Olympics - Feeling Inspired?

With the Olympics about to start, talk in the media has turned to how it’s going to turn us into a nation of couch potatoes whilst we sit in front of the TV watching sport instead of taking part in any!

Although being pregnant can some days leave you feeling as though you’ve run a marathon, gentle exercise when pregnant is great for both your body and mind.  As well as helping your body cope with the strain of pregnancy on your joints and muscles, exercise also reduces constipation, backache, fatigue, bad circulation and varicose veins.  

There are some sports that should be avoided – contact sports where you could get hit in the stomach, horse riding, high impact aerobics, scuba diving, running on the road or anything that involves heights.

Walking, stretching and toning are all great when pregnant providing any classes you attend are led by a qualified instructor who is experienced in pregnancy yoga or Pilates. If you were already attending a class before you got pregnant, tell your teacher you’re pregnant so they can let you know of any parts of the lesson you should avoid.  Swimming is particularly good and is great for backache in late pregnancy as the water supports your whole body.  Check out the classes at your local leisure centre, most offer antenatal exercise classes.

At Emma-Jane we have a lovely maternity swimsuit and tankini, available in a choice of colours, as well as soft leggings, and our award winning maternity bras, which are supportive, stylish and above all comfortable.  All in all, the perfect garments for some gentle exercise.

Last but not least, don’t forget to do those important pelvic floor exercises!  Your pelvic floor is the muscle that supports your uterus, bowel and bladder.  Pregnancy and childbirth puts pressure on the pelvic floor and can leave some women with stress incontinence, this is where they lose a few drops of urine when they sneeze or cough.  You can tone your pelvic muscles so they maintain their strength – often called the ‘invisible exercise’ it’s when you pull in and tense your muscles as if trying to stop the flow of urine.  Hold for 5 seconds then relax.  Aim to about 10 sets of 5 exercises each day. 

Twins Top Tips

Linda Nelson is mum to 7 year old identical twin girls.  Admittedly she's well past the breastfeeding stage, but with a little distance between then and now, she gives us her top tips on how to make things a little bit easier when your family unit doubles...

Upon learning we were having twins after the first scan we went out and celebrated with a nice meal. My pregnancy went without a hitch until my waters broke early at 35 weeks and one week later we were blessed with two beautiful identical baby girls. However, the learning curve was steep and we got precious little sleep in the early days! Here are my top tips for survival: 

1) Routine, routine routine!  Get into a routine in terms of feeding, bath time and bedtime; 

2) try get out every day even if it is pouring with rain- get your waterproofs on and roll out the pram. It gives you a break from the four walls

3) get as much sleep as you can- a bit of cat napping when you can, will take the edge of your tiredness; 4) Team work with your other half is essential.  My husband did the evening shift and I did the night shift. I often went to bed at 8.00/9.00PM and then did the night shift from 12.30ish so we both managed to try bank some quality sleep. Unfortunately we had to do this as ours were very poor sleepers for many, many months no matter what we tried! 

5) We made up our bottles the night before and had them in the fridge ready to roll the next day- a quick warm up in the bottle warmer and they were ready to go!

The main thing and above all else- enjoy them. It is a unique experience having and bringing up twins and though the first couple of years  were tough, they are joy and it goes in a flash!

Good luck

The Business of Babies

My name is Isobel Thompson and if it wasn’t for the premature birth of my twins, I’d never have founded my business Morrck. 

 It was in the scorching hot summer of 2003 that I’d produced two tiny babies (twin girls by the way), born many weeks too early.  I was lucky, my girls grew strong and left hospital – and they’re like any other healthy 9 year olds now.

But that first year..my goodness..I thought the next time I’d actually manage to get out of the house was when I was drawing a pension!  Disappointed with the utter impracticality of so many baby products, I decided to do better, and so invented the Baby Hoodie. 

Baby Hoodie

The award winning Baby Hoodie is a unique, hooded travel wrap, shaped to fit into a car seat or pushchair.  It means an ends to fiddly coats, buttons and snowsuits.  No more rigid limbs being forced into snowsuits that are too big, too hot and time consuming!  Slits in the Baby Hoodie allow safety harnesses to feed through the soft fleece, allowing you to strap your baby in and wrap the hoodie around them.  Our Lightweight Hoodie is perfect for the warmer months, giving protection from the sun and warmth in chilly summer breezes. 

As a thank you for all the support I received when my babies were small, we donate £1 for every hoodie sold to TAMBA and to celebrate Twins, Triplets and More Week 2012, we’re doubling up to donate £2 from each sale.

We were delighted last year to be able to donate a Hoodie for the four Little Lambs born as sextuplets but sadly lost two of their siblings.  We hope our Hoodies made this super mum's life just a little bit easier!