— Janie Pengilly is a Lincoln mum of two, both under the age of 4, that keep her busy. As well as being a stay-at-home mum, she is also the editor of the new online magazine, Lincoln Mums. In the first column of the series, Janie looks at post-baby figures and local places mothers can get back into shape.
It’s the universal struggle for mum after baby: will I ever get my body back, and where do I start?
If you’re anything like I was after my first baby, you can feel like you almost have a new body. While I was reluctant to accept this new body for the long-term, the thought of exercise (particularly in front of other people) seemed really daunting.
At first, I tried all sorts; from buying an exercise bike (which actually makes a very good clothes horse) to trying to do exercise DVDs (amazing how babe always wakes up just as you are ready or have just begun the warm-up!) to running with the baby in the buggy (with hefty strapping for those breast-feeding boobs) but I never really found anything that worked for me.
I had my two children in quite quick succession, with only 21 months between them, and with a husband who works long hours, a lot of the time I felt like doing exercising was close to impossible.
Classes for mothers in Lincoln
I have explored a number of exercise options for mums. Whether you have a fresh baby, toddler or more than one, there is a way of exercising that doesn’t break the bank, and you don’t have to worry about childcare — mum and baby fitness groups.
For example, Ladybugs Fitness is a local Lincoln company set up by Cathy Burton. They offer two different types of classes that depend on your child’s age — a mum and baby Pilates/fitness class, and a Family Fit Camp.
The mum and baby class is a lovely, warm environment for mums with babies from six weeks up to when crawling confidently. With exercises that have a mum’s body in mind, from strengthening that pelvic floor to trying to get those stomach muscles back into shape.
Kim at Get Mummy Fit also runs classes in Lincoln throughout the week during the day that incorporate you and your buggy. They also run a get mummy running class.
Jacquie at Brand New U offers a variety of classes for mums (without their babes) around Lincoln throughout the week. Classes include Pilates, Zumba and Aqua Blast.
Be reassured that you’re not alone, and make sure you wait for your baby to get to around 6-8 weeks old and been given the all clear from your GP before you start to get that body back.
Elizabeth was the Associate Editor of The Lincolnite until December 2014.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite