YES after over a decade of putting my family goals on hold for my fitness goals this huge dream of mine has become a reality — I AM HAVING A BABY! My partner Marcelo and I are so very excited; it truly is the greatest miracle and an absolute blessing. I will be sharing monthly updates with you as I go; the good, bad and the crazy (always keeping it real with you!) in hopes of inspiring and empowering all of you through my experience of making a little HUMAN BEING with my body.
Our Story
I have always wanted to be a mom but my competitive athletic career as a Pro athlete diverted my path in another direction. I knew the risks involved with leaving this too late as well as the impact of long-term high intensity training and caloric restriction could have on my hormones and overall health. As I always have done, I decided to let my heart, not fear, lead the way on this one. It was not until now, at 41 years old, that everything felt right for this journey to begin. I found the right person to share my life with, I am completely fulfilled with my athletic achievements, content with my travel to 65 countries, happy and proud of where my business is at and felt a sense of stability with being a home owner in Cancun.
So that was it, the decision was made and we planned to start to try to get pregnant right after my final competition, The 2019 Fitness Olympia in September 2019. After years of health setbacks to be "stage lean" in 2017 I decided to self-coach as I knew my body better than anyone else and would not allow myself to endure any further unhealthy relationship with food due to over-restriction, hormone imbalance, injury and burn-out from over-training. I made my self-care and my health the most important focus of my competition preparations. After the Olympia I knew my body was extremely healthy and my hormones were perfectly balanced which set the tone for a positive pregnancy.
We had pro-actively frozen embryos in 2017 and 2018 in case we had to try IVF if we had any issues getting pregnant. So after the Olympia come-down and the travel and events I had for work it was October and we decided we were ready to start to try to make this little super human.
We did not want to waste any time so we went back to the Fertility Center in Cancun and met with the Fertility Specialist. He helped us put together a clear strategy for our family goals and our "Making a Baby" plan of action was brought to life! We decided that we would try naturally with his support for 3 months before going to IVF as a last resort. He and his team guided us through the entire process — there was absolutely no guess work.
He requested several pre-screening tests to check my eggs, uterus and ovaries and prescribed labs for both of our hormones, some vitamin and mineral levels as well as Marcelo's swimmers. These pre-screening tests really are vital as you want to make sure you are BOTH in optimal health to conceive before you invest all the energy over what may be many months to then find out one of you had a problem that could have been easily resolved. Knowledge is power!
We passed all tests and he approved us for the next step where he used a very low dose medication to gently stimulate my ovulation and he then monitored me very closely by ultrasound. My body responded extremely well to this and he was happy with how things were looking. He made sure we just had a good single follicle and did not have any doubles or triples with the frequent ultrasounds and then he triggered my ovulation with a hormone injection when I was ready.
We Are Pregnant!
I missed my period and my hCG levels were spiked when I had the lab test. I WAS FREAKING OUT! Right in our SUV in the parking lot of the Fertility Clinic! Marcelo was calm, cool and collected (as he always is) and asked me "What?! But wait. This is what YOU wanted! Remember?!" I replied "YES you are so right but I thought it would take us longer than this and we are not ready!"
The truth was we both did not think it was going to happen so quickly and we were initially both really mentally shocked! BUT it did not take long to realize that this was a TOTAL AND COMPLETE MIRACLE AND BLESSING. With so many couples struggling to have babies and we have this little miracle of life actually growing inside of me and it happened immediately was something to be cherished, honored, thankful for and celebrated!
Fast Forward 15 Weeks Later:
It is February 9th and we are just about at the 4 month mark! We are into our second trimester and we have had all the genetic lab testing and the Fetal Specialist physical testing done. We were super relieved that our baby is perfectly healthy at this time.
Body, Sleep, Nutrition and Training Update:
I have been super fortunate to have had no morning sickness or nausea. I am eating like a beast! As a Nutritionist and Health Coach that is so strongly focused on HEALTH over CALORIES it has been so exciting to view food as nutrients for my baby and I. I am eating intuitively and am listening to my body. It has taken me years to get here but this is one of the most exciting aspects of my pregnancy as I know that my self-care and nourishing my body for my entire life has contributed to my quick pregnancy.
I am not worried about weight gain as I have all the tools and knowledge to get back into great shape after my baby is born. The only thing I just cannot stomach is cooked veggies! Cooked Broccoli = GAG. So I have been juicing daily and using powdered greens and superfoods in my protein pancakes instead. I have been loving good fats and salty foods — bring on the guacamole and salsa!
Let me also hit on caffeine. I know now first hand that the withdrawal from caffeine is REAL! For the first 2-3 months of my pregnancy I felt like I had been hit by a truck for the first hour of the day. Before I got pregnant I was taking between 500-800mg of caffeine or other stimulants per day. Chronic abuse of caffeine is not healthy and can cause your adrenal glands to fatigue. I am thankful the worst is over now.
My training has been approved by my Doctor and I have been staying consistent with a 60-75 minute sweat, 5-6 days per week. I have noticed that my heart rate jumps up super high as soon as I start training so I have changed up my workouts to focus more on circuit training mixing strength training with functional training. I am modifying exercises almost weekly now. Exercise is my happy time and I plan to keep my workouts going throughout my entire pregnancy.
The Future is Bright:
I have never been happier in my life and I have also never felt so much gratitude FOR my life. I am waking up each day feeling peaceful and thankful; I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be; and that is just powerful and simply magical.
I want to thank you all for taking the time to be here and read my pregnancy story. If you are trying to get pregnant, considering getting pregnant, you have been struggling to get pregnant or you are feeling pressured to get pregnant because of that maternal clock ticking I truly hope my story has inspired you in some way.
Nature has produced many wondrous things but few are more amazing and fascinating than the human body. Nourish your body, love your body and respect your body as you only have one of them. Nothing is more sacred than life.
Until next month,
Love and lunges from me and the bump,
Ryall
