Surfing Mothers
My son Billy one has made it to nine months old. Where does the time go?! I breastfed Billy exclusively for nearly eight months and it was amazing, but also by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Those early days and the sleep deprivation, it’s indescribable. I guess we are basically keeping a human alive at the end of the day, we are giving ourselves to them completely and I found it to be one of the most rewarding but draining and exhausting experiences.
When Maeve (who broke her leg surfing tiny waves last week) told me that the doctor said she had broken her leg because she had Transitional Osteoporosis, a rare condition where her bones were weakened from pregnancy and breastfeeding the accident made a lot more sense than breaking your leg surfing. To be honest, that just doesn’t happen. For Maeve to have this happen to her is awful, but it has definitely highlighted an underlying issue that needed to be addressed.
I was wary of putting this post out because I don’t want other mums who breastfeed to think that they shouldn’t get out there and do all the things that make them who they are. As a new mother I know how important it is to get out and be active, especially when so little time is your own anyway. I knew it was important to give myself a sense of normality and keep me active but I guess this post is two fold.
To those that worry that breaking your leg when surfing is normal, it’s definitely not, in fact it’s pretty much unheard of.
To those that want to keep active, experience new things but are breastfeeding, please know that this is a rare condition, keep active, keep, in the words of Maeve, 'staying true to who you are and still do what you love when you've had a baby' because you quite simply need to; look after yourselves, you truly are amazing.
To Maeve, you’re a true inspiration, cool headed and tough as nails. We'll be surfing together in New Zealand in December.
These are the things that define us. Our kids will grow up, look at our scars and be proud that we are who we are; out there doing it.