I met Sam several years ago when I was just starting Om Mama Co. (community + resources for mamas in Seattle!) and I was instantly drawn to her infectious personality. We have since become close friends and she constantly inspires me with her authenticity + passion for both work and life.
We are both expecting baby girls in the new year and I wanted to get the skinny from her perspective on being a Pelvic Floor PT as a now pregnant mama herself! Sam and I also bonded through our journeys with IVF and how intertwined all of this is! I’m excited for y’all to learn more about her!
I LOVED getting to take these brand photos for Sam, too! If you are a small business owner, or needing some content for whatever venture you’re up to – I’d love to chat! Let’s create some awesome images together in 2024!
A Little About Sam
I’m a pelvic floor physical therapist and strength coach passionate about helping postpartum women feel STRONG in their bodies again after baby.
My specialty is helping women with back pain, diastasis recti, and urinary leaking issues who want to get back to running, lifting weights and other high impact workouts and activities so they can feel strong, athletic and like themSELVES again.
I believe when we feel strong in our bodies, we feel stronger in all areas of our life – it’s so much easier to show up as attentive partners, patient parents, thoughtful friends, generous givers, and impact-driven change makers in our communities. I’m on a mission to help as many women as I can reconnect to their inner athletes and discover the strongest version of themselves so they can live their happiest, most fulfilling, purpose-driven lives.
What has been especially helpful from your work/experience going
into your pregnancy?
I thought my work as a pelvic floor physical therapist would have prepared me more for this pregnancy, but other than knowing what my pelvic floor is supposed to do while I’m pushing (which I know will be helpful when the time comes!), and having knowledge of the body in general, I don’t feel like my work as a PT has helped me all that much, tbh.
What I think HAS helped me the most is my past experience recovering from a back injury that took me more than 3 years to heal and 3 concussions. During that time I learned SO much about how to actually listen to my body and give my body what it needs – especially when it’s asking for rest (which is HARD for me).
Before those experiences, I was someone who just FLEW through life with blinders on. As a Type A overachiever, I didn’t feel complete unless I was working toward some kind of goal, constantly on the go, constantly striving to achieve something without stopping to appreciate what’s happening around me or “live in the moment” if you will (and let’s be honest, I still catch myself getting caught up in those tendencies). Learning how to slow down and embrace rest (instead of fear it like I used to) so that I can enjoy this experience has helped so much!
I also had a spiritual awakening during that time period and I really connected with myself and the Universe in a way I never had before which I think THAT in itself has prepared me for this pregnancy more than any other education or training or resources could have.
What has been different than you expected about your own
pregnancy in relation to your work / strength / etc. / What do you wish you would have known?
As a former athlete, I’m someone who LOVES to workout and workout hard. I love to sweat and push and challenge myself in my workouts. Historically, messaging around working out in pregnancy has been things like – don’t lift more than 20 pounds! Running is too high impact! Just stick to walking and yoga!
Thankfully now we have research that shows it’s safe to continue most workouts you were doing pre-pregnancy so I totally pictured myself lifting heavy weights, swinging heavy kettlebells, running, etc.
throughout my pregnancy and that has NOT been the case for me.
Any time I got my heart rate up especially early on in pregnancy, my body felt terrible so I had to scale way back in my workouts. It’s been really hard for me to do that, but I’ve learned so much about myself through this process that I know will help me in my postpartum recovery, too!
What has been grounding/helpful for you during this season? How are you balancing work/life/etc?
My meditation and spiritual practice have kept me grounded and thank god for therapy.
Finding work/life balance has definitely been a challenge. It’s hard as a business owner in general, but I found myself working a LOT more trying to prep and make up for the time I’m planning to take off. But as we get closer to the due date, I find myself wanting to nest and rest a lot more so I’m trying to let go of the work stress/worry and just enjoy and embrace these last couple of months of being able to do whatever I want on my own schedule!
Sam’s Fertility Journey
My husband, Todd and I have been together for 19 years and throughout our entire time together, we’ve always gone back and forth on whether or not we wanted kids. We would go through a short season of yes, we’re ready – let’s pull the goalie! And then a few months later change our minds and decide we weren’t ready yet. My friends would always tell me – you’ll never feel ready so you might as well go for it, but in my body I felt the resistance and knew I wasn’t ready yet.
It wasn’t until a couple years ago that I remember meditating and journaling about it and feeling in my body this overwhelming desire to be a mom. I was like WHOA OK I think this means I’m ready. We started trying consistently and based on our ages (I’m late 30s, Todd is early 40s), decided to go in for testing. We met with a fertility doctor but we had just sold our house and were traveling full time so it took us about 9 months to a year to actually go in and get the testing done. Based on the results, the doctor recommended we start with IUI. We did two rounds of IUI before deciding that IVF would be the next best step for us. We did one round of egg retrieval and the transfer a couple months later and here we are!
Overall, the process was definitely NOT easy – there is so much anxiety and fear and shame and doubt that comes up and it can feel so isolating and overwhelming – but it went pretty smoothly and I am so grateful because I know that’s not the case for everyone going through it.
And I have to say I’m so grateful to you, Meredith for sharing YOUR story so openly because it’s seeing stories like yours that really helped me get through it.
The Strength Squad + Working with Sam in 2024
Sam just announced an awesome new program called The Strength Squad! Here’s a little about it + other ways you can work with Sam in 2024!:
The Strength Squad (enrolling now through December 22, 2023 then enrollment will close until Spring 2024): A monthly strength membership and community for moms who are ready to tap into their full physical potential and feel strong and athletic in their body again! This is for women who have some experience with strength training in the past and are ready to push and challenge themselves to take their strength and fitness to the next level.
coreSTRONG DIY: A self-paced 12-week program for moms who want to build a stronger core and pelvic floor while getting full body strong using a combination of pilates and strength training. This is for women who have not worked out consistently for several months or years and want a slow, safe, gradual introduction to strength training while focusing specifically on core and pelvic floor.
Private 1:1 Strength Coaching (pre-booking now for March 2024): This is for women who want to take their fitness to the next level but are worried about flaring up their back pain or pelvic floor issues and want individual programming and guidance to work through aches, pains, prolapse, urinary leaking, diastasis recti, etc.
Send me a message on Instagram @drsamchernak or email me hello@drsamchernak.com with any questions about which program would be the best fit for where you’re at right now!
