RTÉ’s Kathryn Thomas backs maternity campaign: ‘It’s the longest walk when you get bad news alone’
RTÉ presenter Kathryn Thomas has given her support to the campaign to drop all maternity restrictions with just a few weeks to go before having her second baby.
he ‘Operation Transformation’ star has echoed the concerns of other women and their partners who are calling on Health Minister Stephen Donnelly to take action on the ongoing controversy.
“I don’t think it’s right,” she told the Irish Independent.
“Padraig has only ever been with me for our 20-week scan and that was it. Restrictions are lifting on the 22nd, timing-wise for us, we’re going at the end of October, beginning of November.
“But whether you’re a first-time mom or not, it is so nerve-wracking, it is so anxiety-inducing, it’s so emotional, it’s so happy, it’s a special moment. And it’s not just for mothers; it’s for partners as well. I think it’s so important to have a level of support, to be able to have ward visits. It’s crucial for everyone’s mental health as well.”
She and husband Padraig McLoughlin are due a sibling to daughter Ellie (3) at the end of this month. But it has been a long road to starting their family and she spoke previously about the heart-ache of having two pregnancy losses before becoming a mum.
“The stories that have come out, of what women have had to endure on their own. Hospital corridors can be very emotive places for people at the best of times and I know that myself. And I just think, it’s the longest walk when you get bad news down a hospital corridor to get onto the end of a phone to someone or out to a hospital car-park,” she said.
“Having support in bad news is crucial but for a dad or a partner, to feel excluded from moments, everyone is thinking of the mother. But a moment should also be given to partners sitting outside in cars, waiting on phones, looking at WhatsApp videos.”
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She said that now the country is surging ahead with dropping the restrictions, all the maternity hospitals should be relaxing their rules on partners accompanying pregnant women to appointments and in labour.
The founder of the ‘Pure Results’ fitness retreats has just branched out into fresh territory as she launched her new fitness guide for expectant mums called ‘Bumpfit.’ She has devised a series of bespoke workouts with her personal trainer and friend Roisin Jones, who specialises in pre and post-natal fitness.
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TV presenter and founder of Pure Results Fitness Retreats Kathryn Thomas as she launches Bumpfit, which combines her fitness knowledge with her experiences of pregnancy to bring mums-to-be a safe and easy to follow exercise programme tailored to each trimester.
“My biggest priority was having a safe pregnancy after everything that we had gone through. I was nervous to exercise so I wanted to know that what I was doing was safe and healthy,” she said. “I wanted to create something where women could train with me, right through their three trimestres so it’s video workouts which she shot at the Rainforest spa in Wicklow. The programme starts at eight weeks pregnant and goes right up to 40 weeks.”
She said it’s been a “lovely thing to document” as she watched her bump growing as the weeks go by with a total of 96 workouts recorded while pregnant. The BumpFit programme is available to order now at a cost of €129.
