Hello internet! I’m Jess (“Iiiiit’s Jess!”), I’m a 37-year-old mom to two young boys and a scruffy mutt named Moose. My husband, Patrick, and I are longtime members of Renew, and when we’re not at the gym we’re removing dirt and dust from every person, place, or thing in our house because two small boys and also we are slowly and lovingly renovating our 1960s northwest Austin home (send help)(and contractors).
When I’m not parenting or working out or googling how to repair drywall, my day job is a NICU nurse at St. David’s Medical Center in downtown Austin. And as of this summer, my OTHER job is one of the Prenatal and Postpartum Trainers through the Rebuild program at Renew!
As a NICU nurse, I get to work really closely with moms in the throes of the immediate postpartum period, when hormones are in the middle of a tsunami-level shift. And in the middle of that ocean of new hormones, they have to watch their brand new babies get taken care of by strangers in an ICU. It is devastating on every level. AND YET, these women show a strength and resilience that often goes overlooked but is dazzling to behold. They pick themselves up (often literally) to work with us, to pump milk for their babies who can’t yet eat, to show up for every moment they can. All while their bodies are trying to heal from the insanity of pregnancy and birth. They are incredible.
Working with postpartum moms and having kids myself have led me to greatly appreciate the word “matrescence,” which is wildly under-utilized. This is the process of becoming a mother, and encompasses the physical, psychological, and emotional changes that a woman goes through. While I don’t want to overemphasize the role of mother as all-important for women, I do want to acknowledge that motherhood literally changes your brain and body in ways modern science still doesn’t fully understand. This is a huge transition, and often the focus is put on the woman’s identity as mother instead of focusing on all the ways that shift is affecting how her brain and body function, and how she’s dealing with all that. A LOT gets swept under the giant vague rug of “hormonal shifts,” and we just expect those momma bear instincts to kick in so that she can be everything she was before, PLUS a great new mom who “bounces back” quickly after birth. It’s wild. Stupid and wild.
I have this vivid memory of getting a massage a few months postpartum, and having this insane rush of emotions as I thought over and over, “My body is no longer my own.” I had a newborn who was breastfeeding and stealing my nutrition, time, and sleep, and a toddler who desperately needed reassurance that he was still loved while my attention was on the new baby. It felt like I was just a formless ball of desperate emotions, floating in space between the various other humans who needed me.
Enter: Rebuild.
After my second kiddo was born in 2022, I was able to do the Rebuild program with Coach Sadie at Renew, and it was my lifeline in so many ways. Those 90 minute sessions twice a week were such a blessing to me. Each session was a chance to re-ground in my body as we focused on connecting my breath to movement, getting my muscles to work with and around my newly-rearranged tissues, and reestablishing brain-muscle coordination. It felt like I was regaining some control and autonomy, and it just felt so good to be moving, even as I would sweat my ass off with even the gentlest of movements. Pregnancy and birth– even without the slightest complication– wrecks our bodies in ways we might not even recognize for years to come. This program set such a strong foundation for me both physically and mentally as I entered a new stage as an active mother of two. It reintroduced movement after the slow days of postpartum, which allowed my body to recover from the stresses of pregnancy and birth, and “literally” rebuild stronger than ever.
While I’m done having kiddos of my own, I feel very strongly that I’m not done with that particular stage in life. I am thrilled to come alongside Coach Sadie and share in her passion for supporting women in the throes of post-pregnancy/new motherhood*. Matrescence is a process, and Rebuild is a program designed to support you in that process. And while we will focus on the physical recovery from pregnancy, I can say from experience that it will also help you feel more in control and ready to tackle the mental and emotional loads of new motherhood. When we recover well from pregnancy, and rebuild slowly and purposefully, we find so much more stability and strength for the rest of our crazy lives, and I am so excited to support other women in that process.
If you’re interested in the Rebuild program in any capacity (prenatal, postpartum or just to start building strength and capacity before you get pregnant), we’d love to talk! Send Sadie a message at sadie@crossfitrenew.com with any and all questions.
*Please know that if you have experienced pregnancy loss, we are here for you whole-heartedly as well. Our program is designed for anyone who is recovering from the physical ramifications of pregnancy.
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