Gemma Atkinson has opened up about her post-birth recovery.
The former Strictly Come Dancing star announced the birth of her second child, Thiago, with her fiancé Gorka Marquez last month.
As she settles into life as a mum-of-two, Gemma has shared an honest insight into her first outing since welcoming Thiago into the world via C-section.
The 38-year-old revealed she was taking her three-year-old daughter Mia to preschool and after carrying Thiago in his carseat for a short distance and walking for 15 minutes, her body reminded her to take it easy as her C-section scar started ‘throbbing’.
Detailing the painful experience to her 1.9M Instagram followers, Gemma explained, “As you can see I'm sweating. Mia has been wanting to take Thiago into pre-school and I said I'd do it today”.
“So we popped him in the car and mum's drove us but I've carried him in, in his car seat”.
“And then after that we walked for about 15 minutes, got him back in the car and just that on its own has set my scar off throbbing a bit”.
The former Hollyoaks actress added, “I feel a bit - not sick, but a bit ‘ooof’. And it's just a reminder, a constant reminder, of what your body’s been through if you've had a C-section and just to slow down”.
“So yeah, first one, I didn't expect it to be like, ‘Wahey! Plain sailing’, but we've done it. Took him to pre-school and had a walk. Now I'm gonna sit down and put my feet up”.
Writing a message on the video as a reminder to take postpartum recovery seriously, Atkinson added, “First outing done. Defo won't be doing long walks as planned yet. I'm gonna wait another week. My body has told me it's not quite yet ready and that's ok”.
Delving into more details of her C-section with Thiago, Gemma revealed the recovery had been easier than the emergency C-section she had with Mia.
“The first was definitely harder for me. Mentally I felt strange. With it being an emergency one & out of my hands and then having the haemorrhage I was in hospital for 4 days so spent a good few weeks wondering why & how it happened etc”.
“This time was different. Physically I'm sore (but I expect to be) but mentally I feel really good. Even with broken sleep I’m happy & calm and that for me is a biggie”, the mum-of-two added.
