Strength in Motherhood: Busting Myths of Perinatal Fitness with Gina Conley

In this engaging podcast episode, Jacqueline dives into the challenges of parenting and the importance of community among parents, followed by an insightful discussion with Gina Conley, founder of MamasteFit. Gina, an experienced fitness trainer and birth doula, explores prenatal fitness, debunking common myths and emphasizing the benefits for mother and baby's health. Topics include prenatal exercise misconceptions, postpartum recovery, and pelvic health. Mothers are given practical advice for safe exercise integration pre and post-childbirth. 

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This episode is sponsored by Restful Baby.
Aly Dabbs is a certified sleep consultant and the founder of Restful Baby. She helps struggling moms get back the rest they need. Aly gives you the tools and support you deserve to create a successful and peaceful sleep routine for your toddler. You do not need to accept exhaustion as your new normal! Podcast listeners get $50 off a sleep package, so set up your consult with Aly today!

Transcript

Hey friend, thanks for joining me again on the podcast. I hope you're having a great week this week for me has been a bit, uh, stressful.  Um, I like am off this week. Like I do not even know what day it is. I think it's for a few reasons. My husband had to travel for work on a Monday, which like isn't Typical normally, he travels  midweek.

So Tuesday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, somewhere in there. So my whole week was just like thrown off and then on Wednesday ended up having to have hunter skip school, because we had appointments to go to that were like far away and smack in the middle of the day.

And of course my husband was out of town, so it was just. It's way too hard to try and navigate two different school pickups and drop offs, plus two appointments. It, it just was like one big headache. So I ended up switching Noah's preschool day to Friday instead of Wednesday, and then just took Hunter out of school altogether, but that was, that was a challenging marathon of a day.

I mean, the kids were, you know, themselves. They were just being themselves.  It was just a big task to get everybody up and out the door. Lorelei is going to be getting a new accessory.  She's getting a doc band,  to help round out her cute little head.  It was not a huge concern at her four month appointment, but our pediatrician said, you know what,  if you don't think it's improving at her six month, you know, we will.

Definitely look into that further and see if there's something that needs to be done, but call us sooner. And, and you know what, after about another month, I was like, you know what,  I would rather get this done and help fix her head now. You know, those are the cons of like her being like the world's best sleeper since like eight weeks.

I mean, she would just sleep like 10 hours,  obviously on her back. And then of course, you know, she's, you know, in a car seat in and out a lot because you know,  three kids on the go all the time. Also she's so chill. She just has been like a little slower to  roll over and start doing that.

And of course she wasn't a fan of tummy time, but we did it all the time. Needless to say, her head needs a little work.  So I had to load all three kids up to try and get to a 9 a. m. appointment, which was about 30 minutes away. And the appointment itself was like 20 minutes. They were really just taking measurements.

But, of course, I was going to be 15 minutes late. And so, you know, 15 minutes late to a 20 minute appointment probably isn't going to work out. Thankfully, I called them and  They had an opening where they could just push back my appointment to 940 instead. So, as one does, me and the kids made a pit stop at Starbucks, and then we headed right to her appointment, and that went fine.

I did have to let the boys bring their tablets because, Truthfully, there's just no other way  I mean, they would just be touching everything and, you know, climbing on things. So that's what we had to do for that. 

And then we had some time before needing to head to Hunter's appointment, which was a six month follow up with his pulmonologist. He sees the pulmonologist every, yeah, about every six months,  for his asthma, and this has been ever since he was hospitalized with complications. 

With his breathing and illness. And so he's been on some different medications. And this was the first appointment where the last handful of months  since the beginning of summer, he's been off of all types of inhalers. He used to take an inhaler. every single day,  morning and night.

Then we went down to just at night. And then for the last three months, he hasn't been on it at all and hasn't had any asthma attacks, hasn't needed a rescue inhaler, but also hasn't gotten sick yet. He right now has a cold, but, The doctor gave us the option to either graduate him at that appointment or wait another six months and really see how he does through like the winter and cold season, without his regular everyday inhaler.

So. Due to the fact that her waiting list is about a year long, basically if we  get off the schedule, we would kind of be screwed. So I decided to, to wait and we'll, we'll go back in six months and check on his breathing again. But yeah, in between those appointments, we went to Target, had to get a birthday gift for Hunter's friend.

But every little thing is a is a marathon that day. I mean, I think I sweat half the day, you know, just getting everyone in and out of the car multiple times feeding Lorelai on the go, changing Lorelai on the go. And I haven't been to Target with the kids.

Both boys in like a really long time,  for good reason because it takes forever. They want everything.  They walk now. It's not like they're small and they're in the car. So it's just,  it's a little stressful. Um, but we had to do it. So we did that, got that taken care of, got gas. Headed to Hunter's Appointment, which is a whole excursion in itself.

It's at a children's hospital and, you have to park in the parking garage and then we have to walk all the way to the other side of the hospital. And then this time I actually found the room right away, but it usually, I usually get lost and it was just. It was a lot. And then we had to wait for a good 30 minutes in the waiting room before being seen by the doctor.

And then we had to wait in the room for the doctor. Yeah. And then when all was said and done, had to drive home about an hour  and we've been gone all day. So we had to have  breakfast at Starbucks, uh, lunch at Panera and then on the go and just finally got home only to, you know, chill for a second and then do dinner and showers and homework  and, you know, dishes and just all the things, and that was how I ended a three day solo parenting week. Um, so today brought me a little bit of life this morning. I was able to work outside of the house, got a manicure. And got some work done because I have been fighting, sleep versus work pretty much all week, um, and sleep always wins because I can't function and when I'm a solo parent, I, I gotta be rested and on my game in order to get everybody where they need to go.

So, all that to say, what day is it? Like, literally, what What day is today?  Okay, enough about my crazy week. Thanks for listening to me vent, you know. Feel free to always like hit me back with some, with some vent sessions. You know, you can always reach me by DM or in the Facebook group Motherhood Intended Community.

Um, you know, we're here for each other. So thanks for listening  on a more exciting note. Today's guest is Gina Conley and she's the founder of Mama Stay Fit. Love the name, by the way. It's a perinatal fitness training company located in North Carolina and Mama Stay Fit supports women throughout their pregnancy, birth and beyond as one of the only training facilities exclusively serving pre and postnatal fitness training clients in the U.

S. Gina has her master's in exercise science and is the author of Training for Two, a book about how to use prenatal fitness to support a strong and pain free pregnancy as you prepare for birth. Gina is also a birth doula who has supported over 200 in person births. She combines her experience as a fitness trainer and a birth professional to create comprehensive programs that support her clients from conception to birth and through the postpartum period. She is a military spouse, an army veteran, and a mom of now four with her youngest being only one month old.

Gina is just a wealth of knowledge when it comes to all of this stuff and I, in just a 40 minute conversation with her, learned so incredibly much. So if you are pregnant, or newly postpartum, or planning to be pregnant, or maybe just want more information for your second time around being pregnant, listen up because she is so informative when it comes to your health and fitness . And it was just a very fantastic conversation. She's going to debunk prenatal fitness myths, which I for one found so helpful, and I wish I would have known this when I was pregnant. She addresses common misconceptions and fears around exercise during pregnancy as well.

It's a great conversation. Take a listen. 

 Hey Gina, thanks for joining me on the podcast today.  

Thanks for having me. 

Yeah, I'm super excited to pick your brain  of topics, but like I mentioned before we hit record, I'm going to try and stay focused here. You have a wealth of knowledge on so many things. You are a mom, a business owner and author and so much more. So why don't we just get started? Tell me a little bit about yourself, your family, um, and then we can dive into all the questions I have for you.

So, my name is Gina. I am a mom of four. The youngest is a month old, so I just gave birth a little bit ago. Um, I started my business, Mama Stay Fit, in 2017 after the birth of my daughter, which I spent that whole pregnancy being, like, super confused on what to do with exercise.

Like, there's so much misinformation out there about what is safe and what is dangerous. And so it's like, don't exercise on your back. And then like, so there's some, there's so much misinformation out there that it made movement release, terrifying for me during my pregnancy. And so I was very like risk adverse with the movements that I was choosing to do.

And then when it, when it came to the postpartum, I was like, well, what is a pelvic floor? Like,  what am I supposed to do with it? Like, what do you mean there's this muscle down there? Um, and so it was kind of like startling to me how little I felt. I.  knew about like movement during pregnancy and then recovery in the postpartum.

And so after my daughter was born, I decided, you know what, I'm just going to make a business out of this. And I went back to school. I got a second bachelor's and a master's degree in exercise science and just kind of spent the next like three years like studying. studying how to exercise during your pregnancy in the postpartum. And I 

Also, no big deal. You said that so casually. Yeah, so I just went back and I just got another bachelor's, like, you know, I'll just start a business. Like, no big deal.  

With a newborn. 

Yeah. 

Um, and so it was definitely a pretty, like, chaotic situation. Um, I started coaching at a gym by us where it was a personal training gym.

And so he allowed me to just have my own clients. And he also allowed us to bring our kids into the gym, which was like really surprising. And so, cause like, you don't, for me, like, I didn't want to put my newborn in a daycare to go work out. And that most of the daycares also don't take newborns. Like they have to be at least like six months or 18 months or.

Yeah, 

so like so old. And so I was like, well, I don't even have an option to work out if I don't have a home gym if I can't bring my baby. And so he allowed us to bring our kids into the gym. And so this gave me an opportunity to experiment with my clients. So I told my old OG moms that they were my guinea pigs, and I'm really thankful for them.

And so I started developing my prenatal programming. I started really seeing what was working. For different types of people in their bodies. Cause what felt good for me and my body doesn't always feel good for other people and seeing how those movements were translating for them and their labors. And so I became a birth doula about a year after starting my business, mama stay fit with chest, which was just strictly pre and postnatal fitness.

And I expanded into the birth world and started to see. Okay, like, these type of movements are translating into really positive birth outcomes. Like, if somebody is capable of doing this movement, it seems to be making it easy for the baby to move through their pelvis. And so it really kind of reinforced to me that exercise was really beneficial throughout pregnancy. 

But there was a lot of misinformation that I kind of had to wade through and help navigate my clients through. Um, and so in 2020, when the world shut down, we expanded pretty rapidly online because everyone was looking for an online resource. And that really kind of like, that's kind of like the taking off point for my business with the online platform that we have.

So I started with in person, we're, we still have an in person training facility, um, still supporting in person births, and now we've expanded into the online space as well. And a lot of our. Energy is dedicated to kind of debunking myths about prenatal fitness, like helping folks feel empowered to move throughout their pregnancy.

Cause there are so many benefits to it. And I just think back to myself and my first pregnancy of just being terrified of doing the wrong thing and hurting my baby. And like, there's information out there about like. Oh, if you exercise, like you, you can have a miscarriage or you can, your placenta will detach and there's, it's, it's scary.

It gets really scary, really fast. And so for me, like I had two pregnancy losses between my first and my second child, and I've been a very active person my whole life. And at this point I understood that there was no correlation between increased risk of miscarriage and exercise. If anything, exercising is really beneficial for you, especially during pregnancy.

And it does not increase your risk of miscarriage or,  preterm labor or pregnancy loss. And so after my first loss, I had somebody be like, Oh, it's probably because you were lifting weights. And I was like, well, excuse me. First of all, like that was incredibly rude to say. I'm in a grieving process right now.

Like, how about we not try to blame me for that? Yeah. Um, but also like it was not correlated, like me exercising and lifting weights did not cause my miscarriage. And so I want to debunk that  really quick for anybody that's listening is exercising does not cause miscarriage. For sure. Obviously, if you have like a severe prenatal complication, like exercising could be contraindicated  where it may not be beneficial for you.

But for the majority of folks that are low risk pregnancies,  exercise is incredibly beneficial for you. And. Um, yeah, so I'm hoping in this episode we can kind of debunk some of these myths because it is so important to move during your pregnancy. 

Yeah, I'm so glad you brought that up because I, I mean, you, you knew that even though you still had to feel these like horrible comments, but you knew that, that that wasn't the case, that your exercising did not cause that, but I'd say the average person who doesn't know any of this, like, yeah, I would, I would definitely have blamed myself, 

I would be thinking that it was something that I did as most of us do, you know, whether it's exercising or not, someone might be like, Oh, is that simple wine or it was the lunch meet? I, you know, when you have a loss, it's common for people to blame themselves for one reason or another. So I'm really glad you brought that up.

And, I know myself, like in my first pregnancy and probably even my second and third, I did not, I did not know that Working out and being fit and exercising is  beneficial to things like giving birth I was just thinking like health, weight loss, I, that's all I knew. I was like, well, you know, I just want to stay active, but not too active. I was one of those people who was terrified to, exercise in pregnancy because I just, I didn't know, I didn't have the information. I, all I did was walk because I was just so scared and I think, um, a lot of people listening to maybe are navigating infertility. And for those people who, it takes you a while to get to the point of like finally getting pregnant.

You don't want to Do anything wrong and you don't want to like mess anything up. So it's so important, I think, for women to hear that, like, it's beneficial to, to continue, especially if, of course, if you were being active prior to pregnancy and you were in a routine of exercising and working out, like that's safe to do. And you should, you should do that. What are some fears and like common risks that you've heard from other women of like working out in pregnancy? I mean I've made up a few in my head But like do you hear some like reoccurring themes when you're talking to women?

Usually the biggest one that we'll hear is I'm gonna start exercising in my second trimester because I want to make sure That we're good. We're in the all clear. 

Yeah. 

We're in the all clear if we make it to the second trimester, which both you and I know that that is not the case. Right. Um, so, I usually get a lot of questions, like, on Instagram, or even clients of ours in person, that are like, I'm gonna wait till my second trimester, and then I'll start with you.

And I'm like, you don't have to, like, if you want to wait till the second trimester because you feel like garbage, Like you, you're nauseous and you're sort of teak, that's totally fine. If you're waiting till the second trimester because you're afraid, like, let me reassure you that exercise is very safe and beneficial for you.

Like, if you feel good to exercise, by all means, like, please come move your body. Um, and I'm not trying to force anybody to do anything, but,  There, so the biggest two concerns with prenatal fitness is it's going to affect the length of my pregnancy so it's going to cause a pregnancy loss or miscarriage or it's going to cause preterm labor and the second is it's going to impact my baby's development like they're going to be too small like they're it's going to suck away the nutrients from them because my muscles need it for my workouts and my gains.

Yeah. 

Um, and I just, I'm going to start with both of those are not true. 

Okay, good. 

Um, but those are like the biggest concerns and those both involve safety. And so when somebody is told or they have this belief, which is a very common belief, and I don't want to fault anybody for believing these things because it's It's so prominent in our society, like if you look at any Instagram post where somebody is pregnant, very visibly pregnant, exercising, there's going to be probably hundreds of comments that are like, you only care about yourself and not your baby, or your baby's going to come out all messed up, or you're going to have a lot, like people are cruel, sometimes. 

And so it's definitely a very overwhelming belief that this is negative for pregnancy. And so research has like repeatedly demonstrated that there's no correlation between exercising and the length of your pregnancy being impacted. It's not going to cause miscarriages, it's not going to cause your placenta to detach to include heavy lifting, and it's not going to cause preterm labor.

That one probably comes from if somebody is in preterm labor. further having complications towards the end of their pregnancy. Their providers may recommend bed rest, which is just like just lay in bed and go to the bathroom. And so then this creates the belief that, oh, if the solution to preterm labor is to not move, then exercising must cause preterm labor.

And that's not necessarily correlated. And research has also shown that bed rest doesn't necessarily decrease preterm labor from happening either. So there could be more complications from being bed rest. And so it's really not like a common. Recommendation anymore. Although people still do offer it as like a solution.

Yeah, 

so it's not going to impact the length of your pregnancy now if you have like a cervix issue or like you have cervix insufficiency where the cervix is really short or starting to open then Yeah, I wouldn't go to the gym and like 

I was just I was just going to say that like I insert a little disclaimer that like obviously everyone's situation is different different.

Um, I am one who I did have a cervical insufficiency. With my second pregnancy, I had to have, a surcloged placed at 17 weeks. And even then though I wasn't on bedrest or anything, they're like, it'll hold just like light working out, whatever. Um, but I've also been in positions where they're like, yeah, this isn't going well for you. You should just. limit your activity with your pelvic. So yes, something like a cervical insufficiency is definitely, um, you know, exception, 

but like if you have severe preeclampsia, don't go to the gym, go to the hospital. Like if your water has broken. So if there are obviously complications where I would say like exercising may not be beneficial for you, but for the vast majority of like low risk folks, like.

Right. 

It's not going to affect your pregnancy length. The second thing is, does it impact my baby's growth? And the answer is no. Like your baby is actually going to have improved development because of exercising. Their blood volume is going to be higher. They're going to have improved resiliency and like response to stress, which has been demonstrated during both pregnancy and labor.

Um, they're going to have higher Apgar scores at birth and they're going to be like a normal size and weight. If anything, they're going to be a little bit leaner, but they're going to have a little bit more like mass to them. 

Yeah. 

And so like these babies are. Developing really well throughout pregnancy. They have more cognitive development. Their brain is more developed. Their nervous system has more development because they receive more stimulus throughout pregnancy. And so there's a lot of really incredible benefits for our baby's development. That's cool. I had no idea. It could also prevent them from being too big, which is also sometimes a problem.

So when I was writing my book, Training for Two, which is all about prenatal fitness and, The whole first part is all about the benefits of exercising and kind of debunking some of these concerns. And as I was doing the research for the book, I was like, Oh my God, I did not know that their brain was more developed or that they have no idea like you or their nervous system, like those are incredible benefits.

And so when we approach prenatal fitness with this really risk adverse, like better safe than sorry mentality, we are saying that those benefits are not worth it. To us, which I'm like, I would like a smarter baby, like, I would like a baby with more, like, everybody would want that. 

And I think a lot of our fears too are stemming from, obviously, like we said, like, they're stemming from us wanting to take care of our baby and just like, make sure nothing happens to them, like, which is where the fears are coming from. But knowing this information that definitely isn't talked about enough. Cause I, I mean, I had no idea that those are benefits that I was never thinking about benefits for the baby. I was always thinking about benefits for like my own body and just like fears for the baby. So like, the more we can talk about that, it's like, yeah, why would more people would be feel more power, in working out and stuff because. That's, that's amazing benefits, like holy cow, I had no idea. 

And you don't need, you don't need to go to the gym and lift like 300 pounds. Like you can go for walks, kind of like you did during your pregnancy. Like walking is really beneficial, just movement throughout the day. Like whatever exercise feels good for you and your body is great.

Like you don't, you don't have to join a CrossFit gym in your first trimester to receive these benefits. Like it can just be doing yoga, like going for walks. Like maybe there's a HIIT class that you enjoy doing. Like. Whatever movement feels good for you and your body and that you enjoy doing so that it motivates you to continue to move throughout your pregnancy is going to be super beneficial for you and you're going to receive all these benefits and we really want to have a lot of these benefits in like the first half or we want to really increase exercise in the first half of our pregnancy because that impacts placenta development and so When we have a healthier placenta, this really decreases a lot of those complications towards the end of pregnancy that are associated with the placenta.

So that's where, like, we have babies that are too small with IUGR. Like, that is related to the placenta. And if we have a better or a more functional placenta, or we have increased functional capacity, that could decrease the risk of baby developing that later on in pregnancy. Like, preeclampsia is sometimes associated with placenta.

Like, Well, maybe if we're exercising in the first half of pregnancy, this is going to decrease the risk of developing that. And there is research that supports that. Complications like gestational diabetes, preeclampsia, hypertension are the risk of those developing or delaying the onset of them increases by like 30 to 40 percent.

So like, or it decreases that risk. So that's, that's pretty big. Like those are huge percentages. Like taking baby aspirin decreases your risk of developing preeclampsia by like 10 to 15 percent. But like just going for walks every day can decrease it by 30 to 40 percent. So like, that's pretty big. Pretty significant, um, to be able to do.

And that's all related to the placenta development. And so like these are things that we should be thinking about when we're thinking about like, Should we be exercising throughout pregnancy? Like again, like you said, it's not just about like me feeling good in my body. Which yes, I would also like to feel really good in my body and exercise does contribute towards that.

Decreases low back pain, pelvic pain, just being uncomfortable in our bodies. Like yes, there are some discomforts that we can't like avoid like,  You've got an extra person on you. Like you're going to be a little fatigued,  but like, we don't have to be in pain during pregnancy and exercise can really help to combat that.

But like, there are so many benefits for our baby too, that, you know, like you were saying, like, we're always thinking about like, what are the risks for my baby, like being scared for our baby. And that's usually where a lot of the concerns and unsolicited advice comes from, it's out of fear for the baby that like, I need to protect your baby from you. Because you are incapable of understanding how to navigate this pregnancy without my help and it's like well You don't need to like treat me like a child. Yeah, literally 

don't scare me into like not doing something or doing something I think we really the biggest thing is like yeah changing the narrative on this because like you said  and I've seen it You know You'll see these videos of like women working out like eight months pregnant or whatever lifting weights and I There's always people that come in, you know, floodgates open and they're like, oh my gosh, like you should not be doing that.

Like that's so dangerous, all these things. And it's like,  maybe first off, these people don't know. I mean, just like I do. I don't know if it's safe. I mean, I'll, I, prior to having more education, I would look at that and be like, oh wow, like I could, More like I could never do that. Or I don't think I would feel like safe doing that.

And that's just all the narrative that we've been fed, like this, like fear based, you know, so it's, it's empowering to hear how beneficial all of this is. That's interesting too. I had no idea, like how it can affect the placenta and everything and how it's important to do all of this, you know, get it going, like in the first part of your pregnancy. One of the things I've been told and to know, is it, is it true  let's say you didn't, weren't very active prior to pregnancy, can you become more active in pregnancy? Is that safe? Is it just a matter of like what you choose to do for exercise or what does that look like?

So that's another, like, myth that I'll hear too, is like, if you were doing it before, you can continue to do it during pregnancy, which implies if you weren't doing it before, you should not do it before or during pregnancy, which is not true. You can absolutely start workout programs during pregnancy. You can also continue to do what you were doing pre pregnancy, but you will need to modify.

At some point, you will need to modify the type of movements that you're doing to accommodate for your pregnancy. And so it's kind of like on both ends. Like, yes, you can start a program. But you should also modify, like, if you were working out before. Now, if I was starting a program during pregnancy, I obviously would not join, like, the advanced RX CrossFit class for my first workout session.

I would not do that as a person that was not pregnant also. Like, so we want to just be mindful with how we are starting a workout program and think about it like being a beginner, regardless if you're pregnant or not pregnant. Like, we're going to ease into it. We don't want to be so sore that we can't sit down on the toilet, like, after our workouts, kind of thing, so start with maybe, like, two, two times a week.

If you were like, we're not active before, like, do, like, two times a week. And then the next week, maybe you do three times a week. And then, maybe the next week, you increase the duration of your workouts. And then we start to maybe incorporate some weights, or, um, If you've never worked out before, I would definitely recommend trying to work with somebody.

So, like, either joining, like, a fitness class, Where they have some modifications available or some like smaller classes, like a small group training session would be great. Um, hiring a personal trainer, grabbing a program, like an on demand program where there's a video that you watch at the same time, like Peloton has some, like we have prenatal on demand programs.

Um, YouTube has a bunch, we have a bunch on our YouTube channel as well.  Following a video can also be really beneficial if you're like, well, I don't want to pay for a personal trainer because they can be kind of expensive. Um, or if you're like, I don't have the opportunity to go to a fitness class or like the only fitness classes around me are these giant classes where like I'm just going to be lost in the sauce.

Like, so doing like a video based program can also be really helpful as well. Um, but you can absolutely start during pregnancy. We just want to ease into it. Like we don't want to go like balls to the wall. Yeah. Day one, like do like a 20 minute workout. And then like, and 

maybe not go like run a marathon and you've never like taken a walk in your life, you know, like, 

yeah, like, let's just ease into it. Just like if we were starting any workout program, any other phase of our life, just, Just ease into it. Um, and then for somebody who is one, either starting a program and their pregnancy is progressing, or you already were working out and you're like, well, I'm just going to do what I did before, just less, we do need to modify at certain points throughout our pregnancy to accommodate for the pregnancy.

One, our energy levels fluctuate day to day, like one day you'll be like. super high on energy, I can do all the things, and the next day you're like, blah. So just think about one, how is my body feeling today, and being okay with not doing it all. So if you're like, I had this plan, you know what, I'm super fatigued. 

I just don't think I'm going to do that whole plan. Instead of doing three rounds, I'm going to do two. And then I'm going to do a little bit lighter weight. Be okay with kind of letting go of the process. And I think that's like a great mindset tactic when it comes to like birth and motherhood as well.

Like, there's a lot of letting go of expectations. Not that you can't have them or you can't have plans. But like, Little children have opinions of their own, and being able to let go and surrender to whatever it is happening is super beneficial, and I find that that really applies to labor as well, because we don't always know exactly how things are going to go for us, like, Yes, have a plan, set yourself up with a team that you really trust and love, but also know, like, contractions might be a little bit harder than you were anticipating.

It might be a little bit longer than you were, it might be faster than you were hoping for, like, cause even super fast bursts are not great. But, like, we needed to just be kind of open and surrender to, like, whatever the experience is, both in labor and in motherhood. And we can practice that with our workouts during pregnancy by just kind of being like, Hey, like, I had this plan for myself.

I'm not feeling it today. Or, Hey, I really wanted to do barbell back squats, but my belly is kind of getting in the way. I'm just going to do back squats today. Like, so being okay with modifying based on how you're feeling, kind of how movements, Feel within your body and like your physical capabilities, because belly is gonna get in the way.

Yeah. We're gonna have to widen our stance, maybe get a little bit lighter as pregnancy goes. Yeah. Um, so there are definitely modifications that need to happen during our pregnancy. 

And especially if this is like your first pregnancy, like you're. It's all going to be new to you, right? Like this is a new body that you're in, especially like you said, as you progress through pregnancy. So  just know that like a hundred percent, like you said, like this is, this will travel into motherhood too. Once you've had a baby and you have multiple babies, like once you're a mom, like everything, you have to be ready to pivot and make adjustments. Um, whether that's your schedule for the day or like how you were going to do something, because that is just like motherhood in a nutshell.

It's like, Rolling with it and making modifications, but also give yourself grace. And this is kind of what you alluded to is like,  just do something else, make a modification I had a workout instructor tell me this recently. It was, um, a workout class where you bring your kids and it was like, they constantly say this. It's like, meet yourself where you're at today. Like you're not going to fail if today you're extra tired and you're not, you know, doing.  As many squat jumps as you did yesterday. Like, it's just meet yourself where you are today and know that like, any movement of your body is going to be good.

Like, it's not going to be the same every day and you're, we're not robots, right? Like, and motherhood is hard. You're going to be tired and overwhelmed. And the next day you're going to have all the energy and want to conquer the world, start a business, get a second master, you know, like all these things. 

And that's just motherhood in a nutshell, which is awesome. So I think that's so important and interesting too, like you said, like with labor, um, You know, it might not go how you, how you thought could be easier. It could be just different. So that's interesting. Okay. We talked about,  benefits for the baby while working out. If you could touch on a little more about like benefits for the mom like when it comes to birth  this is because this is one thing that I had no idea like working out How does that help you your pelvic floor? How is that gonna benefit you when it comes to the labor? 

So exercise during pregnancy doesn't just help you during pregnancy. Like it also is really beneficial during birth and labor, regardless of what kind of birth path you're taking. Um, like it can be beneficial if you're trying to have a vaginal birth, if you're trying to have a cesarean birth, if you want to go and medicated, get an epidural.

Um, and then it also helps you in the postpartum as well, which we can touch on also. Um, so during labor specifically, if somebody is wanting a vaginal birth and baby needs to pass through the pelvis and through the pelvic floor. And so there's different types of movement patterns that are required to create that space within the pelvis.

And there are Certain types of labor stalls or like pauses or interruptions in labor that can happen that are sometimes related to pelvic mobility.  someone may have a provider that tells them that their pelvis is too small and that they just don't know if the baby's gonna fit through their pelvis, which I find to be fairly inaccurate.

Or if they had a cesarean birth and the provider said, well, your pelvis was just too small for the baby to fit, you're just never gonna have vaginal births. And then like, The next birth or baby falls out of them. And they're like, what do you mean? My pelvis was too small. This baby's bigger and a lot of my body.

Um, so when it comes to the pelvis, we have various levels to it that kind of all open in a different way. And so different types of hip positions and public positions are going to create different types of space within the pelvis. And so the top of the pelvis is where the baby first enters or engages.

And so more wide hip position. So like, think like deep squats, butterfly pose, those are going to create more space in the top of the pelvis to help the baby enter into it.  And so a common stall that we see at the top of the pelvis is baby has a hard time entering into it, and this could be related to not being able to find a more rounded back position, which kind of pulls the top of the sacrum backwards to create more space to allow baby to enter or engage.

Um, other things that can cause issues is the pelvic floor in the back half is really tight. And it's kind of pushing the baby forward so they can't enter into the pelvis. Like, they're essentially not aligned to the pelvic opening. And so during pregnancy, we can do movements to help address those common issues.

And so we can do movements that help release tension in the back half of the pelvic floor. We can do movements that help you find a more rounded position, um, such as releasing the tension in the lats and the hip flexors, like strengthening the core musculature and the hamstrings, so you can pull the pelvis in that position.

Um, so that's like kind of the common. issue that we see at the top of the pelvis is baby just never enters. So this will be somebody who made it to like five or six centimeters and just never progressed. Okay. Or the baby never entered into the pelvis and they're like, well, your pelvis is just too small.

Well, no, maybe it was a movement. I don't want to blame anybody for how their birth went by any means, but Maybe it was, you were just having a harder time finding more of a tucked position to create that space for baby. Or maybe the back half of your pelvic floor was really tight and unfortunately, nobody's, I mean, I'm educating on it, but not everybody's really educated on this type of stuff. Like they're just told like, it's just a problem with you. It's like, well, actually it's a problem that we could solve. 

Right, and without this like knowledge, I mean, it could be really upsetting for a lot of people, you know, I've had friends where they've, yeah, only progressed to five, six centimeters, labored, labored, labored, only to like have to go to a C section.

And they were really disappointed by that. And, you know, every situation is different, of course. And again, not blaming anyone, but like you said, had they had maybe some, some knowledge of the different positions or just your pelvic floor in general, like going through pregnancy,  things might be different. So yeah, I'm glad you're sharing this. 

Yeah, and I think it empowers folks for their subsequent births as well, where they're like, oh, like, I have tools to help me now. Um, so after the top, the pelvis move into the middle of the pelvis, which is just known as the mid pelvis. And this is where more of that rotational and like twisting type movement is really beneficial.

And this kind of relates to a common prenatal fitness myth, which is never twist. Like if you never twisted in your spine, you would probably have pelvic pain, low back pain, and you would be really uncomfortable throughout your pregnancy. In addition, we would not be creating space within the mid pelvis to help our babies rotate.

And so we need to twist with our spine is meant to twist. Our body is meant to move.  Unless you were doing like, Super deep, compressive twists, like, which are just going to be uncomfortable for you. Yeah. Probably still not going to cause any harm because there's so much cushion in there for baby.

Um, twisting is really important to include both open and closed hip position. So like belly to thigh would be like a closed hip position. Like one of those like warrior ones or warrior two positions would be like an open hip position. Okay. And so we need internal and external hip rotation. We need the, the hip to move.

We need the pelvis to move because this is going to help with pelvic stability during pregnancy. So decreasing pelvic pain, it's also going to help to release tension within our pelvic floor, which is going to be really helpful, especially to the back half of the pelvic floor. Um, and so this is going to help baby Thank you.

Rotate through the pelvis so that you can then begin pushing. And so common issues that we see with this level of the pelvis is the bottom half of it. And so the mid pelvis can kind of be divided into different sections because when one half opens, the other closes kind of thing. Um, and so the bottom of it is going to open more with those closed hip positions and that rounded back position as well.

And so if we neglected closed hip positions during pregnancy, which is common because it's more comfortable to kind of do like the toes out waddle. It's it's just. It's just a more comfortable position to be in during pregnancy. Um, if we don't find that internal hip rotation and internal pelvic rotation, we're going to have one, a tighter half of our pelvic floor.

And we're also going to have a hard time opening the bottom half of our pelvis to help baby get underneath the pubic bone. And so this is where somebody has late labor stall, so they're like eight centimeters and they don't progress anymore, or they push for like four hours and then, and then go to a c section because baby was just not progressing down into the pelvis, and this could be related to that, so the internal hip rotation and pelvic rotation, and there are tons of movements that we can do to help with that.

enhance this. And even during my own labor, like, I was finding movements that were creating that type of space because intuitively, I knew that's where my baby was and I was just like, these are the movements I feel like I need to do right now. And so you'll see a lot of that intuitive movement patterns within folks when they're in labor as well, where they just kind of move.

In a way to create that space. But we need to have those movement patterns accessible to us. They need to be familiar to us before we go into labor. Um, and then we have the bottom of the pelvis, which is the pelvic outlet at this point. If this level, if this pelvic level is opening, your baby is crowning , like they're being born, um, and so internal hip rotation, so knees and ankles out creates space down there.

But usually there's not like a ton of issues at this point because baby is already there. They're there. They're already coming out at that by the time you make it to the pelvic outlet. , so really the places that we want to be focusing on is can we find more rounded back positions and can we find more internal hip rotation?

 And there's tons of movements that we can do. We have like a birth prep circuit that's free that we incorporate movements that help with that. Our prenatal fitness program is incorporated throughout. I also break it down in my book a whole ton if anyone's listening and they're like, so what do I do? Like I have answers for you. 

Okay. Yes. That's so good because I'm like, if anyone's listening right now, like frantically taking notes, like just, just chill. Like you can just enjoy this conversation and we will like point you in the right direction for all the things. Um, Yeah, that's oh my gosh, it's so helpful. And I'm sure there's people like me listening to her. It's like, man, I wish I would have had this information in this support. Because again, these are just tools that we as women,  we I just want everyone to have this information.  So  I don't want to rush through this. I just, I'm like, I, my mind's all over the place.

 Okay, so you've got labor. And then  so postpartum, this is where I get very stumped because,  you know, my pregnancies and deliveries were all very, uh, different and. All just very, um, high risk and all the things, but postpartum me was just like, I did it. Like I, we finally after years of fertility and stuff, I'm like, okay, we had the baby. Like I had a baby, we're done. And then I did not take care of myself. And now, you know, years postpartum, I'm like, I think, uh, my pelvic floor is shot. I think I should have done this. You know, my thyroid's out of like all these things.

And I'm finally focusing on me. So people who are listening, for listening. After birth, what is it safe to work out? And then does that look differently for somebody who's had a vaginal birth versus a c section?=

So however your birth went is definitely going to impact how you heal postpartum. And also how much support you have postpartum is going to impact how you heal as well. So you could have like the smoothest,  simplest labor, and have no support postpartum and be fucking wrecked.  Um, and then you can have like the hardest, like what we would on this scale of challenge labor and birth and have tons and tons of support postpartum and have maybe a slightly easier time because you, you have the support.

And so I saw this reel the other day on Instagram that was, um, it was about like When you transition to the postpartum, there's this like identity crisis that happens because during pregnancy, all the attention is on you. Like you are the pregnant person, like you are carrying the baby and you have all these prenatal appointments. Everything's about you. And then postpartum, everything's about the baby and nobody cares about you anymore. Cause it's like, I want to see the baby. Let me hold the baby, the baby, the baby.

Yeah. 

And so by default, we also then forget to take care of ourselves because our own, our whole focus is the baby.

Right. And so I think this is where having that support postpartum is really, Beneficial to helping you then also take care of yourself because you you have somebody that's paying attention to you as well Yeah  So when it comes to returning to fitness after birth or just exercising in general like you can start Right away with really really really gentle movements like four to six weeks is Generally the time frame before I would say you should return to like a structured workout program and that's for some folks on the Very very early end.

It may even be too soon But four to six weeks is also too long to do absolutely nothing as well. Like you'll probably be really sore and uncomfortable and just kind of like feeling really weird in your body. And so right away, if you feel ready for it, you can just do some diaphragmatic breathing. So just moving The pelvic floor and the core with breath.

Like that's a really like simple thing that you can do. You can do it while you're nursing or while you're feeding baby, while you're laying in bed. Um, and then also just really gentle mobility. So just moving your body, like in bed, like doing some thoracic mobility, like some twisting, some cat cows, like doing some like hip mobility, whatever feels good for you, like certain movements are not going to feel great for everybody.

So like if you got a C section, tons of twisting movement may not feel very good for you.  Tons of like.  front body openers may not feel good for you. If you had like perineal tears or you like, especially like a third or fourth three, like any sort of seated position may not feel good for you or wide leg positions may not feel good for you.

So just kind of gently exploring like movement and like the early postpartum can be helpful to just, cause if you just lay there the whole time, you're gonna get really stiff and sore. So  just like slowly integrating that. When you hit like the four to six or even up to like 10 weeks postpartum is when I would say like,  The option to return to structured exercise is there.

 And it can be beneficial to follow like a postpartum specific program. If you feel knowledgeable in like how to return to fitness, like as if you were training like a novice or like a brand new lifter or new athlete, then like, you can probably do it on your own. Um, but you just want to think about it.

Like you're a brand new athlete again. Like this is a new opportunity to start over. And if you were like me and you kind of were. Just working through aches and pains and like injuries and then just kind of ignored them all the time as an athlete like pre children. This is like a really good opportunity to kind of reset and recalibrate. Like when else would you do this in your life? Like there's no other time. 

What an opportunity. 

Where you would be like, Yeah. Let me just spend six weeks rebuilding. Like no, you'll maybe do like two days.  Um, so postpartum is a really good opportunity to kind of reset and calorie as an athlete, which I think is really cool.

And so if you take your time with kind of relearning movement patterns, like reteaching yourself how to breathe and to move and slowly adding on load over like a six week period, you'll find that like common injuries that you had before you don't really have anymore because you kind of worked through the movement faults that you have.

Like, you've improved your ability to coordinate breath and movement.  So for those athletes that are listening, like, take your time postpartum. You don't have to rush back to the gym. You don't have to PR two weeks postpartum or six weeks postpartum. Like, nobody cares. Like, literally nobody cares. Like, it's not impressive to me when somebody's like, Look, my wife is back in the gym at two weeks postpartum.

What are you doing? I'm fucking resting. Yeah. Because my pelvic floor gave birth. 

Also, never, like, all the other things too, like you're not getting a lot of sleep, you're feeding all the time, like all the things, like you're, you're doing fine. 

That's, that's not as like, like, uh, what, I can't even think of what the word is, like, that's not as cool as you think it is.

Yeah, it's not a badge of honor, like, and if anything, it sounds like doing some of the things that you were talking about, like, you're gonna be better off in the long run.  Instead of just jumping into this,  learning these movements and, and breathwork and all these things, it's only gonna help you and prepare you. And like you said, honestly, what an opportunity to just kind of like start over and reset and just build from there. 

Yeah. And so one of the things that I do want to highlight is like there is like a timeline of tissue healing that happens after injuries and birth is planned injury. Like we are injuring ourselves to give birth. And so the first, like about week postpartum, it's just going to be inflammation. Like our body is trying to increase blood flow to help with healing at that timeframe. So. Trying to be off your feet as much as possible is going to be beneficial for you. Now obviously not everyone has a ton of support postpartum, especially if you don't live near family or you don't have like, maybe you don't want your family to be there.

Like, um, trying to be off your feet as much as possible is really going to help with that initial healing phase. After about the first week ish,  we move into a proliferation phase. So our tissue is starting to rebuild and regenerate. But it's a weakened state. And so if you are like, oh, I feel pretty good at two weeks postpartum, let me go back to the gym.

Like you're increasing your risk of injury and you're increasing your risk of issues because you, yes, there's rebuilding that's happening, but it's not strong tissue yet. Like it needs time to rebuild and then it'll be like another thing. So it's kind of like if somebody has an ankle sprain, like they feel pretty good after like a week or two and they go back to do, and then they re injure themselves because they were still in that early tissue healing phase. 

After about like the three to four week ish mark, we've, the tissue has moved into more of a maturation phase, so it's getting stronger at this point, and that's when we can start to load it, and like help strengthen it, and help it get more dense, because the tissue is a different structure. And so returning to the gym before like, three weeks, four weeks postpartum is really just doing yourself a disservice and you're probably going to have more issues down the road.

So yeah, you rushed back to the gym and you are doing all your lifts and like congratulations, but now six months from now you have pelvic floor issues, right? You have your diastasis hasn't healed,  the issues that you're having have just gotten worse and now you have to restart all over again as opposed to taking your Time and now at six months postpartum you're pr ing again You're lifting heavier than you did before because you reset yourself as an athlete You took your time with the process and now you feel stronger. So it is really important to be Slow 

yeah 

during the the first few months post 

makes total sense    I've never heard it explained that way. Like literally birth is like a planned injury. I mean, a human is coming out of you, like literally. It's just so accurate. I've never heard it like that. Um, so you should treat your body like that, right? You're, you need to heal.  Like, you just explained,  it's just so important,  to take that time to do that.  So like postpartum as you're healing and stuff and like you said you could have diastasis or you know pelvic floor concerns what is that for those listening because i just literally heard these words in the last year um what what is that exactly and what are some common problems  in postpartum.

So the common things that happen during pregnancy is, one, your abs have to kind of separate to accommodate for baby's growth. So this is known as diastasis, and this is normal. Like, we need this to happen for our babies to grow. Otherwise, like, Our organs would just get smushed. Like we, they're already kind of smushed, but now they're slightly less smushed because the abs separate.

In the postpartum, those ab muscles are going to come back together because the tissues that kind of connect them get denser  and then the muscles kind of pull it back together. And that can happen spontaneously within the first six weeks for some folks. Other folks,  you need a little bit more like deliberate effort to help.

Sometimes it's related to like what you were doing during pregnancy, like how damaged that tissue got. Um, it could just be genetics, like how your tissues just heal based on, like, you as a person.  It could also be related to, like, how you were navigating postpartum, like, did you rush back to the gym, like, did you do too much kind of things.

 So that tissue should just, the muscles should just come back together. This is where you hear those phrases like mommy pooch or, like, I hate all those words. But ultimately, like, it'll either spontaneously heal, or it, you might need some more dedicated effort, which there are different exercises that you could do to help with that.

But what we're really looking to do is to load the tissue so that it gets thicker. And that's, what's really going to help. So like belly bands or corsets or waist trainers, or those things that are supposed to like, that are advertised as shrinking your waist, like healing your, it's not going to, it's just going to make things worse. Um, so please don't use those.  

You heard it here everybody. Anything that's, anything that's marketed as makes you smaller. Just delete. Probably not gonna delete from cart. Do not, you can take up space. Um, so diastasis is essentially like that separation of the abdominal muscles and it becomes like kind of like a, like a leak in our stabilization system.

And so it should heal on its own. If not, sometimes lifting weights, there's different core exercises that you can do to help increase the density of the tissue or working with a professional, like a pallet for physical therapist can help with healing a diastasis and in severe cases, surgery can be an option that's available as well. the pelvic floor is a sling of musculatures that sits at the bottom of your pelvis. I didn't know that I had a pelvic floor like we were talking about earlier until I was pregnant. 

I had no idea either. Yeah. I was like 28 years old. I'm a college educated person. And I was like, what do you mean?

There's a sling of muscles down there. 

What is this now?  Yeah. 

There can be issues with it. You mean the things that I've been experiencing have just not been normal. Cool. 

Yep. 

Um, and so that's, that's sometimes the issue when it comes to the pelvic floor is a lot of this. symptoms that are associated with pelvic floor dysfunction have been normalized as this is a badge of motherhood, like peeing yourself or being in pain or these are just normal things that happen when they are signs of dysfunction. And so if you're having pelvic pain, if you have bladder urgency where you're like constantly having to pee or feeling like you're not fully emptying, if you're leaking either urine or feces , those can all be signs of pelvic floor dysfunction. If you have this feeling of heaviness, like Something is there, like, hanging out on my pelvic floor.

If you have lower back pain, like, those can all be signs of pelvic floor dysfunction as well.  And so the pelvic floor obviously goes through a lot during pregnancy. It's overloaded. There's a lot more work that it's doing. If you've had a vaginal birth,  it opened a lot to allow for a baby to pass through.

If you had a cesarean birth, like, You still went through pregnancy and your c section impacts your pelvic floor function as well because it's a part of a system And so even if you had a c section you didn't like quote unquote save your pelvic floor because it's still a part of the system as well, 

which is the biggest thing that I had I had no idea because I my Last two pregnancies were c sections and I just thought I didn't fit into like most of these categories. Like, well, I didn't actually birth or I didn't this. And so postpartum, he was just like, okay, I had surgery. Like I will take care of my, my incision and then rest. And then, yeah, I had no idea that this even applies to, cause again, didn't know what a pelvic floor was. I was like, 

Yeah, 

I don't know. I didn't, I didn't push. I didn't labor. So it doesn't apply, but oh, it does. 

Yeah. So it still applies. It still applies regardless of what path your baby took to come out of your body. Um, and so common issues with the pelvic floor can be like pelvic organ prolapse. This is when the pelvic organs sit a little bit lower into the vaginal wall or like the vaginal canal.

Um, sometimes they can come all the way to the vaginal opening. In severe cases, they start to come out, but those are like pretty rare. Um, with pelvic organ prolapse, it's important to note that it's just kind of like, Sometimes it's just like a normal, it is very normal. Like it's like, our bodies are different after we give birth.

And I would almost compare it to like looser skin. Like our bodies are different. Like it doesn't mean that there's a functional issue.  They just sit a little bit lower. Like a baby came out of your body. Like it's, it's normal. Now, if it's causing symptoms. And it's symptomatic, that is not normal.

Like you should not have feelings of heaviness or like you should not feel like your organs are falling out of your body. Like those would be things that I would see a professional for. But a lot of us don't even know that we have prolapse because it's, it's asymptomatic. We don't feel anything and nothing's coming out.

It's just the organs just sit a little bit lower than normal, but it's not an issue. Things like pelvic floor physical therapy can be really beneficial for prolapse. Sometimes you can get internal support. So they're called pessaries. They're inserted into the vagina and they essentially just give the vaginal wall some support to help put the organs back where they are supposed to be.

And then, again, in severe cases, surgery can be really beneficial as well. Other things that could cause, like, the feeling of heaviness is also just pelvic floor tension. And so if the pelvic floor is really tight in certain areas, it's not going to work very well. It would kind of be like if I always held my arm like in a bicep curl. This is not functional for me. And so if my pelvic floor is really tight, it's also not dynamic, it's not functional. It'd be like trying to jump on,  cement versus a trampoline. Like, our pelvic floor is supposed to be very buoyant and kind of moving and responding to demand. But if it's like a cement pad, It's gonna cause some discomfort.

Makes sense. Okay. 

And so if the pelvic floor is really tight, it's not gonna function as well, and so it may cause this feeling of heaviness, or it may not be supporting the organs as well because it's not working. Um, and so sometimes just releasing pelvic floor tension can be really beneficial. And so if you're also having issues like constipation, or Anything with the back half of your pelvic floor, it's probably a really tight back half of your pelvic floor.

And so doing movements to help release that tension can be really beneficial. Again, pelvic floor physical therapy can be beneficial to do like internal releases. There are pelvic wands that you can get to do internal releases yourself. They all come with like little instructions as well. There's exercises that you can do, they're called like hip shifts, where you're finding more of that closed hip position, can be really helpful as well to releasing tension back there, and it may relieve those feelings of heaviness also.

And so, one, it'll help improve pelvic floor function, and then also kind of relieve some of those symptoms. And this is where like pelvic pain can also be associated, or lower back pain, is essentially there's tension within the pelvic floor, it can't work as well. well.  So those are kind of like the main things or in like the leaking and the constipation.

These are all pelvic floor things that are related to tension and how well the pelvic floor can work.  And they can get kind of complicated, like just, I'm sure just from listening now you're kind of like, well, there's so many different things that could be causing. So this is where working with a pelvic floor physical therapist can be super beneficial, but you want to find a PT that's going to do more than just passive. Releases like 

yeah, 

you need somebody that's going to bridge the gap between rehab and fitness rehab and life 

Yeah

And so if you go to your pt And all you're doing is clamshells and glue bridges and all they're doing is biofeedback and internal release but they're not doing anything beyond that you need to find a different pt because you're not going to progress and you're going to See that your symptoms don't improve and you're going to see them for six months and spend all this money and all this time And still be peeing yourself.

Yeah, 

and so you need to find pts that are going to kind of bridge that gap and so  PelvicRehab. com is a directory that someone can go to to find a PT near them that specializes in pelvic floor physical therapy. But I would also look on the Postural Restoration Institute directory because these folks are really trained in kind of like the dynamic movement of like the rib cage of the pelvis, which includes the pelvic floor.

 So if you went on PelvicRehab. com and you are not seeing results, I would then, or maybe instead of, go to PRIs. Institute's, like, directory, find a provider that is also appellate for PT, they kind of go from there. And then we also have one in house for us here at our gym, Haley Kava, she does virtual support as well.

So if you're like, I just want to go to whoever Gina recommends, just do a virtual consult with her. 

Perfect. 

I can guarantee that you'll probably have some relief at least, um. That was going to be my follow up question. I'm like, I feel like you have so much to offer. You are just like this wealth of knowledge on so many different parts of this. That's awesome. Like you could just book a consult with, you know, with someone in your gym and tell us a little bit more about what you guys offer. 

So  the first thing that we offer is fitness programs. So we have prenatal fitness programs and postpartum fitness programs, and we offer them in two main formats. We have our self paced app based program, which is, it's like a traditional delivery style list of exercises, demo videos. You do it on your own. And then we also have videos that you follow because again, like if you're new to exercise, you're Or you're feeling a little overwhelmed by all these like little movements that we do, the follow along videos can be super helpful.

And we have both for pregnancy and postpartum. We offer childbirth education, which is really focused on like the physical movements of birth and helping you understand like what can you do, like what tools can we give you to help you move through your labor a little bit easier. We also do a lot of debunking of like fitness myths and movement myths and things like that as well.

We do have some professional courses as well for if there's any professionals that are like, I'm not really in that phase of life, but I support people in that phase of life. We have professional courses also for both workers and for fitness trainers.  We have our own podcast where we just talk about this topic all the time as well.

Um, we have our Instagram page. We also have a YouTube channel. We just kind of like word vomit a lot of information on people. Cause it's really, it's really important. Like these are things that can really change people's lives and help them, 

Yeah. 

move confidently in their pregnancy, feel better in their postpartum, like feel more empowered in their birth experience. And this is all like, important, we're raising the next generation, like if we can feel good in our bodies and feel empowered by this experience, like we're going to kind of project that onto our kids. And then the next generation is going to be wonderful as well.  

I think about that all the time. Obviously, this was not knowledge that was Passed down to me. It's I mean, the generation before us maybe didn't didn't know half these things. So I think about that all the time. Like, at this point, I'm done having children. Um, but   I love learning all about this, not only to, like, in hindsight, look back at my journey being like, Oh, well, that that probably went that way, because I didn't know this or whatever.

But I think about it all the time, wanting Um, share this knowledge with my daughter and pass it on and,  I love that you're word vomiting all this all over the place on all the platforms because this is what it's all about. Like we need to be talking about this more and hopefully the more times we have these kinds of conversations,  the more women will hear it before they're in the position of like looking back and being like, Oh, well that could have gone differently had I had this knowledge.

I really, I really wish I knew what I know now before my first birth because it would definitely would have not been a traumatic experience to me. And so it's always sad when I look back on like. Gina and her first pregnancy on earth. And I'm like, man, if you just knew like you had someone like me for you back then, like, it would have been such a powerful experience.

And I think that's just our biggest goal with our business and sharing all this information is we want people to have the tools that we wish that we had so that they can have good experiences that  they can move confidently.  Your first pregnancy, Pregnancy and birth doesn't have to be a trial run where you figure all the things out.

Like, yes,  there are some things that you do just kind of have to figure out. But like, we can still help guide folks so they feel, they feel good on this journey instead of like confused and scared and, you know. 

Which is the biggest thing. It's the biggest thing. It's like how you feel. Like even if you look back and you're like, oh, I would have made a different choice or would have done this differently. That's going to happen in everything with life, right? Like the more you know. 

Yeah.

But if we can like help people just feel empowered and know their options and just , Feel good about the experience, then there'll be less people like you and like me who I look back at my first pregnancy or even my second and I'm like,  that makes me sad that I didn't  have this information before.

Um, and I, it wouldn't have been so traumatic and, and all the things.  This is why exactly, I was so excited to have you on the podcast because I think,  while we talk about different things, our missions totally align and it's all just like educating people. The more, you know,  here on the motherhood intended podcast,  I love to have conversations that go beyond like the, the highlight reels that we all scroll.

And it's not often where I'm like scrolling my feet and everyone's like, Hey, it's actually not cool to pee your pants and your pelvic floor is jacked. So we should probably talk about that. And you know, you're not seeing that a lot. So I'm really happy that,  you're putting this out, for women to find all over the place.

I'm definitely going to be linking everything in the show notes so everyone can connect with you and, and learn more because I've already learned so much just in this quick conversation. And, I'm sure I'll have questions for you going forward too. 

Just send them my way. 

Perfect. 

I have an open book.

I love that. Perfect. Well, Gina, thank you so much for joining me today. This was super insightful and I hope everybody listening, you know, at least learned something took away one thing  and are that much smarter for their next journey. And I really appreciate you being on the show.  

Thank you so much for having me.

Thanks for listening to today's episode. I hope it leaves you feeling empowered in your body, whether you are prenatal, postnatal, in the middle of your pregnancy. I want you to feel strong and capable. I know for myself, Gina has debunked so many myths when it comes to do's and don'ts, with your body's pregnancy and postpartum.

And these are all things I wish I would have known when I was in that season. I hope you've gained some new knowledge to take away so you don't feel afraid to work out and be strong, when your body is changing and doing different things. So if you're pregnant or newly postpartum, I am hoping all the best for you. And if you hope to be pregnant one day, please keep this episode in the back of your mind. Because I want you to enjoy your pregnancy safely, but also feel strong. And remember all the benefits of working out. It's not just physical, but for your mental health as well.

So before you click out of your podcast app, as always, what do you think I want you to do? Check the show notes. There's a convenient link in there that I definitely want to highlight and it's to sign up for our email list. Motherhood Intended emails will be starting soon and every week. Coming to your inbox, you'll get our weekly newsletter in that newsletter.

You'll find all sorts of awesome things like podcast, episode recommendations, other podcasts that we love to follow, recipes. Fertility facts, mom, life hacks. I mean, just all the things that you're going to find beneficial. Just think of it as your best friend coming to your inbox with all the things each week. So hit that link and get on the email list. You're going to want to be a part of it.

Okay. And the next couple of weeks, we've got some really interesting episodes coming up. We are going to be covering topics like pregnancy loss, gender disappointment, neurological differences, kids with autism, ADHD, anxiety, and so much more. If you have a topic suggestion or a guest in mind, send me an email, hello at motherhoodintended. com. Send me a DM, however you want to reach me. I'm always seeking suggestions to cover a broad range of topics. All that go beyond the highlight reels we typically scroll.

Let's have these conversations so we can educate each other and support each other. There's nothing more comforting than listening to somebody tell their own personal story. And you're like, Oh my gosh, me too. I can relate. I'm not alone.  The whole goal on this podcast is to connect women through all the experiences of infertility and motherhood.

And not only bring solidarity, but to educate and entertain and just create this awesome supportive community. So let me know, let me know if you've got a topic or a guest in mind, I would love to hear from you. Thanks as always. And I hope you enjoy a fantastic weekend. They always go by too fast. Do something fun, take care of yourself, and you will hear from me again next week. Bye for now.