by Karla Hernandez

Created on: July 14, 2009

I would always shudder when I heard women say things like, "I used to be so thin but after I had my kids I just never lost the baby weight." Before I knew any better those statements used to scare the bejeebies out of me.

I'll never have kids, I promised myself. I could adopt, of course, should the desire ever hit me. I would skip all the morning sickness and feeling woozy or getting in that uncomfortable state that every pregnant woman would complain about and I would certainly skip that part about the whole inevitable weight gain thing. Ugh. The complaints were valid, I was sure of that. But spare me the details, please, because it wasn't happening to me. Ever.

Well, so much for some promises. I had my first baby in April 2008 just a few weeks before my 38th birthday. I didn't gain much weight during the pregnancy, at least not above the "normal" weight gain (what is "normal" supposed to be anyway? I never liked that word. Maybe "normal" should be replaced by "typical"). I was very active before I had the baby with cycling, running and inline skating. I was never overweight. And I had never had a problem with my weight. Nevertheless, I worried about all those things I heard, "I never lost the baby weight..." Those words echoed in my subconscious. Could this really be true? I'll never be the same again!

Unfortunately, I was so sick the first few months I couldn't do anything, literally. I was sick in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. It never stopped. And even though my doc said it was okay to keep running (only because I was used to it and it wasn't a threat to me or the baby) I didn't feel well enough to do it. When I started feeling better, my belly started getting bigger and the discomfort set in. I could barely ride my incumbent stationary bike anymore. My knees hit my belly with each stride; I couldn't breathe well...Yikes. I felt so incompetent. This just wasn't me. I felt doomed! (I concluded that it must have been the raging prego hormones that kept me in the "doom and gloom" phase- that's just not me on a "typical" day, week or...year).

The bigger my belly got the more uncomfortable I felt. I would get dizzy sometimes just walking (slowly!) and would have to sit for a moment to regain my composure. Oh boy, was I glad this condition was just temporary. It was zapping all of my energy- not to mention my equilibrium. I am not one to just sit around and do nothing. Basically, I am NOT a couch potato. So this temporary 'condition' was

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