Health, Adventure and Love - Interview with Claire Falconer

Today Zoe speaks to Claire Falconer a health and fitness coach, personal trainer, yoga teacher and life-long wanderluster! Claire and her husband have been spending the past year travelling around Australia in a van and now that Claire is pregnant she talks about how her travelling experiences have prepared her for being a mother.   KEY TAKEAWAYS Claire moved to Dubai from Australia 10 years ago with 1500AUD and started up her business from the ground up. She met her husband Luke in Dubai and after some time they decided to move to Australia and pursue their dream of exploring living in a van. Claire and Luke have been trying to start a family since they got married. Claire had quite a lot of knowledge around getting her body ready for pregnancy by advice she had given previous clients, her health and fitness knowledge and by visiting the dr. before she started trying to conceive. After only three months Claire became pregnant, they told family immediately as didn’t even think that everything wouldn’t go to plan. Sadly, this was the first of two miscarriages. The miscarriage was so much more physically traumatising than Claire expected. On top of this, Claire had some retained pregnancy tissue so had to have medical invention. Claire was very grateful for the support she was given around her miscarriages and says she has a new-found respect for any woman who has gone through this trauma. We are better at talking about miscarriage in society than we once were but we often still do not talk about what specifically happens to a woman physically. One of the most confusing things for Claire to deal with around her miscarriages was the sense that her body had betrayed her. She did all of the right things and had so much knowledge of her body but she didn’t feel like it did what it was supposed to, what she wanted it to do. After suffering her second miscarriage. Luke and Claire began their van life adventure. Being with nature and living a minimalist life was really healing for them both. When they were ready, Claire and Luke wanted investigation into the miscarriages, but the threshold for help was 3 miscarriages. Claire wouldn’t accept this and managed to find someone to help her get into the system to get tests and she started to get help and support. Wonderfully, Claire fell pregnant for a third time and is now 26 weeks pregnant. After some complications at the start, at the 20 week scan Claire was downgraded to a normal, low risk pregnancy. They now feel more relaxed and excited for the arrival of their baby. Raising a baby in a van will certainly have its challenges but Claire is quietly confident of being able to extend her and her husbands minimalist lifestyle to parenthood.     BEST MOMENTS   “1 in 4 does not discriminate”   “You just get that sinking feeling; your heart skips a beat”   “It was the most horrendous thing to go through”   “At the time I think I thought I was emotionally ready, but in hindsight I wasn’t”   “We can’t control every at the moment so let’s just chill”   “Each time it’s holding your breath for the next scan”   “There are many countries around the world that don’t use prams”   VALUABLE RESOURCES IG @clairefalconer__ @vanlifestraya @coachedbyclaire   www.petalscharity.org www.tommys.org www.arc-uk.org www.sands.org.uk     ABOUT THE GUEST Claire Falconer   IG @clairefalconer__ @vanlifestraya @coachedbyclaire     ABOUT THE HOST Zoe Cresswell Devoted mother of two (and a big hairy dog), UK trained midwife, doula and personal trainer, specialising in pre and postnatal fitness. Zoe was born in the UK and before moving to Dubai in 2013 and worked as a midwife in central London, both in a birth centre and a very busy NHS hospital. Although late to the scene, Zoe is an aspiring athlete having won numerous triathlons and representing Great Britain where she placed within the top 10 on the world stage. With her husband James, the couple will soon be launching their cloth nappy company, Bop & Bee, where they hope to inspire families to swap a few disposable nappies a day for the more planet friendly option of cloth. Zoe’s goal is to share her knowledge and experience, tell real life stories, manage expectations and open up those often difficult conversations. Zoe’s own motherhood journey has been full of twists and turns as she put everything on hold and went through numerous miscarriages and rounds of IVF.   CONTACT DETAILS Instagram : @zoecresswell_me Facebook: Zoe Cresswell LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zoe-cresswell