So I’ve just had a baby. Well actually, I can’t say JUST anymore. More like four months ago. Okay pretty much five if I’m being totally honest with you.
I’ve got wobbly bits that used to be firm, my linea nigra hasn’t gone away, and my booty is three times the size it used to be, watch out Kimmy K, I’m coming for you.
Before I had my little lady love I was quite the gym junkie. It was my happy place where I’d spend anywhere from an hour to two hours five days a week. I’ve struggled with anxiety and depression over the years and I found the gym was what kept it totally under control. It was really important to me to keep going throughout my pregnancy, so I kept it up until I was 36 weeks. It was pretty hard at times, bouncing in body attack classes reached a whole new level of uncomfortable with a head between your legs, but I kept at it and I was proud of myself for that.
I knew with the demands of a tiny baby the gym was definitely going to have to go out the window once she was born. But I still thought, I’d have that six-week check-up, get the all clear from the doctor, and BAM be straight back into exercising. It didn’t quite go like that, and I’m okay with it. I think we all put way too much emphasis on getting straight back into it post baby. This magical six-week figure is thrown around too often. Did you know that recent studies are actually showing that it can take up to a year for a woman to recover after giving birth? I really believe this is WAY more realistic, and I for one, certainly still feel like I may pee at any moment whilst I’m busting my way through a set of burpees.
So four months rolls around and I still haven’t quite got back into my proper, hard-core, sweating-it-up exercise. My little baby is finally sleeping in a bit of a routine and I’m trying to navigate myself through the loads of washing, cooking dinner, cleaning up and keeping the baby alive. Through all this, I realised, I wasn’t really having any me time. Time that was for myself. Time that was making me a better person, making me feel good about myself again. I wasn’t sleeping well and there is nothing MORE annoying than lying there wide awake whilst your baby is asleep! So I pulled out those gym clothes, dusted off my runners and yoga mat and got back into it, and DAMN GIRL, it feels good!
I now let the washing pile up a little, the house isn’t as clean and I’m a bit behind on emails, but taking the time out for me is WAY more important. So, as my bub goes down for her first nap, instead of strolling Instagram for twenty minutes and faffing about, I knock out 30 minutes of high intensity cardio. This way, it’s done and dusted straight away. If I can throw in a 2 or 3 km walk with the babe in the pram in the afternoon, then it’s a bonus.
What have I learnt in the last few months about my new body? It’s different, it’s not as firm as it used to be, it wobbles here and there and it definitely doesn’t fit into my skinny jeans, but it is god-damn amazing. It carried this tiny precious little human for 41 weeks and three days. It grew those ten fingers and ten toes. And then, after all of that, it withstood 21 hours of labour to safely deliver me this amazing bundle.
So mamas, let’s all just cut these bodies of ours some slack. When you’re having one of those days where nothing fits and you don’t like what you see in the mirror, just remember what these bodies of ours have done, and the gift, the AMAZING gift they have given us, throw on some lippy and just drop it like it’s hot.
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