Diary of a First Time Mom

Posts Tagged ‘exercise’

As we are winding down the last few weeks, it seems like there is more and more that needs to be done, and less energy to do it.  This was a problem when I was not sleeping so well and awake every 90 minutes.  Apparently sleeping on one side for more than an hour when you are seven months pregnant causes some discomfort.  Luckily I have two sides!  Unfortunately it seems to take me an hour to flip over…  Oh well.

What has really helped is walking.  I was concerned about walking because the Dude is getting so heavy that all the ligaments and stuff are pulling and causing some strain.  But from what I can tell, walking strengthens all these muscles and I really do feel better afterwards.  Milhouse likes it too!

Add in these new breathing techniques / meditations that I am doing and I actually am finding that I can sleep for about 4 uninterrupted hours!  I have been reading Calm Birth by Robert Newman.  It is interesting because I don’t really even remember buying the book, but there it was on my shelf.  Calm Birth goes into the history of women healers and really emphasizes the innate wisdom we have within ourselves and that by tapping into this wisdom, we have all the solutions for any problem.  It talks about separating the ideas of pain and fear.  And how fear of pain can be much worse than pain itself.  Pain lives in the present moment.  Fear depends on your projection into the future of what “might be” to survive.  All this I find fascinating, and look forward to putting into practice in a few weeks.

I also am surprised to be reading a birthing book written by a man.  But I guess Lamaze and Bradley were men too.  So why not?

The book recommends buying the companion audio cd.  You don’t have to as the book contains the guided meditations in written form, but I prefer to sit and listen, plus it is accompanied by nice music.  There are three meditations on the cd and the purpose is varied.  So far we have listened to the first one that works on relaxing the body and connecting with the Dude.  Pretty neat stuff, only we keep falling sleep half way through!  But still, it must be working…  I am however reminded of Chandler’s ‘quit-smoking’ tapes he played while sleeping, in one Friends episode.  ”You are a strong and beautiful woman…”  Still makes me chuckle.

The combination of listening to the cd and having walked seems to be the perfect ingredients to a good night’s sleep!  Let’s hope this continues!

I have had way too many “twins” comments lately, and more so now that I have posted a photo. For this reason, I have added the “Twins” option to the poll on the right. So get voting people. Only two and a half weeks until we find out…

On a similar note, I attended my first pre-natal yoga session at Nirvana. The class was taught by the founder of Natural Lullabies. It was really great! I arrived a bit early and another mom-to-be and I waited a couple of minutes for the class to open, so we chatted, after the initial once-over that all pregnant women seem to give each other. It’s funny, because we all try to do it without getting caught, but everyone wants to check out each others’ bellies!

She looked about as round as me, although shorter. I asked her how far along she was. She replied “Six months.” My mouth dropped open. “SIX. MONTHS?” I repeated. To which she asked me how far along I was… I told her. Seventeen weeks. I could see the count going on in her head. I proceeded to tell her how great she looked. She was really nice and said now that I was over the “three month hump” I would have more energy to be active (true) and she basically did nothing for the first three months and then was really active for the next three. Nice! Coming into her third trimester, she started to get tired again and thought a prenatal class would help.

Anyway, the class was great and not at all frilly. Somehow I imagined it being all about visualizing your baby and candy canes and butterflies. Our instructor started the class by saying that she was going to encourage us to “get uncomfortable”. That got my attention! She continued that of course if we felt pain or like it was bad for us to stop immediately, but that American women are not used to being uncomfortable (true?) and so childbirth can be more traumatic. However, by breathing though the feeling of uncomfortable-ness, as well as the mental “I can’t do this” chatter, we learn to move through to another side of being. I am paraphrasing of course, and I think she said it better, but this is not new to me. This is a fundamental principle of yoga. And so why not incorporate it into prenatal yoga?

We did a lot of hip openers, and lower back stretches. She showed us cat-cow stretches that can be done before bed to help ease lower back pain, and make sleep easier. We did other stretches that help with pinched sciatic nerves. And that really hurts, let me tell you.

What I am amazed at, is how each person’s pregnancy is completely unique. No two women have the same issues. The lady next to me had a really sore tailbone and said she had it from the start. That is how she knew she was pregnant. It sounded really painful and much worse that my (waa waa) sore teeth.

Needless to say, (and yet I will anyway), I slept really well. But boy was I sore this morning! I couldn’t figure it out until I realized I went from doing heavy yoga five times per week, to NOTHING for four months. Let it begin…!