I am so excited to share with you the birth story and recovery journey from baby Mack!  One of the perks of my job as a pelvic floor physical therapist is working with pregnant and postpartum women all the time and then getting to hear their birth stories.  It’s truly fascinating how different everyone’s story is and even how different they can be between babies! I had originally planned on sharing this much sooner than 3 months after the fact but life as a business owner with 3 kids under 3 years is just a little bit hectic :)

My due date with Mack was on Labor Day, September 7th and I was convinced throughout my entire pregnancy that he was going to come about a week early (especially when he was down into my pelvis about as far as he possibly could be like 3 weeks before my due date…).  I did pelvic floor physical therapy consistently during my third trimester to prepare for delivery so I felt physically ready to deliver.  About 10 days before my due date, I started having prodromal labor.  For those that don’t know, prodromal labor is labor that starts and stops.  It is different from Braxton Hicks contractions because they are real contractions that work on dilating and thinning the cervix and moving the baby into the birthing position.  It is most common to have prodromal labor at nighttime and so I would start having regular contractions around 4:00 PM every afternoon and they would progress in intensity and time throughout the night until about 4:00 AM when they would just stop.  

After several days (and VERY little sleep) and a few “false alarms” that had us dropping our kids off at Grandma and Grandpa’s, I woke up at 3 AM on Tuesday (the day after my due date) with strong contractions so we took the kids back to my parents around 7 AM and I labored at home for the day.  Contractions were not very consistent but started to increase in intensity. Around 7 PM I was having strong contractions that were lasting for 1.5-2 minutes long but 10 minutes apart.  We decided to head in to the birth center around 9:30 PM, got settled and I got into the tub, had a few last minute conversations about deciding on a middle name (we didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl) and how I wasn’t looking forward to pushing a baby out and before I knew it, I was pushing like it or not haha.  15-20 minutes of pushing and he was born (almost en caul) at 11:10 PM.

Both my husband and I were pretty surprised to find out that Mack was 8 lbs, 7 oz when our other two were 7 lbs.  But it was so relieving to finally be done with such a long labor process and delivery.  Birth is definitely a pretty miraculous event but having three natural deliveries in three years is enough for me!  We then spent the entire next day and night at the birth center soaking up the quiet time with Mack and ability to rest before heading home to our other two toddlers.  I still feel that the uninterrupted time at the birth center really helped me start my recovery on the right foot since there’s not much rest once you are home with a newborn and 2 other high energy toddlers.  Read all about my postpartum recovery journey

Part 2: My Journey Through Postpartum Recovery

Currently, I am at 3 months postpartum which feels like hardly any time at all!  Overall, my recovery has been going pretty well and I haven’t had too many complications. Initially, I was feeling pretty good! I did not have any perineal tearing and very minimal soreness afterwards. The rest of my body was more sore from using those muscles during the pushing phase (so much hard work to do that). But knowing what I know about tissue healing, I was very diligent about icing for the first 48 hours as much as possible to get any inflammation out of the area. I also soaked in the tub daily for at least 15 minutes to help my tissues heal and to also help avoid any infection (don’t wash the area with soap otherwise you will kill off the good bacteria that you want...trust me, I learned this the hard way with my first baby). It also gave me a little reprieve and ability to take some time for myself everyday, which is so important for our mental health and ability to deal with all the hormone fluctuations and changes occurring.

Once we got back home with the baby (and all the kids), it was very difficult to limit my activity.  My husband did most of the physical tasks with the kids to give me time to rest so that I wouldn’t overdo it. I also had help from family here and there but ultimately, with 3 kids under 3 years, it’s impossible to not do any lifting of them. This was and still is the hardest part of my postpartum recovery because I do not have the core stability and strength to tolerate it.  After birth, I had a diastasis recti (DRA) of 3 finger width so this led to discomfort on my abdomen and low back pain. Slowly but surely these muscles are getting stronger and my body is getting more stable to tolerate the physical demands in my life but it will still need work for a while. I am lucky to have some of the best physical therapists in the area at my fingertips (shoutout to Dr. Jen and Dr. Jennie!) so I have been getting weekly treatment to work on recovering from my DRA. This has helped SO much and my DRA is down to 1.5-2 finger width and I am only getting low back pain occasionally at this point. So, just my little PSA for all those reading...we ALL could use some help recovering after birth and I would strongly encourage you to seek out help from a pelvic floor physical therapist. 

A lot of patients will often ask what I do for my own exercise and for my own recovery after birth.  And I truly do practice what I preach when it comes to postpartum exercise! I started with basic, isometric core and pelvic floor contractions within the first 1–2 weeks after delivery. Around 4 weeks postpartum I started doing more isolated TA (the deep ab muscle responsible for our core stability) exercises that are still very gentle and also some bodyweight squats. I noticed that my lower body had gotten so weak and it was difficult to get up off the floor or couch so squats became pretty important to start regaining that strength. Then from 6–8 weeks postpartum, I started doing a pretty basic strengthening circuit with bodyweight exercises. I still avoided any planks or plank positions and focused heavily on my lower body (especially my glutes) and my upper back muscles to help with my posture. After about 8 weeks I started adding in some resistance to my workout, gradually increasing. Currently, I am still working on increasing my resistance, but am just about ready to modify my program and change up the exercises. I also started doing some low-impact HIIT 1 day/week. However, I feel I’m ready to maybe add in some plyometrics at this point. I’ve also been progressing my core exercises throughout this time frame as well. I am also adding in more challenging hip strengthening exercises for stability.

The recommendation for postpartum exercise is to progress only if you are not having any dysfunction including incontinence, pain or pelvic pressure. While I haven’t had any of those symptoms during my recovery, I know that my core is still very weak and I am mindful to not overdo it so that I don’t injure my back. However, it is important to do strength exercises because our muscles tend to weaken during pregnancy and we need that strength to be able to do functional tasks, like getting up off the floor. We see women at the office frequently wait till they are 6 weeks postpartum and then start to run again without doing any strengthening exercises. This is very hard on the body and our bodies need to be strong first before they can handle the high demands of running and plyometric exercises (like what you’d get in a HIIT exercise class).

My current fitness goals are to increase my strength and my stability. I typically spend a good chunk of time at the start of my workout on stability work because it is so important for long term function and health. Having 3 babies in under 3 years has left my body in a much weaker state than it was before babies and my ultimate goal is to regain that. Yes, I also have excess body fat on my body...I’ve never been one where the weight just falls off easily and quickly. And I’ve carried over excess body fat into each pregnancy.  So yes, I do want to burn fat as well, but I know this takes time and building muscle is the best way to burn fat. So, I am *trying* to be patient with the process and put the hardwork in to get to a point where my body feels strong and healthy. My goal is to play competitive tennis and return to racing motocross this coming summer. I plan to start training for those once I regain more of my strength and muscle mass.  

Hopefully this might give you some ideas on how to handle your own postpartum recovery and I think it’s sometimes helpful to hear that even the “professionals” need help too. Knowing when to seek out help is such a valuable tool and my wish is that more women do this during and after pregnancy so that they can feel healthy and strong in their day to day life. And please remember, your body is not broken if you are having issues. Your body did extraordinary things and sometimes it may need more help to recover from that and that’s okay. It’s all a process and a journey so keep on chugging along! :)