So you had your six-week postpartum visit, and you're cleared for exercise? Hooray!
Are you a Hesitant Hannah? Apprehensive Abby? Or Ready-to-go Rebekah? I feel you. Maybe there's a little bit of each of those girls in all of us. Let me share a little about what kind of girl I was circa 2014.
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Graduation — check. Collegiate gymnastics career — done. What was next? I needed a challenge. Something to encourage my competitive spirit. Enter — CrossFit. I loved feeling like a total BOSS on the Pull-Up, Toes-to-Bar, and Handstand Push-Up days.
I started coaching group classes, which I continued through my first pregnancy. I was so ready for my natural labor and childbirth, and I knew I was going to crush it! Game Face Ready. *Cue the sassy pursed gymnast lips.* Labor Playlist nothing short of a locker room Pre-meet jam sesh (hello Cardi B, Eminem, and DJ Khaled). Oh yea, I was definitely gunna dance this baby out. Well, more on my unplanned C-section later.
In 2018, I was pregnant with my second son, doing one-armed handstands with a twenty-week belly. Not much had changed. I was hyped for round two and determined to have a VBAC! I continued doing the exact same kind of workouts with hardly any holding back. I was 100% on board with the mantra, “Pregnancy shouldn’t hold you back!” Any New Girl fans out there?? “STOP TREATING ME SPECIAL!”
Spoiler alert — I got the VBAC. Also, more on that later.
Fast forward a few more years to my pregnancy with my third. I was a little older and slightly wiser. I did things MUCH differently. I wasn’t sprinting and jumping. No more Hang Cleans or Butterfly Pull-Ups. I wasn’t maxing out my lifts. If my abs were coning, I wasn’t doing it. Let me tell you, that birth and postpartum were so different. I’m a slow learner — call me Stubborn Sally — but let me help you learn from my mistakes. Let’s take a look at each of my six-week visits.
Scene 1: The C-section
I'm sitting in a patient room waiting for my OB, lost in thought. I still feel really discouraged that I didn't have the natural delivery I dreamed of. I know they said we tried everything we could, and I trusted them. But somehow, I feel in my bones that I shouldn't have needed a Caesarean Section. After all, I had spent thirty hours waiting for labor to begin after my water gushed all over the kitchen floor, endured fifty hours of actual labor, and had reached 9.5 centimeters naturally. I wasn't progressing. We tried pitocin, an epidural, I even pushed three times, and then it all ended in major abdominal surgery. My lovely OB peers in through the door. We talk for awhile, and she assures me she thinks I could have a vaginal birth next time. She presses gently on my scar, says everything looks good, and I'm cleared! Ummm is that it??
At this point, I don't know a single thing about my pelvic floor, and I have no idea how much of my abdomen had actually been sliced through. But, she says I'm cleared for sex and working out....Okay, now where to begin....I still can't feel my abs.
Scene 2: The VBAC
I'm back in the same office, proud of myself for accomplishing the VBAC.
I'd been in the height of intense labor when my OB walked in and said, "You know I've been all for this VBAC, but you have a uterine infection, and we really need to get this baby out." I was so grateful she told me I could go ahead and push while they were getting things ready for another C-section. I was GOING to push this baby out! Twenty minutes later, my second son was born vaginally. My OB laughed and said my competitive spirit kicked in and made it happen. As she walks in the patient room at my six-week postpartum visit, she has a smile on her face. She's happy for me too. "Well, everything looks normal for being six weeks out!"
By now, I'd heard of Pelvic Floor Physical Therapy and how it helps with recovery, so I ask her about it. She says I can call if I feel like I need it in the future. I don't know at the time that forced/hard pushing can cause pelvic floor dysfunction. I also don't know that doing certain bodyweight exercises at two weeks postpartum isn't a good idea just because I "feel" good. I jump right back into my workouts with hardly any modifications.
A few months later, after feeling like I have a bubble that permanently lives at the base of my vagina and peeing on myself while running 400s during a workout, I start Pelvic Floor Therapy.
Scene 3: The Home Birth
I'm sitting in my living room with one of my midwives filled with gratitude, reminiscing about delivering our third child six feet away from our couch. I'm amazed by the design of physiological birth, the complexities of our bodies, particularly our hips and pelvic floor, and how often our bodies compensate. I truly believe more women could have better births if knowledge of the pelvic floor, therapy, and training were built into our model of care.
The day after my birth, I'd decided to try a breathing exercise with a full pelvic floor kegel, and I was able to do it! I could feel and engage my vagina and pelvic floor muscles the day after birth! It had taken me MONTHS to do that effectively after my first VBAC. However, I'd learned a few things this time around...I'd been through pelvic floor PT, I'd become certified to train pregnant and postpartum women, and I'd worked out completely differently through this pregnancy in a way that supported my core and pelvic floor and didn't bring extra stress to those muscles and tissue. I'd listened to my body during labor and delivery and was able to birth in a physiologically natural way.
This postpartum return to exercise would be different. I'd spend a longer time resting and recovering. I'd start with gently reconnecting my core and pelvic floor (which would be easier since I hadn't stressed it so much during pregnancy!) I would listen to my body and pay attention to any signs of pelvic floor dysfunction. And WHAT A DIFFERENCE it all would make!
