I remember all the different emotions and thoughts that came with the news that I was going to have a baby. At that time I was very physically active and in great shape. Besides the excitement of actually having a child, I was very nervous about what I was going to look like after he was born. I had heard that "things shift" and "your body is never quite the same." I mean, what pregnant personal trainer wants to hear THAT?! Furthermore, at about 3 or 4 months I had horrible sciatica and these back spasms that kept me from working or even staying moderately active.
I never had morning sickness but I was nauseous a lot and ironically I lost all taste for anything healthy. The idea of trail mix, tofu or any kind of protein (besides grilled cheese) disgusted me. By the end of my pregnancy I was huge. All of my kind loved ones assured me I was "all baby" but I have pictures to prove otherwise! Add all the fluids they pumped into me during labor and all the swelling, let's just say I was really huge! Plus they failed to tell me that even once the baby is born, I still looked 6 months pregnant!
In a way, I am very grateful to have been so big. It was difficult to move around, sleep, shower, get up and down stairs, up and down anywhere, drive, and on and on and on. I was short of breath and had all sorts of issues related to my size. It was very taxing, both mentally and physically. I remember feeling so miserable and vowed to never feel like that again.
I remember trying to get back into shape once Aidan was a little older and the weather a bit nicer: it was painful. After having a dormant exercise regime for about 10 months, it was hard. I understand why millions of people remain inactive...because getting in shape can hurt! My chest and throat burned, my legs felt like they were going to give out and I doubted my lungs' ability to keep working! I remember running at Frick Park and wanting to wear a sign on my back that said, "I don't normally sound like this, I just had a baby!"
It was hard and sometimes painful, but I kept at it. I started by running just one day a week. I added a few minutes to my twice weekly run until it became a whole run on another day. I kept at it until it didn't hurt so badly anymore. It took about 3 or 4 months of shuffling my feet and breathing heavily until it started to feel good. Slowly but surely I started looking forward to exercise as I had before I was pregnant. If everyone could just get over that "hump" in the beginning, exercise, or at least a more active lifestyle, would be somewhat enjoyable and certainly easier.
I worked really hard to get back into shape after I had my baby. And I'm hear to say that there is hope after childrearing! A girlfriend of mine (you know who you are) waited until after her first child to catch the fitness bug. And she looks fantastic after two kids! In a lot of ways I like my body so much more now. I mean, I carried and bore a child! My body's amazing just for that! Women have children because men could never survive labor. And it feels great to be able to carry my kid all around and up three flights of stairs and chase him around and keep up with him because I work hard so that stuff feels easy. We are capable of anything...the first step is commitment followed by a lot of effort and a little bit of faith...to be able to focus on the final product really helps to push through the discomfort, kind of like labor!
Reading this made me think of my first child. I also was in really good shape before Jayme. I had him without drugs and was in labor from 7:30pm on 06/05/1985 to 10:48pm 06/06/1985. He was the first grandchild on his fathers side and everyone was there all day. Finally he was born and everyone went home. It was then I realized what he had done to my body. I cried all night. I weighed about 127 before I was pregnant with 9% body fat and only went up to 133lbs. It did not take me long to get back in shape, except the stretch marks and after two more kids and twenty years I had most of them surgically removed and the muscles but back in place pre pregnancy. It seemed that every five years something got harder to keep in shape. It seems that getting out of shape creeps up on you. So I suggest if you have a routine stick with it and if you don't get one. It is easy to lead a healthy lifestyle and stay healthy at young age, but you can get it back if you wake up one day and wonder where it went. I remember a few years ago my friends cousin opened a gym and I decided to join it because I was going to Panama City in a month. He told me she opened a gym, she's not a magician. Of course four years later I feel that by spinning, having a personal trainer, being on a treadmill regularly and making good eating decisions I am in the best shape of my life since I was in my early 20s. I feel it is never too late to get into healthy habits.
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