I practiced as an Osteopath for almost 8 years before falling pregnant with my little girl, Abigail. Through treating many patients pre, during and post-pregnancy, as well as many friends and my sister having babies, I learnt a lot about all of the
ups and downs of pregnancy but as everyone always tells you, “nothing really prepares you for the real thing”.
I thought I might share some of the big things I have found really important through both my experience and listening to other people’s experiences.
Look after your body pre, during and post pregnancy
When you are planning to get pregnant, it is important to look after all aspects of yourself – mentally, emotionally, and physically. Your body will go through many physical and hormonal changes so ensuring that you look after yourself will allow your body to cope with these changes, making such a big difference to your pregnancy experience.
Before getting pregnant, I made an appointment with Emma, our Exercise Physiologist, who examined where my physical weaknesses and imbalances were, especially around the lower back, pelvic region and pelvic floor, and gave me a program to do at home. I also started doing Reformer Pilates with May and Roberta to complement what I was doing at home – and had heaps of fun doing it!
During my pregnancy, I continued doing my home exercise program as well as Reformer Pilates. I also attended for regular Osteopathic appointments to help support my body my through all of the postural changes associated with my changing body shape. I definitely felt much stronger and my body felt great which in turn made ME feel great!
Postnatally was more difficult! Learning how to keep a baby alive, the breastfeeding, sleep deprivation and constantly holding 3kg and more, as Abigail continued to grow, took its toll. Finding time for myself and time to look after myself was a lot harder. I made the big mistake of doing too much too soon – I felt really good initially after birth so 4 days post-birth I went on a slow, easy walk for 30 minutes …… big mistake, definitely paid for it later! In my opinion, speaking from my own recent experience, even if you are feeling amazing, take it easy. The first weeks after giving birth, just focus on eating, sleeping and feeding. I would also suggest that if you can make the time to fit in an Osteo treatment to help with all of the new postural changes your body goes through post birth related to the actual birth as well as from carrying and feeding your little bubba you may find this to be of benefit. When you are cleared to start exercising, don’t forget your pelvic floor exercises and remember that even 5 minutes is better than nothing!
Inform yourself
This was the best advice given to me by a patient. When I was around 20 weeks, a patient asked me, “What’s your birth plan?” and I said, “I would like the most natural birth as possible but if I need drugs then I need drugs” and she looked at me and said, “Jess, I don’t care what type of birth you want but inform yourself” and that stuck with me. The best part of COVID was the amount of online resources for mums-to-be. I found these great free antenatal classes on Facebook @coreandfloorrestore which were so informative. Anth and I went into the birthing suite knowing exactly what I wanted in any scenario that took place. Of course, my birth did not go “to plan” but we both knew exactly what was going on and I reflect on the labour and birth of Abigail really positively. Even though it didn’t go to plan, I don’t look at it negatively or have any trauma related to it – which can be a major issue for Mum’s especially with subsequent pregnancies.
Breastfeeding is really hard
No one tells you how hard it is and talks about nipple blisters or cracked nipples or nipple trauma, but it definitely is a thing! My biggest advice is to look into breastfeeding before you have your baby and seek help from the midwives and lactation consultants if you have issues.
Ask for help when you need it!
It is really hard to ask for help but as I used to tell my closest friends, “I don’t know that you need help unless you ask, and if I really can’t do it, I will tell you (because there definitely is a guilt factor in asking for it) – but if I don’t know, I’m no help at all.” It really does take a village to raise a baby so use it!
Give yourself a break
The laundry, dishes and house cleaning can wait. Make sure you rest enough. Looking after a baby is harder than going to work. It’s a lot more hours than full time work and is a lot more demanding so when you get a chance, sleep or put your feet up and have a cup of tea or do your 5 minutes of exercise but don’t feel guilty about it and don’t feel like you should be doing something else around the house
Don’t compare
This is really hard to do but all babies develop at their own time so don’t stress about what they are or aren’t doing it – just enjoy them.
Filter out negative people and comments
Everyone will have an opinion on everything from the time you’re trying to conceive to how you parent. Not everything suits everyone, and everyone’s circumstances are completely different, so block out all the negative comments and judgements and just focus on you and your family and what suits you best and if you have any concerns or issues or just need a chat, seek help and advice from a suitably qualified professional.
Last but not least enjoy it!
It goes so quickly! It is the most rewarding time of your life but very challenging at the same time. Abbie is already closer to 1 than a newborn and Anth and I still can’t believe we have a baby 🥰.
I hope this helpful. The biggest take home from this, is look after yourself – you can’t take care of other people if you don’t take care of yourself.
