C-Section Saturday: Be Ready For What It Looks Like

Welcome to the Farr Fitness' C-Section Saturdays. 

As I have mentioned before I will be using Saturdays to discuss, teach, and learn about C-Section recovery for athletes. 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 as soon as 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 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.