program. It’s light to medium intensity, and the weights are very light. . . . “

Summerill and the other women say there’s an added benefit to coming to Pregnagym. Alone in Orange County now that her Marine husband has been sent to Saudi Arabia, Summerill says the women she’s met at the gym have helped keep her spirits up. “These guys are my family,” she says.

“There’s a support group here,” Turner says. “That helps women deal with what’s happening to their bodies. It also helps them get a realistic view of what it’s going to be like after the baby comes. And that’s really important, because women don’t have the opportunity to spend time with other women in the same situation the way they did in previous generations.”

Pregnagym is at 4482 Barranca Parkway, Suite 180, Irvine. (714) 262-0700.