Because I work in the fitness industry, I was hoping to stay in the best shape possible while pregnant. For me, it was as much a health thing as an aesthetic one.
At the start, I managed to do this pretty well. I didn’t put on a huge amount of weight and I exercised up until the week before I had my baby girl, Maya – a mixture of Pilates Plus Dublin classes, some Ante-Natal Yoga and walking.
I chose the Domino Midwife Scheme in Holles Street; I loved their attitude and ethos. I wanted as natural a birth as I could manage, with no epidural.
When I went for my first Domino appointment at 12 weeks they said because my core was strong and tight, I’d probably feel a lot of stretching, which I did. I was worried about having a C-Section as it would mean at least six weeks down time from exercise, which, in my profession, is quite a lot.
At 34 weeks I had a scheduled scan – the baby was breech. I had until my 37 week scan to do everything I could to turn the baby; I had Moxibustion done (a traditional Chinese Medicine technique that involves the burning of the herb ‘Mugwort’ over points on the body), I placed my ironing board against the back of the sofa and lay on it with my head at the bottom and feet at the top, I put a cold compress on my tummy where the baby’s head was and heat at the bottom where I wanted it, I played music starting at the top and moving down, hoping baby would follow it. You name it…
At 37 weeks, she was still breech. They tried to turn her by ECV, it didn’t work. I was booked in for a C-Section for two weeks time. This was upsetting, my birth plan essentially did a 180 degree turn, but it was the safest option, so I came to accept it pretty fast.
At 39 weeks, I had a beautiful baby girl, Maya. I was on cloud nine. Luckily Maya took to breastfeeding very quickly. But, a combination the weather being the coldest we had that year (it was snowing the day she was born), not being able to exercise, being the hungriest I had ever been, coupled with sleep deprivation meant I started to put on weight.
At the start, I don’t think I realised how much. I started exercising again the day I got the go-ahead at my six-week check-up.
The Pilates classes I do are quite intensive so I felt I should see results relatively quickly, but I didn’t realise what breastfeeding and lack of sleep had done to my body. I breast fed until Maya was six-months-old and genuinely could not lose any weight while I was feeding. I felt chubby because of maternal fat stores (they’re 100% necessary while feeding) and felt like my body was not mine. I was also in my mid thirties, which does impact how easily you lose weight.
I was exercising for a few months when felt I had plateaued. I decided to do two things: I stopped beating myself up about eating ‘bad’ foods (when I did eat something that was not ‘clean’ I embraced it and enjoyed it) and I stopped putting negative connotations on food. I went back to eating fresh as much as possible, drinking lots of water and not drinking too much caffeine.
I also did a nine-day aloe vera cleanse to help push me over that plateau. After that I started seeing much better results and although it realistically took me almost a year, I felt I was in much better shape. People keep telling me I’m in better shape now than I was before I had Maya, and I think it’s because having a baby focused me. Now I have less time to exercise so I make the most of it when I do, and I want to be as healthy as possible for my beautiful girl.
After the C-Section I really needed to build my stomach muscles back up, our type of intensive machine-based Pilates classes get rid of a ‘mummy tummy’ quicker than anything else.
Other advice to mums would be:
1. Find an exercise system you enjoy and get a friend to do it with you. Studies have shown the buddy system helps people see better results.
2. Don’t beat yourself up over food, stop having negative associations with it, stop being scared of it. This is not carte blanche to eat what you want, when you want, but be as healthy as possible.
3. Eat fresh, drink lots of water and try not to have too much caffeine.
4. Try to get more sleep.
5. Do resistance training.
I put this before and after photo up on social media to motivate my clients. Posting it was genuinely one of the scariest things I’ve ever done, but the reaction has been uplifting.
It took a long time for me to be accepting of myself. I’m still not exactly where I would like to be, but for a mother in her late thirties I’m pretty happy with the way I look.
Emma Forsyth is the owner of Pilates Plus Dublin, Dun Laoghaire – a reformer Pilates hub where she has trained celebs like Rosanna Davison, Anna Daly and Georgia Salpa.
