British Olympic snowboarder and defibshop brand ambassador Zoe Gillings-Brier hopes to draw on the experience of fellow athlete Jessica Ennis-Hill after announcing she is pregnant.

Zoe announced the news in a video via her social media sites late February where she said it was a ‘real surprise’ but ‘really exciting’.

Three-time Olympian Zoe joined defibshop last year in an effort to raise awareness of cardiac arrest and the need for more public access defibrillators across the UK.

Zoe said of her pregnancy; “I suspected [I may be pregnant] a few weeks ago as I started to get symptoms, but I was competing until the end of last month and decided to come back to the UK to check things out. I got the ultra sound in the last week. Yes, it was unexpected, it’s a surprise and a bit of a shock, but I’m massively excited and completely committed to getting back on the snow."

Zoe is only expected to miss the final couple of weeks of this season and, on returning to competition, says the timing of her pregnancy couldn’t have happened at a better time.

“The baby should arrive mid-August, so it’s a decent amount of time to get back in shape for the new season which is brilliant as the qualification period for PyeongChang  [2018 Winter Olympics] begins next winter and I’ll find out in the summer how it’ll all work.”

Zoe Gillings-Brier and husband Dan Brier

And in a recent interview with BBC Sport, Zoe vows to return to competition stronger than ever drawing inspiration from friend Shelley Rudman and Ennis-Hill.

"To see how Jess came back after pregnancy was awesome and hugely inspiring,

‘There’s a lot of research being done about how women can potentially come back stronger [after pregnancy] because of hormones, so I’m looking forward to seeing how it’ll affect me and maybe we’ll see … if there’s a little bonus then great.”

Meanwhile in terms of her heart health going forward, Zoe knows that she needs to keep doing what she’s doing in terms of keeping her heart strong, for the next few months during pregnancy and into the winter months when she hopes to be back training.

“Obviously my heart is going to undergo some extra stress over the next few months which means the reasons to keep my heart strong and well fuelled have only intensified and become more important.

‘I’ll be sure to keep an eye on my heart rate every morning like I already do and of course i’ll be monitoring my blood pressure as we go along to ensure my heart is strong and healthy.”

Pregnancy places extra strain on the heart and the circulatory system as the blood volume being moved around the body increases by approximately 30 to 50 percent.

The increase, which also means a 30-50 percent rise in the amount of blood pumped by the heart per minute, helps to nourish the growing baby but the changes cause the heart to have to work harder.

And although heart rhythm issues and abnormalities are common during pregnancy, they’re usually minor and not a cause for concern but must be monitored all the same.

If you would like to learn more about British Olympic athlete Zoe Gillings-Brier, you can visit her official website or you can read up on her joining the defibshop team via our blog.