Casual Bump Style with Cadenshae

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Well, hello! It’s been a HOT minute since I’ve checked in and for that, I’m so sorry! This whole social media thing can get challenging when there are now so many different platforms! Blogging generally takes the most time, so … Continue reading →

Pregnancy/Post Pregnancy Fitness Thoughts

Posted on June 25, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

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!

I Had a Baby. It’s a Boy. Here’s the Birth Story.

Posted on April 18, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

Woah. Pretty cool that I can say I have a kid now. It’s crazy and I’m still oh-my-Godding every two seconds because I just can’t believe it. What I can’t believe even more is how the birth went down. Like, it was CRAZY easy. I’m not trying to brag, but it really was. And if there was any guarantee that any future pregnancies went the same way, then I’d probably have 100 kids. The end.

So, here’s how the story goes: (ps: I was due April 17th)

Tuesday, April 14th: I woke up feeling pretty good. Tyler went to work and I hung out around the house with my parents for the day. Just before dinner, I started feeling crampy, except I wasn’t really sure if they were just cramps because they were a bit stronger. I decided to start playing around with my contraction timer app, but they were inconsistent which led me to believe that it could just be false labor. Sweet. Before bed, I showered (shaved my legs…THANK GOD) and painted my nails. I slept a couple hours until…

Wednesday, April 15th: 12:22am I woke up in typical discomfort. I decided to go to the bathroom so I wouldn’t disturb Tyler and wait out some of the uncomfortableness. Gross alert: I was bleeding a bit, but remembered it could just be the mucus plug thingy you lose prior to labor, so I wasn’t overly concerned since apparently that’s not a red-flag-go-to-the-hospital-right-away thing. I went back into the bedroom and the pain had definitely increased. I tried bending over the bed or propping myself up with pillows, but the pain kicked in quick enough that I had a hard time keeping still/quiet during the intermittent pain. I had 2 of those suckers in a row that Tyler suggested we should go to the hospital (I didn’t really want to). I agreed, and we left at 1:30am. By then, the contractions were frequent and strong enough that Tyler declared he was about to pull over and call an ambulance…um no, please just drive faster we are almost there!

Tyler pulled up to the ER doors, put me in a wheelchair and brought me up to labor and delivery. The nurses at the desk were taking their sweet time asking for my health care card and getting some paperwork sorted but we finally were wheeled to a bed where yet another nurse was slowly having me get in a gown. As difficult as it was, I undressed and as soon as I laid on the bed I screamed “I GOTTA PUSH!!!!!” (so weird how abruptly and loud that came out considering we were in a room with several other laboring women behind various curtains). The nurse said she’d check me (YES, please do! We had been at the hospital for a few minutes and I was in very obvious pain. PS: Super awkward to all of a sudden start moaning a writhing in a wheelchair when you can see a huddle of nurses behind the desk sharing a bag of rice cakes and chatting).

She checked me and said I was 9.5 cm and they wheeled me into a delivery room. YAY/OH SHIT. One nurse and the doctor came in and introduced themselves- both were girls who appeared my age! The nurse stood on my right- Tyler on my left and they propped my feet up on the bar. Tyler did the 10-count with every contraction while the nurse was giving me tips on how to push. It was basically just the three of us in the delivery room for a few rounds of contractions and the doctor would pop in every once and I while to look at the progress I was making.

DID I MENTION THIS ALL HAPPENED SO FAST THAT I HAD NO EPIDURAL. NO DRUGS. NONE. NOT EVEN AN IV. JOT THAT DOWN UNDER ‘INTENSE’

The doctor/nurse kept commenting on how crazy it was that I didn’t know I was in labor and how strong I was, yadda yadda. I was in the zone. If my eyes weren’t closed, I was staring straight ahead of me. FOCUSED.

At one point, I remember readjusting my grip on the blanket I was laying on and I noticed my left hand was stuck to the blanket- I was so warm and had gripped so hard that I ruined the manicure I had just given myself a few hours before. I commented on it out loud and they all started laughing that THAT was what I was frustrated about..nevermind the head that was coming out of my body.

Just a few minutes later, the nurse called the doctor in for delivery and the detached the bottom half of the bed. They told me I had to make the next round of pushes my best (some of my contractions resulted in baby’s slight heart rate drop for only a few moments) If I didn’t PUSH, a c-section could present itself as a possibility. As soon as I heard the C word, I let out a loud, evil NOOOOOOOOO and pushed as hard as I could (while still grunting the tail-end of nooooooo). The head came out, I pushed a bit more per the doctor’s instructions- a couple of small pulsing pushes and a couple more big ones- and then there was a baby on my chest: 3:30am. That’s right. Less than 2 hours after we arrived at the hospital.

NEAT.

Tyler cut the cord (which was apparently very short). Then the doctor asked if we wanted to see the placenta, to which we both firmly replied in unison a big fat NO, so she went to work on fixing up a level 2 tear and we just stared at this tiny human we were not expecting to see few at least a few more days.

Run on sentence, but whatever. I’m trying to write all this before I forget it!

She warned me the freezing agent she was going to use prior to stitches would sting and be pretty painful. A couple of seconds later, I asked if she had used it yet, and her facial expression completely changed. She was shocked not only that I pushed out the baby like a breeze *sans medication* but now I couldn’t even feel her shooting a needle up my lady bits and stitching me up! TAKE THAT.

To be honest, the worst part was having the nurse massage my stomach afterwards. I mean, if I had to have one complaint- that would be it.

After all was said and done and the doctor/nurse were about to walk out of the delivery room, Tyler and I both thanked them. They both responded “No, thank YOU!” They were still commenting on how calm/strong/whatever-awesome-adjective-you-want-to-use I was throughout the whole process that they said I made their job easy. You’re welcome.

They also told me not to tell other mamas about my awesomeness, but….. here we are. 😉

We stayed in the delivery room for an hour longer so that baby could be checked out, paperwork could be completed, and I could basically be taught how to pee for the next few days. By 5:15am, we were wheeled to a private postpartum room and had several other nurses come in and do checks on both me and baby. They asked if I wanted ibuprofen for the pain, but I didn’t really have any. They made me take it anyways since it wouldn’t hurt anything.

Not that it really mattered, but I had a sweet view of downtown from my room!

We spent the rest of Wednesday and overnight in the hospital and we discharged Thursday morning after the NP checked him out and he got a bath. Scary part: having to stay in the hospital overnight by myself. Um, my first day as a mom and I was left alone with a newborn! It was pretty overwhelming trying to make sure he fed enough/on-time (ps: he also had an immediate and great latch), that he was changed properly, and that he didn’t suffocate in the bassinet when I attempted about 5 minutes of sleep.

Another scary part: I had JUST gotten him to sleep after a change/feed at 6:45am on Thursday and some lab techs walked in to draw blood from his foot. Lucky for us, the tech was BRAND NEW and even admitted she was scared to touch the baby. So of course she made him massively cry which of course made me massively cry. I just wanted my parents and Tyler to get back to the hospital ASAP!

So that’s just about it. A nice, easy peasy birth. And now we have a handsome little dude in our house that I would die for because I love him so freaking much.

PPS: he is a hipster baby

Wesley Arlo Linton, 4/15/15, 7lbs 15oz, 21.5in, 100% handsome

Maternity Photos

Posted on April 15, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

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

Posted on April 8, 2015 by Jen @nutcaseinpoint

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)