Hey mommies & happy Monday! This week my little one will be 6 weeks old. I can't even believe the time is flying by! He is growing so much. He recognizes our voices & makes facial expressions when he hears them & that's been so exciting. He loves a warm water bath & coos when we give him one! We started on our evening routine at 4 weeks with Logan. We give him a bath, or hand bathe him; sing or read to him, change his diaper & then feed him & put him in his crib. This all happens about 11pm. The first week he was still getting up about 3-4 hours later. Just this past week it seems he's adjusting more & will sleep until about 5am. Thankfully! Now.....I do NOT have a perfect child, he will get up with gas pains every once & a while, or he will cry & not want his crib...but for the most part, he's adjusting well. We will see how long this lasts! :) He is for sure eating more this past week...maybe he's growing!
Now, for the topic of the week. The picture posted is from my Instagram account and is me at 5 weeks post baby--excuse the nappy hair & facial expressions! I have had lots of email questions about getting back into fitness & lots of comments about me going back too soon. So, I decided to clear the air & maybe help out some other mamas too.
I started working out again at 3 weeks post partum. This did NOT mean I was in the gym lifting heavy! I started out with 30 minutes of fast pace walking the first week with push ups & sit ups at home. The next week I started a light jog of 30 minutes & some more strength exercises with the resistance band. This past week I was running a little longer & faster as well as lifting 5-10 pound dumbbells & using resistance bands. I am focusing a lot on my core as it's pretty weak after baby.
I'm feeling pretty good, besides my poor back which is creeping it's little head again! I've always had back issues & my doctor warned me that after birth my back would be giving me hell even more...he wasn't lying! Lots of stretching will help, it always does & having a strong core will help tremendously! So I want to focus on that. I can't workout if I can't move!
I plan to slowly increase the time I spend running & hopefully increase the speed as well! I won't go back to the gym until 8 weeks when I have my 2nd follow up with my doctor.
A lot of people have asked "isn't 3 weeks too soon?" "I thought 6 weeks was the minimum?" Each person is different after labor & delivery. I had a very smooth delivery & even though I had an incision with stitches, in 2 weeks it was completely healed & my midwife cleared me for light exercise at 3 weeks. Always consult your doctor to see what's best for you. Since I was physically fit during pregnancy & lifted weights all the way up to 38 weeks, my dr & midwife were fine with me easing back into my fitness.
Trust me...if it wasn't good for my health or my baby, I wouldn't be doing it! So the only advice I can give in that area is to talk with your doctor when you think you're ready after delivery.
The weight isn't coming off easy! Don't feel rushed or consumed by the scale. If you just had a baby or had one 5 years ago, you can always start today. Working out after a baby is no joke! Your body is weak & sore in spots you didn't even know existed. There's flab that used to be a baby belly. And your hips, thighs, & butt don't look or feel the same! It's important to remember that you carried a tiny human in that body for a long time & it's going to take a while to reverse what that time did. And you need to let that be okay. Don't be hard on yourself, enjoy the journey towards your goals however long it takes.
I hope you all have a great week & I always welcome your emails :)
Xo
Morgan
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