What shall I write about this week? I started prenatal yoga tonight. The teacher (veteran yoga instructor and guru to all things birth, Maria Carella) started the class in a very cool way. She asked us why we were there.
We each wrote our reasons. My reason looked like this. Three words on three lines:
Peace
Flexibility
Bonding
Imagine how pleased I was when not 5 seconds later I read in other material she gave us that the purpose of the class from her perspective is threefold as well. Her list:
Breath (which brings peace)
Body (flexibility…)
Baby (ahhh… the bonding)
Yep. I got a 100% A+ on my very first prenatal yoga exam.
If you know yoga then you know how huge I am kidding. The concept of getting an “A+”, “perfect scores” and even the word “exam” alone are about as anti-yoga as one can get. Thus, yoga is not an Olympic sport, though believe it or not there are people out there who think it could be… (so sad.) But I digress. Breathing. Focus. Back to prenatal yoga.
So it was great. My right calf (soleus muscle) and right hip/low back (sacral iliac joint… remember, I am a PT… I’m aloud to talk like this) have been really sore for the last week. Pregnancy hormones? Some lack of vital minerals? Some other pregnancy related cause? I think so. The yoga poses helped to stretch them out a bit and I plan to do some of what we learned every day; the most important of which is to take 20 minutes a day to sit and breath with my baby(s). I cried during this part of class. Slow, barely perceptible tears, but I could feel the overwhelming flood of warm and tingley emotions it brought up for me. I sat there for 5 or 10 minutes with a room full of near strangers, eyes closed, hands on my belly, and the craziness of the world around me stopped. I sat and breathed and connected with my little cutie pies in there.
That’s all I got for you this week. Sitting and breathing… HA. Sort of a funny, but it’s for real.
Side Note
On a side note, I have to tell you what I found out when researching what our little peanuts are up to developmentally this week. The picture above is a 14 week old in utero. Cool huh? They can hear (our voice, our heartbeat and some external sounds even!!!) feel (will grab at a probe if placed by their little hand and are already able to suck their thumb!) they are about 3 and a half inches long and weight a half a pound or more. Last but not least, their little umbilical cord is getting a workout, transporting 300 quarts of fluids per day, completing a round trip every 30 seconds.
Ok. That’s is enough about the wonder that is our pregnant bodies. We rock, sore calves, aching SI joints and all. Have a great week and see you back here next Wednesday. Tell me anything you want about your pregnancy below. I’d love to hear how you are doing!!!
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How Spirit Moves
Baby Watch is published in partnership with Kolcraft
—
Suzanne Tucker, aka Zen Mommy
In addition to mommying to two magical girls born in 2000 and 2003, Suzanne co-owns a holistic health center with her husband Shawn in St. Louis, Missouri where she practices as a physical therapist, Certified Infant Massage Instructor and health education teacher. Certified in a number of healing and life education approaches, Suzanne is a Co-creator of My Mommy Manual and the online parenting course, Yogi Parenting, a positive parenting approach for raising kids of all ages.
Reading this brought tears to MY eyes. I remember those moments in Maria’s class, when time stopped, and my baby and I were ~~connected~~. Now, fourteen years later your post inspires me to steal back that feeling again (and again). “Time to wake up sweetie” will have a deeper meaning when I go to rouse him in the a.m. Okay, now I’m getting teary again. Thank you Suzanne.
ok nancy, now you got my water works going (which~ sad to say~ happens with even Frito commercials these days…). sweet, sweet moments. thanks. *heart*