My Pregnancy & Postpartum Journey
*There is no recipe in this post - just an overview of what I did during pregnancy and what I am doing now to stay healthy and fit.
Having a child has been such an incredible journey and I have learned to accept, and even welcome, the changes that have happened to my body as a result. I often look at my daughter and find it amazing that my body was able to change so much and grow such a precious human being. Ladies, it is so important to respect and honor your body during this time of your life because the bundles of joy that we produce are more important than anything else in the world.
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| 39 Weeks Pregnant |
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| 9 Weeks Postpartum |
My Pregnancy Journey
All in all, I can't complain much about my pregnancy. I never got so sick I threw up and I never felt extremely uncomfortable. I think a big reason for this is that I ate healthy and maintained some level of exercise throughout the full 9 months.
I found out I was pregnant the day after I competed in the Buffalo Springs Lake Ironman 70.3 last June. Little baby girl actually helped me finish strong and beat my goal time, finishing in 6 hours 29 minutes! I was already planning on a break from such intense exercise after that race and about a week afterwards the first trimester fatigue and nausea started to kick in pretty strong. Luckily for me, this was over the summer when I was off from work so I was able to give my body all the rest it was craving. It was difficult to maintain an active lifestyle during the first couple months, but I did my best to get in exercise when I felt up to it. I didn’t force anything and if my body told me it needed rest, then I’d nap instead. The nausea also made it difficult to eat as healthy as usual when all I could stomach at times were foods like rice, broth, and crackers. Despite feeling sick almost everyday, I still made it outside on lots of hikes, kept running, and transitioned from Crossfit to lower intensity workouts at home. With half Ironman training, I wanted to push my body as much as I could in order to see what I could do in this sport. With pregnancy, I wanted to maintain some level of fitness because I knew it was best for me AND my baby. I had no expectations or real goals here, but instead just listened to my body and took things day by day.
Almost to the day, once second trimester started I felt 💯times better. I had energy, I felt like I could eat almost any food again, and working out became much more enjoyable. This is when I was really able to focus more on nutrition again. My nutrition plans changed a lot from how I previously ate and I began to trust that my body would tell me what it needed to stay healthy. I ate a variety of [mostly] healthy foods and ate when I was hungry. By listening to my body, I was not concerned about what the scale said at each doctor’s appointment. In the end, I gained a total of 39 pounds, most of which was during my second trimester.
Ah third trimester - the light at the end of the tunnel! As I got bigger during those last few months, exercise got more difficult and I had to change what I was doing. My last “longer” run (a 5k - done in run/walk intervals) was when I was about 27 weeks along and after that the intervals of running got shorter and shorter until I decided running 10 steps at a time just wasn’t worth it! The last couple months my workouts consisted of prenatal yoga, body weight and kettlebell workouts at home, and lots and lots of walking! The last few weeks I kept hoping I’d just walk her right out and walked 1-3 miles each day. Baby girl was on her own schedule though and didn’t come out until almost 1 week past her due date.
After giving my body the first 6-8 weeks to really recover, I recently began honing in on my nutrition in more detail. I am keeping track of the food I eat, not to lose weight, but to make sure I am eating enough. I try to eat mostly vegetarian these days so making sure I get enough protein is important. I aim for 80-100 grams of protein each day. Some days this is through an entirely vegan meal plan and other days I add in meat at one meal. With breastfeeding, it is also important to make sure that you take in enough calories because you burn about 500 extra calories producing all that milk. On average, I am eating about 2300 calories per day, but that varies based on the exercise I do and how hungry I feel.
Before giving birth, I had read or heard from other moms about how the weight just melted off as soon as they started breastfeeding. Not gonna lie, I was really hoping that’d be me too! However, I have learned that my body is different. I lost 25 pounds the first 2 weeks after birth and have been hanging on to an extra 15 pounds since then. Again, I am trusting that my body is doing what it needs to keep my baby healthy. For me, my body needs to hold on to this extra fat in order to keep a healthy milk supply and I am fine with that. I am eating extremely healthy and providing my body with a variety of whole foods and nutrients to keep my baby thriving. She was born 8 lbs 14 oz and at 10 weeks is already just over 14 pounds. My biggest advice in this realm is to accept your new body for what it is and continue to honor and respect it. With time, patience, and hard work that extra weight will come off, but if that doesn’t happen until after I am no longer breastfeeding then I will enjoy this new, fuller body of mine in the meantime!
I will do my best to keep this blog up to date as I move forward through the exciting journey of motherhood - Stay tuned for some upcoming posts on postpartum and lactation boosting meals and snacks!
Almost to the day, once second trimester started I felt 💯times better. I had energy, I felt like I could eat almost any food again, and working out became much more enjoyable. This is when I was really able to focus more on nutrition again. My nutrition plans changed a lot from how I previously ate and I began to trust that my body would tell me what it needed to stay healthy. I ate a variety of [mostly] healthy foods and ate when I was hungry. By listening to my body, I was not concerned about what the scale said at each doctor’s appointment. In the end, I gained a total of 39 pounds, most of which was during my second trimester.
Ah third trimester - the light at the end of the tunnel! As I got bigger during those last few months, exercise got more difficult and I had to change what I was doing. My last “longer” run (a 5k - done in run/walk intervals) was when I was about 27 weeks along and after that the intervals of running got shorter and shorter until I decided running 10 steps at a time just wasn’t worth it! The last couple months my workouts consisted of prenatal yoga, body weight and kettlebell workouts at home, and lots and lots of walking! The last few weeks I kept hoping I’d just walk her right out and walked 1-3 miles each day. Baby girl was on her own schedule though and didn’t come out until almost 1 week past her due date.
Birth
I had hoped for a natural childbirth, but maintained a flexible mindset knowing that anything could happen. Dan and I took a birthing class that I originally thought would be most useful in providing us with natural forms of pain management, but instead it’s greatest value was in preparing us for everything that can happen during childbirth. Our daughter’s birth unraveled with premature rupture of my membranes, pitocin after labor did not progress on its own, an epidural after 8 intense hours of pitocin-induced contractions, and a Cesarean birth after 2 hours of pushing. Almost anything that could have happened was thrown our way and the best advice I can give new pregnant women is to educate yourselves early and be flexible with what needs to happen. My doctors and the hospital were both amazing the entire time, but I would have been much more nervous and stressed if I was not as educated as I was. This also helped me trust the doctor's opinion more because I knew they were presenting me with the smartest and safest options.Cesarean Recovery
My personal recovery from this surgery has gone really well and at 10 weeks postpartum I do not have any pain and can even do a sit up again. Keep in mind that recovery from such major abdominal surgery is definitely individual and it’s important to listen to your body, not how fast or slow other women have recovered. I began walking immediately afterwards - that evening down the labor and delivery floor - and slowly increased my distance each day as it felt good. When my incision hurt, I took it back a notch. At my 6 week appointment I was cleared for all exercise and started things slow at home with body weight movements - mostly squats, lunges, planks, and push ups. I also kept increasing my walking distance. At 7 weeks postpartum I went on my first run (just around the block) and was surprised by how good it felt! It was definitely tiring, but my breathing actually felt better than it had before pregnancy. Since then, I have only gone on a couple 1-mile long runs because I started having some knee pain (from tight muscles) and the plantar fasciitis I had at the end of pregnancy was coming back. I decided to take a step back from running and focus on rebuilding my strength and flexibility first. I’m starting slow with both of those, but so far things have been feeling pretty good. I am just now getting into somewhat of a routine with a yoga class once a week, Crossfit once or twice a week, and short 10-20 minute workouts at home on the other days when I have time.Postpartum Nutrition
I stopped working a month before my due date to give myself some time to relax and prepare. A week of this I spent cooking lots of freezer meals and snacks for after we got home with the new baby. Unfortunately, as excited as I was for things like buffalo chicken spaghetti squash casserole before the baby came, I didn’t want anything except really bland food the first couple weeks after. It definitely took time for my gut to heal after having a Cesarean delivery and being on all the medications that go with it. In a future post I will add recipes for all the freezer food that I did thoroughly enjoy, including my favorite Banana Nut & Seed Oat Bars.After giving my body the first 6-8 weeks to really recover, I recently began honing in on my nutrition in more detail. I am keeping track of the food I eat, not to lose weight, but to make sure I am eating enough. I try to eat mostly vegetarian these days so making sure I get enough protein is important. I aim for 80-100 grams of protein each day. Some days this is through an entirely vegan meal plan and other days I add in meat at one meal. With breastfeeding, it is also important to make sure that you take in enough calories because you burn about 500 extra calories producing all that milk. On average, I am eating about 2300 calories per day, but that varies based on the exercise I do and how hungry I feel.
Before giving birth, I had read or heard from other moms about how the weight just melted off as soon as they started breastfeeding. Not gonna lie, I was really hoping that’d be me too! However, I have learned that my body is different. I lost 25 pounds the first 2 weeks after birth and have been hanging on to an extra 15 pounds since then. Again, I am trusting that my body is doing what it needs to keep my baby healthy. For me, my body needs to hold on to this extra fat in order to keep a healthy milk supply and I am fine with that. I am eating extremely healthy and providing my body with a variety of whole foods and nutrients to keep my baby thriving. She was born 8 lbs 14 oz and at 10 weeks is already just over 14 pounds. My biggest advice in this realm is to accept your new body for what it is and continue to honor and respect it. With time, patience, and hard work that extra weight will come off, but if that doesn’t happen until after I am no longer breastfeeding then I will enjoy this new, fuller body of mine in the meantime!
I will do my best to keep this blog up to date as I move forward through the exciting journey of motherhood - Stay tuned for some upcoming posts on postpartum and lactation boosting meals and snacks!
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