Jeremy and Allison Schwartz are members of Maxability Sports and CrossFit in Teaneck, New Jersey.
On the same day Allison started CrossFit, she found out she was pregnant. She didn’t continue with CrossFit during her pregnancy but intended to return to the affiliate after the baby was born.
“Overall, I felt great,” Allison says of her pregnancy. “I just felt good. I just felt like ‘this is what I’m supposed to be doing.'”
Just four days before her due date, Allison and Jeremy received devastating news: Their baby had died in utero.
After delivering a stillborn baby boy, Allison spent six weeks on the couch trying to recover from the mental and physical stress of labor and delivery.
“Your body physically doesn’t know that you didn’t come home with a baby,” Allison says through tears, “so you still have all the physical symptoms of going through labor.”
Two months after the loss, Allison returned to CrossFit, which became part of her healing process.
“I think CrossFit helped Ali—in a time where you could feel like you’re in such despair—provide an outlet where you physically have to be strong,” Jeremy says.
Allison agrees: “It felt so good to finally gain confidence in myself physically again. … It’s been so helpful.”
Originally published – Oct. 7, 2018.
The Great Escape