Thanks to Cathe this story has a happy ending! After a nearly perfect pregnancy, and an all-natural delivery of a beautiful baby girl, I developed an excruciating pain in the left side of my abdomen. I endured this pain for a week thinking it was normal after birth pains, but it kept getting worse and worse, and finally decided I needed to go back to the hospital. After a week of lying in a hospital bed swollen, in pain, and not being able to breastfeed my daughter due to all the antibiotics and pain killers, it was determined that I had contracted “child-bed fever” due to poor hospital care and sanitation. Due to me staying at home with it for a week the infection spread to my abdomen and lungs and I had also developed cellulitis and atelectasis. After another week in the hospital and much rehabilitation the swelling came down, and my left lung got better, but I feared it would never be the same.
After returning home and trying to start over with my new baby, my mother kept encouraging me to start exercising to
get rid of my baby weight. I was reluctant due to being so weak from laying in a hospital bed for 2 weeks and hardly being able to walk due to swelling and pain from the infections. Thank goodness for FitTV at the time! I discovered Cathe’s “Kick, Punch, and Crunch” saved it to my DVR, and tried my best to finish it while my daughter napped. I started out really struggling, my lungs could hardly make it though all the hammer smash knees! With time I got better and better and my baby weight started to fall off.
When FitTV went off the air, I was pretty bummed, but decided I would try to track down Cathe DVD’s online. I was thrilled to see that not only were they available, but she was still making DVD’s and there were so many devoted Cathletes. I can certainly see why! I located her Facebook page, and asked Cathe what new DVD’s I s hould try to get the most bang for my buck in the shortest amount of time since I don’t always get to finish a DVD before my daughter wakes up. She was kind enough to respond to my question and suggest Afterburn. I couldn’t get enough! I am now in the best shape of my life and get compliments all the time on how toned my legs are and how flat my stomach is after having a child.
I owe it to Cathe! I even ran my first 5K two months ago, I could hear her voice in my head “You get what you give, so give a lot!”, and I ran the whole thing, something I never thought I would be able to do after having a partially collapsed lung. I reccommend her DVD’s to all my friends and am so proud to consider myself a Cathlete! I hope to be able to attend a road trip soon! Thank you Cathe for helping me get in shape and helping to inspire me to always do my best and keep pushing!
