Ooooh lookie lookie, I’m back! Thought I’d share 5 random things from the week with you guys so let me hop right to it I don’t know which I’m loving more- my new East of Embers kimono, or my newly … Continue reading
Five on Friday
Category Archives: pregnancy
Pregnancy/Post Pregnancy Fitness Thoughts
I didn’t originally plan on typing up anything on my pregnancy/post pregnancy fitness-y ‘stuff’, but I typed up a quick email about it to a friend and thought it might be a good idea to post just in case anyone else is interested. Here goes (it’s pretty abbreviated. if you want me to elaborate, let me know!! I think I have WAY too many thoughts about my experience, and I don’t know if I could even begin to properly discuss it!)
Pre-pregnancy:
I worked out 6 days a week for about 60-90 minutes. It was a combination of treadmill work, HIIT, tabatas, strength intervals, spin, hot yoga, you name it- I did it. I was sore and exhausted most days- because that’s how I loved to be! I was still indulging in drinks/sweets- just balancing them much better than I had in the past. I was in the best physical/mental shape of my life before pregnancy.
While I was pregnant:
So my workouts pretty much stayed the same as pre-pregnancy until around week 23-25. For the most part, the intensity and the same exercises were there, but some days I was more fatigued than others and would go for a walk instead.
Here’s the crazy part- I got weighed at all my appointments and even though I knew I was going to gain weight (duh, there’s a baby in there) I still didn’t want to see the numbers. So even on those appointment days, I would drink less water so the number wouldn’t be so high. TERRIBLE.–> don’t judge. (I think it was about 27 lbs I wound up gaining?) I normally don’t care about the numbers, but now that I had to actually see them every few weeks, it was just….bleck.
From 25-30ish weeks, I started to modify all my workouts. Plus, my gym membership ended so all my workouts were done at home. I was doing some WODs, circuits, HIIT, prenatal yoga, Tracy Anderson prenatal workout DVDs and modified T25 (it’s high impact, but there were several ways to modify and still get a great cardiovascular workout). I wasn’t walking the dogs anymore because crazy dogs + snow/ice + pregnant lady= no bueno. I made sure to take long walks on my lunch break at work (about 3ish miles).
30ish-end of pregnancy: this is when I started to get pinched nerves and had a real mobility problem. But I knew I still needed to move to stay healthy (docs said me/baby were both perfect, so it was really where I was mentally). I was still eating as healthy as possible, but not neglecting my sweet tooth! Some days were TERRIBLE. I literally could not get up from the couch, but knew I needed to move in some way, so I would attempt some workouts…mostly just standing up was my workout. Or just going up and down the stairs for laundry would do the trick. Can someone say winded?!! Doctors advised to only do what made me comfortable; PT advised the same after an assessment. PS: I worked out until the day before Wes was born! I probably would have worked out the day of, but he was born at 3:30am
Lucky for me, the birth went great and my body handled it really well. To be honest, it was still EXHAUSTING to even walk around the block pushing the stroller the first two weeks. I even ventured to the mall a few times and was extremely fatigued afterwards (pelvic floor muscles are shot and it feels like your insides might fall out).
I knew I’d have to wait 6 weeks to workout, and in those first weeks I didn’t even THINK about working out because I was EXHAUSTED and trying to figure out this whole baby thing. Breastfeeding probably helped with the post baby weight loss, and my appetite was pretty low. It’s weird because I am one of those people who hate going more than 2 days in a row of no workouts, but for 4 weeks I didn’t even break a sweat! (Is it weird that I wouldn’t mind going back to those days already? Yup, probably)
I really can’t stress enough how much it didn’t even bother me..which I still think is so weird! The doctor cleared me to workout at 4 weeks so I decided to do the entire T25 program from start to finish (currently halfway through it). The first week was TOUGH and I modified it just about as much as I did when I was 39 weeks. After the first week, I noticed improvement in my strength and endurance and was gradually able to transition from modified to full-intensity workouts.
I even dared to step on the scale and was shocked to see the number be less than my pre-preg weight! (I am more than sure that there is some muscle loss that caused this..my butt is pretty flat lately! although my guns? NEVER BETTER. That’s what will happen when you hold a 15lb baby in a precarious position because that’s how he fell asleep and you DARE.NOT.WAKE.HIM.)
So now, I’m still very in tune with my activity level (and conscious of making sure I eat a good balance of fruits/veggies/protein/dairy/carbs—especially since what I eat goes directly to what Wes eats!) but it’s not my main focus anymore. Which I think is a pretty good thing because my more relaxed approach to it has allowed me my SANITY, allowed me to enjoy Wes, and to just enjoy the time I have off to be with him and NOT worry about logging hours of sweating. Plus, I’m still not drinking a lot like I was pre-pregnancy, so I’m not consuming all these crazy calories!
I think my biggest fear was stretch marks (let me rephrase that: more stretch marks. I already had a lot on my hips and inner thighs) and not being able to shed the weight, but even after he was born my stomach flattened out after only a couple days and my hips/thighs and everything in between seemed to be exactly how I *left* them pre-pregnancy! And those days after birth when your tummy is still big is honestly not as big of a deal because not only do you have a baby to look after but it’s still way better than a 40 week belly and the fatigue that comes with it! I still have my mental fat days and they’re a struggle to get over but it’s nothing some fresh air/bowl of veggies/baby snuggles can’t fix!!
So there you have it…some of my briefest thoughts on how I tackled fitness during my pregnancy, and how my approach has changed!
Maternity Photos
Many moons ago (aka pre-pregnancy) I thought that maternity photos were a silly waste of money. I mean, the only other time I have hired a photographer was for my wedding, and after seeing those prices, there was no way I was going to spend that kind of money for someone to shoot pictures of me when I’m fat.
Nope.
But then I got pregnant. And I got all mushy-gushy about everything related to pregnancy and baby. *damn hormones*
So, when I was off work for a week in February, I started doing some investigating online to explore the range of photographers in the Calgary area (i.e.: price, style, packages, location, etc). And it was overwhelming. Crazy overwhelming. Add that to my existing anxiety level and the fact that Tyler was in Toronto for the week and POOF, no bueno.
Then I remembered Whitney Cowan– a friend of a blog friend- who is a photographer. I have seen tons of her work online for various other local bloggers I know and I really loved her style. A few e-mail exchanges later and BOOM, maternity photos and newborn photos were booked!
We originally scheduled our session for when I was 36 weeks, but the weather didn’t hold up and we pushed it back another week. I kept my fingers crossed I didn’t have the baby before those photos were taken!! Anyhoo, we met Whitney at Rundle Ruins Park near downtown at 6pm and within an hour, she had taken a ton of photos. Whitney was great- she made us feel super comfortable and I immediately couldn’t wait to have her do our newborn shoot!
Ok, enough of my blabbing- here’s some of the photos!
Thank you SO MUCH Whitney, we really love them!
Humpday Bumpday
Well, we’re finally down to the single digit countdown of when this guy is supposed to be out.
Phew. I can’t wait for him to get here but at the same time I’m freaking out that I have to take care of yet another living thing and I’m probably going to cry a lot. Can people please stop putting all the terrifying things on the internet about having a newborn? It’s scary!
The baby has been really spoiled AGAIN this week- Leigh and her baby girl Amelia stopped by and gifted us an awesome little surprise of goodies:
AND we got a package from his Aunt & Uncle & Oma (Tyler’s mom)!
(Can you tell I’m addicted to Netflix? I bring my laptop with me all around the house so I don’t miss a second!)
Just as I am typing this up, the delivery guy dropped off yet another package and to my surprise, it was a hand knit blanket from one of my brokers at work! Super thoughtful. I actually went on short term disability pretty unexpectedly and I never told any of my brokers that I was pregnant, so I’m sure it was a shock when they all of a sudden had a replacement. I’ll be back…it just won’t be until next April! 😉
OH…and the baby’s coming home outfit arrived as well! I’m not going to share just yet the exact outfit, but I did want to shout out to Kelly at Baby H Designs for doing a wonderful job on my order.
Her Etsy shop can be found here (Psst: she’s in Alberta which makes it even better!)
I found her shop during one of my super long Etsy window-shopping wormholes and loved her patterns, prices, AND that she was local. But I noticed that she only offered headbands (for headwear). I messaged her and asked if she could possibly whip up a top knot hat to match some leggings since I was having a boy and she did! When the package arrived, I was super pleased because the material is really comfy and you can tell it’s made with care. Please please please check out her shop and see all the cute things she has to offer!! (OMG the bubble shorts are the BEST and I want to wear a pair).
My best friend also sent us the Ergobaby Original carrier- thanks Kysh!- AND we lucked out with a sweet deal on a super expensive breast pump (wrote about that here).
And again, I’m beyond excited for my parents to arrive tomorrow…because I know that approx. 75% of their luggage consists of baby items. Plus my mom will cook. And she will be my drinking buddy after the baby is born.
Until then, I will be in my usual spot…doing my usual thing…with the usual suspects. (I swear, the beagle is still alive, he just wants nothing to do with me during the day until Tyler gets home)
Humpday Bumpday
You guys, you guys, you guys. Do you know what is the absolute most adorable thing in the whole wide world? Baby Moccasins. Seriously. I previously hadn’t given much thought to the baby’s coming home outfit but as soon as baby moccs came on the radar, I knew I had to have a pair for him to rock home from the hospital. (I know, I know as if a newborn baby actually needs shoes. Pff. It’s his first outfit EVER so it needs to be cute. I’m banking on a warm summer so I can just have him naked for a few months. Should save us a few $$)
I posted last week some of the moccs I’ve been lusting after (you can see them here) but there is one vendor in particular that I went with because A) she’s local in Calgary, and B) several other mamas in the blog world have raved about her. So when I saw Danielle was running a spring sale on custom made moccs, I ordered right away. PS: I may have even ordered them while I was sitting in the doctor’s office ;).
Her Etsy shop can be viewed here.
Genuine leather moccs made just for my kid? Sign me up. I can’t wait to get these on our little guy! I ordered the light brown leather in size 1 and the cream in 2 (here’s to hoping he doesn’t grow out of shoes as fast as his mama did!) I’ve been told they’re pretty durable and stretch a bit with wear- both indoors and outdoors.
Layla is my shadow, so of course she had to get in on one of the photos 🙂
I’m super excited to have our baby wear these as he grows (sizes range from 1-7) so I will definitely be ordering more in the future. And guess what? Danielle has been kind enough to offer a 25% discount for readers! How awesome is that? Just use the promo code FAB25 at the time of your order.
On another note, his actual outfit should be delivered tomorrow, and I’m anxious to share that Etsy shop with you next week!
And on a third note, Tyler and I had our maternity photos taken on Monday with the wonderfully talented Whitney Cowan (yet another highly raved about person from fellow local blogging mamas). She immediately got us a sneak peak on Facebook- way faster than our wedding photographer *cough cough*- so I thought I’d share that here as well! I can’t wait to see the rest of the pics. We really did luck out with a sunny, warm March day in CALGARY of all places.
Hope you’re all having a great Wednesday, see ya tomorrow!
