Two Pregnancies, Two Very Different Stories: How I Trained and Ate Through Both

If you are currently pregnant and trying to figure out how to stay active, or if you are postpartum and looking back trying to make sense of it all, I hope something in here helps you feel less alone.
I want to start by saying: both of my pregnancies ended with healthy babies, and for that I am endlessly grateful. However, the road to each of them looked wildly different.

Pregnancy One: Rafe

The Backstory

Erik and I struggled with infertility for several years before I got pregnant with Rafe. We went through fertility medication, fertility shots, and a few IUI procedures – none of which worked. We eventually decided to take a month off from treatments entirely, and that is when we got pregnant naturally in March 2021.
I was at one of the best fitness peaks of my life leading into that pregnancy. The year before, thanks to everything shutting down in 2020, I had trained for a sprint triathlon – hired a swim coach, bought a road bike, and was doing brick workouts at Oak Mountain State Park. The triathlon ended up getting cancelled, but that season of training built a foundation I didn’t fully appreciate until later.
By the time I got pregnant, I was back to my regular routine: strength training four days a week (two upper, two lower), one conditioning day, and teaching group fitness classes a few times a week.

First Trimester: Survival Mode

I was sick from weeks 6 through 13. Not morning sickness right when I woke up, but mine hit like clockwork around 10 am every day and lasted most of my workday. I never once threw up, but I am genuinely not sure if that was a blessing or a curse, because there was no relief from it either.
My diet during those weeks was embarrassing: peanut butter crackers, ginger ale, iced coffee, and Chick-fil-A. A lot of Chick-fil-A. I kept that drive-thru in business. The only proteins I could stomach were processed – shakes, bars, Fairlife mixed into iced coffee, high-protein mac and cheese. Grilled chicken, vegetables, and fruit made me want to gag.
I want to be really clear here: I did not stress about this. I had solid habits established before pregnancy, and I knew the first trimester nausea was just a season. The women I see struggle most during pregnancy are the ones who didn’t have a strong foundation going in. If your first trimester looks like mine did, you are going to be okay.
There is also one specific memory from this time that I have to share because it is hilarious. I was teaching night workout classes at a gym right beside a Little Caesar’s. First trimester me would finish class, then move my car 20 parking spots down to that Little Caesar’s so none of my clients would see me walking out with a hot-n-ready pepperoni pizza.

Second and Third Trimester

Once the nausea cleared around week 13 to 16, I returned to eating normally. I kept the same workout split (four strength days plus conditioning) through most of the pregnancy. In September of 2021 we moved, and I transitioned to working out exclusively in our garage gym. Around month seven of pregnancy we got a Peloton, so conditioning days became rides.
I felt great through most of this pregnancy. Looking back at photos, my upper body actually got noticeably stronger – a natural result of consistent training, regular protein, and a slight caloric surplus. I wasn’t trying to hit PRs, but the combination of those three things did it.
The one thing I wish I had done differently was prioritize my pelvic floor. I stayed consistent with strength and cardio, but I completely neglected pelvic floor work. You just don’t know what you don’t know. I have a strong theory that this came back to haunt me in my second pregnancy, but I’ll get to that in a second.
Those final few weeks I was just walking into the garage and doing something- ANYTHING. Workouts weren’t intense. I had some swelling in my right ankle and experienced what every single person describes as lightning crotch, which is exactly as accurate a description as it sounds.
Rafe was born at 39 weeks + 6 days, and I had a fourth degree tear. YIKES. Postpartum recovery was incredibly hard, and I think I’ll make that it’s own episode.

Pregnancy Two: Vance

Getting There

Getting pregnant with Vance required fertility intervention again. We had one cycle that didn’t work, then had to skip a cycle because I developed six ovarian cysts. After that came a dye test that revealed my entire left fallopian tube was blocked from endometriosis that had grown back. After a minor outpatient surgery to clear it, we did another round of medication and shots and found out we were pregnant in April 2024.

The Training Setup Going In

Ironically, I had just switched from SPLIT (my five-day body part split program) to FOUNDATIONS (our three-day full body strength program) at the very beginning of April – just two weeks before I found out I was pregnant. I had been reinvigorated about cardio after attending a health and fitness coach conference, and wanted more room in my week to include it. So I dropped to three strength days and added two cardio sessions.
Looking back, that switch was a blessing in disguise. Full body training was exactly what my body needed for this pregnancy, especially with how hard it turned out to be.

First Trimester, But Harder This Time

Same nausea weeks 6 through 13, but significantly worse. With Rafe the nausea hit around 10 am and stayed for a few hours. With Vance it was nearly all day. The go-to foods were largely the same – processed carbs, ginger ale, iced coffee – with the addition of Nerd gummy clusters, Preggie Drops (a pregnancy-specific nausea candy), and ginger chews. Candy helped!!
I kept up my early morning workouts. At that point, showing up was just a habit, but my effort was on a sliding scale every day.

Vulvar Varicosities and Pelvic Floor Dysfunction

Before I was even 16 weeks pregnant I started feeling heaviness and pressure that I mentioned to my doctor, who said it was common in second pregnancies. Then at my niece’s birthday party in early August, I was on my feet all day in the heat and realized the swelling had become extreme. My doctor diagnosed me with vulvar varicosities – essentially varicose veins in the pelvic region, caused by hormonal changes and increased pressure on the veins there.
It was incredibly painful. Every step felt like dragging my legs behind me. My doctor immediately told me no more Peloton rides, so I switched to the Stairmaster instead.
I also started weekly pelvic floor physical therapy at 16 weeks. My PT found that my pelvic muscles were hypertonic (too tight), which was causing much of the sharp pelvic pain on top of the varicosities. Most of our sessions focused on learning how to properly relax the pelvic floor, not just contract it.
By 23 weeks I had to scale back my training intensity to around 50 to 60% – lighter weights, longer rest periods, and I had to modify how I trained at the mechanical level. For every single rep of every single exercise, I had to initiate a pelvic floor contraction before I began the rep, then relax at the top. I also had to breathe through each rep rather than bracing, to avoid any additional downward pressure on the pelvic floor.

The 12 Things That Helped Me Stay Functional

• Foam rolling
• Morning pelvic floor exercises prescribed by my PT, five days / week
• Post-workout stretching
• Pelvic floor contractions during every rep of every lifting set
• Exertion breathing through each rep to reduce downward pressure
• Cutting daily walks from five / six days per week down to three / four, and shifting them to the afternoon
• A Serola Hip Belt to relieve pressure off my pelvic floor
• Epsom salt baths before bed
• Consistent deep core work, which I was able to maintain without coning because of the foundation I had built pre-pregnancy
• Compression socks – life-changing for the leg swelling
• Elevating my legs above 90 degrees a few min each day
• Foam rolling my legs before bed to manage restless leg syndrome

The Birth

Vance was due Christmas Day but arrived December 6, 2024 at 37 weeks. At my routine 37-week appointment they found he was breech and my fluid levels were critically low. I was admitted to the hospital. The next morning my fluid had dropped further, and my doctor told me Vance needed to be born.
The same night I was admitted, Erik’s football team was heading to the state championship. My doctor cleared me to leave the hospital that afternoon once my fluid levels stabilized with IV fluids – with plans for Erik and I to return the next morning for a scheduled c-section. So I went home, showered, took Rafe to the stadium to watch Erik’s team in the state championship, went home after midnight, got a few hours of sleep, and drove to the hospital.
A c-section was not what I had hoped for, but all you care about in that moment is the health of your baby. Vance arrived at 1:20 that afternoon, and once again Erik got to say “it’s a boy.”

Recovery and What Comes After

Despite the more complicated pregnancy, my c-section recovery was actually easier than my fourth degree tear recovery after Rafe. I genuinely believe the time I invested in pelvic floor health this pregnancy made a difference.
From week zero postpartum I followed a structured return-to-movement protocol from my Back To You Program: breathing exercises first, then stretching, then core reconnection, then banded and bodyweight work, then a slow rebuild of strength. I still do pelvic floor contraction and relaxation exercises and thoracic spine mobility four to five times a week before I lift, at almost 17 months postpartum.

What I Hope You Take Away From This

These two pregnancies could not have been more different. One felt like I barely knew I was pregnant, and the other pushed my body to its absolute limit. Both reinforced the same core belief I hold as a coach: the foundation you build before pregnancy matters so much.
Don’t wait for pregnancy to be your “oh crap” moment – build the habits now, prioritize your pelvic floor now, eat enough protein now, move your body consistently now. That foundation is what carries you.
And if you are currently in the trenches – of pregnancy, of first trimester nausea, of a diagnosis you weren’t expecting, of a recovery that is slower than you thought it would be – I promise you that a stronger version of yourself is waiting on the other side. I have been through the hardest versions of all of those things. At almost 17 months postpartum from a c-section, I have completed four HYROX races, started running again for the first time in 14 years, and PR’d a half marathon.

Your best days are ahead.