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Personal Trainer Michelle McIntyre is here to bring you the motivation, affirmation, and love you need to unleash your most powerful self. Always real and deeply personal, Michelle and her guests offer up experiences that will help you navigate the worlds of fitness, health, and wellness. Join her on this journey and discover that You Can Be A Fit Bitch Too!
00:12
Hey, you amazing humans. Welcome back to You Can Be a Fit Bitch 2, the rising series all about pivots, changes, new chapters, new beginnings, becoming a whole new version of yourself at any point in life. We have the ability to change. And today is our second episode with Dynamite D about post-Urtam and the baby on the outside. Welcome, D.
00:40
I'm so glad to be back. yeah, this is, at least for me, this was definitely the more challenging part of the process. Really? Well, when the baby's on the inside, like, yeah, there's a lot of struggles with dealing with the baby bump and the loss of autonomy of like, oh, you do have to put the baby first when you're thinking about stuff, but at least they're contained and like, they're getting all their nutrition through the umbilical cord.
01:07
Once they're on the outside. love that. At least they're contained. You know, they can't go anywhere. I mean, you've met Ness. She does not take kindly to being contained. No, she is a wild child for sure. Right out of the gate. A mover and a shaker. And I think you got your hands full, my girl. Oh, my hands have been full since day one. This girl knows.
01:35
and always has known exactly who she is. Like she is just full of personality. She's just waiting for the rest of her to catch up to who she wants to be. And she's kind of mad about it. I love it. She's not like this whole being a baby thing. It's not for her. She's a big girl. She's like, I want out of this baby body now. Yeah. I want to walk. I want to talk. I want to tell you exactly what I want to do. And then I want to go do it. And it's like, kiddo, no.
02:04
You're not there yet. No. Now, how did you deal with exactly that? These big changes, you know, because like you said, when they're on the inside, you still relatively have freedom to do what you need to do. But when you have your baby home and in your arms, your whole schedule changes, everything changes. What was the biggest change and challenge for you as a new mom? I can think of two. Ness did not like sleeping anywhere that wasn't
02:34
on a person. And she still kind of doesn't really like sleeping on anywhere that isn't a person. So for like the first month, Nate and I slept in shifts with one of us awake on the couch with her sleeping on our chest. And then around like one o'clock in the morning, we'd switch off who was on duty for that. The night shift. You like everyone, everyone's taken a moment. Oh yeah. I would usually be up from like,
03:03
1 or 1.30 to 7 a.m. with just this mostly sleeping little baby on top of me. ah So didn't get the most sleep for the first month. Eventually it just got to be too much for both of us. But she still was like, I'm not sleeping in that bassinet. You put me down in there. I will cry and cry forever and I will never sleep. So we ended up going to co-sleeping just to try and get some amount of sleep.
03:31
Absolutely, you need that to function and I think a lot of new parents don't actually realize what they're signing up for with a baby that doesn't want to sleep. No, it's a real challenge and I mean if she was on someone she was perfectly happy to sleep but if you're at least lying down with her next to me I could sleep but yeah being sat up on the chair on the couch is like I might want to sleep.
04:00
but that is not safe. cannot sleep here. The other thing I guess I didn't really expect was the frequency with which she would feed. During the first couple of weeks, I tried keeping track of it. And eventually I was like, is more effort than it's worth. I was doing the math and she'd be feeding like almost every hour. And we'd be spending like 20 minutes
04:30
at a time and like sometimes you just finished feeding her and then she'd want to go again. You're like, I'm now a drive through grocery store and a new mom and sleep deprived. And I have no idea what is happening. Yeah. Oh, the brain fog is real. The brain fog is still here. Yeah. I'm dealing with the brain fog and menopause. So I got you, girl. I know all about it. It's brutal.
04:58
I feel like it's gotta be some of the same hormonal crash out in both postpartum and menopause. It just destroys your memory. Absolutely. That and no sleep. That and no sleep. And no sleep and menopause too, honest to God. I think I had hot flashes too. Because there were some nights I would be the sweatiest person in the world. Welcome to my life.
05:23
High flashes, brain fog. Oh my God. I'm telling you, no, no sleep. It's the same thing. It's the same thing. God, we go through all kinds of awesome stuff, don't we? Hormones are fun. Woo, woo. What a ride. Oh my God. Welcome to the circus. So one of the biggest things that I think would be awesome for you to share was how did you start to regain a sense of self again?
05:51
and to put back in your fitness schedule and routine because you did come back to me really quickly. I know all the girls were so excited that you made it through and were ready to come back on the fitness journey. You did not lag on that one bit. Well, part of it was, it was a defined chunk of time. it gave Nate and I kind of a way to be like, okay, I know I want to do this.
06:19
and Nate was more than happy to take Ness for that time. And an hour, even when she was quite little, wasn't bad. So I started back with you kind of as soon as I got cleared for fitness. I think it was around like the six week postpartum mark. And part of it too was those classes are a big part of my connection to the old me. Like I've been training with you for eight years now. Oh my God, I know. Yes, at least.
06:48
I'm like, yeah, I've been training with you for years and like the girls that are in the hit class, I've been training with them for years now too. And like just being able to get back to something that was a part of the before me. And like a part of my identity outside of just being a mom. Yeah, because you transitioned from D, Dynamite D, to Dynamite D having a baby, to Dynamite D with a baby.
07:17
So much of my day, especially in those early days, was just being mom. She's sleeping on me, she's eating me, I have to change her diaper. She just being constantly needed. So it was nice to be able to kind of step back from that identity and back into who I used to be. And I think that kind of helped me start bridging the gap between who I used to be before the baby and who I am with the baby.
07:44
Absolutely Dee and that's so interesting because a lot of times we don't think that that's what's going to happen but it's not like you lose your old self but the old identity that you were you by you know solo you with Nate that fit girl to transitioning into being you know a woman having a baby and then afterwards what did you find the most defining thing for you was about your strength?
08:14
and what changed for you? Or do you feel that there's more internal strength now because you are a mom? I feel like I am stronger, but I think it's come from like me making a choice to become stronger because I'm a mom. Because like on top of getting back to classes with you, back in the winter, I joined a mom baby Pilates class mostly because
08:41
I thought, oh, this is a good way to get some additional fitness in and I can bring Ness with me. It was a fantastic class. It was taught by my pelvic floor physiotherapist. uh So had a really good focus on like redeveloping core strength and pelvic floor strength. What I didn't realize or expect going into it was uh that I was going to have the clingiest baby in the class and she would not abide being put down on the floor if I was going to try and do something.
09:10
and she would not abide being held by somebody who wasn't me. So I got to do a lot of like squats and like side lunges while holding this 12 pound baby to my chest. my God, what a little sweet pea. She's already demanding. Nope. She started demanding and she's only gotten more demanding. I noticed even just doing this class once a week that I was getting a lot stronger. And this was on top of doing hit classes with you.
09:40
But I realized once the class came to an end, like, okay, this, don't think I can keep doing this. Cause it had some flexibility. I was able to do it over Zoom, which I ended up doing more than half the time. Cause a fun fact about babies, they're magnets for respiratory illnesses. And between February and April, I think we were, me and Ness were sick 50 % of the time. Jurn factories. And I don't want to inflict that on the other moms and babies.
10:10
So even if we were like just coming off of it, it's no, let's stay home, stay safe. It's like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. They get their hands in everything. Oh God, seriously. their mouth. Oh, oh yeah, no. In your eyes, in your ears. She loves a good sneeze in your face. She really does. But it was at a fixed time. When we started, it worked fine with when her naps were. By the end of it, it was like.
10:37
Oh, this is getting close to when her nap is. So I don't think we can swing this. Hence, get our personal training sessions in right now. I was doing them, like, kind of figuring out what I want to keep doing something, but I need something that has the flexibility that I need right now. I was like, Oh my God, Michelle, get more Michelle. Cause I know how flexible you are with your personal training and
11:06
Again, we've been training for years and it's like, if anyone is going to be able to like really kick my butt, it's Michelle. To, you know, have you reached out like that? I was again honored and I thought what an awesome opportunity to get you even stronger in this phase of life. It's not, we're not looking back. We're going forward and your strength. I'm so proud of you. Everybody D has just upped her weights with me.
11:33
post-baby and post-partum, she is lifting heavier than she has in a really long time, gaining so much strength and muscle mass. It's been awesome to see. Honestly, I think it's the heaviest I've ever been lifting, which is wild and empowering. It feels good lifting the big heavy things, especially because I keep getting stronger, but Ness keeps getting heavier. And she loves it when you like hoist her up and like...
12:02
toss her in the air and put her on your shoulders. And I wanna be able to do that now. And I wanna be able to keep doing that as she gets bigger. So she's my motivation behind wanting to get even stronger. Even stronger and staying mobile so that you can squat down and pick her up and you can get on the floor and crawl around and you can, like you said, lift her and swing her and.
12:28
You know, here you are holding the baby and grabbing groceries at the same time, you know, and... Oh, absolutely. Have the strength to do that. Honestly, the mobility I have from before has been huge because from day one, we've always changed nests on the floor. We don't have a changing table. So there's a lot of getting down on the floor with the baby and then getting up off the floor with the baby.
12:55
Or now, like, she has her own floor bed that will, like, lie down in with her to comfort her at night. But getting up around a sleeping baby who has starfished in the middle of that bed without disturbing her? Oh, you find some joints you didn't know you had. And you're, like, crawling around, like, you're trying to, like, get one leg out, one arm, roll, move. Oh, it's, it is full-on Mission Impossible. Oh, that's awesome.
13:25
And I know like from your standpoint, like I watched my mom growing up, working out and that's where I got my, you know, passion for fitness and movement and you know, monkey see, monkey do. It really is true. And the fact that, you know, you are continuing to make this a huge priority for your life because you want to be healthy and a fit strong mom for your daughter. And also I believe
13:53
Like I said, it's monkey see monkey do. When we as young kids absorb that, we want to do it too. It's such a foundation that you're laying for your daughter right now that will continue on in her life for years to come. Oh yeah. No, she, she wants to do all of the things that I do exactly as I'm doing them, which is really cute. Um, as long as it's not like getting in the way of me doing what I'm trying to do. And.
14:23
Yeah, I really wanna kind of impart on her that not only is fitness and moving important, it's fun. And I wanna give her the opportunities to find ways to be fit that she enjoys. I remember having some opportunities like that as a kid, but I wanna really give her like the full spread of, if you wanna try it kiddo, let's go. That is so awesome. And what a way to empower someone at a... uh
14:52
very young age. Both you and are incredible. You both keep up with your fitness regime and you help each other. You know, you guys are solid partnership, which I think is such a gift. Not every new mom has a solid partner behind them helping out behind the scenes as much as Nate. I could not do this without him. Oh, you guys are such a great team.
15:16
And what would you say to, you know, new moms right now about self care and how to carve that time out for yourself? Obviously, you know, our workouts are self care, but is there anything else in particular postpartum that you really needed to make sure that you did for yourself? Honestly, like a big thing I found was I had to get better at asking for help because I am by nature like a
15:45
very independent person. very, I got this, I got me. But- Yes, you are. Having a baby thrown in the mix, you can't do it alone. It's so, so hard to do it alone and stay sane. yeah, learning to ask for help, even with things that to me might feel small and trivial, and learning to really rely on the people who were there offering support. And Nate-
16:14
has been huge for that and always up to help me in any way I can and making sure that I get dedicated chunks of time for me every day to do whatever I need to kind of decompress and like take care of myself and not have to worry about Ness in the moment. And we've been doing that since she was at Leith. even when she was like tiny newborn, he'd strap her into a carrier and
16:44
take her for a walk nap for an hour so I could take a nap or take a bath and yeah it's it's been huge the whole way along. That's so awesome you like honestly like you've come at this like such a trooper can be so overwhelming but the way you set yourself up you know and I think that this is the lesson for a lot of women who are thinking about embarking on this journey.
17:09
is to have those healthy habits and that workout regime in place before you start. Don't start it while you're pregnant. Lay that work before you get pregnant so that you can continue it on into pregnancy. Obviously, making sure that you get the go ahead from your doctor and you check in, but then also to remember that you need to then on the other side of it,
17:37
be able to continue that process of healing your body after birth, regaining your ab strength, and also allowing those hormones to settle so that you can come at this new chapter as a new mom without as much stress to decompress. I know working out helps with all of those things, and you've been able to really navigate that as a new mom.
18:03
Before we wrap up, is there anything else you would just love to share about your postpartum journey that you feel like is one of those yummy little nuggets someone needs to hear? I feel like this is really similar to what I said in the last episode, but much like no two pregnancies are the same, no two babies are the same. You don't know what kind of baby you're going to get until they're here, but you just kind of have to adapt to the baby you've got.
18:33
instead of like wishing for the baby that you didn't get. Like, I mean, I'd love to be able to sleep through the night, but that's not the cards we got dealt. But I love how bright and vibrant Ness is. And I'm willing to trade a bit of sleep for that. I love you so much. That is one of the best things you can say. We cannot compare our journeys as humans, as moms, as caregivers, as
19:02
We just can't everybody is handed a different deck of cards, but share, share, share your stories. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Don't be afraid to pivot and change and come into the new version of yourself in a new chapter, like motherhood or, you know, myself, my new chapter is I am, I'm coming out of a 20 year marriage and I'm now a single woman in my fifties. And I've got a whole episode on that on
19:32
big pivot change and how, you know, my chapter at 51 looks a whole lot different and I can't compare myself to anyone else or anyone else's journey, but we can share what we've discovered along the way to help lift each other up in this lifetime, to help each other grow, to help each other know that there's community out there for us. There's people who want to support and love us and that
20:00
We're meant to change. We're meant to grow. Right. We're meant to always be moving forward. 100%. And like you said, we're all playing with a different deck, but we might share some cards with other people. And that's where sharing our stories and building that connection helps us kind of get through our journey. Absolutely. And on that,
20:28
I would like to say to all of you, thank you for tuning in to this very special series of You Can Be a Fit Bitch 2, the rising series, the pivots, the changes, the thriving, and the ability to move forward in life at any age, at any stage. I just wanted to tell you, if no one has told you yet today, I love you, I support you, I believe in your ability.
20:57
to change, to grow, and to thrive. We got this together. Love you, Dynamite D. I love you too, Michelle.
21:09
Thanks for listening. To connect with Michelle, you can email her at ignitefusionfitmichelle at gmail.com or visit her on Instagram at Diva Delight 911. Support the show by subscribing or sharing it with friends or anyone you think would benefit from hearing it. You Can Be a Fit Bitch 2 is produced by Haunted Mouse Productions. This has been a Haunted Mouse Production. Cut that out.