Tinkle Tinkle Little Star

I didn't realize it until I was told to do jumping jacks.  I was back at the gym exactly 3 months postpartum.  I was motivated to drop the baby weight and start feeling like my old self again.  That first week was hard, I was tired from lack of sleep and feeling the effects of having extra weight on my body to lose.  But nothing was quite as hard as when I was told to do jumping jacks as a warm-up in one of my classes.  I literally could not do them.  Well, I could technically do them, but I would risk peeing all over myself. 

I'm not sure if this happened after Blake was born.  If it did, I clearly blocked it from my memory.  This time around, I started noticing that simple things like jumping jacks, laughing, or even sneezing could set it off. 

I know you are thinking, "She should do her kegel exercises!"  And yes, that is definitely top of mind when I am not chasing around a toddler, nursing a baby, or changing the 10-12+ cumulative diapers/day.  Just kidding, actually, its not top of mind at all.

The past few weeks I've told the gym instructor that I just had a baby (and neglect to say it was actually 6 months ago).  I also devised this amazing way to do jumping jacks without really jumping.  Its a beautiful thing and I'm pretty sure I look like an idiot doing it.

Sometimes I do the jumping jacks just to avoid standing out in the crowd.  I end up peeing a little, but it actually feels like a lot.  And I literally bend over in front of my friend to confirm if you can see it through my gym pants (which you never can).  Its never quite as much as I envision it being. 

I thought I would be brutally honest in this post because no one ever talks about this.  Before kids, I would ask other moms for advice and, believe it or not, this aspect of postpartum recovery was never mentioned.  Things that were always mentioned were how tired you will be, sleep when the baby sleeps, if someone offers to help you take it, it takes a village etc etc.  It would have been nice if someone just once said, after you have kids, you will no longer be able to laugh, sneeze, or jump without peeing a little.  If I had known this little tidbit, maybe I would have started doing kegels in my 20s.

Am I alone, or has this happened to anyone else? I swear, this is the biggest kept postpartum secret.