Exercise during pregnancy is safe and doctor recommended.

Corry Matthews, a leading pre/postnatal fitness and nutrition expert founded Strength & Grace Fitness for Two to help women safely exercise throughout pregnancy and after having a baby.

Corry’s experience in this field includes serving as Gold’s Gym International’s Pre/Postnatal Care Expert from 2004-2010, designing programs for gyms, corporate fitness centers and hospitals and designing and benchmarking the United States Marine Corps “Mom’s N Babies Getting Fit” program.  Additionally, Corry is working on some new partnerships that will be revealed soon.  Want to learn about the benefits of pre/postnatal exercise? – Check out our facts!

Corry is Oxygen Magazine's "Fit for Two" Expert! Check her out in the newest issue!

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My Story – The Making of Baby Alex

I always knew I wanted to be a mommy, just wasn’t sure when that day would come.  When the time came that I knew I wanted to be a mom, I wanted to be pregnant that very day, and let’s just say, I am not the most patient person.  After being married almost 9 years my husband and I decided we would stop preventing pregnancy and start trying…assuming it would take a few months to a year.  The second month, with the help of an ovulation predictor kit, I was pregnant!  I actually took two tests just to be sure!

Morning sickness, well in my case it was all day sickness, sunk in about 5 weeks, and lasted until 14 weeks.  I remember one evening lying on the couch feeling horrible and reminding myself how excited I was to meet this amazing new life growing inside of me…I could do this.  During the first trimester my food choices consisted of: hotdogs (yuck I know), spagettios (they are toddler food must be sort of nutritious), saltines, and ginger anything.  Forget about any type of protein, breakfast that used to be oatmeal and egg whites was now plain white bagels…any type of complex carbs brought on more nausea!  The first trimester workouts consisted of lifting three days per week legs/shoulders, back/bis, chest/tris (which I did in under 30 minutes) and mainly walking, about 30 minutes, 40 if the morning sickness stayed away.    I tried to do my group exercise classes but spent more time throwing up than enjoying the class!  My initial starting weigh was 142 pounds (I gained about 7 from December after my last show until I found out I was pregnant – began adding more carbohydrates to prepare my body for the marathon of pregnancy).

They give you so much information at the doctor’s office.  Unfortunately for the worrying me, the fact that stuck in my head was the one about miscarriage and how more than 15% of all pregnancies will end in miscarriage.  This percent decreases to about 5% once you hear the heart beat, so my first ultrasound at 9 weeks was so amazing!  The sound of that little heart beat will forever stay etched in my memory!  At 12 weeks we did the first trimester screening – and everything turned out perfectly normal!  I was amazed at how much the baby grew in 3 weeks!  For me the ultrasounds and doctors appointments were the most re-assuring moments of pregnancy in those first few months when I couldn’t feel the baby moving.

When I reached about 14 weeks I went through the “am I really still pregnant – I feel so good” well, feeling good was relative based on what I had been feeling.  I felt a burst of energy and a renewed sense for wanting to get back into the gym – and work harder.  I returned to my Body Step classes and did weight training 3 days per weeks – same types of exercises, just different intensity now that I was pregnant.  Instead of pop squats I did wide leg squats, instead of walking lunges I did stationary lunges – but overall I felt great.  By my 4^th and 5^th month the belly was looking more like a baby belly and not a “is she still working out, belly”.  At 18 weeks we had the anatomy ultrasound, and I was so nervous.  My husband and I wanted to know the sex of the baby, but wanted to keep it a secret from everyone else until the baby arrived.  I was really hoping for a little girl, and when they told us it was a she and not a he I was grinning from ear the ear.

My pregnancy progressed beautifully without complications.  I was right on schedule – the schedule I knew I would maintain, of gaining one pound a week (without shoes of course).  I continued with my group exercise classes and walking right up until Alex was born.  In the 2^nd and 3^rd trimesters I was lucky and un-lucky that my appetite came back.  The good news was I could enjoy my protein shakes and egg whites again; the bad news was I had intense cravings for Taco Bell and McDonald’s!  I walked the dogs every morning, and it soon became very apparent to all my neighbors that the coat and belly were getting bigger and bigger.

January 7^th, her due date came and went.  I was 50% effaced since 36 weeks but nothing was changing. At 40 weeks they told me they were scheduling my induction for the following week so I got on the phone with my acupuncturist to see how we could make this little girl come on her own – naturally.  Well, she is stubborn (just like her mom) and we went to the hospital on January 12^th, 2009 for the induction.  I was so nervous on the way to the hospital, and of course there was traffic living in Washington DC.  My husband told me to put music in to calm my mind – Body Step it was, something about it allowed my mind to stop racing.

Once in the delivery room I was greeted by a dear friend and mid-wife Angel.  She knew my birth plan was written for a completely natural birth, but when you start with Cervadril to get the cervix to open and dilate that is often hard.  We choose the cervadril since her head was down, but not on my cervix.  After about two hours we had to remove the medicine as I had a major allergic reaction.  We waited about two hours and then began the pitocin.  Even after 13 hours of pitocin I was only 80% effaced and not even 1 cm dilated.  Around 10pm the nurse came in and told me to get in the bed and lie on my left side and that we were cutting off the pitocin.  The baby’s heart rate was elevated yet her movement was down.  In addition my temperature was rising.  We actually changed rooms because our room had become too hot.  Around 11:45 the doctor said she wanted to watch me and the baby for 30 minutes and if things did not look better they wanted to do a C-Section.  What did I do…CRIED!  I was worried about this precious little baby.  I was so thankful for having both my husband and good friend Vickie by my side at this point.  About 6 weeks prior to her birth I began reading the Hypnobirth book nightly and did the meditation daily.  And although my birth plan went from natural, to induction drugs, to a spinal tap, to a C-Section, I remained calm the entire time, knowing the end result was always healthy mom and healthy baby.

Alexandra Noelle Matthews was born at 1:24am on January 13^th.  I got to breastfeed her in the post delivery room before she headed off with daddy for a bath and measurements.

We spent about 4 days in the hospital.  I knew C-Sections were major surgery but I assumed since I was really fit I would be different.  I was shocked at how hard it was to get out of bed, or to pick Alex up out of her crib.  If there was a side effect I had it: itching from the spinal, gas pains from the C-Section, fears of blood clots with varicose veins, cracked and bleeding nipples!  Having a baby hurts – but is SO VERY worth it!

The first couple of weeks were rough adjusting to the new baby.  I began feeling depressed as soon as we got home – but wasn’t really sure why.  The first day home I cried because I was afraid she was going to grow up too fast!  The depression continued when at 5 weeks I learned that Alex’s sucking had not been enough to maintain my milk supply and since she was eating every hour I wasn’t pumping and did not realize my milk had disappeared.  We ended up in the emergency room because she dehydrated.  At that point I worked daily with a board certified La Leche League coach and we tried everything: drugs (whose side effect for me was further depression), hospital grade pumps, herbal supplements (Mother’s Milk – More Milk Plus), syringes with formula in them and nothing would bring my milk supply back.  At 8 weeks I decided it was time to switch to formula; nursing for 20 minutes, pumping for 15 minutes and then giving her a bottle, which was repeated 45 minutes after finishing wasn’t working.  She still wasn’t gaining enough weight and I knew teaching her to only suck from a bottle was best for her and for me.  I could say I cried over all of it, but that would be lying – I laid in bed bawling over not being able to breastfeed my daughter.  I went over every single what if I had done this, or that.  Once I had grieved not being able to feed her, then came the feelings of regret and upset over not being able to lose the baby weight with breastfeeding as well.  So next time you see a mom giving her baby a bottle, before you jump in and ask “why aren’t your breastfeeding” remember there may be a very painful story associated with the why!

Celebrating Alex turning one!

It is a bittersweet moment to watch your little baby graduate from just that, being a baby and move on to toddlerhood!  She is walking and saying “momma” and “hi” and changes every single day!  It took me a total of 40 weeks to lose all of my baby weight, and I am so happy to say that I took all of that time to do it.  The best part, I feel better than I have ever felt in my entire life.  I have a new sense of appreciation for my healthy body, and the image I used to see in the mirror that I thought needed this toned or that smaller…well, I now love that image and could not be happier.

I get asked all the time what my nutrition looks like as a mom on the go… Here it is…

Pre –Workout, first meal of the day: Maxpro Protein or Triple Whey with skim milk, English muffin with Smart Balance Butter

Post-Workout: Iso-Extreme protein shake mixed with water and XTR (glutamine blend) and ½ cup of oatmeal.

Lunch (1 or 2pm): Carbs, protein and veggies (or if I can’t get the veggies in Green Synergy)

4pm: Another shake

7:30pm: Dinner – and it is whatever I cook for my family!

Having Alex is the best thing I have even done!  With all my certifications, degrees, and titles I knew the one I was missing was “MOM”!

Baby number 2 is on the way…due August 2011!  Follow my blog in the PRENATAL section!  http://corrymatthewsinc.com/category/prenatal

And the book I co-authored is due in May of 2011.  More at www.9monthsin9monthsout.com

Corry Matthews