Anna Geary has opened up about pregnancy and how she wasn't prepared for the changes it brought.
The TV presenter and former camogie star welcomed her first child, a son named Ronan, with her husband Kevin Sexton last year.
She has admitted that due to her past as a sportsperson, she likes to have routine and control - something that isn't always possible when you're getting ready to welcome a baby.
Read more: Niamh Cullen shares that her husband has been released from hospital
Read more: Roy Keane’s daughter Leah pictured with fiancé Taylor Harwood-Bellis and his twin sister
“Wanting kids is only part of it because then you have the small matter of whether or not we are able, whether or not it will happen,” Anna said.
Speaking on the Roasted with Mark Moriarty podcast, she continued: “We were really lucky; we decided and a few months later I was pregnant. I wasn’t prepared for the pregnancy part and the changes. As a sports person I was used to the training a certain way and setting up my days in a certain way, and suddenly my body was changing.
"All these changes and it was the lack of control, I think… With pregnancy [control] goes out the window – and then with motherhood and parenthood that definitely goes out the window!”
“I am enjoying it, it is the greatest privilege but definitely the greatest challenge," she said on being a mother. "There is no live TV show or All Ireland final that comes close because you are winging it!”
Anna also spoke about how it can be easy to curate a certain image online of how your life looks, but the reality can be worlds away.
"I look over my Instagram and you can forget your life is that chaotic because you have created this life that almost looks picture perfect. So not alone are you looking at other peoples ‘picture perfect’ lives, but you’re looking at your own feed and you forget all the stuff that has gone on, the chaos and the manic nature of life in the middle of it,” she said.
Anna also opened up about her determination to give everything her all, as she revealed she used to sneak out in the morning when she was the Cork Rose to train for the Cork camogie team and stay committed to her role as the captain.
“We won the All-Ireland a few weeks later," she told Mark. "I don’t do things by halves; it happened that that summer I was the Cork captain, and I had a busy summer because for two weeks at the end I was Cork Rose.
"At the time my biggest worry was what people would say, ‘she’s not giving commitment to Cork, how could she be giving commitment if she’s the Cork rose’…. But I got up some mornings back in Tralee at 5.30am, snuck out, did a training session before the day started because I wanted to be sure for my own confidence and show ‘your commitment hasn’t wavered here’."
English (US) ·