Pregnant Oti Mabuse has shared that she is suffering from a painful health condition during her first pregnancy.
The former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer, 33, confirmed in August she and her partner Marius Lepure, 37, were expecting their first child together.
And now on her Instagram page, the dancer has spoken out about suffering from Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction (SPD).
SPD is a stiffness of the pelvic joints caused by pregnancy. It doesn’t impact an unborn baby, but it can be painful for the expectant mother.
Mabuse wrote on her Instagram page about how the condition had flared up when she got back into exercising: “I completely fell off the bandwagon with my fitness and I immediately could feel it when I went back.
“My core strength was not what it was, my balance was off and my ability to hold certain positions was gone.
“The pain started really slow but at night while sleeping would intensify (I’m not wearing a belt yet but as weeks go on I definitely will).
“Aside from physiotherapy exercises, I still try to continue to stay active in any way that is not painful.
“My level of activity depends on how severe my SPD is that day. It can be very frustrating if you used to exercise regularly and have to stop. Walking, sitting, driving all become a bit painful.”
Mabuse has previously said the couple had stopped trying to conceive as the process had “just got too much”.
In an Instagram post, she shared a video of the moment she told her friend Nkateko Dinwiddy she was pregnant and revealed the couple had recently stopped trying.
She wrote: “My friend asked me to test because I was drinking coffee and I don’t drink coffee.
“We had been trying for a while and decided to stop (it all just got too much) and just live life as us two as nothing was happening.
“We enjoyed each other’s company, dinners, concerts, parties, just simply removed all the pressure and here we are!”
When Mabuse first shared the news she was expecting she said: “We love our little bundle of joy so much already… and can’t wait to see what our future will now look like as family of three plus [Mabuse’s dog] Leo.”
“It’s been a beautiful journey so far with close friends and family and nearly over but we have learnt a lot a long the way…. Christmas is about to get even louder.”
Mabuse has also shared a video montage of the moment they shared the news with close friends and family, including her sister, the Strictly Come Dancing judge Motsi Mabuse.
Motsi, 42, had been a judge on the German version of Strictly, Let’s Dance, before joining the BBC series as a judge in 2019, replacing Dame Darcey Bussell.
