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Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to Bounce Forward with me. Tiff Paul,

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Speaker 1: I'd lack for acknowledge of traditional custodians of the land

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Speaker 1: on which I'm recording this podcast. There were undrew people

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Speaker 1: of the cooler nation. I pay my respects to elders

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Speaker 1: past and present. Kiara messaged me, Hi, Tiff podcast question

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Speaker 1: for you. I'm in my second pregnancy and I'm seeing

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Speaker 1: a lot of videos on social media about exercise movements

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Speaker 1: you should do to prepare your body for birth. My

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Speaker 1: first birth experience was an ideal, so I'm wondering if

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Speaker 1: there are any specific exercises that help your body prepare

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Speaker 1: for birth, or if these videos I'm seeing are just

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Speaker 1: a little bit of media hype. We'd love to know

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Speaker 1: your thoughts. As someone I trust in the fitness world. Kiara, Yes,

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Speaker 1: let's talk about this because it's a big question I

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Speaker 1: get all the time. Should I be exercising to prepare

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Speaker 1: for birth? The answer is no, not at all. Women

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Speaker 1: don't need to train to be fit for birth. You

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Speaker 1: don't need to be doing a program to engage certain

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Speaker 1: muscles that are going to help you in labor or

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Speaker 1: something like that. Now, the person I always turn to

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Speaker 1: is Brook Turner, and she's been on this podcast. She

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Speaker 1: is our pre and postnatal pregnancy expert, and I'm actually

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Speaker 1: going to be doing her qualifications later on this year

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Speaker 1: to become a pre and postnatal trainer myself, because I

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Speaker 1: have become so passionate about this very question, helping women

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Speaker 1: to not feel so stressed in their pregnancies. Now. Brook

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Speaker 1: says that being fit and strong can help in labor

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Speaker 1: and in post partum recovery. Absolutely, if you are fit

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Speaker 1: and strong and overall looking after yourself, it's going to help.

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Speaker 1: But training for what some argue is the biggest event

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Speaker 1: of their life requires regression, not progressive overload. So in

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Speaker 1: any other program, you would be going with one weight

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Speaker 1: and then the next week you may increase that weight,

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Speaker 1: and then you keep increasing that weight and you keep

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Speaker 1: stimulating the muscles and they grow, and you know it's

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Speaker 1: progressive overload. But with pregnancy, the more pregnant you get,

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Speaker 1: the more you have to pull back, so it's actually regressive.

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Speaker 2: You've got to modify.

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Speaker 1: So I share Brook's opinion that it is very important

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Speaker 1: we help women make smarter exercise choices during pregnancy so

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Speaker 1: that they can enjoy a lifetime of athleticism. It is

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Speaker 1: safe to train right up to your due date, but

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Speaker 1: you need to choose exercises that suit you and a

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Speaker 1: scale to your journey. I, like Brooke, trained all the

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Speaker 1: way up to my due date with my second pregnancy.

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Speaker 1: My first pregnancy is quite sick, but I was modifying,

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Speaker 1: really modifying, Kiara, I urge you to go to women's

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Speaker 1: health physio or go to a pre postnatal trainer and

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Speaker 1: get some advice on how to pull back your training

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Speaker 1: regress it safely for where you're at in your second pregnancy.

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Speaker 1: It's really important that you modify and that you take

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Speaker 1: your time and that you don't push yourself. There are

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Speaker 1: a lot of myths around training and pregnancy, and I

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Speaker 1: think the biggest rule to remember is if you did

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Speaker 1: it before you got pregnant, it's safe to keep doing

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Speaker 1: that at a scale back version during your pregnancy. So

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Speaker 1: I ran, I'm a runner during my pregnancy. It was

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Speaker 1: safe for me to keep running. I didn't because I

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Speaker 1: became a really big unit and it just felt too

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Speaker 1: much on my joints at the time and my pelvic floor.

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Speaker 1: But I could have kept running. If you did CrossFit

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Speaker 1: before you felt pregnant, it is safe to keep doing

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Speaker 1: CrossFit and those big Olympic lifts during your pregnancy if

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Speaker 1: your body is used to it. Now, talking about pregnancy

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Speaker 1: and birth story, you say that you didn't have an

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Speaker 1: ideal birth the first time, and I think the birthing

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Speaker 1: experience it's really hard because we all set ourselves up

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Speaker 1: with these expectations to have these perfect births, and we

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Speaker 1: come in with a birth plan and we say, hi, doctor,

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Speaker 1: here is my birth plan, and I would like it

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Speaker 1: to go to plan, but it never does happen that way.

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Speaker 2: I'll tell you a bit about my birthing stories.

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Speaker 1: My first birth, I went for my thirty six week checkup,

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Speaker 1: I think or thirty seven week check up, just to

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Speaker 1: see my doctor routine. You start to see the doctor

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Speaker 1: every week towards the end thirty seven weeks, and he

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Speaker 1: had a little look around and said.

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Speaker 2: Oh, you're in labor, and I'm like, am I?

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Speaker 1: And I was dilated three centimeters and I was feeling shocking,

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Speaker 1: like I was so sick with Arnold's. Throughout my pregnancy,

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Speaker 1: I felt so terrible. I wasn't in pain, and I

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Speaker 1: wasn't having contractions or but I was feeling really terrible.

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Speaker 1: This particular day, no wonder. I was already in labor.

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Speaker 1: So he said, you've got a choice. You can go home,

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Speaker 1: wait for your water to break, and then come back

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Speaker 1: to the hospital, or you could hang around and just

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Speaker 1: we'll see if your waters break here and we'll deliver

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Speaker 1: the baby when that happens.

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Speaker 2: I was too scared to go home.

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Speaker 1: I just thought what if there was a delay or something,

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Speaker 1: and getting back traffic, I was just freaked out. Lucky,

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Speaker 1: I'd packed my hospital bag and it was in the

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Speaker 1: boot of the car anyway ready from like thirty three weeks,

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Speaker 1: and I said.

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Speaker 2: I'll hang around. Well.

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Speaker 1: Arnold was born forty minutes later. It was something like

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Speaker 1: four pushes. I went into labor and it just progressed

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Speaker 1: super fast. It was actually an emergency. We had to

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Speaker 1: get him out quickly because he had the cord around

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Speaker 1: his neck. So I remember I was having the contractions

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Speaker 1: at this time, and the doctor appeared and said, we're

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Speaker 1: going to get this.

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Speaker 2: Baby out now.

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Speaker 1: Heart rate had dropped and it was quite scary, and

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Speaker 1: he had to get the cord out from around Arnold's

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Speaker 1: neck and then delivered Arnold with fourceps. I had a tear,

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Speaker 1: which was an ideal stitched up.

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Speaker 2: It was fine.

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Speaker 1: I think it was a second degree tear, and Arnold

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Speaker 1: was born perfect, little birthweight three point seven kilos and

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Speaker 1: he was divine and hiccupping because he'd swallowed so much

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Speaker 1: amniotic fluid in the fast berth. He flew out And

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Speaker 1: I just always am so grateful that I stayed at

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Speaker 1: the hospital, because otherwise I don't know what would have happened.

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Speaker 1: My birth with Vader was a lot more relaxed. It

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Speaker 1: was thirty eight weeks and I went into labor about

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Speaker 1: three o'clock in the afternoon, and again it was a

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Speaker 1: pretty quick labor, forty five minutes or something, and she

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Speaker 1: just came into the world. I had vaginal births for both. Again,

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Speaker 1: I had a tear with Vader, but it was just

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Speaker 1: a first degree tear. It wasn't too bad, and the

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Speaker 1: pushing was harder with Vader. I really did find that

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Speaker 1: it was such an athletic experience, and again, no training

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Speaker 1: in the world will ever prepare you for that, and

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Speaker 1: just how incredibly mortifying it is having your husband like

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Speaker 1: see all of that happen. I just think I was

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Speaker 1: in the zone pushing. But when I think back to it. Wow,

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Speaker 1: it's so yeah. I guess just wild, isn't it. The

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Speaker 1: thought of a baby coming out of that area. It's incredible.

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Speaker 1: And she was born at just three kilos. She was

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Speaker 1: a little baby. In my first birth with Arnold, I

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Speaker 1: didn't have time to even tell my mom I was

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Speaker 1: in labor, which to this day she hasn't forgiven me.

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Speaker 1: I just was so fast that Arnold just flew out

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Speaker 1: and I didn't even have time to send a text

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Speaker 1: message I'm in labor having a baby. It was just

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Speaker 1: I sent my family in the family WhatsApp group a

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Speaker 1: picture of Arnold born. But with Vader, I was able

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Speaker 1: to text everyone and say, you know, I'm in labor

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Speaker 1: and I'm having a baby, and it was very exciting

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Speaker 1: and they all came into the hospital and I'll never

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Speaker 1: forget Arnold meeting Vader for the first time and having

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Speaker 1: the first cuddle, and you know, all those.

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Speaker 2: Moments the siblings.

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Speaker 1: Oh, it's so beautiful and it makes me want to

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Speaker 1: have another baby.

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Speaker 2: But don't do that to Mikiara. I can't have any

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Speaker 2: more children. They kill me.

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Speaker 1: But talking about the birth stories and the little babies

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Speaker 1: and the smell of their little heads and oh, I

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Speaker 1: guess me so clucky. I just love babies so much,

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Speaker 1: and I loved I loved giving birth. I really loved it.

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Speaker 1: Don't love the postpartum recovery. I detest being pregnant, but

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Speaker 1: I love giving birth and I would give birth every

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Speaker 1: day of the week if that was possible.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely love it. It is so exciting, so athletic.

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Speaker 1: It is such a heart racing moment and the ultimate surprise,

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Speaker 1: you know what am I having?

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Speaker 2: What am I having?

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Speaker 1: Like? It's just so exciting and I've never had any

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Speaker 1: excitement like that, quite like it. But I don't like

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Speaker 1: being pregnant, and that's quite controversial. I know you meant

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Speaker 1: to love it and be glowing and everything, but I

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Speaker 1: just don't like being pregnant and my body doesn't love it.

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Speaker 1: And the postpartum recovery for me, I found it very difficult,

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Speaker 1: you know, with the weight that I put on, and

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Speaker 1: it was a very difficult time in my life for

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Speaker 1: not only my physical recovery from having the babies, but

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Speaker 1: also my mental health, to be honest. And you've got

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Speaker 1: a new baby and it's like a bomb's gone off,

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Speaker 1: Like your life just blows up and you've got to

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Speaker 1: look after this baby, but I myself felt like I

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Speaker 1: got lost in all of that. You're caring for them,

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Speaker 1: but you're not really caring for yourself. So, Kiah, I

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Speaker 1: give you some advice that once you have your second baby,

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Speaker 1: and it is harder with the second baby because you

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Speaker 1: have a sibling to look after as well, you've got

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Speaker 1: to take care of yourself.

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Speaker 2: You have to set aside that time.

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Speaker 1: You've got to get the village around you and the

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Speaker 1: support network, and you've got to really start planning that now.

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Speaker 1: And I myself knew how hard it was my first pregnancy.

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Speaker 1: I didn't have postpartum depression, but I definitely struggled postpartum.

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Speaker 1: So I made a wellness plan, like a postpartum wellness plan,

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Speaker 1: actually wrote it down and shared it with my family

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Speaker 1: and was like, Okay, I'm going to need you to

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Speaker 1: pick up Arnold twice a week from school, please please,

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Speaker 1: please please, I'm going to need ed you never do

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Speaker 1: the supermarket because that's usually my job, but you're going

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Speaker 1: to have to do the supermarket, buddy. And here's the list.

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Speaker 1: This is what we get weekly.

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Speaker 2: Can you just you know?

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Speaker 1: And here's the menu for the week. I just needed

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Speaker 1: all hands on deck and just these little things that

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Speaker 1: helped out just relieved a bit of pressure and helped me.

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Speaker 1: So maybe make a postpart and wellness list or I

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Speaker 1: had a little document I circulated.

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Speaker 2: And it just it just helped me.

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Speaker 1: Because people don't know how to help, and they want

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Speaker 1: to help, you've got to tell them. So I hope

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Speaker 1: Kia that that helps you. Long answer for your question,

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Speaker 1: which is really just the no. You don't have to

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Speaker 1: train for birth, okay, but staying physically active and being

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Speaker 1: strong and fit throughout your pregnancy is definitely going to

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Speaker 1: help you with your postpartum recovery and help you throughout

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Speaker 1: your pregnancy. So still stay active. For me, that is

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Speaker 1: absolutely the greatest thing that you can do at this point.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for listening to Bounce Forward. I love

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Speaker 1: having your company, So please dm me on Instagram at

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Speaker 1: tifhole Underscore XO and let me know what questions you'd

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Speaker 1: love me to cover. Don't forget to rate and review

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Speaker 1: me on your podcast app Speak soon.

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Speaker 2: Happy Days,