‘It wasn’t until after I had my first baby that I saw the need for a platform like the Momme Movement. Even though my pregnancy was so healthy, my postnatal recovery was not so easy.

My first pregnancy back in 2013 went so well. Not much sickness. I was teaching Pilates up to 38 weeks, on a hen at 39 weeks and still swinging a kettle bell at 41.5 weeks. With a completed hypno-birthing, placenta encapsulation booked and a beautifully designed birth plan, I was  physically and mentally ready to squat and move my hips on that birthing ball. All was good. Well until my waters broke.’Expect the Unexpected

Having thrown up I became dehydrated and was put on a monitor. To be then told not to move and stay in the bed. 8cm and 30 hour of labour later I was brought in for a medically necessary C-section. I had a star gazer and se was too busy looking in the opposite direction to come out.

I wanted to ‘breathe my baby out’. I wanted to be a warrior and not take any drugs. I wanted to ‘engage my core’, you know the one I had been training for years as a Pilates Instructor but it just did not happen for me. I was very disappointed but it did not last long. That beauty in my arms brought me back to focus. Like a lazer all of my attention was on her and her only.

Put Your Own Mask On

As a movement coach I had always been interested in health and wellbeing. I expected to have a healthy pregnancy which i did. what I did not expect was the bucket of problems in the postnatal recovery stage.

First and foremost there was the recovery from abdominal surgery to deal with. I had a significant separation of my abdominal muscles. Its called Diastasis recti but I only found out what it was when I had done the damage 5 months later.

While I put on a healthy 4 stone bump during my pregnancy I was below my pre-pregnancy weight within 2 months. This was not a good thing. While I had put it down to breast feeding it was in fact postnatal thyroiditis. I fluctuated from hyper to hypo thyroid. Quick weight loss and then serious weight gain to a point where I looked 4 months pregnant, 3 months after having her.

My hair fell out. I got a severe does of psoriasis all over my body for 6 months. I had shooting pains in my stomach for months that only sorted themselves after serious gut health attention (no one ever mentions this after all the C-section drugs that mess up your gut bacteria), a gastrointestinal endoscopy, a colonoscopy with a diagnosis of and gastroenteritis

Look After Your Baby First

They tell you you are selfish if you look after yourself. It is about the baby now. That baby needs you. Give it everything. The truth is that if you give your baby everything of you there is nothing left for you to give. You need to put on your own mask first. Self care is not selfish. It is necessary because if your well is dry, they suffer. The family suffers and you are the one they need most.

Momme Movement Founder