🤰🏻 2 W E E K S 🤰🏻 It’s been 2 weeks and a day since our dreamy Willow unintentionally (because she was unplanned 🤣) completed our little family. A few days after, I mentioned on my stories that I couldn’t feel my core and specifically, my TVA, at all. Over the last couple of days, I’ve noticed that I’ve started being able to engage it again. So, this morning, I decided to do a little bit of TVA/belly breathing. I’ve left the sound on and kept it in real time so you can join in with me. To understand how to engage your TVA, take a look at the link in my bio about training during pregnancy and postpartum. PLEASE DO NOT WORRY if you’ve never done anything like this and you’re several years postpartum or if you’ve not long had a baby but don’t feel ready to start - it’s never too late. I didn’t do anything like this after the previous two as I didn’t have the knowledge or specialist qualifications that I have now. I had Livi in 2006 and I can still recall having to stop bouncing on a trampoline in 2012 because I felt like I was going to pee myself! At the time, I thought it was normal because I’d had a baby, so that automatically meant your pelvic floor was buggered for life. What I’ve since learnt is that it’s COMMON but it’s NOT NORMAL. You don’t have to live with it. Through strength training, I repaired my pelvic floor to such a degree that I was able to start jumping again and sprinting on a treadmill. So please don’t let my doing this now make you feel any pressure to immediately be doing it yourself. A strong TVA will result in a stronger core and pelvic floor. Even if you don’t have kids, the menopause comes round for us all and that will weaken your pelvic floor, as will carrying excess weight, so understanding how to breathe and engage your TVA is beneficial for us all! I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t explain this to you or show you how to do it. 😊
👶🏻 D U E 👶🏻 Happy Due Date Willow Ryder!
Or is it? Today is the due date as per a calculation in the ultrasound machine but according to when James and I think Willow was conceived, we expected to be 3 weeks further along. Even the implantation bleeding aligned to our date, not the scan date. Obviously we went along with the calculation but we’ve never been convinced that it was right. So I had a little chat with a midwife on Saturday and asked, “Could it be wrong?” And she said yes. She didn’t obviously say that it WAS wrong, we’ll never really know but she said it can be wrong. I’ve always thought this as doesn’t it assume that all babies are born the same size? For me, it’s the same way the measurements are taken, we all carry differently. When I was under general for the c-section, the midwife told me that the lovely lady doctor that performed the c-section said that it’s going to be a small one (baby) but Willow was 7lbs 2, a perfectly average size and the doc was surprised. With all girls, I’ve had numerous growth scans for measuring small. Livi was the smallest at 7lbs 1 and she came 6 days ‘early.’ Jasmine was 7lbs 15 and came 6 days ‘late.’ I use apostrophes because I’m a firm believer in a due period - anywhere from 37 to 42 weeks. So really, all my babies came on time - the right time for them. 😊 Back to the point, if James and I are right and the standard calculation was wrong, then Willow actually arrived when I was 41 weeks pregnant and not 38. But as I said, we’ll never know, it doesn’t really matter and of course, we need a calculation to work to, I get that... I just think ours was wrong! 🤣 I’d love to know if anyone else has thought their due date was wrong? #duedate #breechbaby #csection
⚖️ W E I G H T ⚖️ And so it begins... “ooh you’ve sprung back already!” Ok I’ve only heard it once but I know it’s coming. I really haven’t. I’m 20lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight & will have lost muscle mass too. I’m 5’9 though so I get away with carrying extra weight but I certainly haven’t sprung back. That being said, it does annoy me when people that have trained for years & gain weight during pregnancy, post transformation pics when they’ve lost the weight & DON’T ADMIT that it IS easier to shift the fat if you were fit beforehand. Of course, it still takes sacrifice - I’ll need to make sacrifices too or at least stop eating @hettyskitchen brownies for breakfast (as per this morning 🤣) but I’ve trained for 20 years, I have a healthy metabolism, I’ve got muscle memory & maturity, I know how I respond to certain foods & I know how to start safely restoring my core. The odds are in my favour & it’s important that I admit to that & that you know that too. It’s not normal to be like Vogue Williams (I’m not discrediting her - I think she’s awesome) but postpartum mamas shouldn’t be looking at her & feeling bad about themselves. What I will say is, if you are pregnant, it’s not too late to start strength training. Don’t start on your own, find a PT to help you but you can start now. I had a pregnant mama come to me at 16 weeks pregnant & left me stronger with more mobility at 38 weeks pregnant. 🙌🏼 Check out the link in my bio on training during pregnancy. I’ve set myself a goal of shifting the 20lbs by the beginning of July, my birthday month & when hubby and I are off to the F1 for a long weekend. That’s just over a pound per week. More than achievable - nice & slow, meaning I can still have the odd glass of wine, G&T & buffalo wings! 🤣 Now I know I harp on about it not being about weight but I know my optimal weight - this isn’t a new fat loss journey for me, it’s one that I am well accustomed too. 😊 Anyway, in other news... who knew that Victoria’s Secret did their own take on Bridget Jones knickers? 🤣 I ordered this while I was pregnant as they sat so well over my bump and now they are perfect for my c-section scar! Winner! 🤣
🍀 L U C K Y 🍀
With St. Paddy’s day tomorrow, I’m feeling like I’ve got the luck of the Irish right now. I feel bad as the eldest isn’t in a lot of these pics but she’s 13 now and doesn’t need her mum embarrassing her on insta. It goes without saying that when I write about my amazing girls, she is 💯% included in that. Livi was an only child until she was 8 - she now has two brothers at her dad’s and 2 sisters at home with us. She’s welcomed each new sibling with open arms and has never shown signs of jealousy. Jasmine, on the other hand, I was genuinely worried about. She’s a mummy’s girl and of all our girls is the most like me - territorial with jealous tendencies. 🦁🤣 We prepared her obviously - bought a fab book off Amazon called I’m a new Big Sister and changed the name from Polly to Jasmine and it worked really well but still, you never know how they’re really going to react. I didn’t have Jasmine come to the hospital because I knew she wouldn’t cope with leaving Willow and me behind. So, the first time she saw us (other than some WhatsApp videos) was when Gammy (Granny) brought her back home after we’d been discharged. She was clearly excited to meet Willow but it was really the next day when she started to take proper notice of her. She absolutely loves holding her and helping me do nappy changes and she’s surprised as all by not getting jealous at all. Deep down, I knew she’d surprise us, she’s an amazing child - our Wild Child. If we were wondering whether she loves her baby sister, I think these pics say it all. 💕 #sisterlylove #sisters #mygirls #motherofdaughters #mamaofthree
💓 I N T R O D U C I N G 💓
Willow Pesigan Ryder. Born yesterday, 6th March (the day after her Popsy’s birthday) at 10.09am, weighing in at 7lbs 2oz - the same weight that her mummy was born weighing. 😊 Birth story to follow. Not exactly straightforward but a very happy ending. She is absolutely unbelievable. You wonder how you’re gonna love another child when your heart is already so full. Where do you get more love from? But my goodness, you do. It just BLOOMS! How did I get so lucky? Like really, how? I couldn’t be happier. I’ll do a proper birth story post but in the meantime, a huge massive shout out and thanks to the lady on the phone at emergency services, the 3 lovely lovely paramedics that came out & brought me to hospital, the brilliant midwives at Gloucester Royal Hospital, notably Leslie, Hannah & Laura, the amazing doctor, super friendly anaesthetists and everyone else in the OR and the midwives and nurses that have tended to me since, not least the Filipino nurse that has looked after me overnight and since finding out that I’m half Filipino, has been speaking to Willow in Tagalog. ❤️❤️❤️ I bloody love the NHS! We are so spoiled with this incredible service. And a MASSIVE thank you to my wonderful mother-in-law for getting round to ours at 3.30am and taking care of the girls for us. ❤️❤️❤️
