Emma Henderson, owner of breathe studio, on launching the pregnancy programme
Emma Henderson, owner of Breathe Studio
My first trimester was hell on earth.
I’m not exaggerating. I was completely and utterly miserable. From 6 to 14 weeks, I was nauseous from dusk to dawn. I was sick multiple times a day, some days upwards of ten times. I couldn’t eat. I couldn’t even go into my kitchen. I couldn’t carry on a conversation with my boyfriend. I didn’t want to be touched. Not to mention it was January in London, which is a pretty bleak time generally.
Most significantly, I couldn’t move my body. For some that might not be such a big deal, but for context, I own a Pilates studio. Prior to falling pregnant, I would teach between two and four Pilates classes every day. And go to the gym. And go for a long walk. Exercise was my happy place, my income and a huge part of my identity. Hell, I walked away from a career as a lawyer because I just wanted to be at the gym. I felt as strong and confident as I ever had. And within a few weeks of finding out I was having my first baby, that identity was taken from me.
I remember watching my boyfriend get up early to go to the gym or for a cycle and feeling sick with envy (no pun intended). He would try to take me for walks and I would be sick every five metres. We went to Singapore on holiday and I didn’t leave the hotel room, except once, where I was sick in the Gardens by the Bay and in a trash can outside of a Chanel store. Sorry, Coco.
Then, by some miracle, around 15 weeks pregnant, the nausea started to lift. I felt like I had been released from prison. Suddenly everything seemed brighter and lighter. I decided to try working out again. I even bought a new gym bag and water bottle to celebrate the momentous occasion. My first time back on the mat I genuinely cried a little because I felt so relieved to be back doing what I loved. I realised, not for the first time in my life, just how imperative movement is to my physical and mental health. Overnight I became determined to regain the strength I had lost while lying in foetal position for eight weeks.
Emma and Oli filming The Pregnancy Programme
And yet it took only a week or so for me to realise that my days of doing four hours of Pilates were probably behind me. I suddenly started second guessing whether I was exercising safely. I didn’t enjoy my workouts because I felt guilty and worried that I might not be doing what is best for my precious baby. It was one thing to have read and taught the science based theory on what was safe, but it was another to actually be pregnant and to be testing that literature out with my own body.
I figured that if I was perplexed, with Pilates/Yoga teacher trainings trainings and a biology degree under my belt, then surely others were also unsure. I talked to other pregnant women and they agreed, they felt confused by the differing approaches across gyms and resources online. Some gyms let pregnant women balance in a lunge on a reformer bed (I don’t recommend), while others (including my own) took a conservative approach and would not let you participate in any non-pregnancy specific classes at all. Some YouTube videos showed pregnant women jumping lunging and deep twisting, while others suggested little more than bouncing on a birthing ball.
In my research I observed two other things which concerned me:
First, many pregnancy workouts online were not trimester specific. This was alarming, given that many movements are safe in first trimester but certainly not in the third. Furthermore, why limit yourself in first trimester to only that which is safe in third? Anyone who is pregnant (myself included) will tell you that the difference between each trimester is the difference between night and day; and
Second, most online Pilates platforms barely offer more than six to eight different workouts in their “prenatal” category. These workouts are around 7 to 15 minutes in duration. Are these videos supposed to keep us motivated for 40 weeks? Not to mention, what pregnant woman has the time or energy to click through a bunch of different videos trying to pick one?
You can guess what happened next. I came home to my boyfriend and announced that I knew what my second business was going to be. Luckily for me, he is the most supportive person in the world, and jumped on the train straight away. Together we set about creating The Pregnancy Programme.
The Programme was filmed weekly as my bump grew, because I wanted to know exactly what my clients were experiencing and feeling as they did the workouts. As fun as it was, I’m somewhat relieved to know that yesterday I recorded the last few classes and it’s time for me to put my tripod and Rode mic away. After all, there’s only so much time that a pregnant woman should have to spend editing footage of herself working out.
I really hope that TPP can help expecting mothers continue to stay strong and confident during pregnancy. My inability to exercise (or do basically anything at all) in first trimester reaffirmed to me with absolute certainty just how important it is for pregnant women to be able to keep moving their bodies during such a significant period of change.
Emma Henderson, owner of Breathe Studio and The Pregnancy Programme x
