Having babies changed me
I understood before I had my children that my life was going to change significantly.
I would have less alone time, I would have tiny humans completely dependent on me, and I understood, but I didn't know what was about to happen. The thing I would never be prepared for, I never really understood, was the effect and change it would have on me physically.
Having spent a lifetime watching social media, I enjoy reading gossip pages, I have seen women bounce back from pregnancy, without any issue. We see lots of people out there who seem to do so well, postnatally, so I assumed that's how it would go for me. I was very wrong and misguided in that.
And here I am, four years postpartum from my second child, and I still have excess skin, excess weight, and problems with my pelvic floor, including prolapse and occasional incontinence. I want to go back to me in 2013, before I had a baby and simply say, maybe you should stop in to see the pelvic health physiotherapist before you have these babies and get some advice, and some hints and tips so you can recover better and have some understanding of what could go wrong.
My primary health care providers during my pregnancy were amazing, but I wish they had told me more about the things that could go wrong.
about the fourth degree tear
about the difficulty I would have walking for the first four weeks of my son's life because of pain
about the bruising from the epidural
about the sheer exhaustion from a 23 hour labor.
I don't think either of my births were bad but, I wish I had been better prepared.
However, I am eternally grateful for the experiences they gave me that led me into specializing and taking a unique look at pelvic health.
Not only has becoming a pelvic health physiotherapist opened up a whole new world to me, but it's also helped my skills when I treat patients with orthopedic injuries like low back pain, hip pain, knee pain, and shoulder pain. I feel better equipped because of the skills I have developed.
I have spent so much time and energy trying to get away from tips and techniques that will cure somebody and I'm now working harder on:
giving people options
getting people moving
dissuading staying in one position
getting everything right
All the while teaching that every movement can be a good movement.
So while having my babies changed me physically, they also changed me emotionally. They changed me professionally. And for that I am eternally grateful.
Nicola Robertson
Pelvic Floor Physiotherapist