Fitbump – Mommy Blogger

03/18/2018

My name is Erin McCrea. I’m a Momma, a pet Momma, and a writer. I had my first baby at age 35 in May of 2016. Becoming a mom was the scariest thing I’ve ever done, and I have loved every moment of it. I blog at  http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/, but haven’t done a lot since Anthony arrived. It’s my goal to be a consistent Writing Mom by the time his birthday arrives. I’m shy, caring, weird, bossy, and I try to be happy every day. My baby helps with that.”

I wasn’t sure what to write about in this post. I have so much going on in my Mom Life brain, but I wanted to do one about my positive experience into motherhood. As I was going through ideas in my head, one name kept popping into my brain: Fitbump.

Around my third trimester, I saw a Facebook post about prenatal classes starting up in Saskatoon. I had spent most of my pregnancy (and the years before that) not exercising so I thought this was something I needed to look into. It was something that would help me with childbirth. At that point, the scariest thing in my future was child birth. It’s funny, I didn’t think about motherhood at all because I was so preoccupied with the thought of pushing a human out.

I signed up for classes. This was in 2016, and Amanda, the Fitbump creator, Mom boss, and all around amazing woman had just begun offering classes. My first prenatal classes with Amanda had two other pregnant women in them. Her classes have many more women in them now. She also offers Mom and Baby, Bootcamp, Bootcamp with childcare, and yoga.

We’d exercise and we would talk. Amanda told her story. I loved the feeling of taking one night a week, and doing something for myself that was good for me. I had been scared before I joined because I am not an athletic person. It made me feel great to be able to do the exercises. I loved talking to other women about my fears and excitement about becoming a mother.

Amanda is honest. You hear a lot of good stories before you have a baby. Before Amanda, not one person had said something negative about breastfeeding. Nobody tells you how hard it can be. She did, and I will forever be thankful that she did.

Motherhood is lonely. I’ve said it before, and I’ll continue saying it. It’s tough as hell, but so worth it. Fitbump is an amazing place where you can go, and feel less lonely.

My claim to fame is that Anthony was the very first Fitbump baby boy. The next day the first Fitbump baby girl was born. I’m happy to say because of Fitbump, Anthony and this baby girl had swim dates and play dates in the year that followed, and I had my very first Mom friend.

I went back to Fitbump after I was cleared to exercise to join the Mom and Baby classes, and I now try to take Bootcamp classes when I can.

Here are a few things I’ve embraced and learned from Amanda and Fitbump.

You can’t GET BACK your body. You’ve always had it. Your body is yours. Respect it. Love it. You grew a human life in that body. It’s worth everything!

Mommy judging is the worst. Fitbump is a judge free zone, and it’s amazing.

You are allowed to complain. Complain about your baby. Complain about your partner. Complain about your bad day. Motherhood isn’t always easy, and at Fitbump the moms know this, and feel safe to say that they aren’t having a perfect time.

Celebrating what others accomplish is an amazing feeling. Fitbump has a tribe of absolutely amazing women. They’re all different. They’re all wonderful. They are all supportive.

Saskatoon offers a variety of programs offered to moms. This has changed a lot in the past five years from what I can tell. I’m glad people are finding their mom tribes.

I’m glad I found mine. I honestly cannot even imagine my life as a mom if I did not start going to Fitbump. I have mom friends, and I’m so happy I do, but Fitbump is the place I can go and say, “My son is being a HORRIBLE person today,” and NOT have to feel bad about not loving every second. It doesn’t matter if it’s moms I’ve never met in the class. They get it.

Mom life is amazing. It’s hard. It’s wonderful. It’s lonely. Having someplace to go helps. It makes it so much better.

I haven’t spoken a lot about the exercising. We talk, but we exercise as well. Amanda always has great (and hard) exercises in bootcamps. She’s always encouraging, and always helping to make sure it’s being done safely.  And while I exercise, Anthony can play in the childcare room. We both get a break. It’s lovely.

If you’re interested, the website is fitbump.ca. She also has a Facebook page, and Instagram page.