Episode #72 : All about Cassandra Vedder! Strong at Home’s newest addition!
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Today, Rhonda welcomes her friend - 1st ever staff member of her business - Cassandra Vedder! You’ll get an introduction to our new team member, her journey in fitness and parenthood, and ideas to help you in your parenthood journey!
Cassandra Vedder is a Physiotherapy Assistant with close to 10 years of experience.
She is a wife and mom to 3 kids (ages 11 months - 4 years). She worked at
Since graduating from the OTA & PTA program in 2013, she has been working at Cambridge Memorial Hospital, as well as Conestoga College.
Outside of work and mom life, Cassandra enjoys date nights with her husband,
coffee with a good friend, and planning Women’s events at her church. She has always played sports and loves camping. She is a motherless mother and has had to navigate the grief that came along with learning all the beautiful and difficult adventures that motherhood brings.
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LINKS AND RESOURCES MENTIONED IN EPISODE
Cassandra is now taking on virtual clients on Thursday evenings from 7-9pm!
Her rate is $70 per 30-minute virtual session (billed as physiotherapy for Ontario residents).
How to book with Cassandra:
New 1:1 clients - Please book a new assessment with Rhonda first
Former 1:1 clients - Please book a 30-minute follow-up session with Rhonda first
Existing 1:1 clients - Feel free to book directly with Cassandra
After seeing Rhonda, she will create and communicate your individualized treatment plan with Cassandra and book you into her schedule!
PODCAST LINKS & RESOURCES
Check out Rhonda’s FREE Resource Library
Pelvic Health and Fitness Podcast
Book with Dayna (Rebirth Wellness)
SHOW NOTES:
(0:49) - Rhonda welcomes Cassandra!
(2:06) - Why we are having this conversation, today!
(4:15) - Cassandra shares more about herself, and what led her to a career as an OTA/PTA!
(5:24) - Cassandra outlines her role, and what she does at the hospital
(8:15) - Cassandra shares about her kids (3!), pregnancies and postpartum experiences
(13:00) - On how we SHOULD have the knowledge to understand and rehab our bodies
(15:00) - Cassandra shares her journey with sports/fitness/exercise - before AND with kids!
(19:33) - How Cassandra’s mindset has shifted since joining Strong at Home
(29:56) - How life has been for Cassandra navigating motherhood after losing her mom (on grieving while mothering)
(35:50) - Cassandra shares what she’s learned from parenting three kids - and fitting in exercise while doing it!
(39:49) - We were not meant to do things alone - and the ladies discuss the concept of “body doubling”!
(41:10) - Cassandra’s biggest take home message, today
(42:10) - Cassandra shares where you can find her, and how you can work with her!
(43:10) - Episode wrap up!
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Episode #72: All about Cassandra Vedder! Strong at Home's newest addition!
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, and welcome to another episode of the Pelvic Health and Fitness podcast today. I am so excited and honored to welcome my friend and my first ever. Staff member of Strong at Home, Cassandra Vedder. Cassandra is a physiotherapy assistant with close to 10 years of experience.
She is a wife and a mom to three kids ages 11 months to four years. She's very busy. She worked at Cambridge Memorial Hospital since graduating from the OTA PTA program in 2013, as well as a teacher's assistant at Conestoga College. Outside of work and mom life, Cassandra enjoys date nights with her husband, hot coffee with a good friend, getting lost in a fiction book, rearranging and labeling her house.
I love that too. Being involved at her community pool and planning a women's events at her church. She has always played sports, loves camping, and her musical interests are a wide variety from country Christian worship to punk rock. She is a motherless mother and has had to navigate. The grief that came along with learning all the beautiful and difficult adventures that motherhood brings and we have that in common to you.
I didn't even think about that, but we should talk about that a little bit too. Thank you so much for joining me Cassandra. I'm so excited to have you here. Yeah. Thanks for having me. Yay. So before we get into it, um, actually before I even ask you about your background, I just want to share with our listeners who are tuning in, um, why we're doing this conversation and how you and I even met, which is kind of a cool story.
Shout out to Mrs. Little, Alison Little. We'll have to send her this episode to listen to. Yes, we do. Our little matchmaker. Um, yeah, one of my high school teachers, uh, is next door neighbors to Cassandra and I think she, yeah, she, yeah, I can imagine, um, that's basically just told you to follow me. Is that right?
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's like, Hey, you're a physio assistant. She's a physio and I feel like you would love following her. And so, yeah, she recommended you and I started following you. Yeah. Yeah. And was that just after you had your third kid that you connected the first time? Yeah, I think so. I can't remember if I was pregnant or early postpartum, um, with my third.
So yeah, and then I just really enjoyed everything you were putting out there. Super resonated with me and awesome. Yeah. Shot you a few messages. Yeah. Yeah. Cassandra reached out to me in my DMs and just said, Hey, you know, I like your content and this is who I am. And Yeah, I remember thinking at the time, like, that'd be cool to have a PTA, but it was, you know, more than a year ago, probably.
And at the time I was like, yeah, I'm not quite there yet, but I'll keep that in mind. And yeah, you just kept kind of like chiming in here and there, like, hey, you know, commenting on stuff. And I was like, this girl's pretty cool. And you and I got together just before Christmas. So now it's February 2024. So just before Christmas in 2023.
And had such a good chat and yeah, I just, in that moment, I think everything just came together so easily that I'm like, why not try? Why not, you know, add a service, add some options for folks and just see how it goes. And yeah, it's been a cool journey so far. Yeah. Yeah. I've enjoyed it. Yeah, me too. So yeah, let's get into all about Cassandra.
So tell everyone a little bit more about you and what led to you becoming a OTA PTA. Okay. Okay. Yeah, so I went straight into the OTPTA program at Conestoga right after high school. Um, I knew I wanted to work with people, care for them in some way. I knew I wanted some, like, hands on schooling. So I was really Um, trying to decide between doing this program or athletic therapy.
And I just knew like, at some point I'd want to have kids and probably not always work nights and weekends. And although athletic therapy would have been amazing. Um, yeah, I settled on Conestoga and loved it. Yeah, and that kind of that brought me to Cambridge Hospital because one of my co ops was there and the timing was amazing.
I had my very last co op there right before I graduated and they had a physician opening. So yeah, they. Like me enough to hire me on, I guess. And I've been there ever since. So awesome. And yeah, do you want to just tell our listeners? Cause I think, you know, the OTA PTA position, I'm very familiar, obviously, because I do this for a living and, you know, in physio school, we had to do rotations in the hospital.
So got sort of used to seeing that role. Do you want to just tell people a little bit about, you know, your role, how do you work with the physio? What does it look like? What types of things do you do in the hospital? Yeah, so, um, in my experience at the hospital, I've worked on multiple different units. So between the medicine, acute care, surgery, um, and there's a rehabilitation unit at Cambridge.
Um, so the great thing about being dual trained is I've worked with the occupational therapist, as well as the physiotherapist. So they would assess the patient, um, put together a program for that patient, and then when that patient was ready, transfer the care over to an assistant. Um, and having worked on all the different units, I really had a variety of different therapists that I worked with, which was amazing because you learn so much from different people.
Um, and yeah, and even just within the hospital in working in different areas, kind of, um, like on the rehabilitation unit, you would sometimes work with people who are recovering from a stroke or, um, being deconditioned if they're, um, after being in hospital for a long amount of time. So cool. So you got to see like a variety of different clients and variety of different things.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Very cool. That's awesome. And yeah, so how, what was it like? 'cause I think, were you in the hospital during Covid as well? So I was on maternity leave when the pandemic started, and then I went back after my first maternity leave in like the thick of it. And I went back pregnant with my second.
Um, so when I was, I was heading back in January 2021, which is like just when the vaccines and stuff started getting rolled out. Um, and like I said, I was already pregnant and then ended up back on sick leave. Um, so I bypassed a lot of the hospital. Experience through COVID. So yeah. Okay. Yeah. Timing was I guess good in that sense that you didn't have to be there for the real thick of it.
Yeah, good in that sense. I definitely felt for my co workers who, you know, were living through it and experiencing it and whatnot. Kind of being on the outside looking in, but good time to be at home with the kids, I guess. For sure. Yeah. Let's get into Cassandra as a mom. So tell us a little bit about your kids and I'd love to hear about just like your pregnancies and your postpartum experiences with all of them.
All of them. All three. Okay. Wow. Um, I had very big babies and I always went over. Um, my oldest was nine pounds, nine ounces and 12 days overdue. My second, my daughter was eight pounds, 14 ounces, nine days overdue. Uh, nine days, I think, um, both of those were, Inductions and then my third, I was so determined to not have an induction and I didn't, but I was 11 days overdue and he was 10 and a half pounds.
My pregnancies were, because they were big babies, I would say it was hard on my body and my back in particular. If you were dealing with some back pain, were you, did you get help? Did you see pelvic physio or any physio support during that time? Yeah. So I did see a pelvic floor physio prenatally with my first, um, I would have loved to go with my other pregnancies.
I think just the logistics of getting there when you had other kids and in the thick of COVID with like lack of childcare options made it difficult. I wanted as much help preparing for birth as. And so that was my very first introduction to pelvic floor. Physiotherapy was prenatal with my first, after all three of those births, I had some tearing.
So then I would always go back for a reassessment after, um, and worked with a couple of different physios based on. You know, location and that sort of thing. Um, yeah, and that kind of started my journey of learning about pelvic floor physio and kind of opened up this world of, yeah, just talking about things that don't get talked about and, um, yeah, it just kind of captured me a little bit.
Yeah, that's so cool. And how about your postpartum recoveries? How did that go with your three kiddos? Yeah, so with my daughter, I had the worst hearing and thankfully she was a summer baby and my husband took a five week paternity leave. So I think that very much helped my recovery. healing because I think I had the time and space to be able to focus on healing and slow down while also having a two year old.
Um, yeah, so that was super helpful. Postpartum healing with Other ones. Like I think after having Isaiah, who's my third, I still feel like I didn't really know how to get back into exercise. I would just post it on Instagram the other week about how my first workout back was like a 20 minute run, pushing two kids in a chariot on the Hilly.
West Galt, um, streets and I couldn't walk for like two weeks after and then I started doing Strong at Home with you and I'm like, oh, I feel so silly that I didn't realize that probably wasn't the best way to start back postpartum. So anyways, I'm here now. But again, yeah, exactly. And honestly, Cassandra, again, I, I, we talked about this before we hit record.
This is why I share my story over and over and over, because it is something that's not taught, even to us as healthcare professionals. We weren't taught any of this stuff. I don't know if you, in your program, did you have Um, pre postnatal education involved in it? No. No, it's really just my own personal experience and then working on pelvic floor physios myself.
And also with each pregnancy, I always read Ina May Gaskin's guide to childbirth, Brooke, and she just, I loved how she talked about the mind body connection and how, you know, relaxing your jaw relaxes your pelvic floor and that helps, um, You know, labor progressed and I was really determined to have like unmedicated births.
And so just her bringing, shining that light on the connection and learning from her, um, her book was just a great reminder that I think really helped me during labor and birth to, yeah, to be able to understand how we are so connected. For sure. Yeah, and I think that is what's confusing for people like me and you that we should quote unquote have the knowledge have the experience to be able to rehab our bodies and understand our bodies pregnancy postpartum but Again, this is, it's not taught.
And like you said earlier, I I'm in a world now where I talk about this stuff all the time. So nothing's TMI to me anymore. So I have these open, honest conversations with people all day long, but that's, I have to remind myself, that's not the norm. Right. And I think you've even noticed that, you know, you've had conversations with friends about leaking, which yeah, people get all embarrassed, but it should not be.
It It should be talked about. We should not have to suffer in silence. It is something that there is help for. And so I think, you know, that's why I was so excited when you came to me and I just get so excited when anyone starts to show an interest in pelvic health because the more the merrier, right?
The more people talking about this and educating women, having these open, honest conversations and having people realize, yeah, they're not alone. There is help. There is so much we can do to help you feel better. And so, yeah, my postpartum exercise experience, similar to you, I didn't know any better. I assumed I was, because I was fit, because I was strong, because I was cleared for exercise, all those things that were told, I should be able to just bounce right back as they say.
Right. And when I dealt with prolapse symptoms was my story, I panicked, I freaked out, I stopped working out, didn't know what to do and was like, Oh wait, maybe I should learn about my pelvic floor. Or maybe this is something that I should know about. Um, Transcribed Learn all about it. And yeah, again, that's why I'm here today.
And yeah, I think again, that's probably what brought you here too. Right. Just knowing like you didn't know this information and if you don't know it, there for sure is other people in your life that need this information too. Right. So how about you just tell our listeners a little bit about just like your journey with fitness, sports, exercise, what, what has that looked like?
You know, before kids and after kids, all of that. Yeah. Yeah, actually. So just one other piece I wanted to add to, um, my introduction to pelvic floor physio, so in preparation for this. Podcast. I remembered that I had taken a picture in the bathroom at my pelvic floor physiotherapists office, and it was an advertisement for pelvic physio.
And in it, I had to look back for the picture because I was like, what exactly did it say? 'cause I remember just being like, what? How do people not know about this? Um, it said one in four women experience some form of incontinence, and one in three women experience pain during intercourse. And I just was so mind blown by that, like that one in four and one in three and this isn't getting talked about and people don't know that pelvic physio can help with this and they're like Things we can do to not have to live with pain and incontinence.
So, anyways, that was during my pregnancy with my first, and I think, you know, my interest in it only grew. I'm sure. Yeah, it's mind blowing. It's mind blowing, and it shouldn't have to be that way. No. Yeah. No. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get into exercise piece, Cassandra. What has that looked like for you throughout your lifetime?
Yeah. So growing up, I just, I played a lot of sports. I did rep soccer and kind of followed suit from my sisters and, um, did a variety of sports in high school and whatnot. Um, and then college years and early marriage years. Um, I had some friends who are personal trainers and so they taught me a lot about like weightlifting and I have other friends that are personal trainers and do like more boot camps, and that sort of thing, and that I really enjoyed especially because it kind of brought out that competitive side.
And yeah, but then becoming a mom, things kind of changed. I felt like, and in COVID too, it just always felt so hard to leave the house. Um, but having two summer babies as well, I think getting out for walks was just huge postpartum with them. And I think initially after having my kids, I just. I didn't think that I exercised anymore and in reflection, I now realize that I did because I would go for a lot of different walks and you know, when I felt up for it and if it was a nice day, like I'd be using the kids as body weight in the backyard and we'd be doing some squats and that sort of thing.
It just wasn't a quote unquote hour long workout dedicated to. You know, improving strength or weight loss or anything like that. Um, but yeah, and it just looked different in the sense of like, I was intentional about being the one to mow our lawn and have that little bit of kid free time and listen to a podcast and, um, yeah, get a little bit more creative with how I exercise.
And I think I just. Um, I told myself that I wasn't exercising and I wasn't doing a good job being healthy and kind of, um, I don't think I gave myself enough grace for, you know, carrying around my 10 pound babies and yeah. And especially with squats with them, right. Especially with three kids, you know, like that motherhood is physical, you know, when podcast, we talked about that all the time and just reminding people.
Just, you know, going up and down the stairs to change diapers and getting down on the floor to play with your kids and yeah, going for those walks, all of that counts as exercise, especially in those seasons when you're just trying to survive, right? I think there's a time and a place for structured workouts, if that's something that you value, but if you're in the thick of like early parenting or.
So this is going to be a little bit more about what I'm talking about, is it just about the mentality of trying to manage two, three kids or more just surviving and just getting a little bits of movement throughout your day is definitely more than enough, and definitely counts as exercise. So was it so Cassandra is now in my strong at home membership, kind of getting immersed in the culture of strong at home.
And, uh, was it not until you started strong at home that you started to kind of look back and be like, oh, I was actually doing a lot. Is that when that mindset started to shift? Yeah, I did. I think it made me realize that, uh, like you say, all movement matters. And I think it made me realize that I was moving.
I was active. I was being intentional about like trying to be healthy. I just wasn't doing it in a way that was Like, I think in my ideal world, if I was working out consistently, or like, in my ideal world, if I worked out three times a week for an hour, kidless, and it was like, eight, nine out of ten intensity.
That would be ideal, but I don't think I've ever done that in my life. And I think I, and I think I realized like, I need the variety I need, you know, I need to play sports sometimes I need to do some weight training. Sometimes I need to just go for a walk with a friend and I think strong at home and following.
You know, your Rhonda reminders of getting away from the all or nothing mindset has been such a game changer to me because, you know, sometimes I'm doing strong at home with my kids and they're crawling all over me and they're imitating what I'm doing and my two year old daughter's like, mom, we're exercising and it's happy and exciting and there's no like shame in it or like guilt Attached to, Oh, I need to exercise.
I need to be healthy. And I think having lost my mom at 12 and she had cancers was it instilled a fear of like, you need to be healthy. And if you're not doing what you need to do to be healthy, there's just that fear attached to it of like, okay, well then what's to come. And I think now in the. Last few months.
I've just been able to feel a bit more free with it. And yeah, sometimes it's with my kids and other times, you know, if you have a stressful day or I feel like I'm having a day where I'm feeling more anxiety, like I just need that time to come downstairs. Lift some weights, play some music, like not be on mom duty, and it's really therapeutic, but that's not what it's going to look like every single day.
And it's unrealistic to think that it is. So, uh, I love that Cassandra. And I think so many important messages there that I think again, ditching that all or nothing mindset is so important because our definition of what counts as exercise, we'll postpartum, right? We just can't. expect ourselves to work out similarly, similarly to what we did, you know, even during pregnancy, sometimes it's easier if it's your first pregnancy, you don't have any other kids to take care of, right?
Yeah, especially postpartum. And I think, yeah, just reminding ourselves that whether kids are there or not, it's not going to be perfect. It's not going to be the structured, beautiful, intense thing all the time, or even like you said, those expectations we put on ourselves of like, what should be. You know, a postpartum workout or things that we see on Instagram or things that all of those examples that we see of these hardcore fit moms, right?
Like, yeah, it's just, you have to do what works for you. You have to meet yourself where you're at, you know, in terms of how busy you are, how stressed you are, how much support you have. That's a big one too. Um, and where you're at with symptoms too, right? I think that's another thing is that. In our sort of like toxic fitness culture world, moms are expected to again, bounce back, quote unquote, lose the baby weight, all of these negative messages.
And so moms have this pressure on themselves to rush back into fitness, even if they're leaking, even if they have diastasis, even if they have prolapse and, you know, have this pressure to kind of force themselves through those symptoms. And it doesn't have to be that way. Fitness can look so many different ways and it doesn't have to be.
Negative, right? I think that's the message I was getting from you too, is that like, it doesn't have to be this like intense, crazy thing. And if it's not, then it doesn't count. Like it can be silly. It can be doing it with your kids. You can do one part early in the day and one part later in the day, depending on your schedule.
Right. And like that all counts and just having it not be perfect and be a little messy. And just be okay with that. Yeah. And I think it's very easy to compare what works for other people and trying to replicate it into your own life. And I think for me, that's something that I've really had to try to get away from because you're not the same as every other person.
And even pregnancy to pregnancy for me, like I found myself. Comparing like finding photos of myself postpartum after my first and postpartum after my second. It was like finding like five months postpartum Okay, like I had lost this much weight or this is how I looked at that point and I'm there right now postpartum after with my third and like comparing to how quickly I lost the weight previously and it's different.
I have like, there's three kids now and you're in a different life circumstance and it. It just, it's not, I think we, um, yeah, I think sometimes we just need to give ourselves a little bit more grace and just time to figure out how, what it's going to look like and how it's going to work, especially when you have, um, when a new baby comes into the family, like it's the dynamics change with every kid.
So, um, yeah, just giving ourselves time. And I mean, like. In saying that I do not have it figured out. We're still, it's a journey. It just, it's always going to change week to week based on, you know, if someone's sick or someone's up in the night, it's, it changes. So for sure. Yeah. Again, and I think having, you know, learning that lesson, learning to adjust your mindset to ditch that all or nothing mindset.
Just will serve you so well for the rest of your life, right? Because like you said, you know, life, our life is always going to be changing. Our schedules are always going to be changing. Our bodies are always going to be changing. I think that's not talked about enough, that like, it's normal for our bodies to change as we age and grow and, you know, learn.
And we can't expect our body to continue to look the same. As we did when we were a teenager, like that's when you put it that way, you're like, that is ridiculous. Like, why would I think that? And so I think, yeah, learning to let exercise be what it's going to be throughout our lifetime. Like you said, if people get sick or if, you know, perimenopause is in my horizon right now.
menopause, there's always going to be something that will change what exercise what your routine is going to look like. So if we lose this like attachment to having to look a certain specific way, it just makes life so much better, right? Because then we're not, yeah. You know, I'm not, you know, I'm not healthy, I'm not doing this right, like, just letting it be what it's going to be.
Yeah. And what is the, what is the end goal? And like, are we putting things in place? Are we, are our expectations so high that whatever we're setting out to achieve is only going to last for a short amount of time? And that's another reason why I was just so drawn to. You know, the message you're putting out there about, you know, we're looking for a sustainable way to be healthy for the busyness of motherhood.
And that is my goal. I align with that. Like, this is a long term thing for me. This is not like I'm trying to lose my baby weight and then I'm done. Like, I want to be able to be active with my kids as they get older and play with them and, you know, I know it's way too soon to be talking about this, but like, I want to be an active grandparent and be able to like, not be in pain and on the floor with them or whatever.
So, anyways, that's very far into the future. Very, very far into the future. But I mean, it's just, I'm looking for sustainability and this is helping me get there. So yeah, and I do talk about that too, Cassandra, because I think that is also what's missing in our society and our culture. Toxic fitness culture is this like quick fix, you know, um, these again, these intense programs that just promise all these things, which half the time is not true anyways, and then people quit.
Right. And then, so I think if you think about why, why do you want exercise in your life? And I do think about that too. I'm like, I want to be. Strong and fit and capable and able to move my body in ways that I want to move it for a really long time. And so for me, that's why. Yeah, just having a sustainable realistic approach is so important.
And like one of the core values and strong at home is I just, I don't want it to be quick fix approach. I want it to be long term sustainable, which I've said on this podcast before is like, as someone trying to sell a program, it's not a sexy way to sell a program because people want like lose 15 pounds in 15 days.
And you know, Six week program to shed the baby. Like that's what I think it's changing slowly, but I think, you know, marketing has, you know, skewed in that direction for so long. That's what we're used to seeing. And that's what we're used to, you know, buying and paying attention to, but long term sustainability is where it's at.
Yeah, I agree. Awesome. So I don't think I've podcast before about. My mom and, uh, how that journey has been becoming a mom. Um, I lost my mom in 2017 to cancer as well. And I was actually, I just was talking about this with Sadie yesterday. Sadie was, uh, in my belly while my mom passed away. Um, maybe I did.
Maybe I have talked about this, but my husband and I, Jay got married. Uh, my mom was in hospice when we got married. So we got married that she was able to be there. And I was able to tell her that I was pregnant with Sadie. She, her mind was already starting to go a little bit. So I, but she, she did have like a big smile on her, on her face.
And yeah, honestly, I'm not a super religious person, but like, that was God's perfect timing, all of that. Like it was such a great, yeah. You know, in the midst of grief, also so much joy and excitement. Um, but it has been hard navigating motherhood without a mom, right? Like, yeah, just little things like I want to be able to call her and just like brag about my kids.
I think that's the biggest thing, right? Like they're doing so many cool things now and I just want to like tell her and I want her there and I want her to experience that. It's hard, eh? Yeah, and I didn't expect grief to hit as hard as it did postpartum. Um, when Eli was born, I think it was 13 years she had already passed away.
Um, and I feel like when Dan and I got engaged in the year we got married, I grieved a lot. Um, But it's, you know, them not being a, or her not being a part of that big life change. And I think because I lost her at 12, I had missed, I missed her presence in so many of those big life changes that I didn't because I had done so much grieving afterwards in those 13 years, I didn't anticipate how hard it was going to hit when I had my first kid.
Um, but I think it was really Um, yeah, what I found really difficult in those early postpartum days and months following and was just, you know, when you're a new mom, and you're going through this for the first time, it's such a vulnerable time, and you might not feel safe with Um, maybe safe's not the right word, but just like you want people that you're comfortable around you and you know, you need to be taken care of too.
And you're taking care of this new little baby and you don't think you know what you're doing and you're figuring it all out. And um, yeah, so just in those early, in that early time, just trying to navigate like, okay, I don't have her here to talk to about this. I don't have her here, like, you know.
Holding the baby so I can go nap or things like that. Um, yeah, it's just you very much feel the void and the missing presence of having your mom around to talk to you in that time and just, you know, be there and excited for you and have that nurturing like I want to take care of you like how you want to take care of your new baby.
Sure. So, yeah, I'm sorry that you've also been through that as well. I'm sorry to you too, Cassandra. It's not a fun club to be a part of. And I feel like, yeah, those that have been through it know, know how it feels. And yeah, I think exactly what you said. I think for me looking back, I think those early, some of those early days, you know, I had support from friends and mother in law and all that, but it isn't the same, right?
It's not the same. I'm going to go to bed. It's it's it's it's it's, it's, it's calling up your mom and just feeling comfortable to. Yeah. I just say, mom, watch the baby. I'm going to go sleep. Right. Like I think. Yeah, we shouldn't be able to say that to other people, but it's, it is not the same as. Yeah, your mom to do that with.
Yeah, no, definitely. And I mean, and I think that's a good point too, that like you, it's important in those early postpartum days, whether you have your mom or not, that you're having those support systems in place to be able to spend that time to rest and heal and get sleep. Ask for what you need, not be, not feel like nervous or ashamed to ask for what you need, right?
And speak up. Yeah. Sending so much love and hugs to anyone listening that has lost a mom, lost a parent. Yeah, it's it's hard. Um, but you know, we we figure out who we are as moms. I feel like that's part of my motherhood journey. All of our motherhood journey is just building that confidence in ourselves to trust our mom tuition.
I always say, right? Um, which is a thing. And, uh, yeah, you know, obviously if I had my mom to ask questions, that would help, but also I'm proud of myself for, like, figuring out who I am as a mom without that support too. Mm hmm. Yeah, and my, my grandma, um, before she passed away, my mom's mom. I guess I don't even remember this.
Thankfully, my husband did. But I guess there's one time I was confiding in her about it. And, you know, just that new mom, like, I just felt like I'm lacking all this confidence and, um, in what I was doing. And I guess she just said, like, Mama knows best. And, you know, it's, you do, you have your instincts for a reason.
You're created that way for a reason. So for sure. Um, yeah, but it does take time to You know, maybe have confidence in yourself. For sure. Yep. So if anyone's listening, um, share some wisdom with us all about what are some things that you've learned, uh, you know, trying to navigate parenting, especially with three kids and, uh, trying to fit exercise into that.
Again, I think, you know, having you in the Strong at Home membership has been amazing and so I'd love to just hear, yeah. What is, what's some wisdom you can pass along to people listening about how, how you make that happen? Uh, well, parenting three kids, I said to my friends last night, I'm like, why is Isaiah turning one and I still feel like we're in the sick and newborn stage?
Right. Where I still feel like we're, you know, getting our footing with the adjustment to three, um, beds. Anyways, it's well you are though. I feel like that's like a misconception too that people think you know Once there are six months or once they're even like six weeks. We're supposed to like have it all like no They're so quick Yeah, and he's now in this stage of like getting into garbages and putting his hands in the toilet and So that's a whole new element of fun.
Oh busy. Um Yeah, so That's a really good question. I think for me Just yeah, reminding yourself that it is going to take time and there's going to be ebbs and flows in what it looks like and just to be okay that it might look differently sometimes and not to beat yourself up over it. Um, and also just.
Having accountability, I think, you know, working for you and, um, having strong at home, it just being that accountability piece of like showing up and doing it has been huge and so helpful. And I had a, my neighbor was like, Hey, do you want to go for a walk at 615 in the morning in the dark and cold. I did not want to and you know what it was good for me and she I totally would have just slept in if I had that goal just for myself.
Um, but yeah, this morning we went out and it was. A great time and I'm really thankful that I did it. And, uh, so that accountability piece is, is huge as well. So for sure. Yeah, buddy. Yeah, yeah. And I always say that it's not an admission of failure to say that we need accountability, right? I think So many of, so many of us also put like guilt and shame on ourselves for like, I should be able to do this alone or like I should be able to find free workouts.
There's so many free workouts that exist online, right? I should be able to just pop on a youtube video and but having a human connection and having yeah, a group of people who are going through the same thing that are Also struggling to fit exercise in Getting, yeah, like real human tips about how to navigate this time as a parent is a thing, right?
And I think, you know, Cassandra's going to be offering one on one services along with me. That is a huge thing for, for people to write, especially again, in those early months, early weeks of being a mom, having that one on one support, having someone who gets it to talk to you about that your struggles and what you're dealing with, navigating symptoms is so needed, right?
I think I definitely needed that postpartum. I went to pelvic physio myself and just had that support. Yeah, I think that is what, you know, we do so well as, uh, practitioners is just offering people that, you know, ear to listen to, and just provide them with a plan, support, accountability, all of those things to help them feel better.
Yeah, we were not meant to do it alone. So not at all. No, I love the concept of body doubling, doing it together with someone else. Oh, I like that. Oh, have you never heard? I've never heard that term. No, you'll have to look it up. Body doubling. It's a new thing. It's great. So just meeting someone's doing it with you.
Is that what it is? Yeah. Yeah. So, um, Either virtually or, um, Dan and I have done this before too, where we're like, Hey, for 20 minutes, you're going to clean the kitchen and I'm going to do X, Y, Z. And, um, yeah, just working at the same time as someone else is very motivating. I heard it on, um, The Minimal Mom is a favorite YouTube channel of mine, and she's all about it.
She does some clean with me videos, and you clean with her, and you body double, and you're, uh, Yeah. Anyways, it, it pulls in that accountability piece of, you know, you're not doing it alone and I love that with you motivating, getting you to that end of 20 minutes, 20 minutes. So amazing. That's, I love that.
That's so cool. So yes, what would be, if you had to kind of sum up our chat today, Cassandra and things that you've learned, what would be sort of your biggest take home message for people listening today? Um, you know, we don't all have it figured out and it's a, it's going to be a process and a journey and just give yourself grace on, um, you know, the season of life you're in, whether you're pregnant or have a new baby or you're dealing with symptoms or you're going through sleep regressions or whatever it might be in life that's going on.
Um, it's okay that it might look differently than you would have liked or expected. Yeah, to, to think of that and goal of, you know, this is more about sustainability and health and long term than it is about a quick fix. So love it. So good. Awesome. So why don't you share with our listeners? So, um, I always try to preface this, that if you're listening to this, when it airs, some of these things might change as we move forward, but for the time being, this is the structure of, uh, how you can work with Cassandra.
So do you want to just share with our listeners how. That all works, you know, with me, with you, um, how people can work with you. Yeah, so, uh, Rhonda is my supervising physiotherapist. So, all assessments will be done by her. Um, and then, If, um, going forward, if you want to be able to work with the PTA after you've done your initial assessment with Rhonda, then I'll be available at this point Monday and Thursday nights from 7 to 9, uh, if evening appointments work for you.
So, um, yeah, Rhonda will put together your program and talk about your goals going forward and me and you will continue to work on those. Love it. Yeah, and Cassandra and I will be in constant communication to make sure people are feeling good, um, updating your plan, making changes as needed. Um, we're both new to this environment.
I know this is like a new side of physio for you. This was obviously brand new for me. I sort of paved my own path, created my own. Physio job that exists today. Um, but it's been awesome. Cassandra, just kind of figuring this all out with you and, um, just figuring out ways we can support people better. And I'm appreciative that you're open to offering evenings.
That's been something that I haven't been able to offer yet. So. Um, yeah, I just feel lucky that I met you. Lucky that you, you know, reached out to me and, uh, yeah, that there's another way for people to just get even more support with your guidance. Oh, I appreciate it. It's been a fun ride. Yes. Awesome. Well, thanks so much for joining me today, Cassandra.
Um, I hope this gives people a little taste of who you are and, uh, all the things that you can bring to the table to help support them and encourage them. Getting back into their fitness journey and again managing symptoms and just feeling better feeling stronger feeling healthier in Their life as a mom.
So thanks again Thanks for listening to today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation If you liked what you heard, we would love if you could share this with a friend Leave us a review or subscribe to anywhere that you listen to your podcasts. Thanks for being here.
