Recovery and Fitness for The Postpartum Woman

Growing a baby is hard!!!

Pregnancy and birth involve so many physical and emotional changes and there can be this pressure to want to “bounce back”.

The 4th trimester is a journey in its own right and my belief is that this period should be spent caring for yourself and your new baby. I know just how hard it can be to put yourself 1st after having children. Maybe you feel overwhelmed and unsure where to begin. Perhaps you are experiencing pelvic dysfunction symptoms (leaking, pain, heaviness, prolapse…) or core weakness (bulging abdominals, abdominal separation or back pain…).

As a “Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist”, I believe every postpartum woman should have access to recovery care!

Let me be your guide!

What can a "Postpartum Corrective Exercise Specialist" help you with:

Leaking when you laugh, cough or jump
Pain in and around the pelvis (pubic bone or tailbone pain)
Pelvic organ prolapse or heaviness in pelvis
Diastasis Recti (abdominal separation)
Weakened abdominals
Back, hip or neck Pain
Posture
Safely return to running or higher impact exercise

Holistic Approach:

I think it is important to build a strong foundation and in order to do that we must look at the body as a whole unit. What happens in one part of the body happens in another part of the body. We will take time to help you assess your baseline and look at your breath, posture, strengths and weaknesses. I think it is also important to consider your mental and emotional well-being through this journey.

I know how you're feeling: I'VE BEEN THERE!

Hi, I’m Amanda and I know exactly how you feel. I’ve experienced diastasis recti and pelvic floor dysfunction after the birth of both my babies. Let me share a story of how I came to learn more about these not so openly discussed postpartum issues.

During my pregnancy I was very active, running and training in the gym. I was careful and followed exercise guidelines but looking back I realize how little I knew. After giving birth to my first baby, I decided I needed to get back to my old self as fast as possible. I needed to feel challenged again. I decided to run a 10km race with the goal of running it under 57 minutes.

While training I started to suffer from pelvic, hip pain and little dribbles. Being a nurse and having read about the possible after birth complications I knew deep down I should probably stop, but I kept going because sometimes I am just stubborn. Along came race day and I could feel that it would be a struggle. During the race I was in so much pain. My back was aching, my hips felt weak and then I full on peed myself. Thankfully for me it was pouring rain!! Honestly at one point it felt like my uterus was going to fall out of my body. I PERSISTED!! I finished that dreadful race in 57 minutes and 44 seconds! I nearly made my goal but I was feeling utterly defeated!

I understood that I needed serious help.

KEEP READING

I sought out help from my doctor and physiotherapist. This proved to be fruitless. The evaluations were basically non-existent and my issues were minimized. I was told that it was a “normal” part of motherhood and that I should just continue with my kegels. This was NOT ENOUGH!

I decided to take things into my own hands!

I’ve been interested in fitness for most of my life. After much research and reading I worked on healing my own issues. I was able to work my way back to running and training again. This gave me the motivation to obtain my certification as a personal trainer and as a pregnancy & postpartum corrective exercise specialist. Combined with my 10 year experience as a nurse working in community health and maternal child health, I hope to support other mothers through their postpartum journey.

After strengthening my own core and rehabbing myself, I regained my quality of life. The Post-Baby Core Restore programme includes the same training and techniques I used to heal myself.

In 2019 I ran the Munich half-marathon without peeing myself!!