Really, Amanda Holden?

Feb 5, 2012 by cafebebemama

Edit (6/2/12): The original title of this post was “Shame on you Amanda Holden” however after receiving several comments on Twitter about this post, I have changed the title and issued this editorial. Provided she is given medical clearance and serves her government mandated two weeks maternity leave, obviously Amanda Holden is free to do what she likes. I am sure she will have her baby and helpers with her when she attends Britain’s Got Talent auditions and obviously, sitting in a chair isn’t hard work. However, I still stand by my point that it isn’t advisable to return to work so soon following such a serious delivery. I hope Amanda Holden will have a positive and smooth recovery. What is a shame is that perhaps Ms Holden feels the need to return to work so soon. Whether for financial reasons or contractual obligations, it is a shame that she can’t take more time to focus on own recovery and her family’s new bit of happiness.

This morning, while feeding Sam his morning bottle I was watching BBC Breakfast. While reviewing the day’s newspaper headlines, they announced one of the headlines reporting that Amanda Holden plans to return to work as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent as early as next weekend. Less than two weeks ago, Amanda Holden went into labour 1 week early and had her daughter Hollie delivered by Emergency Caesarian Section. Following the safe delivery of her daughter, apparently Amanda lost a considerable amount of blood, had to have several pints of blood in a transfusion and remained in Intensive Care for three days. She was not allowed to see her daughter for three days due to the severity of her emergency delivery, so say the reports.

The recovery time for a caesarian section is recommended to be six weeks. Obviously every patient is different. Some recover quicker than others. However, when you’ve had, what seems to be as traumatic a delivery as Amanda Holden has had, received a blood transfusion and been in intensive care, do you think heading back to work after two weeks would be sensible? I doubt it!

It’s one thing to reply to emails, take phone calls, handle simple business from home but to schelp yourself (albeit by a driver) into a location hours from your home (next weekend’s auditions are in Edinburgh, Scotland), dress up in some flashy numbers probably including high heels, sit for hours watching insane acts attempt to win a chance to perform for the Royal Family seems quite daft. Why on Earth would anyone want to be away from their gorgeous, squidgy newborn for a few hours much less a day? It’s not like Britain’s Got Talent is THAT important after all. Maybe if she was Prime Minister or President of the United States but a JUDGE on Britain’s Got Talent?? I think Amanda Holden’s newborn daughter, older daughter and husband are FAR more important, don’t you?

I thought I could just bounce back from my caesarian section following Sam’s birth. Granted, every day after delivery I felt better. However, I was tired, sore and didn’t have the same amount of energy and stamina as before. I pushed it too hard in the first two weeks following Sam’s birth. Walking to Ella’s school left me drained for hours and increased my blood loss. My body was telling me that it wasn’t ready. That was a 5 minute walk down the road! Just attempting routine household tasks ended up setting me back a day or two. My abdominal discomfort continued well beyond what it should have and one day my knee suddenly swelled up dramatically. I went to the GP where it was determined that I had a Kidney Infection to go along with my c-section recovery. I was placed on a week’s course of anti-biotics and began to feel much better but that was two weeks post delivery! I returned to my freelance work around 4 weeks post-delivery with the odd bit of work here and there prior to that. I also continued to post on this blog in the days following Sam’s birth. I’m not perfect at “taking it easy” either however I paid a price in the end by slowing my own recovery.

Of course, provided she has medical clearance to do so, Amanda Holden is free to do what she likes. I just think that it’s daft! Taking yourself away from your familly and what should be your primary focus, pushing yourself physically when your body needs plenty of time, rest and support to recover is not sensible for anyone. When a celebrity does something so inadvisable it sets a precendent that none of us “normal people” can live up to. There’s already enough pressure on mothers to be able to fit back into their pre-pregnancy jeans within weeks following the delivery of their babies thanks to celebrities like Katie Price, Victoria Beckham and Heidi Klum. Shouldn’t we allow mothers the time to be mothers and recover on their own terms instead of setting unrealistic expectations as a society? The work can wait. Britain can wait. Babies are far more precious and the health and well-being of their mothers should be what we’re concerned about, shouldn’t it? I really hope that Amanda Holden’s physicians feel the same because they certainly should not be signing her off to return to work at two weeks post delivery.

So my advice, Amanda Holden? Keep your comfy clothes on, scrape your hair back in a ponytail, skip the makeup and snuggle up with your so-longed-for Hollie Rose. That’s where Britain wants to see you…not on our televisions, just yet anyway.