What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Motherhood and Health

I’m taking a little blog break for a couple of weeks and featuring some fabulous guest writers. Today’s guest post is by Tiffany Noth, founder of Bloggy Moms. I met Tiffany last year during the Honda Power of Women Variety Magazine eventI’ll be back soon with pictures from a fantastic vacation in Cabo with my hubby. Please make my guests feel at home. Thanks ya’ll!

My mother had an amazing way of making motherhood look… easy.

Easy in the, “this isn’t wearing down my body physically” sense.

I wish someone had stressed the importance of taking care of my health during motherhood.  This was stressed during pregnancy, but beyond… no one seemed to mention that part.

In the weeks preceding my discovery that I was pregnant, my body began to suffer.  I simply couldn’t function.  I had no energy and felt as if my body was giving up.

Pregnancy was hard on my body.  I’m not sure I have ever quite recovered.

Life after pregnancy has also been rough.  Motherhood requires a lot of care not only for your little ones… but also for yourself.

Not only do you need to take evenings and time away, to relax and enjoy yourself.  As mothers, we also need to take time for the health of our mommy bodies.  We’ve carried and nurtured life within us.  We’re nurturing lives that depend on us.  A lot of times, our health is set aside.

My list of things moms and moms to be should do:

1)  Talk with your doctor about your health needs during and after pregnancy.  There are general things we all need to do for our health… however, each of us has specific nutritional needs.  Talk with your doctor about blood tests to determine nutritional and vitamin supplements your body may require.

2)  Schedule a yearly physical.  Your nutritional needs may change from year to year.

3)  Take time each week for exercise.  Whether you can squeeze in time to get to a gym or exercise at home… it will be extremely beneficial to get in at least three separate times of exercise throughout the week.

4)  Maintain healthy eating habits.  As hard as this one is for me, I’m doing much better.   I love sweets and carbohydrates… unfortunately my body doesn’t like either of them.  It’s okay to indulge once in a while, but my body loves me much more and give back a lot more when I give it the right nutrients.  Just as we need to fuel our vehicles properly or they will not run, we need to fuel our bodies with the right things.

We’ll probably never be able to keep up with our children and their energy levels… but we can keep from falling too far behind if we take care of ourselves.  It’s not always easy, but our children and our bodies will appreciate us for it.

What do you wish someone had told you about motherhood and health?

What You Won’t Find In “What to Expect When You’re Expecting”

I’m taking a little blog break and featuring some fabulous guest writers. Today’s guest post is by Kim-Marie Evans, a fellow writer at Traveling Mom and founder of The Luxury Travel Mom.  Be sure to follow Kim-Marie on Twitter @LuxuryTravelMom. I’ll be back soon with pictures from a fantastic vacation in Cabo. Please make my guests feel at home. Thanks ya’ll! 

Like all new moms, when I found out I was pregnant with my first baby, I read everything I could find.  This was before blogs ladies; I went out and purchased actual books.

I had the whole series, “What to Expect the baby/toddler/school Years.”  I got a PhD. in mommyhood.  I knew it all. I was ready.

Then I finished nursing my first baby at age one (she’s 13 now and disgusted by the whole idea).

Suddenly, none of my regular bras fit.  So weird, did they get all stretched out during the 2 years they were stored away?

So I went to a lingerie shop for some new not so stretched out bras.

I plucked the 36C’s off of the rack and headed off for the fitting room.

These were obviously also nasty old bras that must have gotten stretched out hanging on those racks because they were also too big.

I asked the saleslady why she had such crummy old stock and she offered up that perhaps I wasn’t actually a 36C.

Oh, but I am, I explained to her.  Not only were her bras all saggy, she was obviously also not very smart.

She offered to fit me.  If you’ve never had a proper bra fitting, it’s a little like “date rape:” lots of breasty man handling and very awkward.

After she finished with her tour of second base, she declared I was now a 36B.

Sensing my shock she gently explained that this happens to lots of women after they nurse.

REALLY?  Because this was NOT in “What to Expect.”  Nowhere does it say, nurse your baby, lose your boobs.

I know, I know, there are some of you lucky ladies who complain that your boobs grew, seriously, I don’t want to hear it.  It’s like saying, “Oh I’m just too skinny” “Gee, this engagement ring is just too flashy.”  Keep it to yourself okay?

Because I love my babies more than my boobs (not by much, but just enough) I nursed the next three cleavage thieves.

I now rock an A cup.  I found some “bra-lettes” at Victoria’s Secret that were perfect.  When they discontinued them I complained.  The saleslady sympathized “yes, those were so popular with the pre-teens.”  She’s lucky I wasn’t packing heat.

My husband got so tired of hearing me complain about my incredible disappearing rack that for Mother’s Day a few years ago he gave me a card offering a boob job.

He’s also not so smart.

I don’t want to mess with my body.  It made my four beautiful children.  I’m blessed to be healthy and happy.  I’m the President of the Itty Bitty You-Know-What Committee and have decided to own it.  I can run pain free and wear low cut tops without looking like a hooker.

So to those of you young mommys out there reading blogs instead of books.  If you find yourself in my shoes, send me an e-mail and I’ll make you a member of my committee.


If Michelle Duggar’s Uterus Could Talk

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the news, and I’m not talking about Occupy Wall Street. I’m talking about Occupy Michelle Duggar’s Uterus, also known as OUCH and OMG and HOLY STRETCH MARKS.

The Duggar family is expecting their 20th baby and at 45 I admire Michelle Duggar’s sheer stamina. I can barely stay awake past 10 p.m. lately and I only have two kids, two African dwarf frogs, and one prolific shedder of a dog to watch after. I am certainly not one to criticize their parenting skills and I don’t  doubt that they have child raising down to a fine-tuned machine and that they could teach me one or a dozen things about household organization (she types as she sits at the world’s messiest home office desk). Still I cannot imagine the sheer physical stress of having that many babies, especially the state of one’s baby makin’ and baby maintainin’ parts.

Also kids are LOUD. I barely survived driving my 9-year-old and two of her friends jacked up on birthday cake sugar home from a party recently. There was much shrieking and singing off key and general back seat shenanigans and probably a passerby on the interstate or five mouthed a silent prayer for my sanity.

Now that Michelle Duggar’s uterus is no longer on the empty nest waiting list, I wondered what it would say if it could speak and I had a little fun asking this question on my Facebook page.

Here’s what ya’ll had to say…

Anne Bracken McGraw check, please.

Adina Enough already!

Courtney BRING IT!

Amy Haha, I’m pretty sure she doesn’t even have to push anymore. They just fall right on out!

Liz Uncle!

Jenny ‎”SERIOUSLY!?? COME ON!”

Fred Take a ticket. Take a seat.

Judy Enough already!

Lisa Woohoo! I get to protect another of God’s blessings for 9 months!

Shabnam How about a surrogate, please?

Beth Caldwell Parsons Men suck.

Jennifer  I am the Michael Jordan of uteri.

Samantha  AGAIN? REALLY? You have GOT to be freaking kidding?

Brigid ‎(Not really sure, but my daughter believes that the seventh son born to a mother is likely to be a werewolf, so there may be another Duggar reality show on the horizon…)

The Whole Bag of Chips Been there, done that.

 

Here’s what I have to say…

I’ve fallen and I can’t get up! (or maybe I’m just thinking about what my boobs would be like after 20 pregnancies).

 

So what do you moms think? Can you imagine being pregnant 20 times? Dads, can you imagine having a built-in baseball team?

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