New mum Michelle Ackerley: ‘Pregnancy felt like a miracle’
By Lisa Salmon, PA
After being told the chances of ever having a child were “very, very slim”, Michelle Ackerley describes now being a new mum as “a miracle”.
The Morning Live presenter has suffered from painful endometriosis for many years and, after having tests, she was informed her fertility levels were so low that it was unlikely she could conceive.
Yet just a few weeks later, early last year, she found out she was expecting a baby.
“The whole journey of pregnancy, although tough for a lot of physical reasons, has felt like a miracle,” she says.
The 41-year-old gave birth by C-section in October last year, and is now the very proud mum of three-month-old Nala.
Ackerley, who married sports coach Ben Ryan in 2024, describes being a mum as “overwhelming”, and explains candidly: “That doesn’t take away from the very real moments you have every day, every night, sometimes every hour, of overwhelm, of isolation sometimes, and then moments of pure joy and wonder and just being overcome with emotion.
“I look at her sometimes and I just can’t believe she’s my little girl.”
Ackerley’s pregnancy wasn’t straightforward, as she suffered from extreme morning sickness for the first trimester, migraines for the second, and ended up in hospital with labyrinthitis during the final trimester.
After having the Caesarean birth, she was told to “take it slow and steady” and not to do too much too soon, but she says: “At the very start, especially with all the hormones and everything, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to almost get back to how I was before, which you realise pretty quickly cannot be the case, and you shouldn’t put that pressure on yourself.”
So she gratefully accepted an offer to join the We Like The Way You Move campaign by Sport England’s This Girl Can initiative, which aims to help women get active in ways that work for them.
“Post-pregnancy has been trying to relearn a lot of things, and understand my whole new identity and my body in a different way, which has a real impact on exercise,” Ackerley explains.
“So as someone that likes keeping fit, I feel like I’ve had to start from the ground up again, and I’m still very much in that process from a physical and a mental point of view.
“For me it’s very much about not overwhelming myself, and taking it bit by bit.”
She says the first thing for her to do after the birth was recover, which took about four to six weeks. After that, instead of going running, which she used to do before she became pregnant, Ackerley started with gentle exercise like walking,
“That’s something I’ve continued to do, but I’ve started to enjoy it more,” she says.
“The first part of the process was very much about recovery, and now it’s about being a bit more restorative, and reinforcement, plus enjoying the essence of what exercise is about from a physical and a mental point of view, especially when it comes to body confidence.”
This Girl Can research found 39% of new mums and pregnant women had lost confidence in their body, and 31% felt they had ‘a different body to work with’ when it came to getting active.
“That totally resonates with me,” Ackerley admits.
“Sometimes you’re getting yourself dressed in the morning and you’re looking at yourself thinking ‘I don’t know this new person. I don’t know this new body’. So incorporating exercise you do feel like you’re starting from scratch, and knowing what’s safe and being kind to yourself is a really big part of that.”
She says when she brushes her teeth in the morning, she’ll use the two-minute timer on her electric toothbrush to do simple exercises like lifting her legs up, or moving her arms.
“It’s a small amount of movement, but it’s a way of just not being stationary. In those moments where I’d just be standing staring into space or thinking of all the jobs I need to do, actually activating my muscles in a small way which doesn’t take up any extra time is something I’m finding really helps,” she says.
On top of her toothbrushing exercises, Ackerley takes Nala out for walks in her buggy, carries her around the house bouncing her, or even stands in front of the baby when she’s in her bouncer and lifts her own legs up or moves her arms.
“It feels like it’s a nice way we can be interactive with each other,” she says. “I feel like I’m engaging my body as well as engaging with my baby, which feels special.”
Ackerley stresses that a key part of getting active when you’re pregnant or a new mum is not thinking it means heading to the gym for a gruelling workout. She says that three months after giving birth she’s now thinking of doing a little bit of aerobic exercise, and sometimes lifting a couple of cans of beans – that’s all she needs at the moment, she says.
“An important part is reframing what exercise is to you and not overwhelming yourself,” she stresses.
“When time is of the essence, think how can I carve movement into my day, and make it an enjoyable thing. If there’s ever a time when you need to nurture your body in a loving way, it’s now.
“For me, movement and exercise, and just trying to have that consistency, which I’m able to do a bit more now, is without doubt something that’s really helped every time I do it. I feel like – and it’s something I’ve never done to myself before – I just want to pat myself on the back and be like ‘Well done today’.”
Ackerley is still on maternity leave, although she’s done a few Keeping in Touch Days at Morning Live recently, and says: “It reminded me of that other side of Michelle, the side that’s worked hard to be doing the job I’m doing and that I really enjoy.”
And now she’s finally had a baby, does she have any plans for a second one?
“I’m still working that out myself,” she replies. “I feel so blessed and grateful to have Nala and I’m just getting used to this new normal, so I haven’t really even processed what having a second child could look like.
“Having thought I couldn’t have one, there’s a part of me that now thinks why not two? But to be honest, I’m really trying to spend the time at the minute just centring myself, and taking each day step-by-step. I’ll see what happens – who knows?”
