Episode #01: Meet Dayna
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In this episode, Dayna shares her story about why she became a women’s health physiotherapist.
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Pelvic Health and Fitness Podcast Episode #01 - All about Dayna
[00:00:00] We're excited to have you join us for this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness. I'm Dayna Morellato mom, orthopedic and Pelvic Health physiotherapist. And I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, mom, orthopedic physiotherapist, and pre postnatal fitness coach. On this show, we have open and honest conversations about all phases of motherhood, including fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between.
We also provide helpful education and information on fitness. The pelvic floor and many aspects of women's health, including physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Please remember as you listen to this podcast that this is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical conditions. Please contact your medical provider if you have specific questions or concerns.
Thanks so much for joining us. Grab a cup of coffee or wine and enjoy.
Hi everyone. Welcome to the very first episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness podcast. We thought we would start out with a couple episodes introducing ourselves [00:01:00] so you all can get to know us and, uh, we can share why we decided to get into women's health and just share our story.
So today we're going to be introducing Dayna and just getting into her story and why she is so passionate about women's health. So Dayna, do you wanna just give us a little bit of background just as to why you became a physiotherapist in the first place? Yeah, why I became a physio in the first place?
That's a big question. You know, back in the, when we were in high school, we were part of the double cohort. So if you know, you know, um, and basically had I chose. To be a physio in grade 10. So how even old are you then? Um, and I remember getting into physio school and thinking, oh my gosh, I hope I like it.
Cuz everything I had done up until that point was towards physiotherapy school. Um, and I did love it. I loved learning about the body and how it worked and. [00:02:00] I had always been athletic, uh, not necessarily in competitive sports, but certainly loved exercise and movement. And so I graduated from physio school with you and we both went off to work in orthopaedics and I think we both struggled quite a lot with just not really finding our niche or we didn't, you know, getting our.
Our feet wet. We starting to think, man, will I ever know enough and will I ever be passionate? I don't know if I was ever truly passionate about it. I liked what I was doing. Um, I just didn't necessarily know if I wanted to do it forever. Yeah. So cut to, uh, about. Probably six years ago, the seed was planted where at my workplace, at the time, the women's health or public health physio was leaving our company.
And they approached me and asked if I wanted to go that route. And I kind of laughed out loud, to be honest. And I, I think that a lot of my friends, [00:03:00] when I even started floating this seed where like, you wanna do what? That doesn't seem like you, um, But the seed was planted. And so around the same time I played recreational soccer with, uh, some women who, a lot of them were a little bit older than me.
Were definitely starting to have children and were saying things to me like, start doing your Kegels now and we're running to the bathroom. Yeah. At halftime or, you know, going up for a header and peeing themselves a little bit and being very open with me. And I remember thinking, this doesn't seem right.
Like these are athletic women. I've played with them for years and that doesn't seem right. And so when I started to think about having my own. Babies with my husband. I started talking, uh, with him about it and how, I just wanted to know more and understand why this was happening to women's bodies selfishly, initially, right?
So I could prevent it from happening to me. And so I took [00:04:00] my first, uh, certification. And was completely overwhelmed. Yeah. I had no idea. Yeah. I remember sitting there thinking, man, this is so much bigger than just peeing yourself. Right. I was completely unprepared with the breadth of conditions that could potentially affect a pelvis and male and female obviously.
Um, and thinking I didn't know if I had what it took to really address these issues with. My clients. Were you overwhelmed and almost second guessed whether you wanted to do that field? A hundred percent. Oh yeah, a hundred percent. I left that course thinking I was so grateful I had taken it. I thought I had a better understanding of how I could serve the clients that I was having without, you know, doing internal exams.
Even just like the amount of information I received about. Bladder health and bowel health and you know, sexual function [00:05:00] and, but these were conversations at the time. I couldn't imagine having openly with people, which I kinda chuckle at now, but, and this was before you were a mom, so I think that's important to state too, because yes, as many of you listening, if you have kids, I think a lot of dignity goes out the window once you have kids.
So then you do not have an issue. Having these conversations post kids, I think, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, a hundred percent. It was different. Um, mind you, it turns out that I was actually pregnant while I was there. No way. On way, way. Yeah. So, so just remind me too, with the level one, do you learn internal right off the bat?
Yeah, so it was an internal lab. A lot of, you know, just like other physio courses you take, right? You learn the content and then you practice in lab and, um, I was, I was really blown away at the content and the impact it could have on people's quality of life. And I, it was a very. [00:06:00] Weighty thing for me because I didn't, I wanted to know everything.
If I was going to take it on for people and have them trust me with, with these issues that had arisen for them. Cuz these are massive quality of life things for people. Right, totally. You're leaking or you have sexual dysfunction. I wanted to make sure I knew it all. Yeah. So I knew I was either gonna throw in the towel there or go just full on in.
Okay. And I bit the bullet and like a month later, not very long later, I took the level two. And that was a game changer for me. Okay. So it really completed the circle. I felt like I had way more tools. I felt like I had a much bigger picture of how I could help people. And I started seeing people clinically.
Um, right away. And that's the one thing that was great about these courses is you could just start practicing right away. And I, I felt confident in that. Yeah. Um, but it's funny to think, now I got into it thinking, ma'am, women shouldn't have to [00:07:00] pee their pants after they have babies. And it's, no, they absolutely shouldn't, but, oh man.
There are just so many things that we shouldn't have to necessarily deal with just because we have babies, and that's just a small portion of this. Conversation. Right, right. This is excluding men's health and all of, you know, any other surgeries, transitional surgeries, things like that. Right. So, you know, fast forward a little bit.
I ha was pregnant with my first, my daughter's at the time of this recording is four, so sh. I went through my pregnancy. I had been very active up until this point. I went to a strength and conditioning gym and did I say CrossFit type workouts? I weren't straight CrossFit, but a lot of hit training, and I had these grand plans.
Again, I laugh at myself. I was gonna do two pull-ups every week of my pregnancy. So that when I delivered baby, I could just bang out 10 pull-ups right after, right. Because I, that's what society tells [00:08:00] you. Right? That's fine. I'm gonna strength train. Progressively overload, essentially. And, um, you know, so even, even after taking that course, you still had a bit of athlete brain, you would say.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So even knowing, knowing what you knew and what you had learned, that wasn't enough to. Like really want to scale back a lot. Right. And I, I had, yeah, like, I think, so at this point, keep in mind my, I go into the gym to like, I've been going to the gym. I've been taking it easy. It's my first pregnancy, so I'm a little bit nervous.
Yeah. Nobody knows at this point. So, you know, I'm, I've been given the clearance from my doctor that I can continue with these workouts and I was blessed doing what you've always done, right? Yeah, exactly. I was blessed at this point to not have any, Vomiting or nausea. Like, I really wa I was tired, but you know, I can push through that.
Yeah. You don't have to push through that one, guys. Okay. No. [00:09:00] So I, yeah. 12 weeks comes around. I've now kind of announced our pregnancy, or we have announced our pregnancy, and here I am. I'm ready to do my first two pull-ups. 12 weeks pregnant with my first, and I felt a horrible pull in my lower. Lower.
Really? Yeah. And literally week one of this grand plan I had was done. Okay. And I thinking, okay, this is bigger than I even understand. Right. I'm at 12 weeks. There's obviously changes happening in my body and good for you for listening because again, if that were me, I probably would've been like, oh, that's just a normal pregnancy feeling, and it's okay because yeah.
Athletes, we are used to having little symptoms and pushing through. Right. I remember being freaked out by it. Yeah. By how fast, because, you know, your first pregnancy in general. I, I, I personally, I wasn't showing by any means at this point, and so to have that feeling in my lower abdomen freaked me right out.
But also was a good thing because it did [00:10:00] make me more aware, you know, so my pregnancy continues. I was very blessed to have. A normal, easy pregnancy other than fatigue, normal fatigue. Um, I did, I was very active throughout my whole pregnancy and interesting. This is a whole other podcast, but having so many people say to me, okay, well your labor and delivery are gonna be amazing.
Oh, yeah. Best. Right? That's a whole episode. Yeah. Um, you're going to have like this amazing delivery and, and, uh, bounce right back. Yep. Yeah. Ew. Yeah. Ew. Um, yeah. Ew. Again, we'll come back to that. But, so I, I did, I, you know, I modified though I wasn't silly. I, I do think I listened to my body. I didn't have any feelings of leaking or heaviness or pressure.
Um, but maintained a fairly consistent, still worked out four to five times a week. Um, I did, I had a good delivery, um, relatively quick. Um, [00:11:00] Um, didn't know it was vaginal. I had vaginal, had a vaginal delivery with her. Yes. Um, I did have an epidural. I did birth on my back, you know, so I still, having had these courses, didn't have a lot of training specifically with pregnancy, labor, and delivery to this point.
Right. Um, you know, okay. So had a great delivery. Recovered pretty well physically, mentally, I really struggled, um, for a lot of different reasons. I think I, I, I've often wondered, and I don't say this lightly, if I maybe had. Borderline, at least postpartum depression for sure. Postpartum anxiety. I never was diagnosed with that, but knowing what I know now, um, anyhoo, six weeks came, came around and I felt like finally I can get back to exercise.
This is me. This is something that's for me. And I took my six week old daughter to mommy me classes, and I loved the classes. Yeah, I was moving. But I was running on the spot. I was doing abdominal [00:12:00] workouts at six weeks and not having started with the basics of like, this is me as a pelvic health physio now, six weeks postpartum.
Oh, did you, did you question it in the moment or how did what you were doing in the moment? I think. Looking back, I was questioning it in that I was, I was, I was listening for symptoms in my body. I felt like I wasn't leaking. I felt like I didn't have to run to the bathroom during the workout. So it was probably okay.
Like I feel like I had, um, I was listening to my body, but I don't think I was listening to my head either being like, right. You know, would I tell my, my clients at this point this. I, I wasn't listening to that. It felt good to exercise. Yeah. And I think it's important to understand for our listeners, give ourselves some grace, cuz I know you have a similar story that we'll come to.
It felt like [00:13:00] me. Yeah. And at no other time in your life really do you have this complete. You know, your identity is flipped on its head. So I was working out, and even though it felt different, it wasn't back at the gym yet, it felt like me. So I did, I, I recovered well, right? I didn't have any, you know, symptoms of leaking, pain, pressure, my diastasis closed.
I had the ability to assess these things for myself. So I, I did, I healed very well. Um, continued to take more courses, learned a lot more about pregnancy and delivery and, um, Two year, 20, uh, however long later. My, my kids are 23 months apart, so they're just shy two years apart. And I end up, I'm pregnant with my second, and I immediately, I, I joke with my friends and my clients, I immediately had a diastasis, like I pick, I keyed on my st on the stick and the lines came up and I had a diastasis.
Okay. Like it was just right [00:14:00] back. Um, so you had, did you have a bit of a diastasis after you delivered Cara but it just closed right away or? Yeah, I, I had a diastasis when I was pregnant with my daughter Kara. Um, and I didn't know what it was. I remember asking, which, which I think a hundred percent of moms have one when they're pregnant.
Right. It's something like, I don't know the exact statistic. Yeah. But it's something like 98% and a third trimester towards the end of the third trimester. Cause physically, physically, our body needs to make room for the baby. Hundred percent. So I think that's, that's something that I was unaware of. Yeah.
Because diastasis is just, you know, talked about as this big, scary thing. Yeah. But it's a very natural, normal thing that needs to happen. Yeah. And again, I think, so some women it just will naturally close. And some women, the gap remains a little bit. Right, for sure. Um, so yes, I had a diastasis during my pregnancy, but again, it sounds so silly to say this, like I was aware of Dia, what [00:15:00] diastasis was.
Yeah. But I would say at this point it had only ever been discussed as something that happened postpartum. Right. So I, even for myself, I was a bit confused on. What is this? And I remember asking my ob like, look what happens when I do this. And I basically did like a half crunch. And anyways, it was a diastasis, so I can't say I was treating that very well during my first pregnancy.
Right. But it did, it, it, it closed well, had good tension, which, you know, all things that we can come back to. Um, and I pee on the stick and here I am diastasis. It was like I was third trimester ready immediately. Yeah. Um, which, Makes for an interesting foray into exercise at that point. So again, with my second pregnancy, second time around, so much fatigue, like chronic fatigue, um, I remember, I remember talking to you about that and you said to me at one point, I honestly think I'm gonna be tired for the rest of my life.
[00:16:00] That's how you felt. I remember that. I, it was a massive worry for me Yeah. During my pregnancy that I, this is just how I was gonna feel. I had two kids, like this is just how I was gonna feel. I was very worried about that. Um, and everybody, you know, well-intentioned would say to me, oh, well you have a toddler at home, so of course you're tired.
Yeah, you don't get to rest. I think it was so much more than that, I think. Yeah. You know, I think my body was struggling. Maybe I should have been tested for low iron and yeah, more magnesium. Like I wasn't tested for anything. Um, So that's that. There we go. But anyhow, I tried to continue to exercise, but was definitely not as intense.
Way less frequent. Definitely beat myself up about it in my own head. Why can't I be more active? Why, you know, I should be able to do this. I should be able to push through tiredness, which, you know, I'm growing a human. Like I wanna go back and hug [00:17:00] myself and say, listen, I know you're growing a few. So I wanna ask too, so in the times where you're beating yourself up, did you have fears of gaining too much weight?
Was that like part of it for you? Yep. Yeah, I've always been petite, right? Yeah. I'm a small person. Um, so that was part of it. I already had fears, if I'm honest, about what my body was gonna look like postpartum. Yeah. Um, I was worried that it meant a harder labor and delivery, okay for me, because that's what everybody says, right?
If you work out, you are kind of rewarded with this easy delivery and recovery. So I had all of that going on as well, but I physically, it felt like every day I was walking through. Through quicksand. Yeah. Like I was so tired, but I did my best. I walked a lot more. I, taking my daughter to the park was my Everest.
Um, [00:18:00] anyways, and my recovery, so got to delivery. I carried him till 40 weeks and six days and I was, I think I gained 10 more pounds with him than my daughter. I was so puffy. I was super self-conscious about how I looked. Aw. Um, and I really hated how everybody told me I looked the same. Everybody told me I the same as with Kara, or the same as normal as your normal self.
Everybody just told me that I looked the same as Kara and I thought. I don't know why that bothered me, but it did. Um, because you thought they were just trying to be nice or what? Yes, I think that, I think that's what it was. Um, which anyways, for small, it's like, why, why do people need to comment on comparing you to your former self anyways?
But that's, again, that's our society. Right? Right. A hundred percent. There was a lot of, a lot of focus on body and what I looked like internally and externally the second time, but. I had an even [00:19:00] faster and easier delivery with him. Yeah. Um, it was very easy. It was very, it was shorter than my first, which I mean, I, you know, second delivery.
Uh, so none of those things were true. Right. In terms of having this, it, it, it, you know, I had, I had a good delivery. And I promised myself during pregnancy that I would be kinder to myself postpartum. Yeah. Mentally and physically. I did that. Even when I was struggling kind of mentally with body image, I promised myself I was gonna listen and luckily that chronic fatigue feeling was almost instantly gone.
Wow. So, So, yeah, you're tired. Obviously there's a newborn in the house. You're not sleeping. You know, we're super humans with newborns. Truly. Yeah. And then there's, but I felt like sleepy and fatigue are two different things. I always used to say. I still say that. Yeah. Um, but I was much kinder to my body, so six weeks rolled around and I think I did exactly what I do with my clients now.
I started with some [00:20:00] breathing and some bridging and saw. How it felt and went from there. And even, I think my husband, if he's honest a couple times, would've said, Okay. You can push yourself a little bit more here and there. Yeah. Like if you're in the gym, but I really didn't. I was okay with it. I good for you.
But it took me a lot longer. So, you know, even my son is now two and a half and I, a year ago I assessed myself. I hadn't assessed myself in a while and I was having some heaviness. I tried running, it was the beginning of the pandemic and I thought, man, I need some space. So I'm going out for a run. I've never really been a runner before.
Ironically, found some joy in it. And started to get a lot of pelvic, uh, pelvic floor symptoms. A lot of heaviness. Uh, definitely felt like my prolapse had worsened, which is the whole episode in itself. It had not, but the feelings were there. Yes. Um, I guess I didn't mention that. I did, I do have, I have a grade two prolapse of my [00:21:00] bladder.
Um, so did that, did that get diagnosed after your first pregnancy or second? After My second. After your second. Okay. Yeah. Um, I, truthfully, I didn't go to a, this sounds so horrible, but we're being honest here. I didn't go to a pelvic floor physio after my first I, everything felt fine. I did like, you know, do all my own kind of assessment stuff and felt, which again, I think that could be an episode too, is that even if you're as asymptomatic, it's still very important to go get a surgery.
Absolutely. So I'll never know. I'll never truly know. Of course. And I actually wonder. How many of women, how many women are walking around with a prolapse prior to children for sure. But any that's, yeah. Um, so grade two prolapse, no symptoms in general, started running, got symptoms and re really took a look at my own body and my abdominal wall.
And I still had a one and a half finger diastasis a year ago. Um, and you didn't really realize that. Yeah, like I knew it was there, I was still [00:22:00] managing it. There were certain things in terms of exercise I didn't feel comfortable doing quite yet. Like I wouldn't a year ago have done a V sit for example, or V snap if we know, you know, where you bring your, your toes and your hands together.
I couldn't manage that pressure. So again, very, I feel like I really listened to my body. Yeah. Second time around and I was okay with it taking longer. Um, But here we are a year ago and I still had this diastasis. So in the last year I've really focused on closing that up for myself and using myself kind of as a case study.
And it's interesting that as that has closed and you know, not completely closed in some spots, but really great tension in the linea alba, able to do a v sit now dead bugs, planks like, and my prolapse symptoms are at this time completely gone. Yeah. So it's interesting when you think about your, your system, so.
Interesting. I think this, again, could be a whole other episode, but I'm just curious. So when you said you started to more focus [00:23:00] on closing the diastasis. Mm-hmm. Do you think you weren't challenging your abdomen enough in terms of recovery? Yeah, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. Right. So I started to listen to advice from Antony Lo and Munira Hudani. They don't even know me personally, but they've influenced my practice quite a lot. And I was like, listen, I've been doing abdominal work. Like it's not like I've been avoiding it. I've been doing all of the stuff, but I was, I said to myself, it's time to load it. Like it's really time to push my limits and see where my limits are.
Yeah. And so I started doing those higher level things and it felt good. Like it felt good mentally and it felt good physically. And it's interesting to me that it's changed how my pelvic floor feels interesting day to day now I haven't been running. Um, so stay tuned. But I'm like, if I was barely a runner before the pandemic, I'm not running in minus 15 degrees.
You're crazy. Um, That'll be an interesting sort of self [00:24:00] test now. Yeah. Yeah. So I think it's been kind of an interesting, I've used myself as a bit of a case study the second time around and Yeah, it took longer. Yeah, it took longer. So what do you think was the shift between care and your second with, in terms of the fact that you did really slow down?
Mm. What do you, why do you think that happened for you? I think education is a part of it. I think I had at this point now been a physio, a pelvic physio for almost four years. Yeah. And I just had more knowledge. I had more information. Um, social media had, I mean, there's a few people I follow on there that are wonderful educators and I had just had more information.
I. Gave myself permission, but maybe also had educated myself to give myself permission that who cares if my body bounces back? I was so sick, personally of seeing people on whatever platform, talk about bouncing back and how if you just set the goal, then you can't let it go and you'll get your [00:25:00] body back, and I just made me so sad.
Okay. To think that we have this much pressure on ourselves, on top of everything else. Yeah. Interesting. So we've talked about this. I feel like it's, it's the mindset shift that needs to happen, right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, and also, sorry, also to like, I. Really was able to realize how much I was doing in a day and that if I didn't have the energy and what is even exercise, right?
I'm lifting this 15 pound baby, carrying this 15 pound baby to the park and back in the park and picking my daughter up from daycare and lifting my both of them at the same time and going up and down stairs like I am getting exercise for sure, for sure. Right. Yeah, it's just different. And again, different experience.
In terms of breastfeeding, I breastfed both my babies for six months each. Yep. Weight, like fell off. I almost lost too much weight with my daughter. Okay. And then people commented on that I looked too thin. Oh my goodness. And then with my son, it didn't come off like, you know, it [00:26:00] didn't really come off until six months after I started.
I stopped breastfeeding him. Okay. So different experience there as well, and. Um, luckily nobody said anything to me about that, which, but either is not great. Um, I just gave myself permission Yeah. To make it easy. That's good. Yeah. Cause I was gonna ask too, because you mentioned during your pregnancy with Nolan that you had some body image struggles in a sense that you felt bigger the second time around.
Mm-hmm. Um, did those body image struggles, did that. Um, come into play. When you were slowing down early postpartum, did you ever have times where you wanted to push the pace because of that additional weight gain that you had? Um, that's a good question. I don't think. I don't really think I, I did, I obviously would be lying if I said that I didn't want my [00:27:00] belly to look a certain way sometimes, or, you know, and I really still, I think we all struggle from time to time really try to focus on giving my body praise for the fact that it grew, birthed and fed to humans.
Right. And I was much better at that the second time. That's awesome. Yeah. I mean, I have my days. Yeah. More human. Um, and I think that's the thing, and that's, again, this could be a whole other episode, but that it's okay to want to aesthetically, uh, change your body. I, I think separating the fact that we need to get back to intense exercise a S A P in order for that to happen.
Right? Yeah. Because I think a lot of, you know, that bounce back mentality is, How am I going to get my body back? Which again, I hate that term as well. How am I gonna get my body back if I'm just doing physio type exercises and I'm not running or [00:28:00] getting my heart rate up? Right. Yeah. So reminding women that, you know, I think we put a lot more on exercise as being able to control our bodies than it deserves, right?
Like I think weight loss is. So many, there's so many factors involved, and exercise is such a small part of that, that again, if we separate exercise from weight loss, then, then we do give ourselves permission to slow down and, and just totally, yeah. Trust our bodies that it'll get back to what we need to get back to.
Right. And also giving yourself permission as a mom. That exercise doesn't have to look like it used to look and getting rid of this idea that, and this was big for me the second time that it doesn't count, right? If it's not, you know, 40 minutes of structured exercise three to five times a week. Right.
And that is a big shift that happened for me between my first and second postpartum. [00:29:00] Periods as well as now, to be honest, if I get 3 25 minute workouts in a week, I'm happy. And I'm also happy to go for a walk with my kids. Yeah. And um, You know, maybe I'll get to running now that the weather. But you know, I think this idea of having it count Yeah.
And really paying attention to what you're doing in a day. Yeah. And you're lugging 1, 2, 5 children around in some capacity all day tho the, like that's, that's physical. Motherhood is exercise. Exactly. Um, and so I think when we give ourselves permission to a, appreciate our bodies for what they've done.
Yeah. Not try to beat them back into what they were before because they're not, they aren't that body anymore. No. They grew a human right. Yeah. And that's something to be celebrated. And again, I don't mean this from a preachy place cuz I have my days. Um, but just like massive amounts of [00:30:00] self-love for your bods.
For sure. And I think the thing too that we don't often recognize is that before we have kids, we. Our priorities are just different, right? Yeah. So we, we have the time and we have the space, and we have the energy to exercise five, six days a week. Right. And I think that's the thing. It's like giving up that control because I don't know if you feel, feel similar, that I almost convinced myself that in order for my body to feel great and for sure to sort of keep an aesthetic look.
That, that's what I had to do was five, six days a week of pretty hard, intense workouts. So I think that shift postpartum where I just didn't have the time, I didn't have the energy, um, to get all of those workouts in. There's that fear of, yes, I'm gonna use lose my identity. My body is not going to get, you know, bounced back.
Um, and I'm not gonna feel as good because I just can't work out [00:31:00] as many times a day. Right. But I think it's just, again, being realistic that your lifestyle is just flipped upside down. Right. So to have that pressure to also fit in five, six workouts a week, that's, yeah. It's just not realistic. If, and if that works for you, great.
Yes. You know, but for, for me it didn't. Yeah. That wasn't the realistic goal. And I think when I gave my self permission, that also helps with anxiety. Another thing I was worried about, you know, if I don't work out as much, is my anxiety gonna be as bad? Yes. That's as bad as it was. Yeah. So yes, that can be a whole other episode too.
Yeah. You chatted a lot about that on your social media recently. Yeah. Too about having other strategies and I think, yeah, that's a whole other conversation. Um, yeah. I think, yeah, for me it just, it was giving myself the permission that I don't have to do, because what happened is, or what happened for me is it could start to go [00:32:00] down and it did a couple times the road of.
Now I'm working out cause I feel like I have to. Right. And not because it's fuelling me in some way. Right, right. I love the feeling I get from a workout. I do. I love feeling strong. I love a good sweat. It does help me burn anxiety and stress off. But I also have come to learn that if I am forcing myself to work out, that causes me more, me personally, more stress than that's like, hey.
I'm gonna watch Bridgerton tonight or Exactly. Yeah. And not help guilt about it. Right? Yeah. I think I'm actually gonna do a post about that this coming week because I, it was brought to mind in a conversation that I, after I struggled to get back into exercise postpartum the second time, as much as I knew my body was telling me to slow down and I listened to my body, I still [00:33:00] had immense guilt.
On the days that I took, like a rest day. Yeah. Which I'm happy to say now that I don't have that anymore. Honestly, my rest days I just soak it up and I'm like, this is my body's chance to rest and repair. Yeah. But it didn't, that didn't happen overnight. No, no, for sure. No, and you're coming at it from. A former competitive athlete.
Right, right. Who works in a CrossFit gym. Yes, yes. So yeah, the temptation to work out every single day is in my face. Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Yeah. Yes. So one question that I wanted to ask before we wrap up, if we've both openly said that we're done having kids mm-hmm. Um, if you were to have another kid, would you do things differently the third time around?
Good question. Um, I. I think, well, I think during my pregnancy I would, my, my, my, my theoretical third pregnancy, I would be, give myself more grace during pregnancy. I think I [00:34:00] would just allow myself to be pregnant and grow a human. And if I feel like exercising great. And if I don't, I'm growing a human.
Yeah. So that's a lot of work. Yeah. Um, rest. Rest. Oh my gosh. Rest. Um, Postpartum. I, I don't think I would change anything physically. Okay. I think mentally there are some things I would change. I think I would've, um, sought some counselling a little bit earlier than I did. Yeah. Physically, I'm pretty proud of myself the second time.
Ah-huh. I would've changed a lot the first time. Yeah. But I didn't know what I didn't know. Yeah. And that's one thing I, you know, I, I share with my clients, and I've talked to you a lot about this too. You know, I had, I had tougher time in my pregnancy, my second pregnancy in terms of just how I felt in my body and things hurt and ached a little bit more.
Um, and my recovery was longer. Was that second pregnancy? Was that? Boy, was it because I wasn't as [00:35:00] active? Or was it because I wasn't super kind to myself and, you know, properly rehabbing after my first, I'll never know. Yeah, I know. I'll never know. But, um, I'm happy with where I am now. You know, I'm, I'm physical, I give myself rest.
It's taken a lot of work, like you said, but, uh, yeah. That's awesome. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, it's just interesting to again, just hear the full journey. Mm-hmm. Um, I think a lot of people will just relate that. Just you don't know what you don't know, right? So the first pregnancy is just, you have no idea what to expect, right?
Second one, you feel like, you know, but then there's still a lot you don't know. And then just being in the world that we're in, right? We're just constantly learning and growing. And so again, I think that's why you and I are so passionate about sharing this information because not everyone is a physiotherapist and gets to work in this.
Field. So I honestly just think every woman should have this information readily accessible. Right. [00:36:00] For their own life. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, for sure. All right, well that was great to hear your story, Dayna. Awesome. All right.
