*Guest Post* Mountain Mama (post-baby!)

Today I am so honored to welcome Teresa Delfin, founder of Mountain Mama:Expecting Adventure, to the blog.  I recently had the chance to meet her in person, and must say she is as great as her gear and her slogan! :) She has voiced here what many post-baby outdoorsy women deal with and don't like to talk about.  Please feel free to leave her comments (and please do check out her store!)  Also, check back tomorrow for a couple more reviews of some of my favorite (so far!) pieces from Mountain Mama:Expecting Adventure  *Just to avoid confusion, this blog is in no way affiliated with the apparel except that we love it!*

Teresa looking strong right before becoming pregnant with Baby #2 (Her husband and son look on!)

As the founder of Mountain Mama apparel, I’ve weighed in everywhere from tiny blogs to USA Today on the benefits of staying active throughout pregnancy. During my first pregnancy I climbed, hiked, kayaked, and mountain biked, and even bike commuted all the way up to my due date. In my most recent pregnancy I added stand-up-paddling, swimming, and skiing to my prenatal fitness line-up. It all helped me stay limber and fit, even as the pounds kept accumulating. All 40 of them.

I habitually carry 5-10 pounds too many to be considered thin, but as a high altitude endurance athlete my extra padding serves me well, and I generally don’t worry what people think. Besides, I’m so petite that my pregnant belly overwhelms the rest of me, obscuring the weight gain until post-partum. While pregnant I’ve learned to go easy on myself, knowing that whether I indulge in that scoop of gelato or not, I’ll have work to do losing weight once baby comes. It took me a year to return to pre-baby weight after my first child.

I’m a huge advocate for women embracing their stretch marks and loose skin as proud badges of mamahood. And as a nursing mom, I’m wary of losing weight too fast for fear of passing on toxins to baby. But sometimes I have a hard time internalizing the positive messages myself. Many postpartum days I’d be happy to hibernate in a mirrorless cave. But that’s not an option when you’re Mountain Mama.

Twelve weeks after giving birth to my second son, I heard from ABC that Good Morning America wanted to do a story on my company, Mountain Mama, and on rock climbing while pregnant. They initially wanted to do a short segment in a climbing gym with one of their pregnant producers, but when I suggested a road trip to Joshua Tree with Aimee Roseborrough, who was still climbing at the top of her game eight months pregnant, they went for it.

With three days’ notice I had to coordinate a team of climbers, pick climbing routes, and line up a harness to fit my postpartum body (thanks, Metolius!), not to mention arrange wardrobe, hair and makeup. Yet with all I had to do, what I fixated on was being on TV as a spokesperson for prenatal fitness while I still had 30 pounds left to lose.

There’s a tradition among my climbing buddies of “pre-filing” any excuses (once on a route, there is no justifying failure). That was the strategy I adopted for the Good Morning America segment. That and layering. I planned to wear my newborn snug against my chest in a MobyWrap, announcing my postpartum-ness while camouflaging my belly and justifying my extra padding.

My plan was undone by the producer’s eye for stunning scenery. He had their correspondent, Cameron Mathison, interview me atop a boulder perched 200 feet above the campground where my husband was watching our two boys. With no baby to protect me from the judgment of the camera, I felt completely exposed. At least our climber, Aimee, looked fabulous, I thought.

But as the questions came about why I’d started Mountain Mama and what I hoped to achieve, that self-consciousness fell away. I was doing my part to help other active women be comfortable and maintain their dignity while pregnant. I make clothing for women who work and play outdoors, including some who push the boundaries of physical possibility. But every childbearing woman is an athlete, whether she knows it or not. After all, the energy a woman expends in the first trimester is equivalent to what she’d muster mountaineering!

Teresa being interviewed for Good Morning America