Rebecca Adlington has detailed how she and husband, Andy Parsons, attended couples therapy together after suffering two tragic miscarriages. The former Olympic swimmer, who is a mum to kids Summer and Albie, lost a child at 12 weeks, in August 2022. Just a year later, Rebecca miscarried her daughter, Harper, at 20 weeks, and had to undergo an induced labour and stillbirth.
Rebecca claims that she and Andy worked with a counselor to shift her perspective so that she could accept the tragedy. “I’ve had therapy before, so I knew a lot more about it, but Andy didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t sure. I think the fact that Petals offers counselling together, he was like, ‘ Oh, OK, let’s do it together. ‘ If it had been him alone, I don’t believe he would have left. Really, really helpful and crucial for us to do something together. We spent three or four months doing it, which helped us escape that awful cloud. It helped us both understand what the other was going through because we both reacted and handled situations very differently.
Rebecca admits it was a “dark” time for her and Andy, however, she tells us they have now arrived at a place of acceptance, and she’s keen to help others do the same.
“]Miscarriage] is a hard topic to talk about and to listen to. It’s not spoken about as much because people find it uncomfortable. When I mention miscarriage, they don’t know how to respond or they think I’m going to break down in a flood of tears. Of course, it’s incredibly devastating and heartbreaking, but I got to a point when I’d spoken about it so much. Now, I can talk about Harper without being in floods of tears”, explains Rebecca, who is
a spokesperson for Petals, a charity dedicated to helping people who lose babies.
Ensuring she keeps her daughter’s memory alive, the former sportswoman continues, “We’ve found a way to include her in our family, and the kids even say, ‘ My sister Harper. ‘ We found a place that is just really beautiful. Obviously,
Even though we wish it wasn’t, I want to help people, even one, feel the same way, which is accepting it. Because it’s so devastating, so many people still experience so much trauma.
The more you discuss it, the more you’ll discover the child’s family, and you’ll be able to move forward. It’s just accepting and finding that place, which I believe is very important, and it’s never going to forget and never go.
The Olympian didn’t just go through a tough time mentally, but says she took a step back from health and fitness, finding herself in a” rut””. “begins Rebecca,” which I went through for about two years without going to the gym at all. I had my miscarriages, and I went through this body-loving phase. I was like, “Ugh. We had moved house too, so you don’t know where to go when you’re in a new area. “
The athlete now resumes a routine and engages in weekly swimming and Pilates during the week. I swim on a Sunday but I don’t really count that as exercise. My mental health is more important than anything else, in my opinion, Sunday’s swim. I don’t have my phone attached to me, I don’t go fast or anything like that. No one is calling me, asking me to do anything, or just to let my mind wander and shut off.
Speaking of her role as ‘ mummy’, Rebecca is clearly a doting parent as she says”, The kids are super cute, they’re at great ages. Albie is three and Summer’s nine, so they’re just so amazing. We’ve just had Christmas and all that which they loved, so it’s been a really magical time for them, “says Rebecca. Meeting via a dating app back in 2018, Rebecca, 35, admits she and Andy haven’t had the most conventional route to love, but she wouldn’t change a thing.
We have never really had the kid-free time that other couples do because Andy met me when I already have Summer. Our relationship never had the stage where you meet and then have kids, so it’s different, “says Rebecca, who retired from swimming in 2013 after winning double gold at the Beijing Olympics five years earlier”. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. Because he is such a wonderful daddy, I knew right away what a fantastic daddy he would be.
stepdad. We love family life. “
Rebecca admits that juggling work and parenting with her own health and fitness is challenging at times. Rebecca says she’s making an effort to prevent any winter flu from entering her home to make sure no one gets sucked into the busy family schedule. In order to stop the bug spiral at this time of year, she has collaborated with Sambucol on their Viral Spiral campaign.
” When you’re in a household of multiple people, especially kids, so many germs are brought home. And because my husband actually works in a school, “says Rebecca,” that’s never good. “We just end up bringing everything in.” So, as a parent, I’m really keen on making sure that we’re all covered and not bringing each other down. We’re just making sure that we try to stay as healthy as possible in that regard because otherwise, we’ll all be shot down as a family and never recover.
She continues”, I’ve actually taken Sambucol for years anyway. I’m a little daunted by ingredients because, despite having swim lessons, I don’t know everything about nutrition and sometimes get overwhelmed by the number of ingredients in something. I’m conscious of the kids getting everything they need in their diet, so, taking an immune supplement and something like Sambucol, which have really natural ingredients, does make a difference. “
In its most recent campaign, Rebecca Adlington collaborates with Sambucol to raise awareness of how families can avoid the “Viral Spiral” and avoid the bugs. For more information, please head to Sambucol. co. uk or shop at Boots or Holland &, Barrett.
Source: Mirror
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