u/WorkingAd308

Hi all! I posted my fit pregnancy journey on my due date a few weeks ago. My water broke that night and after a challenging labour I ended up having an unplanned C-section.

I’m just over 2 weeks postpartum now. I’m feeling ok but still have some pain. Doing short, slow walks but the lack of activity is making me feel a bit lethargic. I know I need to wait until 6 weeks to be cleared for exercise but is there anything I can be doing before then to help with recovery / mental health? I have a belly band arriving on Monday which I’m hoping will make walking feel a bit easier. My partner suggested doing a few mins on the elliptical because it’s lower impact than walking but if I google it the advice is not to do any gym activities until after 6 weeks. I don’t want to hinder my recovery but I would love to move a bit more. I know there would be a recovery period with a vaginal birth but the surgery really caught me off guard! If you had a C-section, what were you doing, if anything, in that initial 6 weeks?

Hi! Today is my due date (although baby is still happy chilling in there) and I wanted to share my fit pregnancy journey, hoping that I can inspire some people earlier in pregnancy. I found other posts like this very inspiring when I embarked on my first pregnancy!

Some caveats: I’m freelance and have some flexibility in my schedule which definitely made it easier. I have a very supportive partner who took great care of me and encouraged me throughout. I am FTM so no other little ones to take care of.

Sep 2025 - did my first triathlon and got pregnant almost immediately afterwards (sooner than I expected)

FIRST TRIMESTER
Felt pretty rough, very tired and nauseous, lots of food aversions, especially weeks 6-10, kept going to the gym x3/week doing my regular strength training. I didn’t always finish my workout and I didn’t always make it there x3 but I did best to show up. Towards the end of the first trimester I started to get insanely hungry (thought it might be twins, it wasn’t) and that peaked around week 17.

SECOND TRIMESTER
Gradually started to feel better, about week 16 began to feel normal again. I started going to prenatal yoga and kept up with my strength training but started to modify to accommodate the growing bump. Around 18 weeks we had some good weather so I started to run to the gym as warm up (~2km). I did this on and off for about 6 weeks and then I got floored with SPD. Had to stop running and pretty much stop any single leg exercises. Around this time I started adding 30 min cardio every time I went to the gym, started going x4/week, kept going to prenatal yoga and also added 1x swim a week. Walking really aggravated the SPD so I tried not to walk so much.

THIRD TRIMESTER

Kept doing 120 min cardio/week. Strength training x4/week but really started to ease off and switch to machines for more support. Swimming x2/week, yoga x1/ week (ish). By the end of the third trimester, the SPD eased off and I was able to walk a bit more. Definitely did a lot more swimming (my lifeline, truly!) these past few weeks and spent a bit less time in the gym. I would wake up with hip pain and it would be gone after going a swim.

I know everyone’s journey is so different but I feel so lucky that I was able to stay active. I’m still sleeping really well (dreading the impending sleep deprivation). I am a bit nervous about what the next few months hold and how I will recover / get back into things but I know this group will help! I’m hoping to do another triathlon in 2027 🤞🏻

I gained just over 30 lbs through the pregnancy. Before I got pregnant I thought “I’m going to gain the least amount of weight possible” which was absolutely insane of me but I didn’t know any better. My body demanded what it needed to support the pregnancy and there was no way I could fight it. In hindsight, I wish I wasn‘t so scared of what would happen to my body because it’s just done the most amazing thing and I’m sure I’ll be even more proud once I meet my baby. Wishing you all a wonderful fit pregnancy ❤️