I always thought that if I ever got pregnant, I’d be a proper earth mum. You know the sort I mean – no ultra-processed foods, daily barefoot yoga on the grass, meditating through the trimesters. In reality, I’m still the same slightly manic person I was before, filling up on crisps and kimchi, cycling to work in my usual unorganised fashion, trying pregnancy yoga only to decide that it’s too boring and going out for a run instead. Pregnancy hasn’t really changed me in all the ways I thought it would – it’s only slowed me down.
For a while, I felt a bit disappointed. If carrying a little human doesn’t make me want to lean into my alternative side and focus on all things nourishing, what am I going to be like as a mum? And then, I started chatting to other women from within the health and fitness world who are all due around the same time as me, and it became clear that pregnancy really doesn’t give a damn who you were before or what your goals for this period were.
Compared to so many of my fitness friends who are also expecting in the spring, I’ve been incredibly lucky to get away with the odd five-day migraine and a spot of fatigue (I’ve never been a napper, but increasingly I find myself needing to lie down after a workout or day spent walking around). One triathlon-competing associate has barely left her house in seven months thanks to extreme sickness. Another new running mum friend has gone from teaching pilates every day and running great distances to barely being able to run for more than 10 minutes. It’s all very humbling, but I guess the key thing is to appreciate that the hormonal change comes at you fast, and no amount of fermented foods, chakra alignments or marathon training can really change that. It also takes the pressure off: no one expects you to be superwoman when you’re pregnant.
That said, I still think there needs to be a happy medium between being kind to yourself and thinking of pregnancy as an ailment. It’s weird that people seem shocked that a pregnant woman might still be running up hills but aren’t that bothered when no one offers you a seat on the Tube. We’re still capable people, and if you’re not struggling with sickness, a bit of movement is a brilliant stress reliever (and good for the baby). Earth mums or not, we each intrinsically know what’s best for our own bodies – even if that’s a world away from our former lives or expectations.
Miranda Larbi,
Strong Women Editor
(and mum-to-be)
