​Are you struggling to breastfeed, in pain and really don't know what to do? It's such a common thing for new mums to experience, it's not always easy and doesn't always just work. 

I have been lucky enough to connect with Laura Keegan the amazing author of "Breastfeeding with Comfort and Joy". I was amazed by how detailed and captivating this book is, with lovely images of all types of women discovering how they can breastfeed without pain. It's an ebook with 170 full image pages and 9 selected video's and definitely worth the read. 

Happy and glowing one minute, ready to rip someone's head off the next, followed by an emotional wreck on the floor crying after that. Sound familiar?
There are so many changes in the hormones in your body when you are pregnant, it can leave you feeling like you're going crazy!
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These changes are mostly from the increases in your hormones and are happening to create the best environment for your baby to develop and to prepare your body for labour and breastfeeding.
The 3 main hormones during pregnancy are:

Are you up for a challenge? Perfect, try this next time you go for a walk.

If you're not sure where your pelvic floor muscles are here is a recap. They attach at your pubic bone at the front and your tailbone at the back. These muscles act like a sling holding your organs up and inside you.
There are also the muscles that stop you urinating mid flow.
Now keep reading to try this challenge.

Everyone tells you to relax, put your feet up and don't stress when you're pregnant. Well they are right! But easier said than done. It's normal to have some stress in your life but if it's getting overwhelming here are some key reasons why you need to de stress and relax as much as possible while you're pregnant. You want to avoid extra levels of the stress hormone cortisol rising in your body. Higher levels of cortisol can increases your blood pressure and your heart rate, and slows down your metabolism. If you have excessively high levels of stress there is an extra risk of a pre-term baby or a low birth weight baby. All the more reason to relax and have some time out when you can.
A great way to do this is to make time for yourself, do things you love and you can even try meditation. Victoria Kasunic a Psychologist, Speaker and Author has developed 

​You're going to love this squat exercise as a labour challenge! Use your mind to push yourself through the squat just like you will through labour.

• ​Get your swiss ball and put it in the small of your back against a wall.
• Walk your feet out about 1 metre from the wall and find your neutral pelvis. Have your trunk and neck tall.
• Lower your body down so your thighs are parallel to the ground and your knee’s are in line with your ankles.
• Hold here for 1 minute and use this as a labour challenge. If you're struggling, come up a little so you aren't as low but try and hold some part of the squat for the whole minute.
• ​Try your best to hold your pelvic floor muscles on for the whole squat.

So let's talk nursery. How much fun are you having thinking about and planning your nursery? Well some of you might find it a bit overwhelming. So I'm here to give you another perspective when choosing your furniture.
​I'm not giving any styling advice whatsoever, my advice comes from a postural point of view with the idea to prevent you from having back pain.
Firstly where are you going to feed your child?
​If you choose to have a chair here's some things to think about.

• Make sure the chair has back support and by this I mean it's high, can accomodate you leaning back into it, and it has lumbar support. You can always add cushions in the small of the back (curve) to add extra support. 

​Who doesn’t want to recover from childbirth quickly?
Pregnancy and childbirth is hard for your body. Knowing you can exercise your pelvic floor muscles from day 1 is a must! Get them working as soon as possible. However, there is one other thing I highly recommend for all my pregnant clients and that is the SRC Recovery Shorts.
Whether you’re having a vaginal delivery or caesarian these shorts are fabulous in giving medical grade compression to your area's that need it the most, either the perineal wound or caesarian wound. This allows you to move around like everything isn't going to fall out, regain your strength and generally recover faster.

​It’s a major worry for most pregnant women. Is my baby ok now? and will my baby be ok when they are born? Apart from eating healthily, exercising and not drinking or smoking etc there isn’t much you can do to control if your baby is ok or not. However there are 3 things you can do for yourself which in turn will help your baby:
1. Trust your gut - look after yourself with general exercise, pelvic floor strengthening and healthy eating but most of all trust your instincts.