A wet workout

I had a lazy weekend and didn't leave the flat for two days.  I also ate the last of the Easter chocolate and a takeaway curry, so on Monday I really wanted to get out and move about.


Monday morning was a bit windy and rainy but me and the little one wrapped up and walked to the park for my first outdoor Ready Steady Mums session.  The session was led by a lovely volunteer and as the weather seemed to have kept others away she adapted her session plan to suit me.  Lucky me!  The focus was on gentle movement - walking and swinging my arms, and pushing the pram while doing kicks and lunges - and strengthening my core through stretching and balancing exercises.  


The baby cried a bit to begin with but as soon as we started exercising with the pram it rocked her to sleep and she stayed like that for the rest of the session and I was able to keep my focus on the workout.  I felt good afterwards and re-motivated.  I felt all the benefits and no twinges or discomfort, and that has given me a confidence boost.  I definitely must do more of the same. 

Two weeks postpartum

I listened to the midwife last week and I have been resting up.  I've continued to do some gentle exercises too and now when I'm feeding I try to do some ankle flexes and rotations or my pelvic floor, when lying on the floor playing with the girls I can do some clams, before I go to sleep I do more pelvic floor exercises, when I push the buggy/pram I try to remember to stand tall and hold my tummy in.  See, nothing too demanding!


I was discharged by the midwife yesterday and am feeling pretty good as the baby is putting on weight well and I am healing ok.    


My husband goes back to work on Monday but we're keeping our firstborn in her childcare three days a week until the end of June.  The plan is that it will help me and the newborn to settle into a rhythm (not a routine!) with each other and allow our eldest to retain something normal and predictable for her when home-life is a bit topsy-turvy.  I hope this will also mean that I don't get overtired.  It is next week when the challenge really begins: fitting timescales back into our lives.  

Two weeks, two tummies

Fat Mum...

... Flab Mum

One week postpartum

Baby 2 was born 9 days early.  Our first-born spent the first night we were home with her grandparents which enabled us to get some sleep and have a few hours where it was just the three of us. 

I feel much better after this birth than I did after my first, even though both of them were fairly straightforward births without interventions.  I have a second-degree tear again and on day six the midwife told me that some of the stitches have popped, so I’m a bit worried about that and trying to be really careful about how I move.

Until I saw the midwife I was feeling much better than I expected, not too tired just sore and swollen.  It’s a big help that we’re not struggling with beastfeeding this time and she sleeps, what a revelation!  I hope this continues!  I’ve done some gentle exercises from Ready Steady Mums - pelvic floor, neck stretches, ankle mobilisation, the Ready Steady Squeeze and trying to remember my posture - and been out of the flat three times for some short walks.

Now I have had my wrist slapped by the midwife and told to rest up some more I’m also feeling pretty tired.  Is that a coincidence or just the week’s adventure catching up with me?  I’m still motivated to be active but I’m not in a rush to do more until I know that I’m healing ok.

My tummy is 84cm around my belly button but 89cm just below. 

My motivations

·               At 38 weeks pregnant my waist size is one metre.  I’m quite a small person: that is almost one third of my height!

·               I’m going to be a bridesmaid when the baby is 10 weeks old (if it arrives on time) and want to look and feel good for the bride and groom (and the photos!)

·               The weather will be warmer and I can spend time outside with the toddler and the newborn, making exercise much more pleasant

·               If I exercise I’m less likely to get run-down mentally and physically

·               If I can exercise with others I’ll meet other mums

·               I need some new clothes and I want to buy them in my usual size

Getting ready for second time around

During this pregnancy I have juggled part-time work with home life in the always-on-the-go way that is the life of a parent.  I also took up yoga, which I have found immensely beneficial.  Katy showed me some stretch and tone exercises from the soon-to-be-released RSM prenatal video.  I haven’t been as disciplined about doing these, sorry Katy!

This time I’m more motivated to lose weight and tone up again soon after the birth (maybe I won’t feel so motivated after I have actually given birth?!).  I thought I would document my journey to see how following RSM as a second time mum works for me.  What keeps me motivated, when do I exercise, what exercise do I do, how do I feel, how do I manage it with a newborn and one under two years old?  How will I as a non-sporty, well intentioned but easily distracted woman fare?

About Me

I’m not a sporty person, anyone who has seen me with a bat or raquet or even at an exercise class will tell you how hopeless my coordination is!  Nevertheless, I am not inactive and like to think that my lifestyle is more mobile than static.  I’m a stairs rather than lift person, I don’t drive so think nothing of walking everywhere, my job isn’t completely desk bound.  Before my first pregnancy I went running two-three times a week and now I run around after a toddler.  I suppose I am/was like a lot of women and try to fit being active into my daily lifestyle without much time devoted to specific exercise sessions.

After the birth of my first child, my daughter, 21 months ago I did my pelvic floor exercises and paced the streets with the pram or, more often, with her in the baby carrier for at least an hour a day for six months.  That was the extent of my post-baby exercise programme.  It wasn’t that I didn’t know about exercise sessions that I could join, I just felt so out of sorts for several months and my daughter seemed to want feeding constantly and then cried and screamed whenever she was put down that doing anything for myself, including exercise, didn’t seem to be an option.

Life got easier after six months and a month or two later I met Katy and found out about Ready Steady Mums (RSM).  By then I was pretty much back to my pre-pregnancy body but I wanted a rounded exercise programme that would fit in with being a full-time mum.  I started to follow RSM’s online programme and also signed up for another 12 week exercise programme, New Mum New You, that was being run locally.  I toned up, looked fab, felt great, went back to work and became pregnant again!