The Imperfect Christian

Pregnancy and Postpartum: Expert Tips for Busy Moms to Stay Healthy and Happy with Jenn Lathrop

March 13, 2023 Emmy Cornwell, Jenn Lathrop Season 3 Episode 106
Pregnancy and Postpartum: Expert Tips for Busy Moms to Stay Healthy and Happy with Jenn Lathrop
The Imperfect Christian
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The Imperfect Christian
Pregnancy and Postpartum: Expert Tips for Busy Moms to Stay Healthy and Happy with Jenn Lathrop
Mar 13, 2023 Season 3 Episode 106
Emmy Cornwell, Jenn Lathrop

Now is the time to take charge of your health this holiday season as a busy mom or a  mom-to-be. This time of year can be extra busy with the tendency to put yourself last. Today, Jenn Lathrop, a pregnancy and postpartum fitness coach, explains why health and happiness should be your top priorities. 

With tips and tools about exercise and pregnancy, Jenn breaks down some myths. Due to the misinformation out there, many pregnant women rest their bodies rather than move. During pregnancy, this is actually not what most women should do. We should be keeping our bodies healthy and moving in ways to support ourselves for delivery and the health of our babies.

It doesn't mean we should continue to exercise the same way as before. Moving our bodies while pregnant requires special precautions. I'm personally excited about Jenn's hugging the baby method and even started doing it during our interview. It’s that easy. 

Additionally, Jenn shares information about sleeping myths we are told as pregnant women. And shares how we can stay healthy and happy postpartum. It is easier to be a better mom, wife, friend, or coworker when we are able to keep our bodies and minds healthy. Today Jenn shares her wisdom on how to safely keep ourselves healthy during this season of our lives.

Grab your AirPods, and a notebook, and let’s go.

Connect with Jenn Lathrop and grab her Free at Home Pregnancy Plan

Connect with Emmy
 @theheyheyemmy
emmycornwell.com

Reinvent your Homorone Story:
 A new innovation for women.  A first-of-its-kind approach for delivering intuitive nutrition for optional normal health
Order the Menstrual Formula-Synched to the phases of your unique cycle.
Order the Menopausal Formula-Featuring proprietary Estro-OS (TM) Complex to help improve normal symptoms of menopause

Want to Partner with Emmy in Social Retail
Hey hey, sister...so excited to get to know you! These questions will help you and I make sure that this partnership is the best fit for you. I'm looking forward to connecting with you and will respond within 24-48 business hours. Partner with Emmy as a Social Marketer



Connect with Emmy on the GRAM @theheyheyemmy or hang out on Facebook.

Show Notes Transcript

Now is the time to take charge of your health this holiday season as a busy mom or a  mom-to-be. This time of year can be extra busy with the tendency to put yourself last. Today, Jenn Lathrop, a pregnancy and postpartum fitness coach, explains why health and happiness should be your top priorities. 

With tips and tools about exercise and pregnancy, Jenn breaks down some myths. Due to the misinformation out there, many pregnant women rest their bodies rather than move. During pregnancy, this is actually not what most women should do. We should be keeping our bodies healthy and moving in ways to support ourselves for delivery and the health of our babies.

It doesn't mean we should continue to exercise the same way as before. Moving our bodies while pregnant requires special precautions. I'm personally excited about Jenn's hugging the baby method and even started doing it during our interview. It’s that easy. 

Additionally, Jenn shares information about sleeping myths we are told as pregnant women. And shares how we can stay healthy and happy postpartum. It is easier to be a better mom, wife, friend, or coworker when we are able to keep our bodies and minds healthy. Today Jenn shares her wisdom on how to safely keep ourselves healthy during this season of our lives.

Grab your AirPods, and a notebook, and let’s go.

Connect with Jenn Lathrop and grab her Free at Home Pregnancy Plan

Connect with Emmy
 @theheyheyemmy
emmycornwell.com

Reinvent your Homorone Story:
 A new innovation for women.  A first-of-its-kind approach for delivering intuitive nutrition for optional normal health
Order the Menstrual Formula-Synched to the phases of your unique cycle.
Order the Menopausal Formula-Featuring proprietary Estro-OS (TM) Complex to help improve normal symptoms of menopause

Want to Partner with Emmy in Social Retail
Hey hey, sister...so excited to get to know you! These questions will help you and I make sure that this partnership is the best fit for you. I'm looking forward to connecting with you and will respond within 24-48 business hours. Partner with Emmy as a Social Marketer



Connect with Emmy on the GRAM @theheyheyemmy or hang out on Facebook.

Pregnancy is a wild adventure. There are so many beautiful moments, so many odd different things that you've never experienced. But the one thing that I personally have chosen to take control of during my pregnancy is my health. My health has always been something that's important to me ever since I was little and had my hip disorder at age.

All the way through school years playing sports and being super active and then playing collegiate soccer and post collegiate years athletics. Health, being active, being aware of what is going in my body in addition to how I'm moving, it has always been so important to me. So that is the controllable that I am choosing to have during my pregnancy, and so I wanted to bring.

She's actually a former student of mine. She was a student of the Instagram bootcamp, but she is an expert in this area. Her name is Jen Laro. She's an ACE certified personal trainer with a focus on pregnancy and postpartum. She specializes in those two areas. She helps pregnant and postpartum moms stay active and exercise in a safe and effective way.

She's a mom to Molly with one on the way. She's actually 37 weeks pregnant herself and a stepmom to two. She is originally from Canada, has moved here to the US to be with her husband and it's really given her a chance to reflect and reinvigorate her passion to help and witness women look, feel, and be more confident no matter the stage of life that they're in.

Pretend plus years as a personal trainer accompanied with the love of her family. It really leads itself very well to be a mentor to her clients that she only wants the best for them because of what she's personally experienced and walked through. Soccer practices and ballet performances are just as important as a mom or mom to be well being okay cuz if ain't mama, she ain't happy.

Ain't nobody happy. Ain't that the truth? I'm so excited for you to listen to our interview. She's amazing. She has wealth of knowledge, very, very wise. As well. Make sure that you are taking notes and screenshot this episode. Take, take that, put it in your stories tag both of. You can get the handles in the show.

All right. Are you ready? Let's go.

Hey. Hey. It's your girl, Emmy Cornwell, Instagram biz coach and social selling expert. Welcome to the Hey, hey, Emmy show. This is a podcast where we talk about all things that will be helpful for you and your business. Everything from Instagram tips and tricks to health hacks to relat. And definitely some Jesus.

Basically everything in between Proverbs 31 and Tupac. I am so excited to party with you in each and every episode because ain't no party like a Hey, hey Emmy party. Can I get Na? Amen. All right, let's get into it, Sister.

Hey. Hey. What's going on? How are you, sister, girl? Okay. I am so excited. Today we have a very, very, very, very, very special guest on the podcast. The Hey, hey, Emmy Show podcast. And it's been a little bit since we did an interview, and I know that those were some of your favorite episodes is when I brought other women on other business women or other women who have things that they are experts in that are not only, you know, selfishly, I love it.

I love to hear and learn from them, but I know it's gonna be important for you and content and information that's valuable and helpful for your life. And so, because I mean is, oh, how many weeks? I'll be 23 weeks pregnant. I'm 23 weeks pregnant. I wanna make sure that I am doing everything that I can possible, because you know that health is important to me to have the healthiest pregnancy.

and I've heard a lot about this postpartum thing, so we are getting everything just that we need, like in check. I'm calling it like my super bowl, like I'm preparing for the big day, the big game, which is funny cuz I'll be just around kind of Superbowl time and so I brought on the perfect person.

I'm so excited for you to meet. Jen, welcome to the show. Hey Emmy, thank you so much for having me. I am so excited to be a part of your podcast. I've been following you for a number of times and it's been an honor to work with you previously as well. Yes. So Jen, I want, I definitely want them to know how we met, but I also want them to know more about you so they knew who, like they know who you're list they're listening to.

So tell us a little bit give us, I always like to say you're not boring. Elevator speech. Oh, yes. Well, I am an a certified personal trainer and a pregnancy and postpartum specialist, so I help women throughout their pregnancy and postpartum journey stay active and move their bodies in a safe and effective way.

I moved to Washington State a year and a half ago, so I'm a transplant from Vancouver, bc and I came down to the US to be with my husband, my two step kids, and our daughter Molly, with one on the way. And I am currently actually 37 weeks pregnant. So I'm just ahead of you with our second. So exciting.

Okay. Do you guys see now why I have Jen on the show? She knows her. She's also had children, right? Like some of the times when I'm listening to experts in their their field, I'm like, But wait, have you actually done that? Have you actually gone through the trenches? Have you actually had challenges in the area that I'm seeking mentorship or leadership or advice from?

Totally. And Jen is one of those people and she is so down to earth. Maybe it is because you're from Canada originally. I don't know. I do have a lot of international listeners, so I'm so excited. I don't have to apologize much on this saying. I'm sorry, . I can't really hear your accent much. Maybe it's cuz you are from this side of the, the like west side of the country.

I don't know. Awesome. You go back, do you go back often to Canada? Yes. So where I'm situated, I'm only 10 minutes south of the Canadian border and my family is actually just 20 minutes north. So, um, even when I met my husband online, we were only 45 minutes apart from each other. So pre covid it wasn't an issue.

Right. But that's a story for another time. Yes. Well, I, on both sides of the border,  fun fact. I also met my husband on match.com or online on match.com. What? Where did you meet your I was also match.com. Oh man. Okay. I'm telling you, Match is really doing something on, We need our affiliate link. Yeah. This episode is not sponsored by match.com.

Oh man. Okay. So tell me, how did you get into, maybe share a little bit about how you got into helping. You know, women who are pregnant, uh, women who are postpartum with their fitness and, and really, where did that start? Absolutely. Well, I would say it probably started from the beginning, from my high school and elementary.

I was always an active an active participant. I was always an athlete. I was playing volleyball, soccer, basketball, and I danced.  In my early twenties, I was in a car accident and my, and I was a teaching dance at the time. And my lawyer, had advised me saying that I needed to consider what my other options might be if I'm not able to go back and ever teach dance.

And to me, that wasn't an option. And so I went into a 10 week rehabilitation through exercise and movement program, and I said, This is what I need to be doing. This is what people need to know is that they can do it even in the moments when people are rooting against them saying that they can't.

 So I became a personal trainer who. I've been a personal trainer for over 10 years, and in the last year and a half I have then since transitioned to the us, moved my business from being helping anyone and everyone to specifically working and doing courses to work specifically with pregnant and postpartum moms.

Because I found on my journey there was a lot of misinformation out there. Constantly, you're hearing people saying, What you're doing this, You shouldn't be doing that. Or you know, you're not allowed to work out or you're putting the baby at risk, which these are all just old misinformation facts that we don't have a lot of information out there for new information.

And so what we do is we are filled with fear. We just walk away. We don't do anything in our pregnancy, and we allow our bodies to just rest because we think that's the best thing for it. Oh man, that is so good. Like we are taking. Old school Miss, and we are gonna bust them. I do want you to maybe share a couple, but before we do that, I just love that part of your story.

I actually, you know, Jen and I have worked together, so Jen has been a student of mine in the Instagram bootcamp, which is a six week intensive program to help you set up your Instagram so that then you can. Increase your followers, increase your visibility. You know exactly what you need to be posting, what needs to be in your bio, what you should be sharing, what reals should be doing so that you can then ultimately have a really, really great foundation to build a business on which gen.

It's been so cool by the way, to see, because I feel like that's exactly what has happened. Absolutely. I feel like my groundwork came from just knowing exactly what to put in my Instagram bio, exactly what the, like learning all about the seo. Like my focus is pregnancy and exercise and health. I don't need to be thinking about those kind of things, but to be able to come to somebody like you and get those answers has really helped me grow my business.

It's so good. And then Jen also is a part of a mastermind, so Right. She actually ran, she was a part of the Instagram bootcamp to set. Her Instagram, her, she ran that parallel with a mastermind because guess what? In the Instagram bootcamp you don't do, you know, I'm not teaching you offers, like I'm not, you know, helping you stack your promotions and things like that.

All those, those are important. Or building your email list, right? All of those things are necessary to cash in on the gram, but if you don't have the foundations first, So it's been really, really cool cause I feel like it did exactly what it was supposed to do. It kind of like skyrocketed. Into the next part of your business in season, and so it's fun.

Kind of just like off topic, but not off topic to have you now on the podcast sharing, and I didn't get to hear ever that part of your story about the accident that you had. Like wow, wow, wow, wow. Talk about being the trenches. Talk about going through a challenge, adversity. That probably was a very big, It sounds like a defining moment in your.

Absolutely. Gosh. Yeah. And that is, I feel like we are, I'm learning more and more about you, that we have even more in common, you know, as a child, I had a hip replacement, or I didn't have the hip replacement yet, but I had a hip disorder when I was five, where I had to wear braces on my legs for a year because the head of the femur, the blood stopped flowing to the head of the femur.

And so that even as early as five was a defining moment for athletic. Right. And for the adversity and challenges, I mean, gosh, as I'm like sitting here like thinking about my baby boy, like if he doesn't wanna do athletics, I will be bummed but I also am like, okay, he's gonna do what he sees you doing.

And that is one of the reasons why, Jen, I am working out now. I mean, I've always been like, you know, it's always been  a pillar in my life, but I wanna be able to show that to my son and give him that example. Of a healthy lifestyle. And so what is the biggest myth or a few, maybe one or two myths that old school teaching would say, Don't do this versus like new school teaching.

Cause I 23 weeks pregnant and sometimes I'm like, I don't even feel pregnant. I mean, I feel like I'm working out underwater, but I don't, I'm like, There yet, I guess , you know, I wanna give you like a huge high five and congratulations because making the decision to stay active throughout your pregnancy is a huge win, and often something that people can walk away from and like you said, is.

you know, it was my hips and my injury that was defining my moments of like, I need health and fitness. And so often, whether we're pregnant or postpartum or not, it is those moments in our life. Like I look at my mom, who's now in her sixties has just started off with it, and for a long time I lived through her limiting beliefs of like, I'm never gonna be an athlete.

I'm not gonna be, I'm gonna gain lots of weight. I'm gonna be this and that. But here I am being the healthiest in the family. And so the fact that we take initiation and the power of our mind to say, No, I'm not gonna be this way. I'm not gonna do those things. I'm gonna do what I know is best for myself.

And that is taking control of our health and fitness.  So one of the biggest misinformations, and you can find this on my Instagram, I talk about it often is not working our. So often we're like, You can't do any abs during your pregnancy. And I'm like, At first, I was like, I, during my first pregnancy, I believed it.

At the beginning I was like, Nope, I'm too scared. And I had trained pregnant clients before and I just completely stayed away from apps. And so as I started taking courses, learning more about it, I was like, Oh no, you want to be working your AB throughout it. , but it's knowing exactly what exercises are to do safely.

 And so one of the main things that you wanna be doing is working your transverse apps, which are the ones that align from your ribcage down to your pel. This is the one that's going on the outside and it's hugging your baby. So I always say you'll see it on my Instagram. I talk about baby hugging and how important it is.

So right now, especially that I'm at 37 weeks pregnant, I wanna be hugging the baby as much as I can because what I'm doing is building the power through my pelvic floor and through my transverse abs to help me with labor through delivery and postpartum. And so that's one of the big things we don't wanna be working.

 Side are obliques. We don't wanna be working side to side. We wanna really be focusing on just pulling up and in into hugging that baby. So whether the, one of the biggest hard things is to do and that I work with my clients. Is doing this during your pregnancy and during your workout. So you're taking a deep breath in and as you take that deep breath in, you're gonna hug the baby close to you.

So you're pulling up through the pelvic floor, and now you're gonna think of lifting up into the ribcage. And so you're hugging that baby close to you and pulling it up so you have control of the weight of how you're holding your baby and not just allowing it to sit out in front and just be a belly in front, but you are in control of how your body is being.

Okay. I love that. So can you maybe walk us through again in case someone missed that? Cuz basically she did, and I'm like sitting here like we have video on  cause we're, we do my podcast interviews through Zoom cuz it makes it more like we're hanging out, we're together. And so I was like, shoulders back, shoulders down.

I was having my hip like I was doing the hugs. Can you maybe walk us through, cuz like, what's the timing of this? Absolutely. So you wanna either be sitting on a chair, sitting up tall, keeping your chest open, but just allowing your shoulders to relax. Don't think about actually pulling them back like you're doing rows or any kind of lap full down.

But you're standing naturally or sitting naturally, or standing naturally. And what you're gonna do is you're gonna take a deep inhaled. And as you inhale, you're gonna think about pulling your belly button into your spine. So lifting the pelvic floor, and then you're gonna lift up into the ribcage. And so you kind of wanna do it on a four count, so you wanna take a deep breath in one.

Two, lift, three, four exhale out. So now you're controlling the muscles by going in and up, and that's a simple AB exercise that you can literally be doing while you're at the grocery store, waiting in line at Costco, wherever it is. Something that you can be doing that's gonna help you have the best pregnancy experience possible.

That's so good. I love that. Okay. What is very true, because I'm still doing for an ad. And I think part of this is really having the mind body connection, right? Just like your body's gonna tell you what you should and should be, shouldn't be doing. Just like I'm seeing a lot of people, and I know this isn't necessarily like fitness related, but the sleeping right.

Should you sleep on your back? Should you sleep on your side? What side is better? Well, if you feel comfortable sleeping on your back, from what I'm reading, Then sleep on your back. I don't think you need to sleep on it all night, right? Because there are like the way the body is and where the baby would lay, but you're not gonna.

You're not gonna be needing to rush to the hospital because you've laid on your back at night. Yeah, and actually at 37 weeks last night, I majority slept on my back. But what I do keep is my husband laughs at me. I have three pillows that I use to elevate my back, so I'm in a bit of a sitting position.

So that the reason you don't wanna be flat on your back and you don't do ab exercises. So you would never see me doing any of my ab exercises flat on my back. It's generally gonna be on a yoga ball and there's a best position, of course to be able to get into that placement. But you wanna keep your back elevated.

So that you're not pushing the baby down into the floor, so the baby's gonna be pulled down by gravity, by laying straight on your back, which of course is gonna inhibit, not inhibit, that's not the right word, but you're gonna , you're gonna challenge the baby's breathing and move. Ability to move around.

And so that's why you ultimately just wanna have that ice elevation as you lay on your back. But I sleep on my back because I'm at the point where when I sleep on my side, I find my hips are just so sore in the morning and so tight. So that's when my stretching comes into effect. And I absolutely love stretching and working through yoga movements.

You are not gonna see me doing the splits right now. You're not gonna be seeing me do any like full on like lunges and burpees, but you are gonna see me allowing my hips to open up and get ready. So good. Okay. What is one, I love these myths because honestly at the same time you're giving us so much like good stuff, like tips and advice and moves and tricks and all the things.

So what is maybe one other myth, like old school myth that you feel like. As we're in this century is okay for pregnant women to do so. It's not so much of a myth, I would say, but it's something that's important to know is that we try to limit our workouts. We're concerned about how many days a week we're working out, how much we're pushing our body.

And so what I just wanna share today is that. We the research shows that you really wanna be active 150 minutes a week. And so what that breaks down to is five days of 30 minutes a day. So that's kind of simple. Everyone can do it. And that does not mean it has to be weight training. It doesn't mean you have to be out running your marathon.

It just means that you can go out for a walk, that you take 30 minutes to go swimming, you jump on your Peloton, you grab some weights. And then being aware of what weights you're using is the safety side of it, right? We're not reaching for our personal best. Our goal during pregnancy is just to be able to stay active and make baby and mom's heart beat stronger and the muscles stronger, to have the best labor and delivery, so the stronger your muscles are.

Even though during my first pregnancy, I didn't know. All these things that I've learned now throughout from my first to my second was the big thing was I went in and my midwife was like, You're a powerhouse. We have a problem. I really wanted a water birth. And that did not happen because she's like, You are fighting, pushing so hard.

because of my strength. And so I won't go into details about the delivery. It went well. It was epic because there was a lot of my husband yelling at me being like, Release, release, don't be so strong.  And so I'm really looking forward to this second one, like actually knowing, and that's a lot of the first pregnancy too, is just you not knowing how your body is supposed to react.

And you're like, Is this good? Bad. What am I doing?  And you're trying to trust your doctor and your midwife, things like that. But that's also why you have people like a whole team. So like I am using the athletic metaphor. And so you want people like Jen on your team, you want people who are going to help you prepare.

You of course, are not gonna know if this is your first pregnancy, like mine, you're not gonna know exactly because you've never experienced. If you set yourself up with the right team members, you are gonna be prepared. You are gonna have support. You're going to walk into it probably better than you would if you were just trying to go at it alone With old school, a MOS classes and your husband.

Absolutely  my husband is like gonna be the last like layer of support here. Well, with my first pregnancy, my husband and my midwife are the only ones there for delivery because it was covid, so I couldn't have anyone in. So now they're saying, Oh, you could bring my kids. You could have Molly there. My 15 month old.

You can have whoever you want. I'm like, Mm, nope. We're just gonna keep that team small. , Yes. For actual delivery. I as well do not plan on having. Like that's a whole, again, a whole nother issue or a episode of like, what's your birth plan and what do you wanna do in regards to that? We can't wait to hear you do that.

Oh, okay. Okay. I'm gonna make note of that cuz pregnancy brain, I'll forget if I do not write things down right now. It is not hap if it's not, not my calendar, it is not happening. So I love what you were saying about the movement and it is simple. But still people have a hard time for it. Right? Even when you were acknowledging that I had made a commitment, and one of the things that's been helpful for me is I just picked a number and I honestly don't even know if I'm gonna get to a hundred, but I'm trying to do a hundred workouts before a baby comes.

I think that's four times a week that I need to be active, which really isn't a lot, but at the same time, I'm not gonna be able to predict how I feel now. I feel like I have felt really good because I have been moving my body. People ask, How are you feeling? I don't have any of the round ligament pain and some of this other stuff because I believe I am being active and being somewhat conscious of what I'm eating, right?

I'm not eating, like I probably could eat more vegetables, definitely a little bit more protein, but. Listen guys, I'm not going to McDonald's every day. . I did have a blizzard though. This yet my weakness is jalapeno poppers. Oh, like favorite thing? Cream cheese and, and spiciness. Yes, please. Okay. I am a, I've eaten a lot of jalapenos.

I I love that spicy stuff anyways, but I've increased my intake of jalapenos. I knew I liked you. So what is kind of the mindset, because you're not just. Quote, unquote, just a stay-at-home mom, Which by the way, if you're quote unquote, just a stay-at-home mom, you're not just a stay-at-home mom, , but you have a business, okay?

A very, a successful growing business. You and your husband own a physical brick and mortar business. Yep. You do have a 15 month old, you are pregnant. You have fam like you're doing quote unquote, all the things, and so you find. While you're 37 weeks pregnant as well, to still move your body, those recommended hours a week, what are some, maybe like, how do you do it all?

What? What do you recommend for us? How can we, Well, the first thing is flexibility. I keep flexibility in my schedule. So although I do time block the things, the workload that I need to get done, the activities and the appointments that I have with the kids I do always say, Okay, so this is what needs to be done.

And then I look and take a peak at, okay, where can I fit in my workout? Is there time throughout the day when the kids are at school, when Molly's snapping that I could work out at this point? Or is that when I need to be doing some kind of check in with a client, so then I need to get my workout done in the morning or the evening whatever that looks like.

So it's just being flexible with my workout time, but knowing that I am gonna show up to it because I do feel so good. Even this morning, I just posted on my story that the first thing is that I woke up this morning to work out at 7:00 AM. My body was like, No, you're not doing it. You need rest. You just need to be.

And so often when we think our body, it's telling us that we need rest. It means that we can't do anything. But it really just means that I needed to wake up. I need to nourish my body. It was hungry. It did not have the strength to be able to go into a workout. And just have a small snack. It wanted to really like wake up, get moving, which is totally makes sense at my last three weeks here of my pregnancy.

So just being aware of that. Otherwise, I'm normally like a 5:00 AM wake up person, get my workout done before everyone else is awake. I love it. It's done. I feel good and I have energy for the day. . One of the big things is just making sure I heard Erin Baker, who's a local here to Wacom County, who owns Baker's Breakfast Cookies, and she is a female entrepreneur and she shared about her family life and it being blended versus balanced.

And I just felt like that gave me so much permission for freedom because I think for so long I've been fighting to show and prove that I had this balanced life and I knew how to make it all together, but in reality, I was up late at midnight, still working, or I was up early getting in my workouts and trying to do these things.

And I think sometimes we limit ourselves by, we don't want people to know that we're working at midnight or we don't want people to know that we're up at five in the morning to get things done because we don't feel like that's practical for other people. But in reality is it's practical for everyone and it's just finding that balance, not, sorry, not balance.

Finding that blended the works for your family. So that might mean getting your workout done after you pick up the school kids from school at four o'clock, you know, having a snack ready for them that, well, you'd go and workout for 30 minutes. And the biggest thing I've seen, I have my step kids who are eight and 10 that constantly are like, Can I work out with you?

Can I do the workout with you? And so you'll see sometimes on my Instagram that there'll be a little girl that will jump in and do the workouts with me, and it's a lot of fun. And so just having,  that awareness on. Saturday night I was on the Peloton going for a ride and they came over and they both came in and were watching me and my stepdaughter goes, Yes, Jen, you got this, you can do it.

And I was like, Woohoo. I was like, That made me so happy. That moment I was just like, had the biggest smile beanie on my face because I was like that encouragement. Like it excited me to know that she was excited for what I was doing and how I was feeling. And then my stepson's like, Wow, you're really sweaty and your belly's getting really big

I'm like, Oh, how men and women see differently. , what a great depiction. Oh my God. That's, So those are, that's the, those are the moments that I look forward to. Like I. It to be a part of his life and, you know, gobbling our additional future children. And so that is so, so cool. What I heard you say is you do have to be cognizant of your schedule, right?

You do have to plan ahead in some aspect. You can't just like wake up and be like, Oh, what am I gonna work out today? Because most likely you also have a lot of things that are going on as a mom, as a woman, as a business owner. And so the time, but also the blending, the flexibility, the margin, and the grace, right?

Like every day may not look the same. And that's okay. , and earlier you were mentioning about how, you know you're aiming to get your four workouts in, but not knowing how your body's gonna feel. That's one of the biggest motivators for people to work with a personal trainer through other pregnancy and postpartum journey.

because what felt good last week may not feel good this week. And so you wanna know exactly how you can modify that exercise or what exercises need to be changed for each trimester or each season of your pregnancy.  As well as it's also the motivation to show up. Yeah, on the days where it's like, I don't really feel like it, Oh, suddenly it's like seven weeks and I finally think I'm gonna go to the gym.

But it's like, if you're working with a coach or a trainer that's like, Hey, let's look at today's goals. Let's see. Can you go outside for a 10 minute walk with your kids or your step kids, or with the dog, whoever you have, find a friend. Go ask a friend to go for a walk with you. Those are huge.

Things that will just help you stay motivated. But we're also working with a coach and trainer is really gonna help keep you focused on that and what your goals are. Ultimately focusing accountable, right? That is one of the reasons why I have a support team in regards to fitness is because I wanna show up for me and a baby, but also I wanna show up for them.

I wanna show up and have them tell me what to do. Even though I always joke that I'm like the modify queen because I've just been. Sports training and athlete athletics and I've had personal trainers in the past, like I know what I'm doing so the, all the instructors are love me cuz they don't, they know that they don't really have to like worry about me.

But there are some things that I've never gone through right in pregnancy that now they're teaching me in regards to modifications. And I've had a lot of practice because my hip modifying my whole. But if you're listening and you're feeling like you have to still throw so much weight around or exercise like you did before you were pregnant, just give yourself grapes because that's, you don't have to, nor are you expected to.

And just be curious about your body. Just be curious about what your new, the new season and new chapter is in and, and love yourself through that. And I know that sounds. Said than done. And it does take some inner work to be able to be in this place. But yeah, time block and grace I think are gonna be your, your key things in order to quote unquote get it all done.

But I've also know this, which I think I'm setting myself up, right, Most likely moms, you're not gonna get it all the time,  and the truth, if you're gonna get it all done. You'll look like a hot mess, but it's all done , and you feel good for it, . So you take your pick . Oh my gosh, Jen, this has been so good. I want people to, to be able to stay connected with you.

This, we just, I don't even think we hit the iceberg of all of your area of expertise and ways that you can help people. You know, you're currently working with clients, but how can anyone who's listening one, stay connected with you on Instagram, but also. If they wanted to work with you, how could they do?

Absolutely. So as we're anticipating baby LA are coming I am no longer accepting one to one clientele for the remaining of 2022. However, I will open that up right away again, January 1st.  But I'm allowing myself that time to just really focus in on family and recovery. So what I'll be working on and what I have been working on is creating a 90 minute live workshop that's also has four weeks of direct one to one accountability and creating a pregnancy plan yourself with me walking alongside you, and that's gonna be something that launches January 1st as well.

However, for the next two months, you're like, What am I gonna do? What am, How can I find you now and what will you give me? So let me tell you what I have for you. So if you go to my website, jen laro.com, you can download my free at home pregnancy plan, and that's gonna give you a workout that you'll see a YouTube video of me doing it alongside you, showing you exactly talking through the baby hugging exercises, things like that, as well as.

Smoothie recipe that is gonna help ease morning sickness. So during that first trimester where you're like, Oh, I don't want to eat anything except for carbs there's a delicious recipe there for you. And then just a little mini mindset thought of what I experienced during my first pregnancy and how I overcame it.

 So I love for you to come find me there. From there, that will also link you to other options that I have available and ways that you could work with me even during those two months or November and December. And just follow my journey. I'm gonna share all about it on Instagram. I'm excited to share.

We do not know our gender, so. Oh, that's exciting. Yep. So this'll be like, I'm really excited to be able to like share that and find that out. So yeah, so we don't know if we're gonna have a boy or a girl this time, but that's exciting. Okay, so what's your Instagram then, so they can follow you too there.

 My Instagram is the Healthy Mom period Academy. Awesome. Okay. And I'm guessing if they connect with you either on your Instagram or your website, although you're not taking 1 0 1 private clients just right now, that that I'm assuming you probably have like a wait list or some, some way that they can, I definitely have a wait list and if you wanna send me a DM on Instagram, we can connect, we can talk through things that I would give you practical help now that will help keep you guided from now until January.

Perfect you and I can't leave anybody behind , , press me. You wanna get on that wait list. So make sure either DM jen@healthymom.academy, Healthy mom.academy on Instagram, or go to her website. That's all gonna be on the show notes. All you have to do too as well, is just swipe up as you're listening to this podcast.

But here's what I want you to also do. I want you to take a screenshot of this. And I want you to share it on your stories, Instagram stories, Facebook stories. You know, though, I always hang out on the Gram, so I do have a preference to share this in your Instagram stories and tag both me the Hey, hey Emmy, and then jen@healthymom.academy, the healthy mom.

Thank you. The Healthy mom.academy. Tag both of us share it. We wanna see what your biggest takeaway was and we will also reshare it. We love doing that. We love continuing the conversation with you. Do not sleep on your baby. Do not sleep on your kids. Do not sleep on yourself. Do not sleep on your health.

Do not sleep on the accountability of the fun. Everything that you're doing in your life is setting you up for your future. What you do today determines your tomorrows, and you sister girl have greatness inside of you. That is just like, I know we are all being invited right now into a higher level of our.

And business. And so I'm so excited that we got to hear from one of the most amazing women I know in my life in this area. And I just am so thankful that you were on the show today. Jen, thank you so much for having me. It was such a joy to connect with you, hear about what you're experiencing right now in your pregnancy, and I'm excited to see how you do these next few months and meeting your baby boy.

All right, We will see you on the next episode.