Why Did No One Tell Me?

A reassuring, no-nonsense guide to caring for your body before, during and after giving birth.
For too long, women have been told that debilitating conditions following pregnancy are normal, to be expected, and something to just put up with.
Emma Brockwell is on a mission to change this. Having been through two difficult pregnancies herself, Emma combines her expertise as a specialist women's health physiotherapist with personal experience to create a warm, honest, informative and essential handbook to help pregnant women and new mums take control and care for their changing bodies.

Every woman has the right to be informed and this empowering guide gives you all the tools you need to look after your amazing body throughout motherhood and ultimately empowers you to know that everything will be OK!

Find out how to: 

• Protect your pelvic floor
• Heal effectively from birth - both vaginal deliveries and caesarean sections
• Tackle common - and TREATABLE - post-birth problems
• Exercise safely after birth 

Contents

Part 1 feeling Fit and well in Pregnancy

Chapter 1 The ‘bits’ that matter

Chapter 2 The Importance of Your core During Pregnancy (and beyond)

Chapter 3 Why and How to Adore Your Pelvic Floor

Chapter 4 Physical Changes During Pregnancy

Chapter 5 Managing Aches and Pains During Pregnancy

Chapter 6 Physical Activity and Exercise During Pregnancy

Chapter 7 Preparing For Childbirth

 Part 2 How to Heal From Birth

Chapter 8 Healing Well After a Vaginal Delivery

Chapter 9 Healing Well After a Caesarean Section

Chapter 10 Postnatal Body Surprises

Chapter 11 Protect and Nurture Your Body When Feeding Baby

Chapter 12 Eat, Sleep and Self-Love

Chapter 13 The Road to Recovery : Postnatal Checks

Part 3 Problem-Solving (Everything Will be OK)

Chapter 14 Eek, I’m Leaking Wee! Urinary Incontinence and How to Treat It

Chapter 15 Help! Fanny Farts, Leaking Wind and Poo

Chapter 16 There is a Bulge in My Vagina! Pelvic Organ Prolapse  and What You Can Do to Treat It

Chapter17 Why Does My Tummy Look  Like This? Diastasis Rectus Abdominus

Chapter 18 I’m Worried About Having Sex

Chapter 19 Ouch! I Have So Many Aches and Pains!

Chapter 20 Perinatal Mental Health

Part 3 Strong Mother

Chapter21 Exercising After Baby

Chapter 22 Getting You on Track : Exercising in the First 12 Weeks Post- Baby

Chapter 23 Running, Impact and Getting Stronger

My Final Words

Appendix 1 Your Postnatal Checklist

Appendix 2 The T.I.C.K.S Rule for Babywearing

Appendix 3 Your 0-12 Week Exercise Plan

Resources

Endnotes

Acknowledgements

Index

About the Author

Emma Brockwell is a Specialist Women's Health Physiotherapist. She treats women of all ages with all women's health related conditions. She is passionate about pre and postnatal rehabilitation. She specialises in enabling women back to exercise, particularly running if they have any pelvic health dysfunction or are postnatal. She has co-authored the first 'Returning to Running Postnatal Guidelines' and has spoken about this subject at many medical and exercise conferences. Emma has written for many magazines including Women's Running and Women's Health magazine. Emma is also the co-founder of Pelvic Roar a physiotherapy led collaboration aiming to promote and unite all things 'pelvic health'. She is on the advisory board for The Active Pregnancy Foundation, Perinatal Physical Research Group and PANDAs. She works at The Halos Clinic in Oxted, Surrey and Body Logic Health in Battersea, London.