Empowering Pregnancy Fitness: Insights & Tips from Kim Lecuyer | 101

So I'm super excited. But first I want to read one of the reviews that we got on the podcast. And then I have a little bit of a challenge for you guys. So this is from joy writer 77 and she said so much insight as a labor and delivery nurse myself. I think I've learned the most. from other nurses and Trish makes it so easy to understand. 


Reviews on the podcast. So here's what I want you to do. Hit subscribe, leave a review, and then shoot us an email at info at labor nurse mama. com. You can find it in the show notes and say your name and that you left a review so we can add you to the drawing. Then we have a really fun prize for you at the end of the month. 


Okay, you guys, let's listen in as I chat with Kim. 


So welcome Kim. Can you tell everyone just a little bit about yourself? 


kim: Yes. Hi, I'm Kim. I'm currently pregnant with baby number four. I have three girls. And this is a boy, so we'll see, I don't know. This pregnancy has also been very different in many ways. But, yeah, so I was always into fitness, after college. 


So I had to learn how to modify my workouts and then by my second pregnancy, I became pre and postnatal certified and I was able to help other women who were in the same boat. Like we wanted fun, you want to feel sweaty when you're working out. The prenatal workouts weren't doing it for me. 


So I, I just, I made my own. And then from there I had my third pregnancy and was managed to stay fit, which doesn't mean I'm like. Working out every single day. I'm not doing an hour at the gym. I'm not running 5Ks. That's not, we're working out for 20 minutes max. You have 


trish: three other kids. 


kim: Yeah. Yeah. We don't have time for that. And I look back at my old routine, what I used to do. And I'm like, wow, I really had nothing else to do. Apparently like I could spend 90 minutes at the gym. That's crazy. That's 


kim: Yeah. Yeah. So we don't have time and I love like connecting with other pregnant women and also being able to support them during this really special time. 


trish: So I have a question because you said. You like getting sweaty and I'm thinking, I don't like getting sweaty. 


kim: I know. Right now I'm sitting here. I'm actually sweating cause I'm hot, but yes, I know. So it depends on the day. Cause a lot of days with this pregnancy have been rough. Like I don't want to do it. 


I literally want to lay down. That's all I can give you, but I know how much better I feel. after a workout. And I know the benefit that how it's going to help me, like it's going to help relieve that back pain that's keeping me in bed. It's going to help my nausea. It's going to boost my energy. It's going to prepare my body for labor. 


trish: Okay. So are you a paper scheduled checkoff or an app? Are you a note on your phone? 


Are you a paper? Cause I was about to say I really think you can tell a lot about people if they use a paper checklist. Cause I have a paper checklist too. 


kim: I do. But in my app. Like it shows you the workouts for each week of your pregnancy and you get a little blue check when you're done and it feels so good to see those too. 


So I do both. I do 


kim: Yeah, it can help with energy, the nausea. And that's another reason I keep the workout short is because I know if I can get myself to just Press play on a 10 minute workout. It's easier for me to do versus seeing like a 45 minute where I'm like, I can't convince myself to do that. So that's another reason why I keep them short and. 


And I'm doing these, the workouts, I actually just filmed a whole nother round of workouts this pregnancy because feeling crappy was actually really motivating to me. I was like, I have to work out feeling like this so that when she's watching and she's following along, she knows, like I am wearing my nausea wrist bands, my acupressure bands in the workout videos because I'm that nauseous, but just being able to do I have. 


So I really don't want you to push past if you are vomiting and it's I can't get out of bed. Don't like you need to rest your body working really hard. And I think we forget that, there's so much going on that you can't see. And just to give yourself grace and not expect to do, six, five, six workouts a week. 


That's just not always attainable. 


kim: I mean I make the I just like workouts to be adjustable for you because I remember back to my first pregnancy that I was talking about where I was trying to do, Box jumps in my third trimester because I could and there are those fit girls out there that can do that And I look at them now wow How are you doing? 


Because I can't. So it really is tailored to what's going to work best for you. And with any workout I love this. I love like getting creative. I'm like, okay, how can I take this move and make it pregnancy friendly? Or how can I scale this back? How can I advance it? Cause it's, I'm really not feeling it. 


And I put a sportswear on that's as much as I'm going to get done today. So do you 


trish: clarify that for them? Okay, here's how you can make this. Modify this to be easier or here's what you can do to intensify. Yes. Okay. Yep. That's good. And so curiously, when you started your pursuit of this, were you pregnant with baby number one or was it after you delivered? 


trish: It was a different vibe back then. 


It's in every product. It's yeah. So it was very different. I had my own little fitness community prior to being pregnant. So that's how it started. But then obviously pregnancy threw a wrench into the whole fitness thing. And I had to figure it out again. 


Minimal, and now she's gone so big, it's so funny, but I love that opportunity because that gives and especially you being pregnant, doing this I'm sure that just gives even more relatability to these moms, like you said, you're wearing your nausea bands, you've you were actually, have the belly. 


So if you're showing how to accommodate, like you're having to move around the belly and you're having to do this with no energy or feeling like poop or all the things that come with pregnancy. So I think that makes it just so relatable and you're showing up authentically, 


kim: I'm trying, but at the same time or on the flip side of that. 


We're on the same team. It's not like me versus you or Let's compare and contrast. No, we're equal and we're fighting our own battles, but we're going to do it together. 


So she thought she needed to work her body out more. She did kickboxing. She was in full blown labor. She had CHI within a few minutes of getting to the hospital because she thought that it was just her body needed more workouts. I was like, that would never cross my mind. Ever. Ever. That would not be a confusing thought in my brain because I am not that girl. 


I don't relate to that at all. Anyway, that's a side note. Yeah. So 


kim: be authentic to your own pregnancy. Own the aches and pains and say yeah, this has not been easy, but That's something I've had to remind myself of too because I feel bigger this pregnancy. I feel like I went right from my first trimester to my third. 


Wait, like this is going to be such a cool transformation. And I'm like, how can I be confident in my body right now? Like just taking little moments. And twisting them into like, how, no I'm going to own this. Yeah, I'm my biggest this is probably my last pregnancy. So I'm trying to remind myself of that and how special this time really is. 


It just goes by so fast, 


No. And everyone is different. Every pregnancy is different, but each person experiences it differently. 


trish: But the one thing that's very common is the crap things that people say to pregnant women. Do they not think? 


kim: You know what it is? There is some Maybe it's a hormone that pregnant women release, but people think they can just say whatever. 


trish: gained or share horror stories to someone like I, so part of my birth classes, we have weekly hangouts, pregnancy coaching, whatever you want to call it. 


I have a team of doulas and I, and we meet with the students every Wednesday and I honestly, and I've said this to them so many times, there's no other Experience that you walk through in life where people want to scare you or it's more like trauma. Yeah. It's 


kim: weird. Yeah. Something that was like so traumatic and they almost do it to be helpful cause they're like this happened to me just so you're aware, but sometimes it's just the opposite of helpful. 


And so 


And they were coerced into things that didn't need to happen, but that's a whole nother thing. But what I tell my girls, and for those of you guys listening, what I tell them to do is that when, Susie at Publix is telling you the absolute worst thing that ever happened as soon as, because you know when it's about to happen. 


And then when I come back, let's share each other's birth stories. How about that? And it. It put because it can really affect you because you don't know all the decisions that was made leading up to that traumatic experience. You don't know. Maybe she was induced too early. 


Or maybe she laid on her back with her feet in stirrups to push. Or, blah, blah, blah, blah. Or maybe she was convinced her baby was too big and she went into the hospital and then laid on her back, which is not good. You just don't know enough details. And I just prefer saying, Hey! 


I really want to hear your story and I value it, but I've made a decision that I'm not going to listen to birth stories until after I have the baby. And then whatever comes out of their mouths, so what? That's all right, 


So you, that you can have that experience and it's a hundred percent true and yes, those things happen, but that doesn't have to be my story. Like I'm going to have a different birth, I'm going to have a different. Yeah, 


trish: everything. And I love that you say that because it can also be, my first birth is not this birth. 


And what happened to be in my first birth is not a part of this birth and I'm not claiming it. Or if every woman in my family had a c section. I'm not that person. That's not me. I'm not claiming their births as mine. And 


kim: I always say, I said that something similar, like every birth and every pregnancy is so different. 


It's just 


trish: there's no way. And the path has been paved. 


kim: Yes, I had three completely different births. Yeah. Completely. 


trish: No, yeah, me too. I've had six completely different births and it's really and six very individually completely different children. You can't even parent the same because what works on baby number one will not work on the baby and what works on baby number two would never have worked on baby number one. 


So if you think that you got parenting under control. Trust me, it switches up with each personality. 


kim: It's 


Yeah. 


kim: As long, I will say that for some reason, this pregnancy bending over and also wearing anything that like was tight around my, like any sort of compression triggered my nausea. So if there are things when you're feeling nauseous, You want to avoid them like I'm not gonna put on my leggings because I know it's gonna make me feel nauseous So let me get us a new pair of shorts or something like really stretchy to put on. 


And my bet, my best tip is to, find something that you like and you look forward to. And I know sometimes this isn't what you want to hear, but. Doing a workout because you know the benefits of it and then really focusing on labor prep is something I've been doing my last two pregnancies is now I know what it took. 


I know the endurance that I needed, not only physically, but mentally. So I'm, during longer intervals, I'm thinking about contractions and how, they can go 90 seconds. I thought it was 60. No, they can be longer. How are you preparing your body to and mind to be able to breathe through that? 


I don't want to have to go to pelvic floor rehab for six to 12 weeks after. I probably still will just as 


trish: a, Oh, I think all women should. 


kim: Yes. But I want it to be like a smooth transition into postpartum. Like I've had all of it. I feel like, so now I'm like, okay what do I want and how am I going to prepare my body for? 


the scenarios that we're looking at here? 


trish: No, I love that so much. And that just goes back to one of the things. I tell my girls I can give you all the knowledge. Knowledge is power. However. It is not power if it's not applied. So like you said, you know that you need to be doing these pelvic floor things and these breathing techniques and all of us when we're pregnant should be we call it just do movements. 


'cause you said there's things you know you need to do a little differently. 


kim: Yeah, so with my first, it was definitely the hardest because it was, over 30 32 hours of labor. I had two failed epidurals, which I was not mentally prepared for. I thought Oh, if I asked for epidural, that'll solve the problem. 


I didn't know. There could potentially be like no end to the problem. 


trish: So I have a whole lesson on this in my course because people think, people do not realize that there is a slew of reasons why you may not be able to get one or it doesn't work and you have to have a backup. 


kim: Yeah. So I, like the backup was just like, keep going, like you can't turn back now. 


trish: convenience and Nothing out of convenience or curiosity. 


kim: I feel, yeah, so I, my doctor performed an episiotomy without telling me, asking me, notifying me what was going on. And listen, I only was pushing for five minutes. So I feel like he was just like, I want to get out of here, 


trish: snip. 


I'm sure you're probably 


kim: right. Listen, I have trauma from it, but I don't tell other radio women this normally, but it's something like, I didn't know, I wasn't aware of, I just, I thought the doctors knew what was best for you and I really truly feel like he did not I, I could have gone without that. 


that your provider knows more and will choose what's best for you. And the truth of the matter is, and I know some incredible providers, but all of us as human beings. We are semi selfish and we're semi self focused and in the moments, at times, we make decisions that are better for us. And what I've seen over the course of my career and why I sat in my car crying and decided I'm going to do something different, these women need to know these things, is that because I've seen that, Kim, so many times. 


The head comes down, it stretches some, stretches a little more, and it naturally accommodates for the baby that your body made. And to just snip your vagina because he's in a hurry or out of convenience for himself is absolutely. Mind boggling, and I don't think there's any other area of healthcare that would be acceptable. 


I'm off my soapbox now, but that just fires me up, and 


trish: Yeah. 


It happens a lot. Yeah 


kim: I've heard more moms talk about their births and use the word trauma, and I'm like, that, yes, I want to I want to hear I want you to be able to share your story, but also, like, why are we all having such traumatic births? I think it's just, there's, lack of preparation a lot of the times, like the lack of knowledge. 


trish: And by doing that, by not preparing, by not having that The knowledge and being scared to speak up because it can be scary. We're giving right. And 


kim: you think you need to trust this person 


trish: and we're giving the power to them and the truth of the matter. 


And this is an, this is a question I ask in a lot of my workshops. Like when we're talking, I'm like, okay, when we think about a birth, especially in a hospital, but anywhere, like what is the most important thing in the room? And what is the only thing needed in the room for the birth to happen? And it's you, it's the mom. 


kim: No one cares about the mom. It's all about just get the baby out. 


And if we're not listening to her, what the hell are we up to? It's wrong. Because I tell my girls all the time I'm not going to come in the bathroom when you're trying to poop. If you're constipated and try to tell you how to do it. I'm going to leave you to your business, and if I see you're, like, having an issue that needs medical attention, I'm going to jump in and give it to you, but I'm not going to sit there and try to coach you on how to poop. 


And we're talking about pushing a baby out, and if women were empowered to trust themselves, to trust their body, and then taught how to move their body, how to prepare their body, and how to accept interventions when it's 100 percent acceptable. We would have a much different birth culture. Yes, 


kim: I agree. 


So I definitely learned a lot after the first time. I 


trish: told you would get off on a tangent. Did I not? 


I think like at least like you can, you listen to music, you're just jogging along, you can slow down, stop and get water. But yeah, so I feel like I was like, okay, endurance. We got that for next time. And then also Oh, I got to figure out like, Okay. I don't have no episiotomy. Like we are not doing that again. 


So my second birth was very like textbook. I did get an epidural and it worked. It worked. 


trish: Much different experience than not working. Yeah. So 


I want to do it. I don't really know, like the whole time you had mentioned this to like going not having a plan or use the word like winging it. Winging it. That was like my first. I was like, I'm just going to see how I feel because I think a lot of first time moms have that problem where they're like, I don't know if I want an epidural. 


I don't know if I want a pain, like a natural birth. Like I don't know what I want. I don't know what it's going to be like. So I went into it like, I'm just going to go feel it out as I go. But I really didn't have a lot of time to feel it out. I could just feel. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So there was no planning after that point after it started. 


trish: who's in a hazmat suit, not wanting to come near you. 


kim: So I was like, I looked into home birth. It was a little too late to do that. And I was only like 18, 20 weeks and like when COVID hit. So I was like, I need to prepare as if. I'm going to be alone. And I did. I was taking birth courses. I was reading Ina May's guided childbirth. I was doing my perennial stretches with the little stick thing. 


If you're walking the dog every morning, maybe you're going to do 20 lunges, 20 squats, and you could stack a workout onto that. So I was stacking on meditation, which helped with that endurance component. But with my third birth. I'm still not sure to this day if I progressed really quickly because there was a student nurse who checked me to see how far along dilated I was. 


And she's you're maybe two centimeters. And I was like, for sure, I am five plus centimeters that like I am in active labor, but she told me to, I don't know if she was right. And I just progress really fast, or if she was way off. But I ended up using the Freya birth app for the birth company. So it's like a cool app that tracks your contractions. 


trish: and we're actually working on something similar for our course for our students. Yeah. 


kim: Oh my gosh. That would be so cool. 


I'll test it out for you. I 


trish: have started. Have you seen this little guy? It's called the core. Oh my gosh. I really think this is a great labor tool. Send me the link to that. . I'll, I got it. I saw it on Instagram. I got loop listed. Oh, Instagram ads. Yeah. It wasn't an ad, it was someone that I really respect and it basically, it's, so for those of you guys listening, it's this little ball thing and it looks like a, like an Alexa kind of. 


So that is so cool. I want that I, so I got it for myself, but also my little guy who I homeschool. And he has a hard time focusing. So I've been having him do five minutes with it, and it's really amazing. It's called The Core. Anyway, yeah. 


kim: So this student nurse was in the room with my husband and I. 


I was standing at the bed and I actually had asked for an epidural because I thought I'm only two centimeters. There's no way I can't do this. I thought I could. Yeah. She shot my dream down real fast. So get that epidural ordered. I know how long this stuff takes. But before it came, I got to the point which, listen, I had read about this stuff. 


Nothing 


trish: like the reflexes our bodies have when they're left to their own. 


kim: Yes. And so there's no doctor, no nurse. The student had to pull the emergency cord. 


trish: Oh my God, that student probably went to the bathroom and vomited after all that. She, 


kim: but she had two kids of her own. So she's been in a like delivery. 


Did she catch 


trish: the baby? And did she have gloves? Was she like prepared? 


So it was just one push. My husband was on my right. She was on my left and they caught her very slippery. My husband, like it was. an experience 


trish: for him too. I'm picturing, I want to say it's like an Indian goddess statue, the one where she's got like her arms or legs out and there's just a baby's head. 


That's what I'm picturing. 


kim: That was me actually, that picture of me. 


trish: It's so funny. I love pictures like that. So I wish you had it. No, I wish I had a video of yours that's so intriguing. 


kim: I was more like leaning on the bed, so I was hunched over a little bit. Not statue. 


trish: Wow. Yeah. I wasn't really picturing you like that. I was just picturing that. 


kim: Even if you could do 


trish: That would be impressive at that point with a human head coming out of you. Yeah. 


Oh, I love it. I don't know if I'm going to use it this time because like I said, I wanted to be standing. 


trish: Yeah. You, but you could do, you could stand in the tub, just have your partner stand on the outside or in there with you. You could totally stand in the tub and do it too. The only problem for myself when I've gotten into the tub in my own births, which I almost had a water birth in the hospital back when it was semi allowed and I got to transition. 


kim: worried about I don't want to be like wet in in a tub. I don't know, I just, we'll see. 


I've heard it's amazing. Oh. And I'd rather have it and not need 


trish: it than. Yeah. No, I think that's a wise, I think that's a wise decision because what you're telling yourself about it might not actually be true for you. And trying it out, you might be like, Oh wow, this is definitely better than I thought. 


Because water births, like it's an amazing way to really decrease the pain. Okay. 


kim: We're going to give it, we're going to give it a 


trish: go. Yeah. I love them. And like you're completely clean when you get out. You're done. Clean. After the birth. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So clean, but it's funny, like we've had, I've had some really funny podcasts about water birds, but we won't go there right now. 


We'll talk later. 


kim: Okay. Yeah. I'll listen. 


Like your muscles are hurting, hydrotherapy, it works. Anyway, we've got, I told you we would get off on tangents. This is what happens around here. Yeah. That's how it goes. It's okay. So I love it. So tell me about what are some of the things that you offer moms as far as I, you said app. Do you have a pregnancy, a fitness app? 


Whether you're new to exercise or You're a gym girl and you're like, okay what do I do now? What do I do about crunches or planks? I know I can't do them, but what do I do instead? If you have questions like that, I'm going to break down the modifications for each trimester, what to look out for, and just a little like core 101, what to expect, because that is the area most affected by pregnancy, right? 


Here's our core. It's our belly, those muscles right there. that are holding baby in. So I have 


trish: that in there. And need to navigate baby out are the same ones. Yeah. They're so important. Yeah. Oh, I love that. And then 


kim: I also, I have a full program for postpartum moms as well when you're starting exercise back up because that's another thing that was like a whole new world. 


It feels like a whole new body sometimes. And then also you're nursing a newborn. You don't want to mess with your breast milk supply. You're trying to like, how am I going to fit in a workout? I can barely fit in between diaper changes and feeding. I can hardly shower. So navigating that as well. Again, with the shorter workouts that you can do. 


Right with the baby next to you or holding the baby. So we got that covered 


trish: as well. Oh, I love that. That's in my baby program. Yes. So we'll definitely, if you can send that to me, we'll definitely link to it in the show notes. And can you tell everyone where they can 


kim: find you? Yes. I'm on Instagram and TikTok, but mostly Instagram at Kim Perry Co. 


So Kim Perry, 


I hope you enjoyed this episode with Kim Perry and talking about simple ways that you can stay fit during your pregnancy and just remember, give yourself grace. You don't have to do all the things. But it's really important to take care of that beautiful, powerful body of yours. So as always, hit subscribe, leave a review, and tell me how much you loved this episode, even though we went off on a few tangents. 


Such a powerful episode and I'm so glad I had Kim on. I will see you guys again next Friday. Bye for now.