This podcast is with core and women’s health specialist Sarah Jane West Watson from Fit Fanny Adams.
I have been seeing Sarah Jane since my first pregnancy and continued to do so over the next few years. On the podcast I touch on climbing but mainly we talk about my two pregnancies and postpartum journeys and just how different each of them was. I learned a lot the first time around and made some big changes second time. Hope you enjoy it.
I have been meaning to write something for ages but time has a funny way of slipping through your fingers when you have a toddler. I am now expecting my second in just a few days so thinking about what I did the first time round is a good reminder for me as well. I feel like I have a lot more to say on the postpartum period as well the last four years in general but it is hard to find the right words (and not waffle), I hope I can put something together in the not to distant future.
I wouldn’t say I got fully ‘back into climbing’ although I felt good my body definitely wasn’t up to its previous strength or capabilities before getting pregnant again. With that in mind, these are the top five things I did to begin my climbing journey again.
1. Rest & the fourth trimester
I’d not heard of the fourth trimester until getting pregnant, it is the 12 week period after the baby is born. It seems to vary across different cultures and countries, from one extreme to another. Some expect mothers to crack on as usual and even go back to work just a few days/weeks after the baby is born, others don’t allow mothers to do anything or even leave the house, just simply recover and look after the baby.
So many days, weeks, months are carelessly flung around for when you might expect to feel better, and you might look on at another mother who seems to be “back to normal” or coping with life quickly. The reality is, they probably aren’t (or they have a secret nanny, chef, cleaner or a magic baby that never cries and sleeps well). More to the point don’t focus on them, just look after yourself.
For me being respectful to what my body has just been through was one of the most important things to remember and it could be easy to start forgetting after a few weeks. In all honesty I was not prepared for how drained I would feel after labour and how long it would take my body to recover. When you are being woken by a baby through out the night it takes longer to physically and mentally recover.
This isn’t supposed to scare you because it is one of the most wonderful times and for me something to be treasured not rushed away with thoughts of getting fit again. You also have lots of lovely hormones making you feel good and helping the sleep deprivation feel not quite as bad (plus caffeine!).
2. Women’s Health Physio
This was the best money I spent during pregnancy and postnatally. I saw an NHS women’s health physio and I was lucky enough to be able to afford to see a women’s health physio privately. I would highly recommend seeing someone if you can. My physio checked how well my pelvic floor was functioning and gave me appropriate postnatal exercises. If you live in North Wales I’d highly recommend Sarah Jane.
3. Pelvic floor, posture & rehab
My NHS women’s health physio told me the body under goes a huge amount of healing between 8-12 weeks and this is just when you are starting to feel a little bit more like doing some exercise. I had quite a big diastasis recti (where the two long parallel muscles running down your stomach separate to allow room for the growing uterus) which terrified me a little, but it is quite normal for most women after having a baby. She urged me as an individual to wait until I was at least 12 weeks before going climbing.
I spent the first 6 months postpartum doing a lot of walking, sometimes low short walks or if I felt up to it I’d go into the mountains for the day. I put a lot of focus on my rehab exercises from the physio and working on my pelvic floor and posture especially when I was out walking.
Walking and swimming in the mountains
4. Start easy
I finally started climbing again at 6 months postpartum. For me this felt like a good amount of time and in all honestly I wasn’t ready any sooner. I was lucky that I timed it with a holiday sport climbing abroad this meant I couldn’t compare myself to indoor climbs/grades I’d previously done. I just did lots of mileage on easy climbs and rested when I was tired or not slept well. I started on very easy climbs and worked up as and when I felt ready.
Sport climbing on Anglesey
5. Be kind to yourself
Being kind to yourself is the biggest and hardest thing to do (and I know I am going to find it even harder second time round). It is so difficult to recognise what your body has been through as time passes by and just wanting to ‘be back’ is a normal and frustrating feeling. I definitely shed a few tears over this but the key for me was not to focus on training and remembering why I loved climbing – going friends, having a laugh and simply just trying to get outside on rock when I could.
I feel like I have tested myself mentally and physically over the years… but NOTHING compared to the intensity and demands of labour. It is a tricky subject to write about and one I wasn’t even sure whether to or not. There aren’t really any words that can describe childbirth or do it justice. It is just one of those things… when you know, you know!
Once you have been through childbirth you will want to high five every woman who’s also experienced it. I found it a completely life-changing and overwhelming experience and it by far the proudest moment of my life. I can’t believe a huge proportion of the population goes through it but yet it is so unspoken about and I was so ill-educated on it.
I feel very strongly about having a positive birth and empowering yourself to do this. I am aware that not everyone will have a positive experience but preparing in the best way possible will allow you to be better equipped for whatever hand you are dealt. When I got pregnant I only knew one person who’d had a home birth and two people who had had a positive birth. Otherwise, there was no positive chat around childbirth – mainly horror. I was also angry that a lot of the mainstream content online just told you what to pack in your hospital bag, this often included makeup and hair straighteners – fine if you want to look good for your photos but are they really going to be helpful when you need to push out a baby?
Going for the onsight!
As climber’s, we are determined, single-minded, well prepared and like to try really hard. So, if you are expecting, what better way than channelling these attributes to labour. I remember a friend telling me preparing for labour it is like preparing for the hardest route you will ever onsight. Interestingly, it sounds like climber Caro Ciavaldini did some similar prep as she said she relates it to competition climbing.
When the day eventually arrives and it is time for the baby to come you have to go for the onsight there and then, there is no backing off or deciding you don’t feel like it today. When your body decides today is the day then the baby is coming whether you are ready or not. So you have to prepare for this “route” you know absolutely nothing about: you don’t know what it will feel like; if you will be fit enough; if you’ll be strong enough; how hard it will be; how hard you will have to try; how long it will take; how tired you will get and how physically or mentally demanding it will be. You just have to prepare in whatever way you can and hope you can figure it out.
Have you ever had that experience when you start a hard climb and everything else disappears? Even though you don’t know the climb, with the right preparation your mind goes into “Flow” state, an intense state of focus where everything else drops away: fear, doubt, sounds. You just move and somehow know what to do. A similar thing happened when I was in active labour, although I was acutely aware of every single contraction I was also in some kind of Flow state. I was intensely focussed on the task in hand, never did it cross my mind for a second that I couldn’t do it or that we could have complications and may need to go to hospital.
How did I prepare?
I mainly did mental preparation…breathing techniques, watching positive videos, visualisation, relaxation techniques. You are probably thinking I went a bit OTT and why would you do all that when so many women go through it every single day and many do it not knowing anything… I wanted to engage with it, do it as naturally as possible and have the best possible experience I could and to be honest, I was pretty terrified of childbirth. I did my research and I prepared my body in every possible way I could.
Everybody’s experience of childbirth is different and unique. Overall we had a positive experience (a combination of luck and preparation) and opted for a natural as possible home birth. However, there is no right or wrong way and a home birth won’t be for everyone.
I’ll give a few details below about what we did.
DURING PREGNANCY:
> Hypnobirthing. I know, I know it sounds very hippy. However, it is simply about empowering women and their birth partners by educating them on birth, how their bodies work and providing them with techniques to cope with the big day. Some of the techniques include visualisation, relaxation, positive affirmations, oxytocin boosters. There are various different hypnobirthing courses available ranging in price and from online to in person. We did ours with Lucy, these session were available in person or on skype.
> As soon as I knew I was pregnant I didn’t watch/listen to anything negative about birth.
> If possible include your birth partner in all your prep, they should know every part of the plan and exactly what you want. They need to able to speak with the midwives/ doctors on your behalf because you need to be focussed on the job in hand. They should be busy the entire time not just napping on the floor. I 100% could not have done it without Alex, he was by my side every second and kept me going.
>Saw a women’s health physio antenatally and did a lot of exercises for my body. Do your pelvic floor a favour and see someone who can teach you how to engage it properly and practice these exercises to make this muscle stronger. You won’t regret this on the other side. A friend also recently directed me to these free resources online. If you are based in North Wales and want to see someone in person I’d really recommend Sarah-Jane.
> Labour as the name suggests is a massive test of physical endurance so make sure your body is vaguely up to the challenge. I am not saying you need to be in the best shape of your life but keeping as active as possible during pregnancy can’t be a bad thing, even if it is just going for gentle walks.
> I read these books; Ina May’s Guide to Child Birth, The Positive Birth Movement. You can pick up these for about £10-15 online.
> We attended Positive Birth Movement meetings. These take place for free all over the world.
> I went to a pregnancy yoga class for a few weeks, this mainly focussed on relaxation. There are also great resources free online if you want a workout, YouTube channels such as the bump room.
> I had acupuncture (for the month leading up to my due date) to relax and prepare my body for labour. I also had a specific session when I went overdue.
DURING LABOUR:
> Used the hypnobirthing techniques I’d been practising.
> We used a birthing pool. The midwife made us save it till the very end, I hated that at the time (but getting in too early can slow everything down). It was such a relief to get in the pool at the end and the warm water acted as pain relief.
> I used a TENs machine as a method of pain relief, it works by delivering small electrical impulses on your skin via adhesive pads. These electrical impulses flood the nervous system, reducing its ability to transmit pain signals to the spinal cord and brain. Some people love these, I didn’t find it took away the pain, more acted as a small distraction.
> We used acupressure during labour, there are points on the body to press for pain relief, if things have slowed down etc.
Why we chose home over hospital
I’d never even considered a home birth. I just thought everyone went to hospital and being at home was dangerous. I only changed my mind on this months into my pregnancy. To generalise, you need as much oxytocin as possible to give birth “easily”; things which boost oxytocin are comfort and familiarity. A safe, cosy, quiet environment without interruptions, bright lights and lots of people bustling around you. As soon as I knew this, we both made the decision that so long as I was low risk and everything was going to plan being at home was the best place for us.
To put some perspective on how little I knew originally, this is what I thought when I first got pregnant:
This is what actually happened;
Everyone experiences labour differently and although we personally had an overall positive experience, I still found it extremely overwhelming and carried some negative feelings about it. Despite ticking all the boxes of our birth plan, it took me a long time to recover from it mentally but also made me stronger knowing what my mind was capable of. I am also aware that even those who have done all their homework and prep still won’t have the birth they imagined. However, as they say, knowledge is power. Whatever birth you have, it can surely only be made more positive if you are armed with information on how your body works and what your options are.
Good luck 🙂
This post is split into two sections. The first part is my experience of pregnancy and the second part are some physiological changes that happen to the body during pregnancy.
I’ve not written anything for a long time, mainly because I didn’t feel like I had anything interesting to say. I’ve been pregnant, having a baby and then looking after my baby, and I am aware a huge percentage of the population do the same. Having said this, considering the number of people that have children and how normal this is, I was pretty ill-educated and naive about everything; pregnancy, childbirth, breast-feeding and the fourth trimester. So almost a year later (it really does go fast) I thought I would start writing some thoughts on pregnancy and who knows maybe I’ll move onto childbirth, breast-feeding and being a mother! I understand this won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it might interest a small few.
I feel like I got away lightly with my pregnancy, I didn’t suffer from any back pain, pelvic girdle pain or severe morning sickness. I did a few things to make my 10 month baby growing journey easier such as supplements, chiropractic treatment, acupuncture and physio exercises but I think a lot of it is down to luck and will vary from person to person and pregnancy to pregnancy. Don’t panic if you end up not being able to do all things you thought you could/should do, being pregnant counts for a teeny tiny amount of time in the grand scheme of things. Try and enjoy it for what it is – and that is pretty freakin cool that you are growing a human.
I found the first three months the hardest and I know I got off lightly. It felt like I had a hangover every day and the only thing that made me feel better was eating hangover food, and this cured the sickness for only a few moments. I felt exhausted as well and while I hate sleeping in the day I succumbed to a few daylight naps. Things definitely picked up in the second and third trimester and the sickness disappeared and my energy levels came back.
Advice on “extreme sports” (climbing, surfing, mountain biking etc) is limited and so I just decided to try and listen to my body and do what felt right for me. This is actually easier said than done, as your body suddenly isn’t one you recognise anymore. But for example, after balling my eyes out with guilt about falling off (at 2months pregnant) when mountain biking the Mini Marin I knew it was time to stop biking. A similar thing happened with bouldering, I just couldn’t bring myself to climb up the bouldering wall in case I fell off.
I think a common mistake is to compare yourself to what other pregnant women are doing/have done. Every pregnancy is different, we are all individual and have a unique experience of what our bodies will and won’t allow us to do during this time. Since I wasn’t experiencing any pain I turned my attention to route climbing, I got a full-body harness at 4 months and top-roped at the wall. Since I had done limited routes leading up to this point it was actually quite an enjoyable process. Even though I was getting more and more pregnant over the coming months I was seeing a big improvement in my fitness. My highlight was top roping a 7b at 6 months. However, I knew at some point the scales would tip, and they did around 8ish months when I started feeling really heavy and it became harder to lift my legs and impossible to bend my arms! I normally weigh roughly 59 – 61 kg and my last weigh a few weeks before my due date was 71kg.
I also did a lot of walking, I am lucky enough to live very close to lots of mountains so it was easy to get up and out and just walk as little or as much as my body wanted. I did suffer quite alot with swollen feet/ankles/legs during the third trimester, we nicknamed them the polar bear feet. They were so big and swollen and I could feel the fluid sloshing around when I moved them.
Looking back I don’t felt like I gave my body enough appreciation for what it was actually doing. I mean it was building and growing a human the most incredible and mind-blowing thing ever. I think it is especially difficult in the early stages when you are the most tired but have nothing to show for it.
I felt completely blind going into both pregnancy and childbirth. I didn’t know what actually happened to the body, how it worked and the changes that happened until I did my own research and reading and I now have whole new respect and appreciation for my body.
I did ALOT of googling whilst I was pregnant. A friend of mine was pregnant at a similar time and we would joke about the stupidest or weirdest thing we had googled that day. This leads on to the second half of the blog post that explains some of the physiological things that happen to the body during pregnancy.
Below is a very brief overview of some of the things that happen to your body when pregnant. All information has been taken from here, please do your own research.
I was fascinated by this video and still am, it gives a quick look at what actually happens to the organs inside your body as the baby grows (along with some very intense music!)
