Love the Unexpected

Before having kids, I loved a good workout. In the pre-COVID era, you could find me in the gym 4-5 days a week after work. It was a way to decompress, get my mind off of the challenges from the day and let go of stress. During COVID, I would run when the weather permitted, and fit in a home workout when it didn’t. Strength training, HIIT and Pilates were my go-tos.

During my pregnancy, I lost pretty well all motivation to keep moving. I hated the feeling of being constantly winded and worrying about whether I would move the wrong way and hurt the babies. Besides, let’s face it – I was nauseous for the first three-and-a-half months and carrying a whole lot of weight in the last three. Exercise wasn’t a priority in the time in between.

It wasn’t until about three weeks into my c-section recovery that I started to feel antsy to get moving again. I certainly wasn’t ready to start working out, but I was tired of sitting and my mind desperately wanted my body to move like it used to.

After a c-section, the generally accepted recovery time is six weeks. This means that if all goes well, you should be feeling pretty well “back to normal” within this timeframe. That’s not to say you’re fully healed, just that you should be able to go back to doing normal activities like lifting your baby and driving.

I can attest that at the end of each one of those six weeks, I noticed a marked improvement in how I felt. By the end, I was feeling much more like myself, though perhaps still a little worse for the wear. After spending such a long time sitting and unable to move, I felt my energy coming back and was feeling ready to get my body moving again.

As wonderful as it was to feel that old spark of joy at the idea of a good workout, the reality was that my body had been through some things. I couldn’t just pick up where I had left off. As I reflect, there were six main strategies that helped me gradually work my way back into fitness.

1. I took my time getting started

When I hit the six week mark of my recovery, I was chomping at the bit to start getting some movement back into my life. The first thing I attempted was a gentle walking workout. A few minutes in, I started to feeling some pulling around my scar and immediately stopped. I had to acknowledge that though my mind was ready to move, my body wasn’t. I opted to wait another couple weeks before trying again.

At the eight week mark, I pulled out the walking workout once more. This time, I didn’t experience the same pulling; however, I did notice some pain around the incision afterward. I took that pain as a sign that I still wasn’t quite ready. Factoring in that I had my hands full as I worked to establish a schedule with the twins, I made the decision to put exercise on the back burner for a while longer. It wasn’t my priority and I still felt like my body needed to heal.

By ten weeks, we were starting to find our groove – I still didn’t have many windows of opportunity to fit in much exercise and if I’m honest, I felt like my body wasn’t much further ahead than the two weeks prior. Still, when I did find myself with five minutes here or there to spare, I’d focus on doing some stretches and work at healing any remaining ab separation.

It wasn’t until our twins were about twelve weeks old that we started to get into a good nighttime routine which opened up a little space in the evening for me to fit in a workout. At this point, I was able to do gentle workouts without any pulling or pain after, which was my cue that I was ready to move forward.

I have no regrets about taking the extra time before diving into exercise. Everyone heals differently and the guidelines on recovery are just that – guidelines. The time was necessary for me to heal properly. Rushing in would have likely caused more setbacks than progress; besides, you can’t get those early days with your babies back – they are far too short as it is.

2. I started VERY gently

The first workouts I did were really just stretching sessions designed to heal diastasis recti and get back in tune with my body. It had been so long since I had felt anywhere close to normal that I needed to remember what it felt like to move and use my muscles.

At the twelve week mark, I started to introduce post-partum specific workouts. The YouTube channel Pregnancy and Postpartum TV was a great resource. These were low impact workouts and I opted for ones that were geared toward diastasis recti. They are designed to protect the core, which is also a goal in returning to fitness after a c-section.

If there were any exercises that caused me to feel pain or pulling, I would either stop or adapt my movements. These weren’t workouts that left me feeling breathless or red in the face, and truthfully, I was longing for a challenge; however, these more gentle workouts were really important in helping me build my strength back up and repair some of the damage from my pregnancy.

3. I was flexible with my schedule

My twins are now eleven months old and over those eleven months, our routine has changed many times. When the babies were really little, I didn’t stress too much about consistency. I gave myself a lot of grace and squeezed in a little exercise or walking when I could.

When the twins were about three months old, we were at the point where we could consistently put them down for the night in their cribs and expect them to wake up for a feed in three hours. During this phase, my husband and I would eat dinner, put the kids to bed, and I’d fit a half hour workout in before spending some time unwinding.

When they were about six months, our weekly schedule changed and the early evening workouts no longer worked. I played around with my schedule to figure out what worked best. Around that time, the kids were starting to nap more reliably through the day. I moved my workouts to the first nap of the day, and was usually able to sneak about a half hour in to get it done.

Now, the kids are at the point where I can workout during their wake time. They have lots of fun watching me and perusing any equipment I have out (my Pilates mat seems to be a favourite). It takes some of the pressure off, knowing I can fit it in any time of the day, though I still aim to get it in first thing in the morning when their happiest and my motivation is highest.

Still, I know that things will probably change, so staying flexible will be key.

4. I followed a plan

Before having kids, I could wing my workouts. There were times I would have a specific goal in mind and follow a plan, like if I was ramping up for a race, but oftentimes I would scroll around until I found something I felt like doing.

When I first started getting back into the swing of things, I continued to take this approach. I was aiming to be gentle and listen to my body, so this worked well.

Now, I don’t have a lot of time to think and if I take too much time to deliberate I might just talk myself out of it. I’ve found it hugely helpful to have a plan to follow, so that I don’t have to think about what I’m doing when I find a half hour to get my workout done. Instead, I just do it.

The first plan I followed was to get me back into running. I loved running pre-pregnancy but it had been over a year since I had last been out. I started with a plan designed to get you from walking to running continuously for 30 minutes, from the book Run Better (this is also a great resources for assessing your form and making small changes to improve your performance). It didn’t sound like much of a challenge when I started, but it was. I hadn’t realized just how much starting over I had to do, until I worked my way through it.

I’m currently working through a 12 week program by Heather Robertson. Not having to expend the mental energy thinking about what I’ll do has been hugely helpful in focusing my energy on getting it done. If I really don’t feel like a particular workout, I’ll fill in with something else and get back to it the next day.

5. I set small goals

One of the reasons I enjoyed working through my running plan so much, was that it gave me a goal to work towards. In the repetitive routine of feeding babies and changing diapers, I found it really helped to have milestones to cross.

It wasn’t a lofty goal, but it was something that I could take tangible steps to achieve. It gave me something to mentally focus on, that wasn’t stressful or worrisome. Exercise once again became an outlet for me. I could tune out any troubles from the day and just move.

6. I remembered my “why”

It’s fairly common in health and wellness circles to hear people talk about identifying your “why”. It’s exactly what it sounds like – what is it that is making you do what you’re doing? In other words, what’s your motivation.

For me, I wanted to get back to feeling like myself. I gained a LOT of weight with my pregnancy and I didn’t like the feeling of being lost in my body. I wanted to feel healthy and strong again and knew that consistent exercise would help me do that.

I also wanted to take care of myself for my kids. Exercise does wonders for lifting some of the mental load of caring for my twins and it also helps my body stay healthy so I can be the mom that they need.

Conclusion

It’s taken almost a year and I would say I’m still not 100% where I was pre-pregnancy when it comes to my level of fitness. I’m not sure I ever will be. But, I am at the point now where I feel strong again and that feels good.

C-section recovery is no joke. But as much as it may seem like you’ll never feel like your normal self again, healing does eventually come. It may take baby steps to get back to where you were, but every one of those steps is important.