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We chose not to find out the gender on this one. We have girl boy girl so we're not lacking any clothes or blankets/bedding or whatnot. I haven't been that anxious to know, so hopefully that will remain and I'll stay calm and not to ancy through these next 4 months.
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Now I am a natural birther by choice. I don't care how others birth, I think everyone should be able to do it how they wish, but I personally don't want to expose the baby to the drugs and I want to be in control during my labor, move around, not increase my chance at complications/c-section from being stuck in bed all day with other meds to manage the pain meds (I had a very medical birth with our first, including an epidural, so I know that end too), and I want to recover faster. I've gotten all those things from my last 2 med free vaginal births. So yeah, a c-section freaks me out some, but of course if it was necessary I would do it. My biggest worry with it is how will I come back into sport? Will slicing my abs open slow me down a lot longer, will I come back a lot weaker, or can I still come back strong like I have without waiting a year to do so? Any of you athlete mamas out there have experience with training and racing again after c-section?
Again, NOT planning on having one, but I like to think ahead and prepare myself for whatever. For now, baby and I will continue enjoying this summer like fall weather here running on the trails, swimming at masters, and biking all of the 10 miles I might get to do around riding kids to school and back :)
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4 comments:
Hey Les,
I'm not an elite, obviously, but I am a triathlete who didn't start until after c-sections were already a part of my life.
With Logan, he was a year old--but that was only because that's when I first became aware of triathlon.
With the twins, I was advised to wait six weeks to start doing running/biking, and twelve weeks to do more ab-intensive exercise. They were born late October, and I was definitely fit enough to race again the following spring, and do better than I had before they were born.
With this baby, I chose to wait six weeks again before starting to run and bike and swim and do yoga. (I did feel like I could've started at about a month out, but I was being cautious--that's me.)There's still the abdominal advisory out until 12 weeks, but I'm listening to my body, and I don't feel like I'm straining those muscles with what I'm doing right now.
As far as the exercise post-baby this time--I have lost a little endurance/speed/aerobic capacity in my running. I'm catching up yardage on swimming, and will work on speed later. (Swimming and yoga I did right up to 39 weeks, but I haven't run or biked since April--technical and pregnancy challenges cut me off earlier than I'd planned.) So I expect it will take me a little longer to regain my baseline in the sports where I've had the most time "off".
But you are already planning on running and biking longer than I did, and so I expect you will return to your baseline faster than I will return to mine.
Good luck. I hope you get your desired birth, but if not I'm sure you'll be able to return just as strong as before.
I started triathlon after my third c-section birth in 2008. That recovery was the easiest of the three - so much so that I left the hospital a day early. (And I walked home from the hospital with the first!) I began training three months later and had no health or injury issues whatsoever.
Hope my experience is encouraging!
I am just a regular age grouper but I started tris in 2008 and had a c-section in 2010. Be warned that this comment may be TMI, but hey we ARE talking about giving birth. Okay, here it is: One nice thing about the c-section is that you get to use tampons to control the lochia after 2-4 weeks instead of 6, so I was able to get in the pool sooner. I tried riding on the trainer at about 4 weeks, but the lochia drastically increased so I backed off everything but swim and walking until week 6. Then I started on the elliptical for a week, then at 8 weeks postpartum I added running and biking. It was TOUGH. Insanely tough. And I was MUCH slower and didn't feel like I had my body back (fitness or shape) for about 7-9 months, but I don't think that was so much to do with the c-section as it was that I was on major physical restriction during my entire pregnancy so I had lost a ton of fitness pre-birth. And maybe the fact that I swelled up like a whale and gained 40% of my body weight during pregnancy!
After I hit the 8-9 month mark, I suddenly felt awesome and started training pretty heavy. I lost all the weight and then some training for the 2011 Utah Half (my baby was 13 months old). That was my first 70.3, and I trained with a newborn so that was awesome for me!
Everybody recovers from surgery differently, I tend to have an fairly easy time with it. But I wasn't in shape during my pregnancy like you are. I think you'll probably be fine even if you do have to go the c-section route.
Oh I forgot to talk about the abs stuff. Unless you have a MAJORLY urgent emergency c-section, they will slide your abs aside and not cut through them. So the muscles wasn't an issue. But I tried doing ab exercises at 6 weeks and it created too much pressure on my incision and hurt pretty badly. They tell you not to do abs until it doesn't hurt. I don't remember when I was able to do abs again, but maybe 3 months postpartum??
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