Mami, Midwife and Yogi
When Kieron suggested I should include a blog on the website, I did the usual thing when someone suggests that anyone would want to know anything about me. Scrunched up my nose in disgust, became quietly spoken and said “why would anyone want to know anything about me?”. It took some convincing on his part to get me to this point, the point where I am actually here typing with a really old episode of friends playing in the background, writing to you guys. I must love you Kieron!
So, I have no idea how to do this really. But I thought I would start at the beginning of my slogan….Mami! I am a mother to two little boys. They are 3 and 1 years old. They are amazing, funny, challenging, heart warming and annoying all at the same time! But I love them, they are mine. Two very different characters – my first is more like me than I like sometimes, shy, thoughtful, considerate, introspective and random. My youngest seems to have taken all the ridiculous parts of me and the laid back happy parts of my husband and have merged them into one ball of happy unpredictable energy! My life changed when these little men came into the world. Nobody prepared me for it. I thought they would fit into my life, you know, nothing would have to change really. Well this didn’t really work for us. Everything changed, from the type of house we needed to how I saw the world. My priorities changed and I changed with them. I found this really hard to understand at the time it was happening but I had immense support from the people in my life. My MamiTribe are the best bunch of women I know, always there to help, to listen to my exasperated rants, laugh with me and pick me up off the floor when I have been defeated. You always have my corner, I love you all.
I have been a practicing midwife for 7 years now. When I was doing my training all the qualified midwives warned me that time would pass in the blink of an eye once I qualified and it really does! I love being a midwife. Working closely with women and their families, watching them grow and change as their baby does. Being there when a family of two becomes a three or more is an amazing privilege that I appreciate everyday. Its REALLY hard work, not just physically because I walk, run, bend, lift, squat and reach about a 1000 times a day. Its emotionally hard, I invest a bit of myself in the women I care for and it stays with me for a long time afterwards. This is a good thing in my eyes, a strength, it helps me to connect to the women I care for to be there when they need me.
And here is where the yogi part comes in. I have been practicing myself for a long time and always wanted to learn to teach. This year with the Covid19 pandemic a lot of the courses have been converted to very indepth and comprehensive online courses. I took the opportunity and two months later certified as a yoga teacher. My aim is to mix the two other bits of my life with this one. I want to welcome other women into my MamiTribe. I have developed two types of yoga for women. MamiYoga is for pregnant women of all kinds. The aim is to connect the woman to her body and growing baby. Learning how movement increases space and flexibility in their body to prepare them for the later stages of pregnancy and during birth. Breathing techniques to help them find calm whenever they feel they need it. But not only this, I want women to connect with each other. To find support networks before their babies arrive so they have someone on the other end of a message at 3am when they are still awake with their newborn. Someone to cheer them on when they pluck up the courage to take all children to the supermarket on their own for the first time. To hold their hand on a hard day and laugh with them on a good one.
MamiCore is geared towards women who want to strengthen their core and pelvic floor post pregnancy. It doesn’t matter whether you had your baby weeks ago or years ago. All is not lost. When I had my first baby I noticed I constantly felt off balance, unstable and my posture was changing. I have a dance background so have always been lean and had good core strength so I had no idea what was happening to me. I spoke to a few health professionals about this and NONE of them could give me any suggestions as to why I would be feeling like this and most even laughed it off a something “normal” after having a baby. Even myself as a midwife had no idea what was going on. After some research of my own I was able to diagnose myself with a Diastasis Recti, a separation of the abdominal muscles that lasts after the baby arrives. This issue weakens the core, affecting your balance, stability and strength and if left untreated can be the cause of pelvic floor issues later in life. MOST women have never heard of it and MOST women have it following pregnancy. No amount of standard pelvic floor exercises will help to rectify it. AND even more, standard core exercises like crunches, planks etc can make it worse! I have developed MamiCore to target the deeper core muscles, to bring them together again before strengthening them. Integrating pelvic floor exercises into the practice to promote health of the whole core muscle system.
Ok, I now feel like I’m ranting. I’m just passionate about this I suppose. Passionate about the MamiTribe and passionate about Mami health in general. It shouldn’t be overlooked or forgotten about. It is so so important and links directly to a healthy Mami mind and family life.
Well there we go Kieron. I’ve done it. My first blog post. It’s all for you by the way xx
