Don’t worry ladies I’m not about to show you a photo of me six months postpartum with ripped abs and a really firm tush, if anything I’m quite the opposite. I should say though there is absolutely nothing wrong if you’re six months from having pushed a human out of your body and you are back to being fit as a fiddle… I salute you for embracing what you love and getting back to the treadmill. I’m probably stalking you on Instagram and using you as part of my ‘mumspiration’ board to try and help me get back to my previously stronger and more healthy self.

I’ve already written this post 3 times and it just didn’t seem right, maybe because it’s quite hard to talk about ones self when well, one isn’t really quite that happy with said self and doesn’t really like to admit it. But here goes. I think the first time I tried to pen this article it was perhaps not the most advantageous time of the month, if you know what I’m saying. Prior to having Tayo and post miscarriage, my periods were pretty much non existent. My body seemed to be in a right old tiz. But since having him… Wow. It’s like nothing I’ve ever experienced before. I was always very light to medium flow but now, especially the first two days, they are so heavy I actually don’t like to leave the house except for when I absolutely have to or for no longer than half an hour at a time. Has your menstrual cycle/flow totally changed? I’m wondering if anyone has experienced the same and I wonder if you’ve gone back to ‘normal’ over time? I wonder if birth control could be affecting it? Perhaps I should just let my body ‘be’ for a while so I can find out what’s ‘normal’?

I also have this constant craving. Every time I reach for the biscuits, which is at least twice a day, I hear K D Lang in my head. This thing I seem to have for sugar is getting way out of control. I’ve always loved a biscuit, often having half a pack of custard creams for breakfast in my teenage years (I know, my poor mother must have been despairing at me!) but since having Tayo my intake has increased ten fold. I’m not interested in chocolate or sweets (Although I did crave sweets when I was pregnant), the only thing that will cure my craving is a biscuit. I think the main reason I seem to have this need for sugar is because of the lack of sleep. Tayo still doesn’t sleep through; the longest stint he can seem to manage is 5 hours and that’s usually between the hours of 7 and midnight and I just can’t bring myself to go to bed at half 7 to try and get 4 hours sleep. So I’m in need of some energy. But I am very aware that its a bit of a catch 22, I eat the sugar, I get the high, an hour later I start to get the come down, I eat another biscuit and so on. What a horrid cycle and I’m so aware of it too. How do you deal with your sleep deprivation? I was really getting into exercising regularly and it was making me feel better but then I got one of those awful periods and it put a stop to it for a few days and I’ve not seemed to manage to get back into it? But I am determined to up the exercise and reduce the sugar and hope that I start to get a waves of natural energy as opposed to the synthetic ones I’m currently riding. Speaking of exercising…

How’s your pelvic floor? Mine is pretty crap. When I left the hospital the midwife told me I should aim to do 100 a day. 100! But ok, I was willing to give it a bash so as not to pee myself every time I ran up the stairs. But I have been so rubbish when it has come to it lately. My rule was… Every time I went to the loo I would do 20 that way throughout the day I’d definitely be able to get my 100 in. However, it turns out that I don’t go to the loo that often!? And that’s probably because I don’t drink enough which is also probably adding to my feeling tired and needing all the sugar. Vicious circle anyone!? How do you remember to do yours and when do you do them?

And lastly, I’m feeling all out of sorts with my body in general. I have always been fairly slim and would say that my body shape was fairly well proportioned, I’ve aways had slightly wider hips but generally, all pretty much proportioned. My shape changed slightly after Leo but not dramatically and I still felt very much like myself and recognised myself in the mirror. But this time? I’d like to use the word ‘ergh’. Everything is all out of kilter. My boobs have disappeared. Gone. They were never huge or anything but now when they look back at me in the mirror it’s like they’re just saying…’Meh’. When do you treat yourself to new undies post baby? I reckon this might be it for them six months on so maybe going on a good underwear shop might help me feel a bit better about them?

And as for everything else, there seems to be a constant theme running through my tummy, my butt and weirdly (or not), my double chin… The sag. BUT, I know that if you’re not happy with something the worst thing you can do is just sit and write a blog post whinging about it. I need to get said saggy butt up off the couch and get my squat on.
But any recommendations for what I can do to help my chin (and to help tone all that other excess skin for that matter) would be very welcomed? Creams, massage techniques, anything.

It might seem that I’ve just spent an entire post moaning about my body and all the things that go with it and at times it does get me down, knowing my jeans are still a bit tight, knowing my skin is a bit dull from lack of hydration (how do you remember to drink?! I am so bad for just forgetting) and all the sleep deprevation and well largly I guess I have, because it’s ok for us to have a whinge and I hope you will feel comfortable enough with me to have a whinge in the comments if you need to as well, but I’m also largely aware that my body is EPIC. There’s no one but me putting any pressure on to lose a few extra pounds or tone up that saggy chin and I have to; we all have to, remember that our bodies are incredible and one look at our babies will remind us of that in those dark wobbly times. It takes time for our bodies to heal and we must allow ourselves that time. We do what’s right for us whether that’s heading to the gym in your spare time to feel like yourself again or dunking another biscuit because actually, it’s Friday and you feel like you deserve a treat for being such a fantastic Mom!

Oh and what is with the weird drastic hair loss (like clumps washing down the drain with my shampoo) but then at the same time growth of strange baby hair at the front of my hair line?! Go figure.

So where are you at in your recovery? Have you managed to get back on track with exercise and healthy eating or are you finding yourself like me; stuck in a biscuit laden rut trying desperately to get out from under a sugar addiction? Any other ailments you’re not sure of that maybe other readers can help with? As always, leave comments and questions below my lovelies.