Pursuit of Wellness - Birth Plans, Postpartum, and the Real Pressure to Bounce Back w/ Samantha Christine

Episode Date: August 11, 2025

Ep. 197: On this episode of Pursuit of Wellness, I’m joined by Samantha Christine (SAMCFIT), a certified nutrition coach and the host of The Empower Podcast. We talk through her journey from a hospital birth that didn’t go as planned to a powerful, peaceful home birth years later. Sam shares what it took to rebuild her life after divorce, how she learned to advocate for herself in pregnancy, and the silent struggle she faced in those first weeks as a new mom. This episode is raw and full of wisdom for anyone navigating motherhood or major life transitions. Leave Me a Message - click here! For Mari’s Instagram click here! For Pursuit of Wellness Podcast’s Instagram click here! For Mari’s Newsletter click here! For Sam’s Instagram click here! Sponsored By: Transform your bedtime routine with Cozy Earth. Get 40% off at http://cozyearth.com using code PURSUIT at checkout. Hungryroot makes healthy eating easy! Get 40% off your first box + a free item for life at http://hungryroot.com/POW with code POW. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at http://betterhelp.com/POW and get on your way to being your best self. Build your dream brand with Shopify. Start selling today at http://shopify.com/mari. It’s never been easier to get started. Bake-from-frozen sourdough, pasta & pastries — ready in 25 minutes. Visit http://wildgrain.com/POW for $30 off your first box + free croissants in every box. Sleep smarter with Autopilot by Eight Sleep. Get $350 off Pod 4 Ultra at http://eightsleep.com/pow with code POW. Show Links: Train with Sam & explore her programs at https://samcfit.com/ Support gut health, immunity & glowing skin with Colostrum & Collagen Peptides, Bloom’s 3-in-1 formula with probiotics. Topics Discussed 00:10 - Welcome & guest introduction 02:10 - Balancing motherhood, career & fitness 03:48 - Experience of her first (hospital) birth 05:11 - Why she chose home birth for her second 06:45 - How doulas support & empower birth choices 09:30 - Switching from birth center to home birth & choosing a midwife 12:07 - Preparing for unmedicated birth 16:04 - Sam’s experience of home birth 19:28 - Pain vs pressure & intuitive delivery 23:00 - Handling judgment around home birth 24:01 - Mari’s birth planning: holistic vs hospital 25:19 - Postpartum anxiety, support & communicating needs 33:55 - Prenatal perineal massage 35:35 - Pressure to “bounce back” 37:20 - Breastfeeding & body changes 38:11 - Working out after birth: realistic timelines 40:25 - High Rocks & endurance sports 47:14 - Building a blended family with Ian 52:38 - Time-blocking & daily structure 52:50 - Fitness for kids 55:39 - Healthy eating for kids Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Pursuit of Wellness Podcast and I'm your host, Marie Llewellyn. Hi guys, welcome back to the show. Today we have Samantha Christine, who is a certified nutrition coach and a personal trainer who specializes in women's health, strength training and clean eating. As a marathon runner herself, she coaches others in training for endurance events like 10Ks, half marathons and full marathons. She's also the host of the Empower podcast. She's part of the Pursuit Network, and she shares personal stories and expert conversations about wellness, relationships, and parenting of two boys. She came on my show today. We had an amazing conversation about pregnancy, birth, motherhood, how she juggles it all.

She's incredible, such an inspiration, and I'm so excited for you guys to hear this episode. Sam, welcome to the pursuit of wellness. Thank you for having me. Honour to have you. And you're so gorgeous. You're so inspiring. I love your content. You're also a Pursuit Network host. Yes. So exciting. When I was talking about the network with Michaela and we were speaking about the talent, you are just like the ideal person to me

because you have so much substance. You're a mom. You love fitness. You have a career. You juggle so much. And I really admire you. I think you're amazing. Thank you. And just honestly, you saying that, like coming from you means so much because where I'm at today, like there are so many influential leaders that helped me get there when it comes to inspiration and motivation and you're one of them so like I feel like it's full circle sitting in this chair right now being with your network it's just like wow the stars aligned and I'm just could not be happier you deserve it like you can tell that you work really freaking hard actually one of my friends Jordan called me and she was like oh who you're recording with and I said sam see fit and she was

like she's been following you since you were like from the beginning she said so she was really excited that I'm talking to you today and I love that um I just have a lot of questions for you honestly because I feel like you are a superwoman and I want to hear more about your story and how you got to be so confident and multifaceted so let's kind of start from the beginning I did just listen to your motherhood episode that you did um loved it thank you loved it and I have a lot of questions and I just like to hear more about your story with your pregnancies your marriage and where you're at now. I guess we could start with your first pregnancy. I got married into, well, I'm divorced now, but just kind of get some history. I got married in 2018. And then like a few

months after I got pregnant with my first, Grayson, he's five years old now. I had a very easy pregnancy. It took me just a few months to get pregnant after trying. Everything was really healthy. At that point of my life, I was moving, lifting every once in a while, but it had not become like a consistent daily habit of my life. Were you fit before you got pregnant? So I was a runner, but like I wasn't intentional. I didn't have as much education as I do now. It was not a passion. Yeah. You know, my parents ran marathons. They did CrossFit. So it was kind of ingrained within me throughout my childhood. But I was in the arts. I was a dancer. So I was never in like a team sport. So I didn't really like have that athletic just like passion built within me. But like I was

active, you know, but obviously, like, did not, like, track my protein and, like, be intentional with, like, following a workout program. I just was just trying to be healthy day to day with little things. And so the whole pregnancy, I felt really good. I made sure to get my steps in. Did not lift, really, but just try to be healthy. I didn't have, like, any issues. It was very, like, easy pregnancy, and the delivery was a hospital birth. Very different. than my second, which we can talk about. Home birth, right? Yeah, so my second was a home birth.

My first. So I'm sure some listeners maybe who have been pregnant or work in this field know what, like, sweeping the membranes is. Do you know what that is? Actually, no. Okay, so I don't know exactly what goes into it. Basically, if your body is ready at the end of pregnancy to get birth and you're wanting to kind of like jumpstart labor, your OB can do some kind of thing where they call it

like sweeping your membranes. and they kind of sweep around the membranes to kind of jumpstart the labor instead of potosin. Correct. It's a natural way. If your body is ready for that, it's a great natural way to jumpstart things. If your body's not ready and you're say you're at 39 weeks, but your body, it's not really ready because a lot of women go 41 weeks, 42 weeks, their first pregnancy. That's normal. Yeah. I feel like that should be normalized more. It can actually kind of have a negative effect. So it started my contractions, but I never dialy it. With that result, I had back labor because he was flipped and I had like 36 hours of labor. It was like not the most ideal. I had potosin because I needed to dilate.

He was healthy. I was healthy at the end. But in my mind, like I wanted a more natural birth. Yeah. You know, no medication, all of that. So it didn't go as planned. But that was okay. Like at the end of the day, he was a healthy baby.

So, but yeah, my second I had a home birth. So with wanting it to be more natural, was that because you'd heard about it or read about it? because I kind of have like similar views on it because I learned a lot just from this podcast, having people tell me about potosin and it is quite like a societal norm to push women to give birth sooner than they maybe are ready to. Exactly. But then going through IVF and being on the supermedical side of it, my doctor's like, please just go the medical route, like keep things safe.

But in me, I feel this like want to have a natural experience. And I know exactly how you feel because I felt that way too. I was in the pharmaceutical industry for 10 years. So I was ingrained of just like medical way and pharmaceutical way and you go to the hospital to deliver. My best friend was and is still a doula. And so I kind of learned more about the natural route of birth and what it went into it from her. When I got pregnant though, I was thinking hospital birth. Like that's what I wanted to do.

like of course epidural all the things she was the one that kind of opened my eyes of have you thought about doing like a natural birth like you don't have to do it at home but like even if you just didn't know medication or in a birth center and so she started asking me questions in that first pregnancy and i was like no i haven't but maybe i could do this and she kind of gave me that motivation to find that like in her voice of myself of you can do this and so that was the plan obviously things progressed like with the membrane sweeping to not you know to do the medical route which was fine that's kind of what sparked that general interest in the beginning.

Did you end up having a doula in the room with you? So for the first birth? Yes. Yes. So she was still there, even though, which that's a thing I want to talk about. Like, I think having a doula doesn't mean you have to go full home birth. Like you can still have a support doula. It could be a friend, like whoever, in the room with you, even if you decide to do a

hospital birth. Because they can still advocate for you. Absolutely. Because a lot of the times, like, you know, there might be questions from the medical team, the doctors and it's like they can kind of be that voice they can kind of help guide you based on what your goals are which is really and just to kind of give you support in this amazing chapter of your life that is such a good point because i so i got a doula and she's amazing yeah she's great but she's for sure heavily on the holistic side okay and i for my first birth i want to land

somewhere in the middle i was going to say how do you feel about it i see myself doing a hospital birth for sure. I'm not super anti-epidural, but I would love to avoid potosin if I can. I just want to understand the options and like educate myself about each thing that they're using. But she at the beginning was very much like pushing me towards one way. And I think it is important, even if you respect the dula and their their views to kind of have your own voice in it too and be able to kind of like advocate for yourself without shame or guilt yes because I tend to be a bit more of a people pleaser and I'm like same you know what I yeah I'm like oh that sounds nice like we can do it that way but I this is the one thing where I'm like I really need to be sure of what I'm doing

and I still am not 100% sure of what I want to do well luckily you have time to just like continue to educate yourself and like ask people in all the different fields that was like something I did I just like asked all the questions and honestly like wrote them down I'm such an old school person when it comes to like writing down the pros and cons of situations but seriously like it helps you feel more empowered so when you do make that decision you're like well i asked all the questions i did all the research i feel good about this decision yeah i don't think there's a right or wrong way i think it depends on the type of person totally you know and like your journey too like for my first birth i wasn't meant to do the home birth route and no medication but it led me there

eventually. It's just part of my journey. So I think you'll find that same thing. And I think there is a way you can kind of do both, like all of it. You know, totally. I understand the whole Potocin thing. That's a big one. Yeah, that one freaks me out a little bit. Have you had anybody on that has talked about? I have, but I think back then when I wasn't pregnant, I wasn't as tuned in. And I need to go back and actually listen. I've talked to so many people at this point and they all are so smart and have so much information. I need to go back and listen. Tell us about the home birth experience. was amazing. Like I want to actually understand like what happens. Like the whole thing. Like yeah. Yes. Okay. Give you the full, the full rundown. So same doula, same friend that this time around, it was like during COVID. It was like the second wave. I was like, okay, I'm pregnant. I want to do the natural route again. But I was like, I want to do the birth center, which was right next to the hospital in Nashville. So it was one of those things where it wasn't in the hospital, but it was like right next to the hospital. So like worst case.

scenario, right at the hospital, right? Yes. And the birthing suite that was part of the hospital was beautiful, like a tub, just felt like you're at home. And I was like, this is where I need to be. Because there was still a little bit of fear there. And I think there always is up until the moment you deliver, we're human. So I went, had like my first few visits.

I think I was like 20 weeks and went to my appointment with my midwife at the hospital where the birth center was. and they had implemented masks again for COVID, and they were like, you're going to have to deliver, like, with a mask. When you're trying to deliver naturally, breathwork is such a big component and big heart. You can't properly breathe the techniques you need to be doing with a mask on.

That sounds awful. It was a lot. And so I was like, okay, I just felt in my gut, like homebirth. Like, that kept coming up. And so I was like, I don't know anybody that has done a homebirth in this area, like any midwives that would deliver. So I just did a lot of research and interviewed several midwives and found one that I love. She predominantly delivers in the Amish community, but has delivered like thousands of babies.

And I could tell on the phone, she was just very matter of fact. Like I would love to say she's probably not the most like, oh, like super friendly, but like I didn't care. Like I needed somebody that was like going to make sure I'm safe, the baby safe, made me feel calm and supported. And that's what she was. She came over and met with me. Again, I was like halfway through the pregnancy. So that was kind of scary, like switching gears halfway through.

Yeah. But she just made me feel like this was the way to go. Asked her so many questions. She answered them all. And so I made the switch to do a homebirth. And I remember I told my husband at the time, like, hey, this is what I'm leaning towards. And he was like, absolutely not.

Like, what? Homebirth? Like, you crazy? And I gave him the literature, the facts, the info, had her, him meet with her. and he eventually was on board too, which was great. So throughout the rest of that second, half that pregnancy, I started doing breathwork every day, meditation. I took a couple courses.

One of them was called Happy Home Birth, and then another one was called Pain Free Birth. So they're both big accounts on Instagram, but they basically give you the tools and guidance on how to, like, breathe and, like, get to a meditative spot and stay. in your body to where you disassociate from the pain in a sense and view it as pressure instead which I can say now having gone through that whole home birth

I never experienced pain it was just pressure if anything so I would do a lot of breath work every single day I would do like meditation tapes I would do exercises like hold ice cubes in my hand and like breathe through

little things like it's like TMI but if you take bowel movement instead of like tensing up just like breathing through the bowel movement because it's a very similar feel. Yeah. So a lot of different practices. Cozy Earth's bamboo sheets are temperature regulating guaranteed to give you a comfortable night's sleep. Made from viscose from bamboo, they naturally wick away heat and moisture from your body, helping you sleep several degrees cooler. They also have an amazing bubble cuddle blanket. You can lose yourself in luxury with the bubble cuddle blanket. It offers a combination of comfort and style with its distinctively textured bubble design

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Greg and I personally are really focused on protein, so we love finding high protein snacks on hungry root and planning our meals to focus on protein that way. Take advantage of this exclusive offer for a limited time, get 40% off your first box plus a free item in every box for life. Go to hungry root.com slash pow and use code pow, P-O-W, that's hungry root.com slash pow, code pow, to get 40% off your first box and a free item of choice for life. Hungryroot.com slash pow, code pow. And so the day of the homebirth, I was 39 weeks, both babies came a few days early. I was 39 weeks. It was New Year's Eve. Oh, I know, New Year's Eve. And I had made my son a lunch, like a sandwich. This was like around 12 p.m.

and I started feeling like the contractions. Now, have you heard of Braxton Hicks? Yes. Okay. Yes. So I'm interested to see if you'll get those. I know. I haven't yet.

I got them with both boys. I started feeling these contractions. I had had Braxton Hicks leading up. So I was like, is this Brackton Hicks? We'll see how like intense it gets. Quickly realized it was not. I kind of called my mom. I called my doula.

I was like, no rush to come over. Just letting you guys know what's happening. And I also texted my midwife and let her know. She was like, well, I'm not running errand. so just let me know I so again this is like around 12 p.m. I had him at like 2.40. Wow. In the afternoon. So that's pretty quick. Two and a half hours later. So during this time, it really picked up and I was just in the bathroom playing my meditation tapes, playing worship music, just like breathing. I had like light strong affirmation cards just put all around the walls.

I just really wanted to create like a environment that I felt at peace at. And it was a really beautiful day because of that. My husband at the time, he started blowing up the tub and getting all the home birth equipment out, which was really fun because like it's like a full list. So we had all of that prepped and ready to go. And then my mom came over and bless her heart. She started getting nervous because she was like, okay, she's breathing through her contractions, but like vocalizing.

I remember the midwife telling me that's when I need to call her. So she calls the midwife. The midwife's like, all right, I'm at Costco. I'm checking out. I'll come over. She's very chill about the whole thing. Well, my mom was like concerned. She's like, why are you so calm right now?

I can't deliver this baby by myself. Where are you at Costco? Why are you at Costco? I think she was like, let me hear her do a contraction. And like, because my midwife, she's so intuitive. She can like hear a contraction and like look at you and know exactly like how dilated you are and everything. She's just amazing at it.

So my midwife is like, okay, I'll come over. We'll be fine. So she comes over. I remember her walking in the room. And at this point, like I was on all fours just kind of like moving around like that cat-cow positions, you know, trying to like stretch a little bit and breathe through the contractions and vocalizing. And she looked at me and she goes, do you want me to check you? Which you're familiar with that, right? Checking like the cervix to see.

To see the dilation. I was nervous at this point because go back a few years prior to my first pregnancy. They asked me the same question when I was having contractions. and that was at a zero for hours. That's why I had to get bettosin to dilate. Yep. So there was like a trauma there, like a PTSD in a sense. And I was so nervous.

And I remember looking at her and saying, I'm so nervous right now. And she looked at me and she says, you're going to be okay. And so I let her check me and I was at like a seven. Oh, wow. So she looked to me and she said, this was like at around 145, too. She goes, just want you to know the next hour is going to be pretty intense. but you have this and that was like all right let's go buckle up so quickly got into the tub because like everything was just moving so quick and like what's really crazy about a natural

birth is you're so intuitive with your body because you feel it all right and something I had learned preparing for a natural birth and a home birth is when you breathe against or push against the contractions that you feel instead of working with them that's when it's more painful that's what's going to prevent any progression because you're tensing up yeah so it's like with each contraction that you have instead of uh tensing up it's like you want to who breathe move with the pain like make it fluid right breathe with the pressure i could literally feel with each contraction him like moving down moving down moving down and what's really cool is like i guided my entire delivery like i told her when i was ready to breathe the baby down

instead of push is what we say. They breathe the baby down. And she was just a support right beside me in that tub. And so it was amazing. Like when he, I was like on all fours kind of like hanging over the tub. And again, like at this point, it was just my mom, the dula, the midwife, her assistant and my ex-husband, boy's dad. It was pretty silent besides me just breathing this baby down.

and I'll never forget, like, they call it the ring of fire. Have you heard of that? Yes, I have. Yeah. It's like when the head comes out? Yeah. Okay. And I had heard of that and I was like, okay, we're going to see how this feels because

here we are. Quite literally it is a burning sensation, but it's like such a relief after that. So it's when the head comes out. It's like that ring of fire and it's a burning sensation. And then it's out. It's like you have a moment of relief because like the head really is the hardest part. It's the biggest. Yeah.

So at that moment, it's the thing. I remember just feeling like, oh, okay. And then it was like the rest of the body. She, you know, kind of guided me to kind of sit up a little bit more in a different position and helped guide me out with him. And I give this primal roar and he comes out. And it's like the most amazing moment. And I just remember sitting in that moment like, I just had my baby at home.

He's in my arms and he's crying. And about three minutes after he latched for the first. time in the tub and it was just like a very beautiful moment. So special. That is incredible. Yes. And I guess like without an epidural, you really feel everything. You do. Like with with an epidural, do you not feel any of that? No. I think there's different doses of the epidural where you can have some kind of feeling. I think I had like the full feeling, the full effect. I didn't feel anything. So I quite literally felt out of control. Because when they would say, push, I couldn't feel it. I was like, I don't know if I'm anything coming out.

Yeah. You know, and because of that, you know, I didn't feel like super in tune with my body in that sense. And so there were some tears, um, with my first where with my second I didn't tear at all. So there are some things that I can look and compare again. I think everyone's story is different, but that's just my experience. Yeah, that's pretty interesting that you tear when you can't feel anything I guess because you're like you're not intuitively knowing the right moments right or like how much you should push versus you know because you can feel your body like okay maybe that's too much I'm a pull back a little bit you know you can kind of be intuitive with your body and so um it it was really neat to kind of compare yeah both births um that is cool

yeah curious did you receive any I don't know if you were like very private about it but when you shared that you were having a home birth where people like judgmental of it because I've noticed that happening to some of my friends? Yes, long story short. And I think it came from a place of people genuinely caring, but there was like a fear behind it of, oh my gosh, are you not scared? Like, that's so scary. I hope everything goes okay. You can't blame them because at the end of the day, I feel like it's getting better. But for so long, it was demonized in a way or like looked at as a risky, careless way to have birth. When in all reality, it's like, that's like, That's how it started.

Yeah. Right? Yeah. Like we're designed to be able to give birth. Obviously, there are certain situations that, you know, are high risk and you got to listen to your body and do what's best for you and baby. But at the end of the day, we're built to be able to do this. Also, at this time, though, I didn't have a social media following.

So I didn't really have any kind of, like, backlash opportunity. That would be interesting. That would be interesting. So this next go around, we'll see. Have you experienced, like, any backlash with, like, you sharing how you want your birth and delivery and everything to be? I haven't really like said how I want it to be because I'm not 100% sure. Maybe I've just tuned it out at this point because I've gotten so used to it.

But I feel like I haven't really. And it's interesting because I am such a believer in nutrition and I love being healthy and I love fitness. So when I did IVF, I think a lot of people were like, wait, why would she have to do IVF? She's so healthy. Like this seems crazy. And I had a lot of like rude questions about it maybe or like judgment. Like you shouldn't have had to have done. that but at the end of the day it got me where I needed to be and I'm sure there's other women

that similar to you like prioritizing their health and fitness and still took that route so I think for you to show like that's okay I know very inspirational to a lot of women which is amazing that was kind of a big motivator for me because I was like okay someone like me who really takes care of themselves is still having this struggle absolutely and so many people are having a lot of it goes beyond diet and lifestyle that's out of our control so at the end of the day it's like yeah got to do what you got to do totally and how lucky are we that we get to do things like that now it's amazing i completely agree let's talk about uh postpartum yes very curious about that because i feel like i see two ends of the spectrum online i see women who say like they're in their

newborn bubble and it's bliss and it's heaven and they are obsessed with it and they want to go back to it and then I see some women say it's like the hardest thing ever. Where did you land in that? I had a very hard time, but I didn't let that be known to anyone around me. You held it in. I did. I've always like been the type of person and be like, I'm strong. I can do this. And I think it was kind of like that survival state of mind just getting through it. But looking back, I wish I had like asked for more help. I think that I definitely undiagnosed had postpartum anxiety yeah thoughts would come in my head of are they breathing like multiple times I would go into their nursery and like check to see if they're breathing multiple times a night's

that's going to be me I'm 100% sure you know or like I felt so out of it like oh my gosh what if I accidentally like drop them because I'm so sleep deprived or you know fell asleep holding them and they suffocated like these thoughts that are pretty morbid would come in my head which would freak me out you know it's like I just want to keep them safe I knew I wasn't alone at the same time because I had heard so many people talk about it and I just prayed it would just pass, which it did. And I got through it.

But I wish I had talked about it to people more because it would have been nice to not go through that alone. At the same time, I was in a marriage that I wasn't happy in. I didn't feel like I had the support that I had really wanted, I guess you would say. Nothing against him. I just think that we weren't meant

to be together long term in that sense, which made any kind of situation like postpartum big life event hard. But that was hard. And then I also dealt with like misditis multiple times from breastfeeding. And so it was just like a lot of things over a course of like eight weeks that just felt really dark that I wish I had reached out to more people and try to get that out. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I hear that's very common. Yeah. Like how do we get the support that we need during postpartum from our husbands like i guess how do we like so now you know being in this relationship i'm in now it's such a it really is such a healthy relationship and it's funny because i said that i would never have more kids and i think it's told you earlier like i had baby fever and

want to do this with him yeah just because of what we've built i think that it would be a lot different this time around but i think talking about postpartum during pregnancy with your spouse because so much of it's on pregnancy and then postpartum hits and you're like holy cow this is a lot and i think if we can talk to our significant other our husband our boyfriend or partner start talking about what postpartum might look like what you think you might need again it's hard to tell when you're not in it but just having the expectations of proper communication to follow is important and then husbands and boyfriends and partners to check in i think that's so important to check in every day i mean it postpartum doesn't

doesn't last forever, but like the first six to eight weeks, it's a lot. So I think that's something that the husband can do or boyfriend, just check in and ask what they need, even if it's just a talk or a glass of water, whatever it may be. Because they're not that useful at the beginning, right? And I think a lot of the times they want to be, but they don't know what to do. Yeah. They're like, what can I do? Like, I don't have a boob to milk like our child. Like to To change a diaper, yeah, it's like, you very, you know, so I think that the more in pregnancy you can involve your significant other to where it easily translates over into postpartum is just going to make life a lot more seamless and feel more supportive. I don't even really know what to expect. And like the first time around, I feel like that's so, so normal.

You're just winging it. Yeah, like when you have your second, if you guys have a second, if you're planning on that, you're going to be like, I feel so much more empowered. Yeah. And just kind of know what I would need. Yeah. He's been at every appointment. with me, which helps. And I think him going through IVF too with me. We were so like a team. Yeah, such a team. I mean, he gave me every shot. He was with me every night. See, you guys

going through that is a lot. Yeah. A big emotional event and chapter. So I feel like he's going to be great postpartum too. Are you guys doing any like birth classes together or anything like that? He doesn't know it, but we're going to. Surprise. Surprise we are. I think my doula will do them with us. She'll like come over, hypno birthing, yeah. Is that the breathing? Yeah, we did that. Great, okay. And that's great.

My, the boy's dad, he did that too. And it's a really, it's a really fun class to do. Yeah. It's wild. I definitely want to do that. I'm excited. When do I do that? Like, at what point?

Gosh, I think I started doing that in the like mid-20s. Okay. How many weeks are you now? About to be 19. Okay. Yeah. Girl, it's about to pick up. Get ready.

I'm so excited. I feel like when I hit 20 weeks, then you kind of start counting backwards. You're like, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're like, this is going by so fast. But I think we started doing it like mid-20s to 30s and then like really were intentional throughout the whole 30 weeks because it goes by fast. This is an ad by better help.

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Prenatal. Yeah, I was thinking a peri bottle, like the thing that you splash after your birth, which you're going to have to get one of those two. I've seen those on the baby list. They're great. Prenatal. You know what? I think I did a couple.

I am so bad at sitting still, like, for a massage. I just don't want someone going on my vagina. it's a oh do they do that yeah oh i didn't perennial perennial okay perennial now that we know how to pronounce it yeah yeah yes i never had someone do it for me but my midwife was like you need to start doing this around like in your 30s i can't remember the exact weeks but it's basically where you quite literally stretch out your vagina oh my god in the sense so like i would get some lubricant and just kind of get that going that's all that you're just stretching it out Yeah, I mean, it just, it just, it really helps, too.

I think your first pregnancy, too, just because the tissue is not obviously conditioned to be stretched to the point of, like, pushing a baby out. And so it just really helps get the tissue ready. So I would recommend doing that. But you don't need someone else to do it. Absolutely not. Okay. I mean, you could get your husband, Greg, to do it if you wanted to. I was kind of thinking that.

That might be like some way, fun way to spice it up in the bedroom. Stretch me out. Like, oh, crazy. But yeah, no, that is very beneficial. though, like to do that. And then I think I was doing it like every day. Just like a quick 15 seconds. Just the quick guy.

A little stretch. Great. Okay. I guess I'll do that then. Yeah. Okay. But I was just freaked out by someone else doing it. Yeah, I would, you don't have to do that.

Okay, great. I would be freaked out too. Yeah, that's weird. A little much. Okay, let's talk about like bounce back concept. Did you experience that pressure or were you just like patient with yourself? I guess as someone who's into fitness and used to seeing their body a certain way, what is that experience like of course i felt the pressure and i hate the term bounce back i mean i use

it still because it's like you know we talk about bouncing back but it's there's too much pressure around that term it takes almost 10 months for your body to build human life and create this baby and your body is going through so many changes over the course of that time for us to think that we can quote unquote bounce back after a couple months is so unrealistic because it's going to take time to recover and heal our bodies in a healthy way, just like it took for our bodies to create this human life. We've got to stop looking it as bouncing back in a quick amount of time. Everybody's time's going to look different.

I definitely felt that both pregnancies. I wasn't on social media yet, but I was on social media looking at other people and definitely found myself comparing. I think genetics going to play, like, you know, people dealing with, you know, having gained more weight, it just takes more time to lose. Like, we're all in different paths. And so that's something that I talk to my community a lot about, whether, you know, it's in my DMs or in my app or my podcast.

Like, I just tried to let women know that it's okay to take time and go at your own pace. Yeah. Your body's smart. Like, your body's going to come back. It just might take a little bit of time. And as long as you're creating those daily habits to heal yourself and fuel properly, you're going to get there. Yeah.

And I even hear with breastfeeding, like obviously you need to be eating enough. Yes, that's a big one. So you can't just sort of like jump back into. I didn't lose all my weight and specifically like body fat percentage drop until I stopped breastfeeding after a year. Wow. And that's normal. Like your body is naturally going to retain more body fat for the baby.

You need to. Because it looks at it almost like a stockpile of like, hey, if we run out, we'll go to this stored fat, right? So your body's naturally going to store more fat when you're breastfeeding. And for me, when I was done breastfeeding my second Quinn, that was around 13 months, that's when I really started picking up the gym more and like tracking my macros. And it all fell off pretty quickly. But until then, I just gave what I knew my body needed and the baby. But it's hard. It's easier said than done for sure. How quickly did you get back into working out when you had babies and how did you manage it? Like on a very granular level,

I'm trying to imagine my life after having a baby. I can only imagine. Yeah. Obviously it takes a minute to get back into your routine. But do you like bring the baby to the gym with you? Like, how does it actually work? Yeah. So what's crazy is both babies were kind of born in that COVID time. Yeah. Like Grayson was just a few months old when COVID hit. And so once I got cleared. I, you know, around the six week mark, they say, I started going on more walks and getting more steps and light stretches and yoga. And then I started doing like little dumbbell work, like strength training. And I have videos of like me doing like pushups with him like on my back. Like my mom setting him on my back and like doing like little things incorporating him at home. So I did a lot of at

home work that with dumbbells you can do. But one thing I was big about with both babies is like listening to my body and specifically with my core, I would never like push myself too hard to where it felt like I was going past the limits of what my body could provide at that time. And I think that's something that's very important. So you kind of have to look at it as like building back strength and like phases and just kind of listening to your body and checking in with yourself and going up and wait, for instance, with dumbbells when you feel like you can, but not pushing it past that point. Because I feel like a lot of damage can. come from that yeah but i honestly was not into lifting the way i am now until after my second oh

really wow yeah so with my first i did like a lot of dumbbell work but i didn't work out and lift in a progressive overload until after my second a couple years ago so when i was done breastfeeding at 13 months with him i started incorporating more progressive overloads dumbbell work and that's when I really worked on like body composition and I would say it took me a solid year with both boys before I felt like strong again though. It takes time. Yeah, you got to be patient. You do. And now you are into fitness competition. Can you explain the competitions you do? Yeah. What is high rocks? Oh, it's so fun. So it's a fitness race that combines both running and functional workouts. It's the same concept every time. So when you go into the race,

you know what you're getting. Yeah. Basically it's one kilometer run. And then you do that eight times. But in between each run, you do a station. So you do wall balls, skier, row, farmers carry, lunges, a lot of functional stations. And basically it's about how fast you can go. You have different divisions. Depending on the division, you do a certain amount of weight. But it's not about how heavy.

It's really about how fast. So I've done solo before. I do it with Ian, my boyfriend a lot. We love doing it. And, yeah, it's super fun, though. I think it's one of those sports that no matter what season you're in, like, you can do it. There's people that are 80 years old competing, people in wheelchairs. That's so cool.

Like moms that want to get their girlfriends together to do a relay. So it's a really fun sport that started over in Europe and it's creating so much hype over here in the States. Oh, it's European? Yes. Yes, yes, yes. So it's gotten so popular. But it's a really fun sport. But then I'm really a runner, though, like half marathons, marathons, about to train.

for the NYC Marathon, so... Amazing. Yeah, but it's fun. Greg and I have a hyperfixation of watching Ultramarathon runners. They're built different. Courtney Deweig or something? Do you follow her?

No, but I know who you're talking about. Yeah, she does like Leadville and all the... It's insane. It's insane, but it's so cool. It is so cool. I don't think I could ever get to that point. Like, that is just... You might.

I mean, it's got to limit. I guess never say never. But they are built different. Like, it's truly amazing to see them do that. Like running through the night. My thing is like, I love sleep. I'm like, I would have to sleep, right? I know.

I don't know. Where do you go to the bathroom? Where do you poop? Have you done any kind of like races? No, but I think I will one day. High Rock sounds fun. Well, I think you should do a high rocks. And that could be like a postpartum goal.

Like, yeah. At the end of this year, I want to do high rocks or something. You know what I mean? Yes. Can you sponsor people doing it? Mm-hmm. Bloom should sponsor. Absolutely.

We'll sponsor you. Oh. We should do that. That would be so fun. A cute little bloom outfit. Yes. Okay, let's do it. I'll get Ian.

If we do mixed doubles, he'll wear a little bloom outfit too. Yeah, he can wear a little blue outfit. I love that you guys do it together, though. Yeah. That's, like, so awesome. Greg and I love working out together, and I think it's like a big part of our relationship.

I love seeing your videos, like your workout videos of you guys doing that together. It's just, it's really sweet. And speaking of like motherhood, like your son's going to be able to see that. I know. Which is so special and going to make such an impact on him. I think Greg already thinks he's like a little

bodybuilder, you know. Stop. That's so cute. He moves a lot. Baby weights? Yes. Oh, my God. I've seen baby weights. It's a thing. You know Dr. Gabriel Lyon? Yes. Have you met her? I haven't. I want to. You would really like her. She literally her kids work out with her. I love that. Like this little girl does pushups and so Reagan is like that Ian's daughter. We're a blended family, blended household. She is eight years old and she'll do like swings with him, burpees like. Love it. I know. Like devil's press, like all this stuff with him, it's truly amazing.

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don't like it, but I am confident you will keep it. That's 8Sleep.com slash POWP-P-O-W. So let's talk about the blended family concept because I think that's really amazing and I don't know why the Kardashians pop in my head, but I've heard them talk about that a lot and I actually love the way they approach it. And I feel like you have just built like a really beautiful household. So how do you go about creating that dynamic? I'm going to preface it by saying this is something that I never thought I would have. I think that when I got married and built a family, like no one goes into marriage being like, I'm going to get divorced or I'm going to break apart our family, you know, right? Like we had those traditional values set within us and I never thought I would

be here. But I truly think that my life was orchestrated in a way that was meant to get me where I'm at and I'm so thankful for it. After my divorce a few years back, I had, you know, babies. Like my youngest was, had just turned a year old. And I told myself, I'm never going to date again. Like, I'm going to focus on them. And then what do you know? Like a few months later, Ian walks in my life. And it truly, though, made sense. We took things very slow because we are both like we don't want to date. We just want to be friends. Obviously, feelings came in. And months and months later, it just made sense. So we took things slow, but we also knew, like, okay, we have kids. We want to do this the right way, this relationship. So luckily, they had met at gymnastics, which is

where we met. So they had already met each other. So they were already integrated in each other's lives, which is really nice. Oh, as parents. As parents, yeah. So I had met him 20 years prior. It's a long story. But, or long story short, we met 20 years prior at a party, didn't see him for 20 years. And then met again, we met at gymnastics. So it was really cool, like invisible string theory type of a thing. But yeah, the kids had already met each other.

So they looked at us like, oh, dad's friend, mom's friend, right? And then we just started slowly taking those next steps. And we knew it was time to move in with each other. when the kids were so sad and asking where the other, you know, sibling were. Yeah. So Reagan was safe, you know, why aren't we seeing Grayson or Quinn or the boys would be like, where's Reagan? Like, when am I going to see her next?

It just, we kind of both had that gut feeling like it was time. And it was the best decision because I feel like when we really did move in together and make that commitment and just brought both households together, just like everything bloomed from there. It was a really beautiful thing. And so it has its challenges. You know, we still obviously have another parent on both sides that we have to communicate with, which has had its ups and downs. But we try to do it in a very healthy way and communicate on both sides.

But it's been a really beautiful thing just to see their relationships, especially with the kids, grow. And then, you know, the other parent, like Ian with my boys and me with Reagan, just, yes, they're not blood relations. but it feels that way. It's so beautiful. Yeah, that's amazing. I feel like that initial decision to leave your first marriage when you have babies must have been really challenging. And I feel like a lot of people also can relate.

When do you, like, how did you know when it was the right time to choose yourself and when it was the right decision? I think when the bad days outweighed the good and I saw it affecting my children. That's when I knew it was time. Yeah. I honestly stayed in it longer because of the children. I knew with my second I was breastfeeding, and I remember having these thoughts like months prior before I actually filed of,

okay, well, if I file and get divorced now, how do I continue to breastfeed my child when it's his time to parent? Like, do I have to drop off breast milk? Like, it made me sick thinking about that. And so strategically, unfortunately, and like I did plan it to where I would be done breastfeeding. It just got to a point where I had told myself, And I know a lot of women can relate because I get questions in my DMs about this a lot.

I wanted to get to a place where when I did file and decide to walk away, I could look back and know that I exhausted all efforts and took all the steps I could to make it work. And when that bad days outweighed the good. And I look back and know that I could put a checkmark next to all those things. So it's unfortunate and sad, but I know I made the right decision. It sounds like you made the perfect decision and everything's, better for it, which is, and it's amazing to hear you talk about it openly, because I'm sure so many people are experiencing it, but they just don't even know how to, like, talk about it.

It's hard. And it's still hard. I mean, just the other week with all the kids, we still get this. Why can we all live together? They're still kids. They still don't get it, right? And so Ian and I have to learn how to navigate those conversations. And it's not easy. It's hard and it's heartbreaking. But we just try to take a very, like, honest approach with them and build it on love and happiness when we try to reply to them, you know? Yeah, 100%. It's not easy, though. But it's amazing that you speak about it, and I'm sure so many people are grateful

that you are open. In terms of your schedule, I'm very interested to know, like literally how you do it. It's all over the place. How do you do time block? Like, how do you manage a calendar where you are working out, making time for yourself, taking care of your kids, feeding your kids, having a career, doing a podcast, doing social media like how well i don't do it perfectly but i try to do the best that i can and i am such a believer in time blocking i time block every day of my life yeah and the moment i wake up like simple

things five to five 15 a m makeup hair like i have to though i have ADHD so it is easy for me to say i'm going to do something and then three hours later it's still not done so for me time blocking has been a huge help. I planned the night before. So it's like I wake up and know what I'm doing versus having to look at it. Some days I don't get to work out, but I try to prioritize some type of movement, whether it's like a quick 10 minute walk or whatever that may be. And I try to time out my events of the week around busier days, around the days that I don't have the kids, if that makes sense. So like all my filming, all my editing that I think will take up a lot of time, I try to do that on days when I don't have the kids because you never know when you're going to get a call

from school that's like, hey, he's sick, you got to pick him up like life happens. So I try to plan that way. But also communication with my team. So Ian, my boyfriend, works with me now. Oh, amazing. He's a Navy SEAL. And so he's all about structure and discipline. So when he came on board, he really helped me too of like making sure that we have a plan and are structured. I'm such a believer in prioritizing yourself so you can perform. better in all aspects of your life. Thousand percent. I feel like you preach on that too.

Oh my God, yes. Because like you are the same. Like you do all these, your brands, your business and making time to prioritize your health. Like you're experiencing it as well. It just benefits every part of your life. Like relationships are better when you're healthier, works better. Marriage is better. Like I really think making time for yourself.

I'm a big morning person. Yes. Like I have to do all my things in the morning because by five I'm like useless. Done. Done. Energy. Yes. A thousand, especially now.

Oh, yeah, pregnant. I know I'm interested to see because I haven't been pregnant and dealt with the life that I do the career I currently have. So I can only imagine in your shoes. Like, I don't know how you do it. I've taken a big step back. That's my life is not what it used to be. Like when I lived in L.A., my calendar was full from 5 a.m.

till the end of the day, meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting. Now I try to come in here and do all my recording in one day. Time block. Yeah, I really time. block it like my bloom meeting is on a certain day i really like spread it out now to where i have more free time um which is really nice that i can do that we have a big team and etc etc i think i don't think i could have been pregnant when i lived in l.a honestly yeah well and that's my thing too is i think that life happens in a way that makes most sense where you're at yeah and like you look back and

you're like i'm glad it happened yes the way it did and the timing no actually yeah because this a lot it's a lot you're obviously very into nutrition and health how do you this is something i'm starting to think about with kids when they're at school or when they're at someone else's house like how do you handle their knowledge of nutrition and like what's going in their bodies we try to lead by example yeah our house so we never cook them anything different than what we're eating and that's something that we both communicated to each other from the get-go when we first moved in i've always been that way with the boys so if we're eating grilled chicken green beans and potatoes they're going to eat that too do they finish their plates not always but we try to leave by

example and show them that these are the foods that foods that help fuel us now do we put fruit on their plates too and like add some things maybe put a little sauce to make it more fun for them yes so we try to educate them at home first and the one rule they don't have to finish their plates but the one rule we have is they have to pick a protein that they enjoy eating and they have to finish that. I like that. Right? Like we can't not eat our chicken and then expect some ice cream after.

Like we got to make sure that we're hitting our protein goals with whatever meat that is. And they understand that now. I think in the beginning they had a little bit of pushback, but they get that because they know that like that's like the most important. But when it comes to outside of the house, because I feel like inside of the house, it's easier to control, right? It's outside of the house, at school, at the birthday parties, those things where a few years back, I had more anxiety around it. I feel like I've loosened up a little bit.

But like to the point where I would, you know, bring my own cupcake to the kids' birthday parties and that didn't have ties. I'm dead. I would do that too. I mean, yeah, it was like a little, a little much. So now I'm kind of at a point where I'm like, okay, it's going to be okay if they have a cupcake. from the grocery at this birthday party because, like, they're not doing that every single day. So I've tried to loosen up a little bit. Now I do see behavioral things, especially from the dyes and like the cane sugar. Wow. Yeah. So like a lot of times after the birthday parties or any events or

whether it's Halloween or whatever, I do see like some meltdowns and some tantrums that I know is a direct cause from. So interesting. The ingredients. Yeah. But at the end of the day, just like we go get ice cream out on date night or whatever like they can have those moments too and it's going to be okay i think it's the 90% of the time what are you doing at home yes where we can make the biggest impact and on halloween we actually have a fun because this Halloween's i feel like we'll just pop up in just a few months so we do this thing called the switch switch which where we let them go Halloween like candy trick-or-treating in the neighborhood they get all the things snickers twicks you name it, Skittles, and we let them pick about five to ten pieces to eat. If they want to

that night, go ham. That's fine. And then we set out all of the candy by their bedside door and the switch which comes and replaces it with a fun little toy. So that way it's like they have fun for a night, but then it doesn't lead in to the days after. And they don't feel like they're missing out on anything. No, that's amazing. They forget about it too, you know. Yeah, that's a good tool. I like that. So little things like that that you can do. Yeah. I love the emphasis on protein.

Yes. I mean, it's been a game changer. And it's funny. This is so funny. Oh my gosh. I just thought of this. So my son's school, they'll send like little videos. Yeah.

So they sent a video from the cafeteria, like one of the teachers and the app. And they had like a Q&A with the chef there. And all these kids are like, what cookies do you have? you know what's for lunch my son is like how much protein does that have in this lunch like he was asking like nutritional type questions that an adult and i was like hey we raised him right so you must have been so proud i was really proud it's like does i have at least 25 grams of right yeah so we ate for each meal um so i was like hey we're doing something right that's adorable it was like you oh my gosh well sam thank you so much this was amazing i feel like there's so many good

nuggets in here. I'm taking notes. I learned so much. Thank you for coming on. Can you share with everyone where they can follow you, listen to the podcast, all the things? So you can find me on social on Instagram. My personal page is Sam C-Fit underscore. And then my podcast, the Empower podcast, E-M-P-W-R. We are on all the platforms, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and then we also have our Instagram. So thank you for having me on. Oh my God. Thank you. Crushed it. Yay. You too. Oh my gosh. You're such a good interviewer. Thank you for joining us on the Pursuit of Wellness Podcast. To support this show, please rate and review and share with your loved ones. If you want to be reminded of new episodes,

click the subscribe button on your preferred podcast or video player. You can sign up for my newsletter to receive my favorites at Mari Loellan.com. It will be linked in the show. notes. This podcast is a Pursuit Network production, brought to you by Michaela Phillips, Joel Contartese, Daviel Waldner, and Mackenzie Myzel. You can also watch the full video of each episode on our YouTube channel at Pursuit of Wellness Podcast. Love you, Power Girls and Power Boys. I will see you next time. The content of this show is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual medical and mental health advice and does not constitute a provider a patient relationship. As always, talk to your doctor or health team.