People were telling me my whole pregnancy “your life is about to change”, “you are such a scheduled person, it’s going to be hard for you to adapt to having a child”, “oooohhhh say goodbye to the life you once had” etc. LOL
I must say all of these above statements are correct, but that is not a bad thing at all! I am so in love with my little guy that I don’t remember what life was like without him! Yes, my life has changed drastically, but for the best reason in the world! Yes, I can’t just leave the house when I want without cleaning up spit up or poopy diapers and packing a bag like i’m going away for a week! It’s all OK!
The early mornings, all nighters, and late nights are tough but don’t really phase me as much because I am used to getting up early to train clients. For the past 10 years I have been getting up at 4:30am to head to the gym to train clients for 10-12 hours a day. I think I was unknowingly preparing myself for motherhood and the lack of sleep that comes along with it!
Ok but I’m not perfect though, my husband took this pic after he realized I had put my baby’s diaper on backwards one night. (that was one of the rough nights! LOL lack of sleep can do crazy things to your brain!)
Let’s go back to the day after I gave birth in the hospital
Let me start by saying hospital food = not what someone wants after giving birth! Hubby made the walk to good old Tim Hortons for coffee, oatmeal and momma wanted an apple fritter! We had some many visitors coming through to meet our little one and I felt great! To be honest, I did not really even feel like I had a baby? Trust me, I was confused too! Probably just high on life about our cutest new member of the family. We couldn’t wait to get him home and start our life as a little family!
Home Time
Reality set in a little bit after we got home, but it was more exciting than anything! The first week was rough I’m not going to lie. Learning how to breastfeed, sleeping on the couch for 30 minutes at a time because little guy was cluster feeding, adapting to mom life all together, and of course recovering from giving natural birth.
I must say I was impressed and shocked at how great I felt in the days following the birth and by the time Jaxson was 6 days old I was ready to get out of the house and go for a walk! I get cabin fever really easy, especially when it’s sunny outside. I also know that movement is the best medicine for me both mentally and physically so off we went on a little family walk.
Let’s Talk About Breastfeeding and It’s Amazing Calorie Burn!
I am strictly breastfeeding Jaxson and Wow it’s amazing how quickly this helped me drop my pregnancy weight! By two weeks postpartum I was back to my pre-pregnancy weight (I gained about 28lbs while pregnant) from sitting on my butt feeding the baby, not sleeping much, and eating whatever was convenient at the time. I was adapting well to the life, but I know this is only a short-term thing and was already thinking about getting back in the gym…..
Check out my progress after just 9 Days! (I’m as shocked as you!) Breastfeeding For The Win!
The first week and a bit were hard, because I felt like I was breastfeeding 24/7! I am not one for sitting still, but for about 2 weeks I felt like I was confined to the couch feeding the bean all the time! My muscles were seizing and I felt like this kid is constantly hungry! Walking is what kept me sane through this first few weeks before we introduced the bottle.
This pic pretty much sums it up:
The Scale Does Not Determine My Progress
Even before I was pregnant I never weighed myself because I do not think that is a good determinant of “weight loss” progress. With that being said, I still weighed myself in the first two weeks postpartum just out of straight curiosity because I couldn’t believe how quickly the weight was falling off of me. I know even thought I trained through my whole pregnancy, I still lost a lot of muscle mass. From now on I will do as I always did – steer clear of the scale and use these things as a determinant of my progress:
- How I feel & how my clothes fit
- How I feel in my workouts (strength wise)
- Once I’m back to lifting the same weights I was pre-pregnancy
- When I feel stronger than I was pre-pregnancy – as my goal is to go ultimate beastmode!
Speaking of Strong, Let’s Talk About The Strength Of My Little Baby!
I wonder if anyone has ever done a research study to see if Mom trains and eats healthy through her pregnancy that baby comes out with muscles and super strong! LOL This little guy has been trying to hold his own head up from day 1! He seems determined to crawl, even walk and wakes up wanting to train! I guess I can’t be mad at him, he got his momma’s love for the gym and work ethic when it comes to training. He did train in my belly alongside me for 9 months so it makes sense right?
Check out his Quads and shoulders!
Another interesting study?
What if Mom is a personal trainer, is around loud music all day, and is yelling over top of loud music all day? Does baby sleep through anything?? Well I must say that it works! Little Jaxson is a great sleeper (so far at least! LOL) we have vacuumed around him, I brought him to the studio while I taught a group fitness class, we play music in the car, the tv at home, and he sleeps through it all! So my tip for pregnant momma’s out there, yell a lot and play loud music when you are pregnant so your baby will be immune to it! I even took this little guy to a Coldplay concert when I was 39 weeks pregnant! LOL
I must say, one of the best things was bringing my little guy to my gym. I spent some much time there while I was pregnant, it was surreal for me to be standing in the gym of the business that I own (my first baby) with my child. I truly felt beyond blessed and it was a great feeling 🙂
OK OK I KNOW YOU ARE WONDERING, BUT WHEN DID I START TRAINING AGAIN?
I was getting out to walk almost once a day even if it was just for a little bit, let’s just say we made a lot of trips to the mall (LOL). Once the weather got cold our options for getting out of the house decreased, but for me even just to grab a Starbucks and walk around the mall for an hour cleared my head kept me feeling good.
Check out the playground fun, testing my muscles on one of our sunny walks
I did get to the point where that wasn’t quite cutting it anymore though. By the time I hit 4 weeks postpartum (with the approval of my midwife) I was back in the gym. Let me tell you, it felt AMAZING!! My goal for my first few weeks of workouts was to build my strength back from the basics. I was not worried about aesthetics or weight loss. I was back in the gym to ensure I am taking care of myself both mentally and physically through my postpartum journey. Working out is my stress relief and my medicine. With the focus on core stability, pelvic floor, basic strength exercises, and pretty much just working up a sweat; I felt like myself again and refreshed to rush back to my little man waiting at home for me.
It’s all about healthy balance:
23 hours per day = obsess over and love my baby
1 hour per day = look after myself
Result = everyone is happy 🙂
Check out some of my postpartum workouts:
Overall this new journey I am on is AMAZING and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. They say you don’t know true love until you have had a child, and this statement is entirely true! I can’t imagine what life was life without Jaxson.
I’m excited to see what the next few weeks have in store for us as he continues to grow and develop. I am easing back into my workouts by progressing each week and can already feel my strength coming back! I am not stressing over missed workouts (as I once would have) and eating clean whenever I can.
Check out this crazy progress pic! I almost don’t remember being pregnant! It seems so long ago already, but I am so glad I kept these pictures to track my journey.
Stay Tuned as my life as I will continue to keep you updated on my new life as a fit mompreneur!
Leave a reply