Cassandra Forsythe

It's been three weeks since I've had my baby (via a normal, yet speedy, delivery) and just now am I feeling normal again.

After the delivery I felt like I was on the biggest adrenaline high I've ever been on in my life. I honestly couldn't sit still. I was up and down and all over the place. Being in the hospital for two days following the delivery was probably the best thing for me because there wasn't much for me to do other than just enjoy the fact that I delivered a baby without complications.

But, once I got home, that's when the activity started. After feeding the baby when she needed it, I re-cleaned the entire house (I cleaned it before she was born), did extra loads of laundry, re-organized my office, and just generally would not rest. I know everyone says, "Rest when baby rests", but that wasn't happening. As I said, I just couldn't sit still. I've heard other women have experienced the same thing, and it's sometimes referred to as the "Mother's High".

Well, this "high" was both a good and bad thing for me. It was good because it probably contributed to me burning off all my pregnancy weight, but bad because it lead to some severe pain.

During my delivery, I had some tearing "down there" like many first time mothers experience. Thankfully it wasn't a perineum tear because I've heard those are really painful, but it was labia tears (don't ask me how they happened...they just did), which were pretty bad themselves. In any matter, by day 2 home, I ended up pulling out the stitches used to hold together those tears, which was more painful than the delivery itself.

You see, my father came into town from Canada to help out with the baby for the first two weeks. I'm very close to my dad and my mother was not able to make the long trip, so he was there to help me with this life transition, which was such a great thing to have. When he arrived off the plane on Tuesday night, he and I started talking about exercise (as usual) and he explained that his knees hurt when he squatted. So, me being the "teacher" that I am, I showed him the proper way to squat because he was not doing it right at all. I also showed him other body weight moves he could do to strengthen his glutes and hamstrings, and in the process, even thought I thought I was being careful, I ended up pulling out my stitches. I didn't feel it at first, but oh boy did I feel it for days after.

I swear, pulling out that stitching was some of the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. I felt this severe pain for about 5 days straight which was incredibly draining and debilitating. It caused me to find new and creative ways to go about my "business" in addition to finally rest when my body really needed it. Thankfully my doctor gave me lidocaine cream which was the greatest gift in the world to me.

In any matter, I learned from this experience that taking it easy after having a baby is really important. Not only are your abs trying to find their way back to the center of your body (since they were spread to the sides for the last few months), causing you to "re-learn" how to use your core, but your body has just basically turned itself inside out, and really needs some time to repair. And... if you have stitches, you REALLY need to sit still for awhile.

Once my first week post-partum had passed, I was finally able to calm down a bit and relax (the pain helped me sit still too). I also did sleep when baby slept, but like I've said, this kid is a fantastic sleeper, so I've rarely felt sleep-deprived at all. Plus, waking up in the middle of the night to feed your child is different than being woken up for anything else - for me, it didn't leave me feeling as tired in the morning and was actually a pleasure since I knew I was supporting another person.

Now that I'm three weeks post-partum, I'm finally back in the game. I taught one of my boot camp classes yesterday while April slept (the music is so familiar to her, so she didn't even wake up). I did the warmup with the class, coached the first half, and did the second half of Tabata rounds with everyone. Overall, I felt great and my boot camp participants were happy to have me back. I had someone sub for me while I was gone, but they really liked having me teach again. I put them through a really tough workout for the first half and the Tabata rounds at the end were no walk in the park either. As I said, I did them and felt fantastic. Today my glutes are a bit sore, but I feel fine and am happy to be moving again.

But, overall, unless you were highly active prior to your baby, do ensure you take the time to relax. You deserve the break and you don't want to experience the pain that I went through because you couldn't sit still. No one wants that. Your body will let you know when you're ready to be active again.

I'll be teaching three days a week and will only do the class when I'm feeling up to it. Other than that, I'm walking my dogs (and baby) daily and have gym equipment in my house to get in a workout while baby sleeps. I want to set a good example for my daughter by being fit, but still want her to learn that relaxing when you need it is important too.

Back to motherhood! Baby is calling for breakfast! :)

Posted Apr 18, 2010 by Cassandra Forsythe.
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