Women’s health physiotherapist Mandy Shum and psychologist Kathryn Gale discuss how to navigate the physical and emotional changes of pregnancy with confidence and compassion
The journey of pregnancy ushers in a myriad of physiological changes that can leave expectant mothers feeling both amazed and unsettled. For starters, the uterus expands 20 times to accommodate the growing foetus. In addition to that, the body undergoes other significant changes, including breast size, weight gain, skin pigmentation, etc.
In light of this, it's understandable that many prenatal women express concerns about reverting to their pre-pregnancy state. But let’s attempt to reframe this perspective. Rather than fixating on how different your body has become or how to ‘bounce back’ postpartum, try to focus on the fact that your body is currently engaging in a profoundly transformative process of creating, nurturing and sustaining new life. This is not to say that you should be passive as your body changes. On the contrary, staying active can help you to adjust to your prenatal body more optimally as it can provide a sense of confidence both mentally and physically. The first step is to incorporate regular cardio, strength training or any physical activity into your routine—this will make you look, but more importantly, feel strong.
See also: How to return to running postpartum—with confidence and continence
Embracing the pregnancy and postpartum journey
So, realistically, what does this look like? The current pregnancy exercise guidelines recommend 75 or 150 minutes of vigorous or moderate exercise per week respectively, plus at least two sessions of strength training. In those strength sessions, you should include exercises for the upper and lower body and of course your pelvic floor and core. A lot of women are apprehensive about training their core due to misconceptions that it will hurt the baby or put excessive strain on the abdominal muscles but truthfully more issues may arise if you don't, especially postnatally. With that in mind, what core exercises are suitable? There's bird dog rows, pall-off presses, woodchoppers, weighted side bends and many more. The key is to train your core three dimensionally and also include all the muscles that attach to the pelvis, such as glutes, hamstrings, adductors, quads. Every 10 minutes of aerobic exercise counts and may be as easy as walking to transport or using your lunch break to move.
After pregnancy, many women find that their body image and perceptions of their physical self come to the forefront as they navigate the significant physical changes experienced during and after childbirth. Body image is a tricky thing because it masquerades as being about your body (‘If my body was just a bit more like this or that, I’d love it’). But, how you feel about your body is not about your body at all. It’s about your relationship with yourself, and your anxiety about how your body will look in the future, after all the pregnancy changes.
Firstly, consider your relationship with yourself. We usually view our body as an outer representation of ourselves. So, if I don’t think I’m enough, or that people won’t really like me if they know me, or that I won’t be a good mum, etc, then I’m not going to be thinking great things about my body. The postpartum period generally makes everything more heightened—if I was critical of my body (and myself) before, I’m probably really despairing about it now.
Secondly, throughout the pre and postnatal period, the main concern about body image is often related to the future. We have our minds fixated on worst case scenarios and we’re convinced we will never feel good about our body again. (ie. rather than appreciating our body in the present moment, we project our energy towards the body we don’t want in the future).
What can you do mentally about these challenges?
The truth is that the more you experience true love, compassion and empathy—from others, but more importantly, from yourself, the easier it is to accept the way your body is in the moment, have gratitude for all that it brings, and make a sensible plan for what you would like to achieve.
- Consider the truth that you are equal to everyone else. No one is up on a pedestal.
- Feel gratitude for everything your body is and does.
- Acknowledge three things you love about your body.
- Notice the way you talk to yourself, and the things you say about your body. Would you talk that way to your best friend?
- Take five minutes in the morning and the evening to slow down your breathing and notice the breaths moving in and out of your body. This may seem unrelated, but it’s essential for clarity of thinking.
- Create personal goals for your physical and mental health that are inspiring and exciting, based on your circumstances. You want to feel enough, just the way you are, and you want to feel strong and healthy.