I remember the moment that I tried on my maternity swimsuit in Mothercare. I looked hideous, tears pricked my eyes as I scanned the sight before me. I was only 5 months pregnant and huge! I bought the costume and decided to brave the pool with the persuasion of my midwife.

I felt nervous emerging from the changing room but what I actually saw made me feel much better. Ten other women looking equally as hideous!

I had all sorts of fear about going swimming most reinforced by my neurotic mother! What if I slipped in the pool? Well I didn't and I have even heard that at some of these sessions you wear socks in the pool - I don't know if that is accurate or not. Then I was worried in case I went into labour and had the baby their and then - if only! This was all at the point before I realised you usually have to endure hours of pain (23 in my case) until baby enters the world. I was also worried about the way I looked and with this my confidence had slipped away and I was concerned that I wouldn't make any friends. It actually took a lot of guts on my part to turn up let alone get in the pool.

I'm pleased to say that once I got into the pool I felt 'normal' again. My body became weightless and all the aches and pains of my pregnangcy were soothed away. It was quite a strange session as the water sorts of lifted by bump and carried me away. I had suffered quite badly with back pain and found that the water offered me some relief.

The classes were run by two midwives, although this was the only contact I had with them throughout the pregnancy I was glad I knew them when one turned up to pull out my stitches after the birth! One of the midwives was on the side showing us what to do while the other was in the water with us which was very reassuring. The exercise involved some simple stretches as well as a work out for the oh so important pelvic floor muscles. It is amazing how much better you feel
after a good stretch as I felt unable to do anything like this while pregnant for fear of hurting junior. The music was up beat and lifted my spirits as we copied STEPS dance moves to 'Tragedy'. Floats were given out to aid our exercising and you could stop exercising at any time.

The floats supported you making you feel weightless. They were sort of long tubes that you could lay into for a good relax. Also you could put them inbetween your legs and work your leg muscles by performing a cycling action this let you travel up and down the pool.

You did have to be able to swim to attend this class as we did do some lengths of the pool and also ventured into the deep end. It would be advisable to check with the organiser first regarding how water confident you need to be.

The classes made me feel so much better about myself. I was able to make friends, share pregnancy stories and the exercise did wonders for my bad back. I was only sorry that the classes clashed with my work and therefore I was uanble to attend every week. In fact the classes are the one thing that I miss about being pregnant!

I wish I had known about the classes from earlier on in my pregnancy. Ask your midwife if anything like this exists in your area at one of your appointments. I have since heard that this class has closed down, there wasn't enough interest - but neither was their enough publicity.

Thanks for reading.