Chloe at almost a Year...

I have no idea where the year went. It has been filled with memorable AMAZING moments. Chloe in year one has traveled to Hawaii, Canada, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, PA and DE (obviously), Virgina (twice) & California. She has had the opportunity to see and witness many CrossFit Level 1 certifications and CrossFit Kids, she will be a pro by age 5!

Click here check out this article from Mark Sission - "The definitive guide to feeding primal babies."

Chloe's first food - Avocado

A good article from the archives...
Death by Veganism

The NICU experience
When you are preparing for the birth of your child (especially the first) the farthest thing from your mind is the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit). You most likely have these grand expectations of how it will turn out, your birth plan set, the arrival home with your baby, a bag packed for the hospital or birth center and then BAM--it goes nothing like you planned. In birth as in CrossFit you must be prepared for the unknown and the unknowable.

At 32 weeks, giving birth was not what I had planned for, Jason and I were on a "babymoon" in Lewes DE. But, on October 24th at 32 Weeks and 4 days Chloe was born. After my water broke and we made the call to the mid-wife's at the Bryn Mawr birth center and 911 it was apparent we needed a hospital with a level 3 NICU. I ended up and delivered at Christiana Care in Delaware. Chloe was delivered 8 weeks early and weighing in at 4lbs 4oz, and 17 1/4 inches in length.

I never had a friend who had a baby in the NICU so this was all a new experience, we would come to make this our new home for 21 days. I was discharged out of the hospital in 2 days after giving birth and the remainder 19 days would be spent going to and from the hospital. Many of you reading this blog know that we live in King of Prussia, about 1 hour away from DE. This wasn't an easy commute but we didn't want her moved because of the great care she was getting there, so between the drive and hotel stays this quickly became a way of life.

Yes, there are very scary things involved with having a baby in the NICU, Monitors, foreign machines, alarms, feeding tubes...it's a wild new world, but you learn it all fast. I found one of the unexpected consequences of having preemie was the profound gratitude I had for even the smallest milestones. Full-terms parents may not recognize the miracle of holding your baby for the first time or seeing your babys breath without the aid of a machine. Seeing all the IV tubes taken out of her arm and having her moved out of the Isolet to a crib. We appreciated every milestone that Chloe made. Especially the milestone on 11/14 when she arrived home. Learning from the NICU nurses was also a benefit, I asked questions and picked their brains for knowledge daily. This knowledge made the arrival home a little easier. In retrospect it may not have been what we planned for but it's what we got and it's now how Chloe's life began...

Question from a Friend: I kinda need some post partum advice. my doctor told me not to lift anything heavier than the baby, drive, or walk up stairs more than twice a day for two weeks. im all about erring on the side of caution, but this sounds a bit ridiculous. i would expect these limitations if i had a c-section, but i had an uncomplicated delivery with minimal tearing/bleeding. not saying i want to go out and do Murph or anything, but im just wondering how long you waited to resume your normal activity (not necessarily workout related). how long did it take before you felt comfortable coaching/demonstrating movements?

how long did it take for you to start hitting heavy wods again? im not really sure how long i should wait before i start getting back into things. i cant wait to get my ass on the GHD again. haha.

also..breastfeeding. i heard that high intensity stuff can mess with your milk?


Aimee's Answer: As we all know I don't have a professional license but I can share my experience. My first WOD back was 10 days after Chloe was born. It was Rowing Helen- 500M Row, 21 KettleBell Swings, 12 Pull-ups. It was HELL, I remember not being able to catch my breath at all, the weight of the 35# KBS felt like 55#. It was more difficult than any WOD late in my pregnancy. I was inspired to do this since Cate told me (in May) this was her first WOD back shortly after delivering Kiera. And for the gory details no one talks about...Your body is still leaking fluid and other amoeba like things (so if that bothers you, listen to the Dr. and don't come back for 6 weeks)...but for me CrossFitting is not only a physical release but mental one too. So yes my body was leaking funky things, but I wore a pad- It it took care of any embarrassing leaks. Chloe was born pre-mature and after spending the first 10 days with her in the NICU I needed some release. Even though the time attached to this WOD was far from anything to be proud of, I felt a sense of accomplishment. I had done something, I was on the road back. I had no sort of training schedule on days I would race home from the NICU to get something in and some days I didn't feel like doing anything - I wouldn't. I was again, as before, listening to my body. Another sign that my body was not back was evident about 20 days later...EC came for a visit and we did some spicy wall ball, Hang Power Clean combo and It took everything in my being to finish this. It was not easy at all to shoot the wall ball (I opted for the 8ft target). Then we did a Max Back squat in 3 minute type WOD, there was NO way I could squat with 135# (a weight that used to feel light during workouts) I was down to 95# and sore for days after!

About a month after she was born 11/22 I did the "300 WOD"- I was about 6 minutes off where I used to be. And on 12/26 during the "12 days of Christmas" I was narrowing the gap to 4 minutes off of past times and in comparison to the other ladies in the gym. Just yesterday I was only :47 seconds off of Nikki's time on the "liquid cocaine" WOD...I hope to be fully back by late Spring/Early summer.

Over the last three months I made sure to utilize the GHD machine and Reverse Hyper as much as possible. My core had never been this weak and I'm on a quest to get it back!

I just started a new cycle of the Wendler sub-max training and can feel my strength coming back now! Week over week I have seen huge progress.

As far as coaching and demonstrating movements...I think about a month an a half after, I was comfortable doing this.

The road back hasn't been easy, I think I over did it a little by doing the "Bull"- It sent me to Dr. Kropf with a bit of Patella Femoral Syndrome (which took about two weeks to come back). Be cautiou! There is still a good bit of relaxin in your body.

If anything, I think being healthy and active has helped my milk production and hormone level.

In conclusion, listening to how your body feels is huge. I don't think medical professionals have any idea about CrossFit or the level of activity we do or were doing before and during pregnancy. There is just so little research out there. Also, they need to cover their butts (and I have always felt a lot of this advice is for the overweight ladies who had trouble getting up the stairs before they were pregnant anyway)...Just my 2 cents. I have trained a handful of amazing pregnant ladies, some waited the 6 weeks, some didn't, but all-in-all everyone listened to their bodies and had great results postpartum. Remember even though medial professionals say postpartum is over at 6 weeks, it really isn't, you may be feeling "different" things up to a year after (physically, emotionally and mentally).

Primal Challenge and Breast Feeding

We just launched the Primal Challenge at CFKoP, I want to support the gym and Jason of course so I decided to get back on track with my strict Paleo ways, even though I'm breast feeding Chloe. The only thing I really had to take out was dairy- which has left me starving the last two days, not good of course since breast feeding requires approximately 500-700 additional calories in the diet. I've started researching the topic and found this article from Mark's Daily Apple Click here to read more about Nursing and the Primal Blueprint. I found it helpful. I will continue to eliminate dairy for a week and see how it affects myself and Chloe. My challenge is to get enough calories to support my workouts, work schedule and nursing. Any ideas?

Food Consumption Day 1

2 Eggs

Blueberries

Pecans

black coffee

Turkey/Lettuce Wrap

Larabar

Meatloaf (no grains)

Red Beets

Spaghetti Squash

Tomato Sauce

Food Consumption Day 2

2 Eggs

Apple

Almond Butter

black coffee

Turkey Lettuce Wrap

Ground Turkey Lettuce Wrap

Chicken

Pear/Walnut Salad

Brussel Sprouts

fudge babies

Food Consumption Day 3

2 Eggs

Apple

Almond Butter

black coffee

Salmon

Carrots

Asparagus

Larabar

Pork

Broccoli

SweetPotatoes w Chipotle peppers

fudge babies

raspberries

pecans

Pregnant CrossFitter - Kelly Biddle

My name is Kelly and my daughter, Ella, was born on October 24, 2010. She was lucky enough to share her birthday with another future Crossfitter - Miss Chloe Lyons!

I've been crossfitting at KOP with Aimee for almost 2 years. It surprised me the most that I fell in love with Crossfit. Prior to becoming pregnant, I would be at the box between 2 and 3 times a week, sometimes more, sometimes less. And while I wasn't in there RX'ing everything that came my way, I had seen significant improvements in so many areas from when I first began - I went from not even being able to complete a 200M run to running 400M x 5 in some WOD's. I was box jumping on the 21" box. I was super close to a kipping pull up without a band, where when I started I need someone to push me over the bar even with the thickest support band! These and many more were such accomplishments. To me, these were my RX's.

I found out I was pregnant at the end of January and knew I would have to press pause on my progress in crossfitting. I told Aimee early on, at about 7 weeks, because I wanted to be able to communicate with her on what I could and could not do. I set a goal to get to the box as much as I could. My doctor was on board and told me only 2 things - watch your heartrate and listen to your own body. Almost immediately after finding out, I was hit with horrible morning sickness (although mine was morning, noon and night) that lasted up until about 16 or so weeks. Just lifting my head without the world spinning was a WOD in itself and I wasn't able to get to the box as much as I would've liked.

Once that subsided, I resumed working out at least 1-2 times a week. I scaled my workouts even more than normal because my energy level just wasn't what it used to be. I was also trying to accommodate for the new center of gravity, the sore joints, etc. On the days I did make it to the box though, I found that post WOD, my energey level was so much higher and overall, I just felt GOOD. It was a nice change from the exhaustion and sluggish feeling pregnancy can bring on. I was able to do most things in a WOD and the only thing I really stayed away from completely were sit ups. Everything else was done on a pregnancy scale. I pushed myself as hard as I could and walked away from each WOD proud.

I gained about 25 lbs during the nine months and Ella was born at 7lbs. 5oz., 4 days post due date. She was as healthy as could be and although labor was long (22 hours), it was relatively easy. I'm almost back to my pre-baby weight, just about 4 weeks later. Although I was not and really still am not too concerned about fitting back into my "normal" clothes, I am happy that I was able to maintain my weight and bounce back so quickly. I credit that to Crossfit. I was able to keep actively working out because Aimee & my other coaches helped me scale each WOD and as I mentioned before, I listened to my body. That's the most important thing, listening to yourself. I only did what I felt comfortable doing because my main goal was to have a healthy and happy baby. Everything else was secondary.

I am so happy that I had Crossfit in my life during my pregnancy. 4 weeks later, I am ready to hit the box again. I know I will still scale as I don't yet feel back to 100% but I can't wait to be active again. The entire 9 months and the little person that resulted from it are motivation to get into even better shape and I look forward to even more progress!

Ella

The Great Disappearing Act:

What went away first when I was pregnant?

Primarily my gymnastics movements. The first thing I noticed was my pistols (one legged squats), second the full ROM Handstand push-ups, third and sadly, the muscle up (at about week 24)....which makes the below video of Charity Vale even more impressive!!!

Charity Vale- Pregnant Muscle ups

Who inspires you? I'm continually inspired by other CrossFitters, especially the ladies. In my early CrossFitting days, I watched numerous videos of Annie and Nicole. In recent days it's been Kristan Clever who just blows me away! One video from the archives that has always stuck out is this one of Pull-ups, pregnant by Annie [wmv]. Although with the other three gymnastic movements on hold for the duration of my 40 weeks (which is 10 at this point). I am still able to crank out my pull-ups. I used to be able to string 20-30 in a row, but at this point I am down to 5 (with a 26LB baby-weight vest) and happy about it.

I have gotten a few questions from pregnant CrossFitters and figured I would address them here. Again, my answers are by no means scientifically proven or based on anything but how I feel and think.

Snatches and Cleans:

Can I do them? Does my belly get in the way?

I can still do them, but with lighter weight. I don't feel like my belly gets in the way, I think the body automatically accommodates for the extra inches in the front (and with that said) causes an early arm bend. But in pregnancy your ligaments get a little looser and you have to be cognizant of the Relaxin and other hormones in the body. So between the early arm bend and hormonal changes in the body I have only cleaned/snatched what has felt comfortable. I have not gone out to beat my 1RM pre-pregnancy PR.

On a Squat clean, I went up to 135# on 8.22.10 which was where I felt comfortable, my max prior to getting pregnant was 157#. I still feel I can do 95# reasonably in a WOD, but at this point it's SLOW. For example on 10.5.10 in my 30th week I did 21-15-9 Squat Cleans 95# and Ring Rows in 15:25, I would compare that to an Elizabeth WOD/time domain and in the past I could have done it sub 10 minutes. The only time (so far) where I have felt some sort of stretching/ligament pain so far was on 8.30.10 when I did 5 Rds of 500M Row, 9 Bear Complexes at 65#.

Rowing/Running:

Are you still running?

At 30 weeks, I have been subbing most all running WOD's with a Row. I feel more comfortable at this point on the rower than with the bouncing on the run. Although when rowing I can no longer keep my legs in front, they splay out the sides causing more pressure on the hip flexors than the quads. The last major run that kicked my butt was on 9.3.10 a Team WOD with an 800M Indian Run in the beginning and the end...WHEW!

Rest/Recovery:

Do you need more recovery between Workouts?

ABSOLUTELY! I have gone from consistently being able to do two workouts in a day to only one. I used to be able to operate 3 days on 1 off with no problem, now I'm lucky to get two possibly three (if I'm lucky) on and I need at least two days off to fully recover. My hips and shoulders take a lot longer to recover than pre-pregnancy. First and Second Trimesters I felt the best, presently during my third trimester my body is feeling like a different creature! I need much more rest and there is some sciatic pressure starting to build in my back. I am on my feet for most of an 8-12 hour day, so this is starting to get taxing on the feet and back.