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Alissa walks into her 6 week postpartum appointment, fingers crossed everything looks ok and a LOT of questions because she looked at her vulva in a mirror before leaving the apartment.
The doctor comes in and takes a look. “Everything looks great!”
“Um...what? Really?!”
“This looks like a perfectly normal, healthy postpartum vagina.”
“Ok...but what is that and that? And THAT?!”
“The muscles are still a bit overstretched and will continue to heal and close. Especially with the work you do, everything will go back.”
While I am HAPPY to go into more detail, I’ll save you the details.
The moral of the story is that I went to the doctor that day convinced my rectum was falling out of my vagina and left with clearance to exercise and have sex.
SEX?!
And maybe you also left the office a little like WTF?! Really?!
Because I was NOT ready for much more than a nap, celebrating that my insides were all in the right place, and a BIG SANDWICH!
Ok, here is what you need to know about returning to exercise and sex postpartum:
You are still recovering.
From childbirth AND pregnancy
If you are interested in your health, your continence, your future sex life, what life looks like at 75, please do not start running 6 weeks postpartum. And if you already started, please take a hiatus.
You need to give your muscles time to adequately recover from childbirth AND pregnancy before subjecting them to that kind of impact!
Muscles are resilient. They heal. But they need time. And proper care.
If you had a C-section. Your abdominal wall needs time to recover and your pelvic floor muscles worked overtime for 40 weeks (give or take) so they have some rehabilitation to do too.
In terms of sex I need you to know I have yet to meet a woman who was ready for sex 6 weeks postpartum. And I’ve met a lot of postpartum women.
A LOT just happened down there. And can I be honest?
Most of us are traumatized.
So after a long day (and who is kidding night) of caring for a baby, your body belonging to someone else for over a year with no end in sight (yet), it’s hard to feel sexy.
It’s hard to take off the mom hat and step into the vixen.
The first step to feeling empowered and in control in your body is getting intimate with yourself.
Confidence is sexy.
In this video I will talk you through my FAVORITE ways to start embodying your postpartum self and reclaim your feminine power.
Let me know what you think! I can't wait to hear from you!
xo, Alissa
p.s. If you’re picking up what I’m laying down, you’ll def want to check out my upcoming courses: Pilates For Your Privates Foundations 101, The Really Real Pregnancy Roadmap, & The Postpartum Revival.
p.p.s Know another mama who would benefit from Pilates For THEIR Privates? Send them this post!