In September a simple photo posted on Facebook of bodybuilder Lea-Ann Ellison lifting heavy weights while eight months pregnant started a social media backlash. Ellison was attacked by people who felt she was endangering the health of her unborn baby.
Ellison had said she was surprised by the backlash but revealed on her Facebook account that she gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Skyler, the Daily Mail reports. Ellison gave birth to her third child at her home and said she continued working out until three days before the birth.
"We welcomed our new son into the world yesterday! Skyler was born at 3:44pm at home into my loving and welcoming arms," she posted on Facebook Nov. 7. "Skyler is a very chill dude and super easy going. Looks a lot like his sister too. Thank you for all of the support and I look forward to sharing this chapter of my life with you!"
"Take that haters! Ha ha ha," she added.
The 35-year-old bodybuilder said she was surrounded by midwives, her husband Shane and her son and daughter when Skyler was born. The baby boy weighed seven pounds and three ounces.
"Pregnancy is unmerited sacrifice. Only the strongest women can do it with grace and I've had the privilege of seeing my wife do it three times," her husband said adding that their 8-year-old son said the tub looked like a "shark attack."
Since giving birth Ellison has already returned to the gym. In September when she first posted photos of her pregnancy regime - which included CrossFit - she faced with a tremendous amount of backlash.
"This is actually sickening," Amanda Cinq-Mars wrote. "I hope pregnant [women] around the world do not do this kind of crap."
"Cross fit? This goes way beyond a way of life, and right into an obsession," Josh Giannapolous commented. "She is very selfish for endangering a life for her own personal gains and achievements. This is not a proud picture to post. That amount of weight lifted above the head is extremely dangerous while pregnant. Cross fit is a hobby, not a necessity to life. It's becoming unconscious to the dangers of reality."
Not everyone was upset with the photo and praised her for continuing to work out while pregnant.
"You go girl! Looking great!!! Much better than a lot of obese pregnant ladies with high blood pressure and diabetes who get short of breath walking up a flight of steps."
"The key is listening to your body! As a medical professional, I find it appalling the number of people who treat pregnancy as an illness," one woman wrote. "Multiple studies have shown that you can continue to safely workout, including lifting weights as long as you did it prepregnancy!"
