Between two and four weeks, you can try a few squats, lunges and bridge poses to build up your pelvic floor and core strength. You may want to join a postnatal yoga or pilates class if you want some extra guidance. I love this app. The main one is very manageable for beginners. I found it really good because I wanted to go out the next time to find out what happened next.” The balance between the exploration of really serious issues and the comedy, humour and romance in this novel is pitch perfect – everything is beautifully and sensitively handled – and as well as exploring these important themes, and developing a great cast of well-realised characters, Anita Rani brilliantly and vividly creates a sense of place and community within this novel. Whether it is Bradford or the Punjab you experience the sights, sounds and smells.

I use the NHS Couch to 5k app (green logo) with Sarah Millican's voice. I like to think she's sympathetic with my cause!” For example, in week one, you start with a brisk five-minute walk, then alternate 60 seconds of running with 90 seconds of brisk walking for 20 minutes, three times a week. During week two, after your warm-up, you alternate 90 seconds of running with two minutes of walking, and so on. Once in India, staying with her aunt and cousin, Baby meets Siddharth (Sid) and despite seeming to belittle Baby's position as a visiting Indian, he suggests he drive her across the country to visit the places she wants to see. Once she reveals the real reason for her trip, to find out what happened to Naseeb, he's even more on board and the inevitable sparks fly. Roy has been working in the arts both in India and the UK for many years now and first entered into the world of production, through TV drama, having been involved in theatre in Delhi initially. This all makes it sound quite heavy but it’s a much lighter book than it might seem – and of course, there’s the blossoming romance with Sid....In pregnancy, these muscles can become stretched and weak because of the continual weight that your bump is putting on them. As your baby grows bigger, the pressure increases, making it harder for them to do the job of preventing incontinence, treating prolapse and improving sex.

Every woman’s body responds differently to pregnancy and childbirth and heals at a different pace. When it comes to postnatal exercise, the best thing you can do is take it slow and listen to your body. I felt a connection with Baby’s search to find out more about her family’s past; as the first generation of children of parents who left their home country, I feel the sense of loss at not knowing my own history, and felt happy for Baby that her bravery on her own journey solidified her sense of self and her appreciation for all of the generations that have been before.Saini also briefly talked about her journalism career, starting out at ITN as a news trainee, before going to the BBC and quitting after she presented her own investigative report into bogus UK colleges and universities – these establishments were fleecing overseas students. She is also the author of three previous titles. ‘ The Patriarchs’ was released this spring. Baby learns so much about her own feelings as an Indian abroad, as well as one whose family lost so much during the partition. The reason for her trip bears fruit she wasn't expecting in many forms, with truths being exposed, as well as the possibility of a little romance along the way.

Saini described how she went to a region of Turkey and Syria where the earliest human settlements have been excavated and there was evidence to suggest that there was little difference in gender roles. “There were women warriors and leaders.” What a feel good, yet educational and riviting read this was. I wondered if it would be a Bridget Jones type read and certain elements were definitely like that. However, Baby does a runner is som much more than that. With themes around partition, grief, fitting in, glass ceilings, toxic work environments and so much more, I found this a compelling read from start to finish. It’s very common for the two muscles that run down the middle of your stomach to separate during pregnancy. This is called diastasis recti or divarication. Almost all women are affected by this in some way. It happens because your growing womb (uterus) pushes the muscles apart, making them longer and weaker and can result in a protruding belly – that a lot of women feel self-conscious about after birth.

What is diastasis recti?

Try some postnatal yoga or Pilates as a starting point, and avoid intense core exercises like the plank and sit-ups. When you start running, try to incorporate some gentle exercises that will build strength in your core to reduce the risk of injuries. And then of course, underlying all of these feelings about race, racism, acceptance, and belonging, is the huge and at times overwhelming grief she carries within her, caused by the death of her father whom she loved dearly.