She’s the loveable, ballsy comedienne we’ve all come to know and love from the hilarious, satirical TV show, Republic of Telly. These days, she hosts the RTÉ 2fm Breakfast Show, alongside Bernard O’Shea and Keith Walsh and has us in stitches every morning with her witty retorts. And she’s a new mum to gorgeous little six-month-old, Florence.
Apart from the… swollen ankles, the hormonal acne, the fat face and the sickness for five months, pregnancy, was a dream.
I was sick for five months… and it’s worse than any labour or C-section, or anything that I had to go through, it’s the worst. But, in saying that, I did enjoy my pregnancy, it was such an exciting time.
During pregnancy and after… my hormones were all over the place; my husband Lau literally dropped a cushion on the floor and I was nearly on the phone to a helpline – I was just demented and sensitive. Especially when I came out of hospital, I thought I was losing my marbles, I was just crying constantly and that was weird, really weird.
I felt like I was being stabbed during labour… I had a whole day in labour – off I went into holles street with my bouncy ball and my wellness music and they were throwing their eyes up to heaven, I’m sure thinking, oh, here’s another one. I wanted to do it all naturally; that was my whole plan all along. But I ended up getting a little infection, I was vomiting and the baby’s heart rate went up, and suddenly I was rushed for an emergency C-section.
As soon as I heard the word C-section… after going through a day of labour, I was like “Oh my God, thank God!” You just don’t know; you have all these plans and you don’t know what’s going to happen. I would say to anybody, be prepared for everything, be open to everything because you don’t want to be upset that you haven’t gone through labour if it doesn’t happen the way you want it to, that was upsetting for me.
When I was pregnant, I did… yoga, pilates, natural birthing classes, hypnobirthing, you name it. I was ready, I really was ready and none of it was a waste because I had a day of labour, so it helped me get through all of that and to get my head around the section because I was so calm. It helps when the baby comes along too.
My advice to pregnany women is… keep an open mind, don’t put yourself under any pressure, be open to everything, be open to a C-section, be open to a natural birth, be open to absolutely everything – you just don’t know until you go through it, nobody can tell you.
I was so ready for… motherhood; I wanted it so much. And it exceeded my expectations. I look at Florence and think, oh my God, she’s mine, it’s great and we were waiting for so long.
It was quite weird being in a labour ward… you’re so vulnerable, the nurses hand if halfway inside you and she’s saying, “I listen to your breakfast show every day,” and it’s probably the last thing you want to hear when your boobs are out and that hand is probably not even as far as your husband’s hand has been!
You don’t want to be seen differently when you go back to work… after having a baby, I wasn’t one of those people who was racing back. I wanted to be at home with her, but it was an important time for the Breakfast Show and I’s also self-employed in a new job.
Having to go back to work after ten weeks meant… I needed to look after myself. Once you have the baby, it’s all about the baby, but you have to look after yourself to look after this baby. There’s so much talk of mothers losing their minds, not getting any sleep, postnatal depression because you’re not the focus anymore, but I think you need to be able to look after yourself to be well physically and mentally to look after the baby.
I breastfed for over three months… and then I was kind of done. It was very hard to pump during an ad-break! It was great and I didn’t think it would be so easy and it was so handy not having to get up and make bottles. Then, she was sleeping through the night and my mum was like “what are you doing waking a sleeping baby to breastfeed her.”
My mum said two weeks after I had Florence… you need to have a little cry; it’s all normal. I was a lot more aware of it, when it happened, I was able to say, this is normal, thank God. A few years ago, people didn’t talk about baby blues; it can be quite scary like you’re having an outer body experience, it’s not like you.
I went to the VIP style awards four weeks after having Florence… I had two drinks and was home by 12pm – it was the best night of my life, the best pints I have ever had. But by midnight, I was like Cinderella with massive boobs, my boobs were growing and growing and I said “I have to go because I’m going to explode.”
It’s a very emotional time… but it puts everything in perspective really – now, I am not as self-conscious, self-absorbed, or selfish – your focus shifts. She has brought a lot of joy into our house and we’re definitely better people because of her.
I would say to any new mum to… look after yourself physically and mentally so you can enjoy the baby stage, and don’t beat yourself up too much about stuff – go with the flow.
We laugh… so much in our house, all the time, we’re really enjoying her, all the time.
Jennifer Maguire is the Pregnacare New Mum Ambassador.
