Loughborough Lightning netball star Lauren Nicholls has spoken of the difficulties she has faced as a new mother returning to the court after giving birth to her first child, Maya, in August.

Nicholls - nicknamed 'Steaders' - made her return to competition this weekend in a tri-tournament with Team Bath and Strathclyde Sirens following a maternity break in 2019 but has since shared on Twitter that coming back has been much more difficult than it seems.

In a Twitter post captioned '4am Thoughts: Instagram v Reality' the new mum added a photo of her and Maya holding hands with the time displaying 04:21 followed by a lengthy background tale to the photo.

She wrote: "What you see: Maya looking cute after my first time back on court for Lightning after having her."

This was followed up with a long explanation of what happens behind the scenes, entitled 'What you don't see'.

However, she remained positive that everything would fall into place and she would find a new routine adding: "I'm sure my Game Day routine used to involve: nice long shower/painting my nails/grab some food/watching some video clips...so it's pretty different now.

"And I wouldn't change it for the world," she added.

"I love being Maya's Mum and I'm muddling through the crazy and wonderful journey that is Motherhood," she wrote