C-sit ups and the Tales of a Tortured Tailbone!
Yes this is a story about Fitness, but its also about my poor tortured tailbone and that it has never been quite the same! As I began my journey with the 21 Day Fix, I initially
did not like the Pilates workout. Which struck me as odd considering I have always
loved Pilates and yoga. Some of the positions and exercises in the 21 Day Fix program were different to
me, and I absolutely despised the C-sit ups! About mid-way through the 30-minute workout
is a C-series of these C-sit ups. Basically it requires sitting down and contracting
forward and back to work the abdominals, and there are alternatives to work different abdominal muscles. I did not like this exercise at all! The pressure on my tail bone was terrible!! I thought I can't do this, and was so bummed because I thought I would now always dread doing the Pilates workout throughtout the program.
Its not that I am bony, and have no cushion to support my tail bone, no it goes beyond that! It goes back 3 years ago when I was in excruciatingly painful labor with my first child. I was induced into labor in the wee hours of the morning, like 3:30am morning! The oxytocin was getting those contractions in gear. I don’t have a high pain tolerance, so I was like bring on the drugs! I had a contraction right as the anesthesiologist was administering the epidural. They told me the epidural would be kicking in soon and to hold tight. I held tight…I held tighter….I whined…..I screamed….the epidural clearly had not worked. So they came in and tried to pump me with more drugs in order to ease the pain, but at that time I was starting to dilate to the “Push Point”. There I was scared, painful, pushing, and wondering why the heck the nurses had these concerned looks on their faces. I kept pushing and pushing to no prevail. My doctor comes in….pokes around to investigate the situation. There was a bit of problem.
My baby was essentially stuck in the birth canal, although he was doing fine, he would not be born without “intervention”. Ok, so what’s the problem doc? The
problem is “you have the most protruding tail bone that I think I have ever
observed”……what!?! I have a freaking tail that is preventing my baby from being
born! That is what was reeling through my mind. So the doctor says that I must
make the decision to have a c-section, or he could fracture the tail bone so
that he can loosen it and move it out the way so the baby could slide on
through..........deep breath....... Ok, so let me paint the picture of this scenario: First child birth,
painful labor, crying in pain, epidural fail, completely exhausted, concerned
doctor, discovery of vestigial tail, and now while doped up on pain medication the
doctor asks me if I would prefer a surgery I was not prepared for or he could
break my tail bone in two so that my child can be born???
He pats my shoulder and kindly says “I will give you a few minutes to think about it” and leaves the room! Now don’t get me wrong I really do like my doctor a great deal, and appreciated his care throughout the pregnancy, but at that moment I wanted to throw all monitoring equipment at him, have him hand cuffed and arrested, have his license revoked to practice medicine, and finally punch his face! So I looked at my husband with tear-streaked, wild-wide eyes, dilated pupils and a grimace of confusion “What do I do!?!”. Well, thank God for nurses. They deserve a special place in heaven! The two sweet and comforting nurses explained to me that a c-section would be fine with a bit longer recovery time than I had planned, but honestly having the tail bone broken would likely only entail that I push one or two more times and the baby would come on through easily. So I said the quickest prayer in order to get some type of confirmation from God, and in my blurry confusion and disarray chose the tail bone fracture approach. They wheeled me to the OR and prepped for surgery just in case a c-section would be needed. After that things were quite foggy, and I don’t remember details. Although I do recall seeing orthopedic instruments that resembled a hammer and chisel set and the doctor pounding down to fracture my tail. One more push, and just like that a baby was born! My next thought was “Wow, there really was a baby in there!”. Like most first time mothers, I was overwhelmed with emotion! And then had to sit on a donut for the next 4 weeks. So I was not only recovering from child birth, but also with a fractured tail bone to heal.
So what in the heck does all that have to do with pilates
C-cit ups!?! Well, to this day if I sit on a hard surface or put pressure on my
tail bone, it still is very bothersome, really almost painful! The fact that
when I started the program, I could not get through that exercise series
because it hurt my tail bone so bad. But (there is a butt:)) with time and gaining a stronger core
throughout the program. I now can use the strength in my abdominal muscles that
strengthens my ability to pulls up and put less pressure on my tail bone. I
have truly felt a difference from feeling like dead weight (pressure on tail
bone) to feeling so much stronger in my core. This helps me to hold my body weight up! I couldn’t
get over the difference in 3 weeks. Now I can do that set of exercises much more comfortably as well
as other more advanced C-sit up exercises in the 21 Day Fix Extreme which utilizes a resistance band.
So is this a blog post to promote a fitness program? Yes….and no. While I do love the 21 Day Fix and think its
an amazing and effective program. This is also about pushing yourself to get
through those exercises or any fitness program/training you are undertaking that.....hurt! Keep going at it, stay
consistent, and you will get stronger. They will become easier, and you will
master them and only continue to get and feel better. Its not a magic bullet
approach or instant gratification deal here. It takes doing it everyday. Even
if you can only do 10 or 20 minutes. Every little bit helps! I did not have a great and mind-blowing weight loss transformation with these fitness programs, but for me it has been more a transformation about feeling better physically, mentally, emotionally, and
feeling stronger! My tail bone is thanking me too!
Its not that I am bony, and have no cushion to support my tail bone, no it goes beyond that! It goes back 3 years ago when I was in excruciatingly painful labor with my first child. I was induced into labor in the wee hours of the morning, like 3:30am morning! The oxytocin was getting those contractions in gear. I don’t have a high pain tolerance, so I was like bring on the drugs! I had a contraction right as the anesthesiologist was administering the epidural. They told me the epidural would be kicking in soon and to hold tight. I held tight…I held tighter….I whined…..I screamed….the epidural clearly had not worked. So they came in and tried to pump me with more drugs in order to ease the pain, but at that time I was starting to dilate to the “Push Point”. There I was scared, painful, pushing, and wondering why the heck the nurses had these concerned looks on their faces. I kept pushing and pushing to no prevail. My doctor comes in….pokes around to investigate the situation. There was a bit of problem.
He pats my shoulder and kindly says “I will give you a few minutes to think about it” and leaves the room! Now don’t get me wrong I really do like my doctor a great deal, and appreciated his care throughout the pregnancy, but at that moment I wanted to throw all monitoring equipment at him, have him hand cuffed and arrested, have his license revoked to practice medicine, and finally punch his face! So I looked at my husband with tear-streaked, wild-wide eyes, dilated pupils and a grimace of confusion “What do I do!?!”. Well, thank God for nurses. They deserve a special place in heaven! The two sweet and comforting nurses explained to me that a c-section would be fine with a bit longer recovery time than I had planned, but honestly having the tail bone broken would likely only entail that I push one or two more times and the baby would come on through easily. So I said the quickest prayer in order to get some type of confirmation from God, and in my blurry confusion and disarray chose the tail bone fracture approach. They wheeled me to the OR and prepped for surgery just in case a c-section would be needed. After that things were quite foggy, and I don’t remember details. Although I do recall seeing orthopedic instruments that resembled a hammer and chisel set and the doctor pounding down to fracture my tail. One more push, and just like that a baby was born! My next thought was “Wow, there really was a baby in there!”. Like most first time mothers, I was overwhelmed with emotion! And then had to sit on a donut for the next 4 weeks. So I was not only recovering from child birth, but also with a fractured tail bone to heal.
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