Post-baby thud and my 30’s/40’s
My third baby wrecked my body. I love him and I absolutely encourage anyone on the fence to have a third to go for it! But I didn’t have the “bounce back” with my third that I had with my previous two. Whatever the “bounce back” exactly means, there was no bounce. More of a thud than a bounce. But there’s always more to a photo though than meets the eye.
The photo on the left popped up the other day in my phone memories. It was a stressful and overwhelming time for several reasons. It was July 2019-hence the Fourth of July outfit because I never miss the opportunity for a theme. My youngest was almost 4 months old, I had just returned to work 20 hours/week, my husband had a lot going on, and I had minimal help outside of paying for childcare. I had been pregnant 4 times with 3 babies in the span of 40 months and had nursed each of them well beyond the year mark.
We know every baby and pregnancy is different, but so is post-partum. The third baby was the worst sleeper, and I felt such a deep fatigue caring for a 20-month-old and newly three-year-old. My body seemed to hold onto the weight and fluid. I was the same weight at the time of that picture as I was leaving the hospital. Not that is about weight whatsoever, but I just felt so outside of myself. I’ve always been very routine driven- I meal plan, move daily, and eat well, but hormones! The fluid, bloat, blah, just wasn’t budging. It honestly took until I finished nursing him 2.5 years later to feel and look more like myself. My body just held onto the extra few pounds. I had been pregnant and breastfeeding non-stop from 2015 to 2021.
I learned a few things that I can appreciate almost 6 years later. First, hormones are real. Second, It’s all a phase, a blip in time. But it’s hard not feeling like yourself and that is totally valid. Doing little things to care for yourself to keep going each day. Building routines for yourself to keep yourself sane. Just because you don’t see change doesn’t mean it’s not working- keep going! It’s easy to give up if you don’t see a change you desire but focus on how you feel. I knew movement and taking care of myself would keep me strong and in a better mental state to care for my family. The biggest shift has been less miles and more weight training. As a physical therapist, I constantly think about finding thresholds for change, finding the right inputs to create a stimulus for change. We are dynamic beings and are capable of change at any age.
With age, we don’t necessarily have to accept “this is how it is.” At the time of the picture on the right, I’m almost 41. I’m maybe a few pounds lighter on the picture on the right, but my body composition is dramatically different. We don’t have to accept our future as women that weight gain and feeling crappy is inevitable. Small things done daily and consistently make all the difference. I feel passionate about building routines and tangible ways to feel our best to help provide for others. My own mom had a victim mindset of aging and many other things, which I think contributed to her early death at 61. Perhaps that’s another topic for another day.
Much of what I do at CryoWellness Studio is rooted in what I wish someone would have done for me (or my mom) at different points of my life. Constantly thinking about what inputs for a change and I firmly believe this can be an important domino for a series of positive change. If you are in a season of hard and not feeling like yourself, keep going. Change your inputs. Start walking for 10 minutes but investing in your mental and physical health will make all the difference. It’s been said before and it’s true, you can’t pour from an empty cup. You are your most important investment.