Jessica Ennis-Hill’s mum lessons

Everyone always asked me: 'What does it feel like not having a six pack any more, and having a big baby bump?' Well, it was incredible.

I was amazed at how my body was changingand that I was growing a baby, so I didn't find it weird or strange or not have that athlete figure, I really embraced being pregnant.

Giving birth was a complete shock to the system as you just don't know how long it’s going to take or what it's going to be like.

With Reggie I had quite a long labour, about 18 or 19 hours, and it felt like it was going on forever. But with my daughter Olivia it was only about nine hours. I went from 4cm to 10cm in the space of an hour, and then suddenly she arrived. It was a real wow moment!

I had no idea how hard sleep deprivation would be. I was going back into full-time training after having Reggie, and every night was trial and error: 'Right, tonight we'll put him down in this position,' or 'if I leave that lamp on in the hallway, he'll sleep better!' Unfortunately, it made zero difference.

When it came to Olivia, we tried to be a bit more relaxed. In the short term it was hard: every time I put her down she would start crying and wouldn't settle, and we were up every hour. But we kept believing that she'd do it when she was ready, and eventually, she did – it just took quite a long time!

My kids get on brilliantly, and have had a strong bond from day one, but they are completely different people. Reggie is quite chilled, although he still likes things to be done in a particular way, but Olivia is very strong-willed. We call her Boss Baby, because she knows what she wants and if she doesn't want to do something, she'll just stand there, there’s no making her do it. She's got a more determination and is a really cheeky little character.

I think most athletes are quite impatient, they want things to happen straight away, they’re always driven to ‘go for gold’, and want to get on with things. But life is very different when you've got children, and now I’m a mum, I've got so much patience – I can handle the million questions that Reggie throws at me, and all the randomness that kids bring you.

With your first baby, you’re always thinking: 'What are you going to do next? What's going to happen?’ and you find yourself always thinking about the next thing. Then all of a sudden, that time has gone and you're reminiscing about when they were little babies and they couldn't really do much and you're wishing those days back. So now I try to remember to stay in the moment and enjoy it as much as I can.

After having my children, despite being a professional athlete, I didn't know what kind ofexercise to do, or how much. I was lucky to have a great team of people around me who supported me and guided me back into fitness. I wanted to bring all that knowledge and information together in one place for other mums, so I created my new app, Jennis, with help from my team.

It’s full of pregnancy and post-natal workouts to help mums enjoy staying active and to recover well. You can do the workouts at home, they're really easy and clear, so you know exactly what you're doing and that you're doing it the right way.

Jessica’s app, Jennis(£9.99) is available on iOS and Android.