Keep It Real – Sarah’s Postnatal Journey

The first in the “Keep It Real” Series – real mums sharing their real journeys of postnatal return to exercise. In this, Sarah talks us through her recovery experience after the birth of her twins. She talks about the adjustment to changed body, her happy place in the ocean and the things she wish she had known….

How was your birth experience?

I would describe the actual birth experience as beautiful. I wanted to experience a natural birth if possible and I got that as it all happened so quickly and they arrived vaginally within 6 minutes of each other. The part that wasn’t ideal was that they were 10 weeks early and I didn’t get the beautiful meeting and holding of my babies when they were born as they were whisked away for medical attention straight away.

How was the early recovery? And was there anything in particular that you weren’t prepared for?

Gosh! Yes I was drastically unprepared for and naïve about the early days post birth. My body was like jelly for weeks, I lost all muscle tone and I was wider in every way. I had put so much thought into the actual birth but not much thought into how my body would be afterwards. I remember asking a friend who had kids how long you still look pregnant for and she said (as I guess was her experience) it will go down in a few days, it was already week 2 and I would later discover that for my my belly would be there for much longer yet. One year on I still had people ask if I was pregnant as I still had a pronounced belly, this was disheartening but also part of my post partum journey and recovery. I saw Emily also which helped to ease my mind as although I still had a belly, my core muscles were functioning well and I had specific exercises to work on.

How did you manage (if at all) to fit exercise into your life?

In the early days very little, it wasn’t on my mind at all, I would do short walks around the hospital. I started doing longer walks and going up the Mount around 4 weeks post partum and although my body felt very foreign I didn’t have any issues with soreness, just lack of fitness and jelly muscles haha. Fitting it in was not a problem in terms of walking as having very unsettled babies walking soothed them, so we walked, and walked, often all hours of the night but always for one of their naps ran or shine. I started swimming 5 weeks post partum, this is my happy place and my partner made sure I got this time out I did this twice a week until we were put into lockdown (March 2020). I would also do basic post partum Pilates from about 8 weeks on and thank you Emily for your you tube videos they were my go-to when I had a spare 2mins during nap time. I started running very gradually at 4 months post partum and although it was slow I then progressed to running with the buggy and now love this time with the twins.

What have been the biggest challenges with getting back into your chosen exercise?

I actually feel so at home in the water and swimming that there were no real challenges here for me, apart from the getting in my togs part haha! I did my first ocean swim race post babies almost exactly one year on, and then a half marathon when the twins were 17months.

Is there something you wish you had known?

The impact of stress on recovery and that an over active pelvic floor was a thing! This existed for me and meant instead of pelvic floor exercises as such I need to focus on the relaxation phase of pelvic floor engagement. I was under a lot of stress the first year postnatally and relaxation techniques would have helped me as I felt like I was constantly running a marathon everyday with everything there was to do with two babies. Something as simple as deep breathing exercises whilst feeding could have really helped me bring my stress levels down and maybe help with relaxation of my muscles included my pelvic floor.

What is the one piece of advice you would go back at give yourself as a new mum?

Be kind to yourself and your body, do not compare your recovery to anyone else, you are on your own journey

This is such a real example of the challenges that can be faced when recovering from having a baby (let alone two!). Being focused on the birth and underprepared for the subsequent recovery is something I hear time and time again. But inspiring and empowering to hear that you can get to the things you want to achieve, even if it does take longer than you might expect.

Thanks Sarah x