C-Sit-ups....Tales of the Tailbone

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!

Gratefully, Diana

To Force is Futile: My 3 year old's meltdown in church taught me an important lesson about my family, faith, and fitness!

I learned a tough, but critical lesson this past Sunday from my 3 year old's meltdown in church.

I have been very behind on keeping up my beloved blog for a couple of reasons. I am busy...we all get busy, but honestly because I kind of had a writer's block and didn't know what to write about. Well, yesterday an age-old lesson that I come face to face with on occasion hit me again...and it hit me hard. Today, I thought, this is what a blog is for! To express lessons learned, things you can teach others, vent frustrations, and most importantly share your growing pains that make you the person that you are in this world.

I have a pretty strong, Christian faith and I am a practicing Catholic. My faith is who I am, and I love the beauty of Catholicism. So naturally, I want to raise my children and family in the faith and church. My husband is not as active as I am in the church, but will go with me to mass on occasion and consistently says prayers with the kids. So this Sunday I was ecstatic when he said he would go, and we would all go as a family! Not easy endeavor with a 2 and 3 year old as you can imagine. We got ourselves and the kids dressed and ready to go, and we were 10 minutes early for church! Our 3 year old, Kaleb, has been going to children's church the last 3 weeks with no problems and enjoying it. He has gone on his own with the kids, no persuading, no issues. Well....

We get to church this Sunday, the kids are doing well, and then they announce for the children to go up to the altar so that they can attend children's church. I guide Kaleb out of the pew and up toward the altar. He said earlier in the car "I don't want to go to children's church", and I kind of blew him off. I thought "he has gone the past 3 weeks with no problems.... he is going to children's church!" In my idealistic mind, I saw him galloping off gleefully to children's church. Me, my husband, and 2-year old daughter, Kora, would stay in the congregation listening prayerfully and peacefully to the readings and homily. Then Kaleb would return with such delight at having attended children's church, proudly show me his worksheet and what he learned about Jesus, and we would finish mass and leave the church smiling, holding hands, and singing "Kumbaya, My Lord"! Right, this is how we all want Sunday mornings to pan out. Let's take a look a look at what really happened...

St.Mark's Catholic church

...I guide Kaleb up toward the altar and he sinks to the floor on the steps of the altar in front of the entire church congregation, cries, and throws a tantrum. I sweep in and scoop him up. Run like a mad woman to the back of church giving the other parishioners a smiling nod and that look like "I know, I know, he is so silly and unpredictable! He really does love children's church" while I look toward my husband whom is blowing smoke from his nostrils like a bull about to face a matador. Kora is singing and totally unaware of what is taking place. To top it off,  the family sitting next to us is comprised of a young mother sitting by herself with 2 kids under the age of 6 (it appeared) and with a baby in tow having no problems as her children are acting like perfect angels. Well after that there was the "point of no return" for Kaleb. He lost it, my angel child threw a Lucifer-like tantrum with drooling, seething, and grinding of teeth. I never saw him throw a temper tantrum quite like that. So I pointedly looked at my husband, and gave him the thumb motion like "let's hit the road". The tension was real! I have never yelled and cried tears of frustration toward my son like I did. It was a rare and miserable moment. However...

We did settle down after the church debacle, after a lengthy stay in time-out, and after many tears shed by Kaleb and myself. I then realized something very profound. This was one of those growing pains and life's lesson that I already knew, but God just had to reinforce the lesson! I CANNOT force people do anything they don't want to do!! I love my Christian faith and I love going to church, but I can't force my husband and children to have the same faith and love for the church. I went in thinking that morning "THIS is what YOU do!". You (as in the universal YOU) get up on Sundays, get dressed, and go to church to thank God for all your blessings for 1 hour...1 hour.. that's it. But what comes easy and naturally to me, doesn't to others. All I can do is share with them my faith and show them how I live my life.

The same rings true with my love for heath and fitness by recently becoming a Beachbody coach. I can not force anyone to love fitness, work out every morning, and drink Shakeology. All I can do is share with you how it has changed my life for the better and has been such an amazing experience. I can do my best to show you how it has made me a stronger, healthier, and happier person. I can support, encourage, and motivate you, but I can't force you. I am not perfect. I don't have the best physique. I do eat sweets and hamburgers. But I feel so much better since getting involved in Beachbody accountability groups. I can't force you guys to join our groups, enjoy Shakeology as much as me, exercise daily, and eat healthy meals all the time. Although, I would love for you to join me and see you reach your goals as well! However like my faith and my attempt to have my family attend mass with me.....I can lead you to the water, but I can't make you drink it. Or is that a horse? Just kidding.

I can't force people to love what I love. I can only be me and show you who I am and how much my family, faith, fitness, and health means to me. I truly start off each day thanking God for my blessings. Honestly this morning, I did not feel like getting up and doing my workouts. I didn't feel like saying my prayers, being grateful, and putting a smile on my face. But I did it, its who I am. I am not giving up on my faith because my family doesn't feel the exact same way about it as I do; I am not giving up on Beachbody and fitness because everybody doesn't love it like I do; I am not giving up on eating a healthy diet and showing my kids how to eat healthy foods because its hard and they don't like it. But I have learned that all I can do is set an example, be a product of the product, try my best to be a product of Christian faith, and be a product of fitness and healthy living. I can show my kids how important my faith is to me and attending mass. I can show them I like to prepare, cook, and make healthy food choices. I can show them that exercise is a priority and that I take the time to do it.

My Health and Fitness Journey

Live your life, count your blessings, and dream BIG dreams, but remember we are all accountable one day....one way or another. Have a blessed day friends!