C-Section Saturday: Take Care of Your Body

Welcome to C-Section Saturdays! I am using Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Section recovery. Be prepared, some of the information that we discuss will be graphic, but I assure you that I will do my best to cover each topic with the grace of the true southern lady that I am. With that being said lets jump in! 

Today I want to talk about expectations and reality. Things tend to go one of two ways with postpartum expectations. They usually end up being something like this:

"oh my gosh, my body is going to bounce right back and it is going to be wonderful" 

or 

"I hate everything I am going to fall face first in a box of doughnuts since I'm eating for two now anyways."  

And neither of these are good. 

The reality is, your body won't bounce right back. It takes time to heal from the trauma of pregnancy, let alone birth or worse, a C-Section. Your body will not look the way it did originally, no matter what magazines, advertisements, and fitness gurus tell you. You pushed a human being (or had one pulled) out of you. That changes a body. 

The other option of "I'm nursing so now I can finally eat for two" is not right either. You have to take care of your body. This is not the time to give up on yourself. Take the extra step, make the extra effort to eat real and healthy food. Get up and move your body when the doctor clears you to do so. You can't take care of a precious newborn baby with zero energy. 

In reality your body will be different, and you need to be ready for that. 

In fact, I remember thinking that I was marred for life when I first saw my incision. I cried alone in the bathroom at the hospital, just nine hours after my first son was born. 

If you want to see what a C-section body looks like you can see those images here. 

Be prepared, it isn't always pretty at first. If you don't like where your body is after your C-Section, get up, and change it. 

Put one foot in front of the other. 

Don't quit, don't stop. 

You can do this. 

Psalm 139;19 says that "God knit me together in my mother's womb". 

Isn't it amazing to be a part of the miracle of birth? Isn't it amazing what God made our bodies to do? Your body will look different. Your body will feel different. But your body is incredible and don't you let anyone tell you otherwise.

(As a side note, this has NOTHING to do with your size. I don't care what the label on your dress says. There are plenty of unhealthy size zeros walking around out there. Be a good steward of your body and help it to be healthy, not just thin.)

C-Section Saturday: Make a Plan

I use Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Section recovery. 

Be prepared, some of the information that we discuss will be graphic, but I assure you that I will do my best to cover each topic with the grace of the true southern lady that I am. 

With that being said lets jump in!

Today I want to talk about the number one question I get as a gym owner. 

"How do I get fit?"

Here is the trick... there is no trick. 

You simply have to choose/make a plan and stick to it. 

People get so caught up in the idea that they have to have the exact perfect plan and if you don't then your whole fitness effort is in vain. 

That simply isn't true! 

That, to me, is like the people that can only start eating healthy on a Monday. 

If they miss the Monday start time they have to wait an ENTIRE WEEK to start again. 

If you want to get fit and healthy, start simply.  

Fitness really isn't that complicated! 

Pick there manageable goals and go from there. 

My manageable goals were: 

move my body as often as possible. 

eat real food

sleep as much as I can

That was my simple plan. 

After a couple of weeks of success with this plan I then added to it. 

"Move my body as much as possible" became walking on the treadmill, then running on the treadmill, and now I am running my mile for time, 

"Eat real food" started with cutting out Dr. Pepper, then it moved to eating more meat and vegetables, now I am doing a Whole30. 

"Sleep as I can" is hard since I have four kids under six. This looks like the traditional, "sleep when baby sleeps" and using sleep cycles to get the best rest possible. 

Do not stress yourself out, post C-section mamas (or anybody for that matter!) the process is much more simple than the magazines would have you believe. 

You don't need a ton of equipment and you don't need super expensive supplements and meal plans. What you need is to make a simple plan and stick with it. Don't believe my story? Check out the stories of my friends Denise and Rachel. 

At the end of the day you are a child of God and you are incredible. Get out there and move your body. Take care of the gift that God has given you.

C-Section Saturday: 7 Reasons to Avoid a C-Section

I use Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Section recovery. Be prepared, some of the information that we discuss will be graphic, but I assure you that I will do my best to cover each topic with the grace of the true southern lady that I am. With that being said lets jump in! 

Recently I wrote a post in which I said that I would strongly counsel any woman against a C-section. 

I experienced a lot of backlash about that post, and I would like to set the record straight. 

Make no mistake, while I encourage women to recover from their C-sections, I do not encourage women to have C-sections at all. 

There are several reasons for that, and I'll get to those in a minute but first, have you ever seen a C-section? 

Go ahead and take a look at this one. I'll wait. 

Ok, now that you have that lovely little gem in your mind, realize that was just a short clip. The real deal is not nearly as simple as they make it look on television. 

In the United States of America, the C-section rate is up to 33%. 

Woman are having their abdomen cut open, in order to bring a child in to this world. Think about that for just a second. 33% of all women giving birth in the USA are doing so via C-section. 

If 33% are doing it, why then do I counsel against it? 

Here are my 7 Reasons to avoid a C-Section

• A C-Section is a major abdominal surgery. It therefore comes with all the risks of major surgery.   
• The recovery is months to years (depending on how yours went) despite what doctors may tell you. You just put your body through an incredible marathon event (pregnancy) that requires recovery and now you have to recover from major surgery as well.
• That awful pulling you feel on one side of your incision,.. yeah that doesn't ever go away. In fact, you can expect to feel that for the rest of your life. 
• Oh and on the other side you might be like me and experience complete numbness. No feeling, at all. 
• Breastfeeding an infant (especially a larger one!) when your abdomen is cut open is incredibly painful. Many C-section mothers find themselves unable to continue nursing due to the amount of pain it places on their abdomens.
• Despite the work of birth rights activists across the country, the old adage of "once a C-section, always a C-section" is still very true. Just because a VBAC is listed as a service at a hospital doesn't mean that it is encouraged or even really offered to expecting mothers.
• If you notice that baby was puled away from mama just as soon as it was out. That is common practice with C-sections in the United States. I was not able to see either of my boys after they were born until I was moved in to recovery. It doesn't exactly allow for mother and child bonding. 

In conclusion, I am grateful that C-sections exist or my children and I might not. They are a wonderful tool to save the lives of women and children in danger. 

However, the use of C-sections to avoid labor pains or to prevent "vaginal stretching" is a gross misuse of modern medicine. 

Before you allow doctors to talk you in to an elective C-section because it will be easier, please carefully do your own research to determine if that is the right choice for you. 

If I could go back in time and somehow magically be able to give birth naturally (and safely) to my boys, and avoid the horrific scars and lengthy recovery time, I would.

C-Section Saturday: Trolls and Giving Up

It is C-Section Saturday again! 

After having my C-section recovery stuff up for a while now I have received a lot of feedback. 

Some of it has been positive and encouraging (thank you gym ladies!) and some of it has been truly awful. 

When a group of internet trolls found my blog they left a bunch pf hateful comments here on this page and on my facebook. I have heard comments like, "You should be ashamed of yourself" "Hideous" "Lost cause" "disgusting" and worse. 

I will confess, it hurt my heart deeply. 

In fact, I almost stopped my project all together. 

However, after a lot of prayer, I was left with a choice. 

Do I go on and continue writing to encourage and uplift other C-Section moms, or do I stop because some lonely, miserable people said the exact things to me that I am fighting against? 

The answer is: I will continue. 

A c-section is a horrific, barbaric surgery that literally cuts your body in half. 

But it is also a life-saving necessity for some of us. It is a gift that allows us to get to experience our children, and continue to live when 100 years ago we would not have been able to do so. 

That is not to say that I would recommend it. 

In fact, having experienced two C-sections first hand I can honestly say that I would strongly discourage any woman from having a C-section unless it was a medical necessity. 

This is not to "shame" anyone but rather to acknowledge the seriousness of major abdominal surgery and the amount of recovery that is required from it. 

That is why I believe in my cause. 

Because you can recover from it, no matter what anyone else says. 

I believe that every single woman that has had a C-section deserves to know what it will be like. She deserves to see what her body will be like. She deserves to know that she is not alone. 

I will continue to write so that other women will be able to say, "I know I can do this, I have seen it done". 

C-Section Saturday: The Baby Weight

Welcome to C-Section Saturday!

So, we spend a lot of time talking about C-section recovery, but recovery from birth in general is very hard especially in terms of body image.

Almost every woman wonders at some point how to get rid of the baby weight. 

That really depends on a LOT of factors. 

Things like your fitness prior to pregnancy and during your pregnancy, medications that you may be taking, sleep that you may or may not be getting, nutrition, and underlying health conditions can all impact your recovery.

So, assuming that you were healthy prior to getting pregnant, how much weight is appropriate to gain during a pregnancy? 

This info-graphic does a very good job of explaining where the "baby weight" comes from.  

Ideally you won't gain more than 35 pounds. 

HOWEVER....

I want to make it very clear that no matter much weight you put on during pregnancy, your focus should be on your health. I also want to tell you that your body is gorgeous and has just done something incredible. Giving birth is incredibly hard on your body, but it doesn't mean that you can't get fit afterwards. 

Focus on strength and mobility rather than a certain weight. 

Listen to your body and be reasonable. 

If you have questions or concerns always go see a medical professional! 

C-Section Saturday: Managing the Pills

It is C-Section Saturday again! 

As I have mentioned before I will be using Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Section recovery. Be prepared, some of the information that we discuss will be graphic, but I assure you that I will do my best to cover each topic with the grace of the true southern lady that I am.

One of the first things that you will have to deal with when you get home from the hospital is the barrage of pills that you will have to take for the next several weeks.

When I left the hospital I had prescriptions for:
Motrin (every 8 hours)
Percocet (every 4 hours)
Prenatal Vitamins (every 24 hours)
Iron supplements (every 12 hours)
Stool softeners (every 12 hours)
Fiber supplements (every 6 hours)

My pill schedule had pills at 4 am, 8am, noon, 4pm,  8pm, and midnight.

That is a LOT!

With my rowdy 6 year old, 5 year old, and 3 year old... plus a newborn, it was hard to keep it all straight. I ended up using one of these 7 day pill organizer (4 time slots for each day) and an additional two (single time) 7 day organizers.

I took my handy label maker and got to work. 

The first of the single day organizers I labeled 8 am. I left this pill organizer beside my sink in the bathroom as most mornings I was finishing up my make-up at 8 am. The second of the single day organizers I labeled as Noon and left downstairs in our kitchen (where my son couldn't reach it!) since most days I tried to eat lunch at the kitchen table with my son and my husband. The organizer with 4 time slots was labeled with the remaining times. Since I was released from the hospital on a Sunday,  I refilled my pill organizers each Sunday.

This system worked well for me and I would strongly encourage any new C-section mama to look in to this system or a similar one for your recovery at home. The last thing you want is to forget to take your pain meds or have your iron pills not be where they should.

C-Section Saturday: Introduction

Welcome to the very first C-Section Saturdays! 

We will be using Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Sections. 

I had four C-sections in five years, and there is SO much that I didn't know. If talking about C-Sections can help spare someone from the difficulties that I had it will be worth it!

Each week may cover:

-information about the science of C-sections

-tips for healing

-must have items

-nutrition

-My recovery process, plan, and results

-anything else that I feel like because it is my writing space! 

If C-Sections freak you out, just skip my posts on Saturdays. 

I will get back to writing my normal book reviews and articles as well.