What They Didn’t Tell Me About Pregnancy |
I thoroughly read the book, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, when I was pregnant but nobody told me I’d still look pregnant 3 months after delivery! I heard about postpartum depression and was looking for any sign of it, but the postpartum fat just snuck up on me – from behind of course. Needless to say I am depressed about my fat. I got pregnant a year ago, and it was the pregnancy from Hades – morning sickness for 6 months, carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, sciatic nerve pain in both hips and a condition that caused me to itch uncontrollably without relief. All fantasies of being one of those pregnant women who work out up until delivery were gone. Week after week I just sat painfully watching my body get bigger and bigger while the scale numbers went higher and higher. When I went into the hospital 2 weeks overdue to be induced, I couldn’t wait to have this baby, because I saw numbers on the scale I thought I’d never see in this lifetime – tipping the scale at a whopping 213 lbs! Looking in the mirror it is hard to believe that I am the same woman who at one time modeled for some of the largest athletic apparel companies in the world, won the swimsuit competition in a national pageant, and fully expected to stay in shape – at least until after menopause. Moreover, the labor and delivery was even worse than the pregnancy and I am just now recuperating from the emergency C-section. Needless to say, I am completely out of shape and overweight. The discouragement increases as I sit and watch my husband watch Monday Night Football each week as I recuperate from the C-section because I look at the stats on the screen and ‘lo-and-behold’ I’m a running back for the Chicago Bears!
I have always been a physically active person. Growing up the youngest and the only girl I was destined to be athletic. I’m not trying to return to the 26 year old rock body of yesteryear, however, I really want to get back to a healthy weight and have the energy I once had. If I’m tired now with a 3 month old, I’m hating to see how tired I’m going to be when he starts running around the house. My doctor commented at my last physical, before I got married in 2005, that I had all the makings of a world class athlete, but today I couldn’t win a race in the geriatric ward of a convalescent home. My desire is to be like my mom when I was a kid. She played college basketball and taught my brothers how to play. Several of them played in college, one on a full-ride scholarship. Up until a few years ago, my mom would on occasion be found playing a pick up game in our front yard with the 12 and 13 year old boys in the neighborhood. Today I don’t think I could beat my 70-something year old mother in a game of pick-up-sticks. This is pitiful. But of course, life happens, you get married, have a baby, your metabolism slows down, not to mention age, and here I am; 38 years old and 180 pounds. I can’t even believe I’m reading those numbers, but now is the time for me to do something about it. I know I will feel so much better physically, emotionally, and spiritually if I can just get back into shape, lose the weight, and gain more energy.
