Putting the “Well” in WellMom

Welcome to WellMom, a health and wellness company that offers in-home personal training and private yoga for moms and moms-to-be!

Since this is WellMom’s first official blog post (yay!), I want to share a little bit more about the mission of WellMom, which is to help women be healthy moms, from pregnancy, through labor and delivery, and beyond.

Here’s a little story to help explain more about what that means.

A few weeks back I was looking through photos of myself for WellMom’s “About” page.  I came across a picture of me holding my now two-year old daughter, Siyona, just a few days after delivery.  I was wearing a fitted camisole and low rise jeans.

I looked amazing.

Before you get put off by that comment and close out of your browser, let me further explain.

I don’t say that to brag.  Sure, I stopped at the photo and considered it for my profile picture.  After all, isn’t it the dream to swallow a basketball, pop it out after 9 months, and slip right back into the same jeans you wore before you got pregnant? Didn’t my ability to stay fit during my pregnancy give me some extra credibility?

The answer is yes. And no.

Yes, I think we would be kidding ourselves if we said we don’t care what happens to our bodies during our pregnancy.  Even though what we want at the end of the day is a healthy baby, and even though we know that means we’re going to put on a few pounds, we sure would like to keep that weight gain to a minimum.  And, yes, there probably is something to be said for, “If she can do it, I can do it too, and maybe she can help me.”

But I didn’t choose that picture.  I didn’t want to.  I couldn’t.

Why?  For one thing, every person and every pregnancy experience is different.  I had a lot of things going for me that helped me slink right back into my pre-pregnancy jeans.  I was slim before my pregnancy.  Although I was tired sometimes, I didn’t have months of morning sickness and fatigue keeping me from my workouts.  This was my first child, so I didn’t have existing parental responsibilities standing between me and the gym.  I enjoy eating well and love to exercise.  These things just aren’t true for everyone.  Using that picture would have alienated the many moms and moms-to-be out there who are different than me.

Even more importantly, using that picture would overlook the “well” in WellMom.  It’s not SkinnyMom.  It’s not even FitMom.  Yes, exercising regularly throughout your pregnancy does make you less likely to gain unnecessary fat, but it has so many other benefits too, both for you and your baby: you’re less likely to have a long and exhausting labor or to need medical interventions; exercise improves your baby’s ability to deal with the stress of contractions; exercise reduces stress, which is important both during pregnancy and after baby arrives.  And that’s just for starters.

A mom-to-be friend of mine recently submitted a blog post about her pregnancy experience that is relevant here.  She’s also a fitness enthusiast, but her pregnancy experience has been much different than mine was. She has gained more weight than she prefers, but she realizes that there are more important things to think about right now than vanity.

So, yes, please do exercise and eat well!  It’s good for you; it’s good for your baby.  If we work together, I will do my best to share with you my passion for exercise and healthy, good food. We will find exercises that you enjoy (you don’t have to run, if you don’t like to run).  I can show you that not all Brussels sprouts are created equal (there’s a right way to prepare these guys and a wrong way.  Do it the wrong way, and I won’t touch them either).  If your pregnancy experience ends up more like mine, then great.  You’ll have to buy fewer clothes after delivery.  But if you’re experience is more like my friend’s, be kind to yourself.  Honor your body and the miracle that’s taking place inside of you.