Hi Claire! Tell me about OmniMama - what is it, and what does it offer to mums in the area?
I set up OmniMama last year, a spin-off of my company Omnia Health (omnia-health.co.uk) that I have been running for 5years. While I offer Massage Therapies, Pilates and Stress Management through Omnia Health I was serving a lot of pregnant and post-natal women, many of whom were unaware or uninformed about the therapies, and exercises that they can and cannot do during their pregnancy. This was a position that I had found myself in when I was pregnant my first son, so I wanted to create something that would help other people see what was available. In my own clinics (in Westhill and Alford) I provide massage therapies for ladies during their pregnancy, right up to and during labour. As well as offering relaxation for them, I also work closely with them ensure we address any issues that can be dealt with my remedial massage skills, so we really work together to suit their needs and ease pains and discomfort. I also offer baby massage, which is amazing to help carers bond with their little ones, help babies brain development and can also address some of the issues that new-borns suffer, like colic and trapped wind.
I network with other health professionals; yoga instructors, hypno-birth experts, maternity reflexologists for instance, all of whom can fill in the blanks where I cannot. I think this is so valuable to the pregnant client, to have a full client centric approach to their health. I have a special interest in the recovery of clients too, helping them address the issues that often are seen as “normal” after pregnancy, frequently arising from a weak pelvic floor, muscle damage and so forth. In March I will be offering classes and 1 to 1 sessions that are designed to address these problem areas. These Holistic Core Restore® classes will run in six week blocks and are based around the repair and strengthening of the body that will help mothers (however postnatal they are) to regain strength in the whole of the core. I am very excited by this and I know that this is an area that will help many women regardless of how post-natal they are.
As well as running Omnia, you're a busy mum of 3! How do you juggle the demands of motherhood with work?
Something has to give, it always does. Some days I am super on the ball with work, and the kids and the school run, but the house is a tip. Other days the children and the house are great but I have an inbox full of unread emails. It's swings and roundabouts. The guilt mothers feel, working or not, is a real thing and there is no straight answer to it. I think we all wake up some days and feel that we should be doing better. I guess I balance it by giving myself a break and am a little kinder to myself about it all. I am fortunate that I get to dictate my work schedule, so I can be with my older sons at pick up from school and nursery, but that does mean that I have to work evenings to fit other clients in, so it’s a case of doing their dinner and baths before heading out again. I know I am fortunate that I get to work like this and it is a small sacrifice I think. Motherhood is demanding, somedays it really is “ok, did we all get through the day?” but it really is for a short length of time and I know that in a couple of years my youngest son will be at school too and everything will change again.
