My birth story.

Corban Avery Todd

My plan was to labor naturally.  A woman's body is quite incredible when you think about it.  After the baby is conceived, God knits this beautiful child together in the womb of the mother.  This womb is a sterile environment, a safe haven, for the baby to grow and develop in.  After the fall of man, God said that woman's pain would multiply in childbearing.  And let me tell you folks - He wasn't kidding around!  Well, my husband and I decided to use The Bradley Method as a way to labor naturally.  We read through the books and felt prepared!

My due date was May 19th, but I went into labor on May 13th, around 3:30pm.  I started getting some light, but regular contractions.  I remember texting my husband while he was at work, telling him I thought today was the day, and he asked if I could make it till he got off at 5!  In his defense, he wasn't sure if this was the real thing, considering I went into false labor a few weeks before.  At 4pm, I knew this was it.  I made all of the arrangements for my mother-in-love to take my 1st born, Raylan, to her house to keep him for a few days.  Then I jumped in the shower to get ready (because everyone wants to look pretty after they have a baby.  If they say they don't, they're lying! ;)).

My husband came home from work around 5:30pm, and I was in our bed room bouncing like a mad woman on my yoga ball and putting on make-up.  Yes, I was putting on make-up.  This was a big deal!  However, by 6pm, labor had progressed to the "serious" stage, and I could no longer bounce or talk through a contraction.  My sweet husband began to massage my lower back during each contraction (as we had learned with our Bradley Method book!) to help counteract the pain.  I made it until 7pm, and I knew we better get to the hospital because the labor pain was getting worse.

When we got to the hospital, we found out I was only 4cm dilated (and I needed to get to 10!).  Talk about discouraging!  Luckily, the room with the hot-tub was available, so off to the labor room I went!  I stayed in the hot-tub for hours.  Each contraction was out of this world painful.  However, I was determined to evade pain medicine!  While a fan was blowing directly on me to keep me cool, I had extremely warm water pouring over me during each contraction.  I knew labor would speed up and go more smoothly if I could just relax my body for every contraction (way easier said than done!).  When my midwife came in, I knew I was going to have to get out of the hot-tub and get in the hospital bed so she could check to see how far I had progressed.  It was then that I asked for an epidural.  The thought of getting out of the hot-tub, my safe haven, and laboring on the hospital bed was more than I could handle.

Waiting for the epidural was excruciating.  By this point, I had entered into the "transition" phase of labor, and contractions were on top of each other.  Relaxing had gone out of the window without my hot-tub solution.  Luckily, I have the best husband in the world.  He was there for every single contraction.  He was encouraging me to breathe, to relax, and massaging my neck and back during each contraction.  I truly could not have made it as far as I did without his help, his support, and his love.

Y'all, there is this amazing thing with epidurals nowadays.  Did you know that they can control the dose of how much you get?  Well, they can!  So I got just enough to take the edge off of the contractions (a big edge off!), but I could still move my legs and feel each contraction as they continued.  My midwife said I was 8.5cm dilated and moved to nearly 10cm in just a few moments!  I literally had the epidural for only 30 minutes (30 sweet, sweet, precious minutes).  After 15 minutes of pushing, sweet baby Corban Avery arrived.

So much for the make-up and shower, right?  Corban weighed 8lbs8oz, and was 21 inches long.  He was born at 12:23am on May 14th, 2015 (which is 5 days after Raylan's 1st birthday).

Honestly, I wouldn't change anything about my birth story.  Laboring for 9 hours helped me to realize that I do have the strength to do and make it through a lot more than I ever gave myself credit for.  I also saw a different side to my husband than I had ever seen before.  He was so supportive for all 9 hours, even though he was hungry and exhausted.  He never wavered, and he never skipped a beat.  He sacrificed his comforts, his everything, to help me through this.  It was truly an image (in my mind at least) of the sacrificial love that Christ gives the church.  You always know that your husband has a sacrificial (agape) love for you, but to see it in action?  Indescribable.  

This was truly an experience worth giving all of the glory to God.  I praise Him for a safe delivery of my second son.  I praise Him for the blessings of having two sons to teach and help grow them into men of God.  And I praise Him for a better husband that I could have ever dreamed of having.  

Thank y'all for checking out my story.  I'm on a journey here to a better life and a better me.  This is just the beginning.  

This Girl is on FIRE!

30 Weeks Pregnant

My son, Corban Avery, will officially be here in 10 weeks!  My husband and I are very excited, but we are also very nervous of becoming a family of four.  We just got used to our family of three!  I take comfort in the knowledge that God is the author of life, and He will provide during our times of need.

Week 1 of PiYO and Shakeology

My first week of PiYO went a lot better than expected!  Seriously y'all, I haven't worked out very much during this pregnancy.  I was extremely sick during my first trimester (um, exercise?  Excuse me while I hang my head on the toilet).  Once I got over that (whew! PTL!), I began to walk with some girlfriends at the park to get myself and my son out of the house.  Then, the weather became too cold for us warm bodies here in Wilmington.  And by cold, I mean in the 50s.  What can I say, we're spoiled!  This was a tough winter though.  The stomach flu ran rampant in our house, and it took me well over a month to finally start to see light at the end of the tunnel.  Needless to say, I was out of shape.  Shall we call it, a bit doughy? ;)

I'm not going to lie, I was a bit nervous starting PiYO.  Last time I did a Beach Body workout when I was out of shape (ahem, I would NOT suggest doing this!) I could hardly walk the next day I was so sore!  Beach Body is serious with their workouts, and Shaun T means business y'all!  Not the same with PiYO.  PiYO offers modifications for those of us who are not in the best shape of their lives, or who are not as flexible as a rubber band.  My hamstrings are about as stretchy as a zip tie, so I not only needed the modifications for my big and growing belly, but I needed it for my flexibility (or lack thereof).  The next day, I could feel that my muscles we were warm and slightly sore, but it wasn't hard on my body at all!  I would definitely suggest this workout program for people who have been out of the game for a little while, but ready to slowly get back in.  Or, for people who are in shape but desperately need to work on their toning and flexibility.  Charlene will work you!  My son even enjoyed it with me!

The Shakeology is a whole other deal!  I have allowed it to take place of my prenatal vitamin (per my midwife's instructions) because it has so many vitamins in it!  It has helped give me TONS of energy during this pregnancy (which lemme tell you, is NOT easy in the third trimester with a needy 10 month old!).  It has also helped curb my appetite so I'm not so apt to munch during the day, which I've been guilty of quite often.

Unfortunately, I have been put on bed-rest for a few days until I can quit having so many contractions.  What?  Contractions?  Is it due to PiYO, you ask?  Perhaps due to the abundance of vitamins in my Shakeology?  Why no, my friends!  Let me just allow the picture below to do some talking:

Nope!  That is not a shadow.  That is our very CRISP back yard.  Let me just tell you this story for a slight break of entertainment: It has been cold and rainy in Wilmington for quite a while.  It was actually a very pretty day, so we decided to have a bonfire to burn some of the extra debris we had collected over the last few weeks.  Not only was it pretty, but it was a smidge windy.  So my husband walks around to the front of the house to get something, while I'm sitting with our 10 month old watching the fire.  I notice that the fire catches some of the grass around our fire pit, which is no big deal.  It's happened before, and my husband is able to stomp it out pretty quickly.  I wait for my husband to come back, and wait, and wait... and the fire starts spreading a little bit.  I start hollering to my husband, and he comes around to stomp it out.  Well, let me tell y'all, that wind just TOOK the fire. It started spreading so FAST!  I didn't want to just sit there and watch my yard (or worse, our neighbor's yard!) burn up, so I try to help stomp out the fire while my husband goes to get the water hose.  

On a side note, I have always admired my husband for his ability to remain calm in stressful situations.  I'm not kidding, he has a very calming and controlled presence.  I fell in love with this part of his personality when we first met!  However, this was a time I didn't want him to be calm.  He was completely put together, and I felt like I was going to LOSE it!  So, because he wasn't making such a big deal out of this, I (of course) needed to overcompensate for the big deal I felt it was.  Just picture it: a 30 week pregnant woman, holding a 10 month old, wearing flip flops, stomping all around the yard, screaming "DO WE NEED TO CALL 911?! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO! WHAT IF IT GETS INTO OUR NEIGHBOR'S YARD?! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DOOOOOO?!?!"  I finally decided to run to my neighbor's house and hand off my son, and borrow their hose too.  Now, I'm sprinting (well, I feel like I was sprinting.  Probably more like a fast waddle ;)) and hauling their hose over to help tame the fire that was spreading.

Needless to say, this was quite stressful on my and my growing belly.  Contractions began once my adrenaline cooled, and they continued into the next day.  So I've been on bed rest since then, and it is not easy with a 10 month old!  But, I have gotten lots of snuggle time, which is nice!

I am already beginning to feel better (praise the Lord!) and plan on starting back to PiYO within the next couple of days, with my midwife's approval.  However, while recovering from the chaos, I have continued to drink my Shakeology.  It has helped to keep me energized during my couch potato time.  Hopefully week 2 of PiYO will go more smoothly and continuous.  I will keep y'all posted!  Thanks for checking it out!

(Shoot me an e-mail if you're interested in learning more about Beach Body products!  Fitmombeachbody@gmail.com ).

Taking a Leap on Faith!

29 Weeks Pregnant

The hardest part of being a mother is, by far, staying fit.  I grew up fairly athletic.  Why won't my body bounce back into shape like I want it to?!

Here's my story:

I met my husband when I was in college, at a ministry our church led for college-aged young adults.  We were not immediately in love, but over a period of growth and getting to know each other, it did not take long!  We got engaged and married when I was 23 years old.  I weighed 125 pounds (I'm about 5'7'') and I was fairly happy with my body.  It was not as tone as I would have preferred, but I was happy!

Less than a year into marriage, I had gained the happy 10 pounds that I'm pretty sure EVERYONE gains their first year of marriage.  Let's face it: you're happy, and you want to indulge (in every way possible!) in that happiness.  My husband is a very fit (and skinny!) man; so, I just could not stand that I was bigger than he was!  I decided to join a gym and begin to workout during my lunch breaks.  It was expensive, and took a lot of commitment!  

A month into my membership, I was frustrated with myself.  I had not lost weight, and I certainly wasn't getting very toned!  Where were my results??  Well, it was around that time that I found out we were expecting our first child!  It was a surprise, but I was excited! (At least people couldn't judge the little muffin top I had gained ;)).  I decided to attempt to keep up with my gym membership during my pregnancy so that I could stay/get in shape for it!  That lasted about one week.  During the 9 months of pregnancy, I ended up gaining at least 60 pounds.  Yet in my mind, it was a 70 pound weight gain because I started out 10 pounds higher where than I wanted to be.

After my absolutely beautiful blessing of a son, Raylan James, was born, I decided to get serious.  I tried to eat healthily, run outside, and I began to use Insanity by Beach Body.  This was about 6-7weeks PP.  I lost 40lbs, but then I hit a wall.  I worked extremely hard, and I still could not lose weight.  What was I doing wrong?  Would I ever see the 130s again?

Lo and behold, we found out the Lord had graciously blessed us with yet another son.  As happy as I was to be blessed with another baby, part of my self-esteem plummeted. I felt like I was taking one step forward and two (well 9 months worth!) steps back.  That's when I decided to get serious DURING my pregnancy instead of letting myself go like I did with the first.

And that's where I am today!  I have decided to join Beach Body as a coach, to share my story with the world and other mothers that can relate!  I have decided to do their PiYO program (pilates and yoga mix) along with the delicious AND extremely nutritious Shakeology.  I chose PiYO because it is the best program to handle while pregnant.  There is no jumping and no weights.  I am extremely excited for this journey, and I am absolutely taking a leap of faith by doing this!  Please feel free to follow my story during this journey as I update you weekly!  If you are interested or have any questions you want to ask me personally, please feel free to e-mail me at Fitmombeachbody@gmail.com !