Social pressures and physical changes in a women’s body after birth can often mean many new mums rush straight back into the same exercise activities they were doing prior to falling pregnant. Whilst MOVING your body is important in the post-partum period, it is so incredibly important to acknowledge WHAT your body has gone through to deliver the baby whether it be a completely natural birth, C- section or some form of assisted delivery, these all place huge amounts of strain on the body. Stuff has CHANGED!!

Returning to exercise too early, doing the wrong kind of exercise for your body and pushing through any pain in this phase could really do more damage than good. We strongly encourage all of our post natal mums to see a Womens Physio to have an internal examination. This is THE ONLY way you are going to know the condition of your pelvic floor – strong, weak, risk of a prolapse, too tight, numbness, lack of connection to those muscles.

We asked our client Jaimee Rogers a few questions on her experience of birth to her baby boy, Hudson and post-partum journey.  Jaimee was training with us throughout her pregnancy and returned when Hudson was 6-8 weeks old.

Note: we did no high impact exercise during her pregnancy. Jaimee did resistance and low impact cardio activities during her fit4bub sessions and loved aqua aerobics and swimming.

An interview with fit4bub client Jaimee Rogers. 

Q1: How old is your baby?

He will be 9 months on 18 July

Q2: How was your baby delivered? Vaginal/ C/ assisted

Vaginal after two pethidine injections and an epidural. After pushing for an hour and half, the suction cap was used to finally get him out.   

Q3: Who suggested you go and see a women’s Physio? And why? And how many weeks post-partum were you when you went to see the women’s Physio?

The hospital I delivered Hudson in had a physio as part of their services. The hospital physio tested for abdominal separation, which I had and was advised to wear a separation belt and follow exercises to close the separation. I had a follow up appointment with the physio two weeks after I left the hospital and was told that my separation was on the mend and had already closed a few centimetres. Whilst the hospital physio was extremely lovely and really helped with my separation exercises, an internal exam of my pelvic floor was never done. As a result, I really had no idea how it was recovering. After speaking with Kathryn at Fit4Bub I realised I needed to see a Women’s Health physio. Vanea from Sports Focus Physio in Northbridge has been outstanding. I started seeing Vanea when I was eight weeks postpartum and straight away she did an internal exam to asses what level my pelvic floor was at, plus also looked at abdominal separation. Over the course of months, we focused on strengthening my pelvic floor and lower back through different kegel exercises. Vanea suggested downloading the KPFE App to time exercises and set reminders to do it. After six months, I was at the point where I could start doing a short 30 second slow jog, 30 second rest etc. I’m now at the stage where I can run for five minutes with 30 second recovery walk.

Q4: Were you experiencing any pain, discomfort or notice any changes in your body after you gave birth and when you returned to exercising ?

I found my body felt like my insides were going to fall out. It’s the strangest feeling and one that I can only describe in that way. Every muscle feels weak and any form of activity feels hard, which is disheartening when I use to be really fit. I had to keep reminding myself what my body had been through! In the early days of doing exercise, which consisted of slow walking, I found that I had leaking and pain in my lower back. I feel stronger now, but I don’t think I’m close to being back to what I was pre Hudson. 

Q5: Do you think that your Womens Physio consults have helped with your exercise sessions ? Why/ how?

Absolutely she has. Vanea and Kathryn were also in contact with each other so my exercises from Vanea were incorporated in my sessions with Kathryn. The stronger pelvic floor has enabled me to have the confidence to now work slightly harder in my gym sessions and know that I wont have any leaking or pain.

Q6: Would you recommend other post natal women to see a Women’s Physio? And why?

I think it’s a must. A Women’s Health Physio keeps track of the pelvic floor through internal assessments. It’s really the only way to make sure it’s getting stronger and healing post birth. Our bodies go through so much, we almost take for granted the enormity our body goes through and just expect it to return to normal straight away.

Kat Weihen

fit4bub 0403 687 461

fit4bub@gmail.com