In these past months of my postpartum journey, I have learned so much about my body and what it is capable of doing.  It really is a marvel seeing first hand what a woman's body goes through with a pregnancy, birth, and healing postpartum.   Although I do not consider myself an expert in pregnancy or postpartum fitness, I do have some tips gathered through my own research and personal experience as well as from other fellow fitness professionals who are experts in this game.   1. Before birth: Seek help from a pelvic floor physiotherapist while you are pregnant!      Who would have thought pelvic floor issues (think urinary incontinence, weakness, etc) can happen during pregnancy?  But after all, when you do have a small being sitting directly on your pelvis and using your bladder as a kick-target for months, you may experience some symptoms!  Hence why seeking help from a pelvic floor physiotherapist during pregnancy can help prepa...

Postpartum is quite an interesting journey that one cannot really know about until they experience it.  In Part 1, I wrote about my personal experience with labor and delivery ( HERE for part 1) and now I wanted to talk about my experience with postpartum after we brought our girl home.  Really at the time I write this, we are barely 8 weeks into our postpartum journey, and still, have so long to go. We were released from the hospital on Thursday, August 15th the day after Anna was born.  We were so anxious to get her home, but the funny part was once we got home, all I could think was now what ?!  What do I do with this baby?!  I was so tired from only having maybe 2 hours of combined sleep since Tuesday and so emotional from hormones, and everything else.  I mean, who's idea was it to just send us home with a child?  Don't they know I know absolutely nothing about babies?!   I've heard many times that when you have a baby, instinc...

I had been debating on whether or not I was going to write this blog.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to talk about my birth story of our little girl.  But after receiving many questions about it from people and encouragement from some friends and family, I decided that I would write about it and make it a 2 part blog.  First, my labor and delivery story. On August 14th, at 1:01pm my life was turned upside down when a little 6lb 5 oz girl came into the world after over 26 hours of labor, and 5 days overdue! My journey through pregnancy, labor, and delivery was nothing crazy or too special.  I was very fortunate to have a complication-free pregnancy and labor.  Even going 5 days overdue, I was thankful that I wasn't horribly uncomfortable.  I was not happy going 5 days overdue, the smallest of walks or anything would exhaust me, but I wasn't bedridden so for that, I am grateful. In the early morning of August 13th, I woke up with what felt like mild per...

When I found out I was pregnant, I wanted to make sure that I stayed as active as I possibly could during those 9 months.  As a personal trainer, maintaining my fitness and health are of utmost importance to me. I also wanted to show my clients, the majority of them being women, that it is possible to stay active and have a healthy pregnancy.   Women who are active and continue to workout during pregnancy have been shown to experience many benefits.  A healthy weight gain during pregnancy ensures the baby grows at a proper rate. Gaining too much weight during pregnancy can lead to larger babies as well as more difficult deliveries and longer recovery after birth as well as other complications. Being active during pregnancy helps women maintain their core muscles better, as well as helps to keep their endurance and stamina, which aids in delivery as well as recovery post-birth.   There are also several other benefits such as reduced nausea and mood ...