And breathe...
When I was about 15 weeks pregnant, I started doing prenatal yoga classes. My yoga teacher is a professional pregnancy coach and she's a really down-to-earth woman who is a source of loads of information. Each lesson, we spend the first half hour with a cup of herbal tea discussing and learning about various elements of pregnancy/parenthood. One week, we talked about the various pregnancy ailments and how to cure or ease them - heartburn, morning sickness, headaches, pelvic pain and much more. Another week we talked about post partum depression and how to recognise the signs. This week we talked about the brain development of the baby.
After our half-hour of information, we do the yoga exercises we came for. She especially focuses on breathing techniques, designed to relax the body and ease the contractions. We also learn about the various birthing positions as well as exercises we can do now to help with pelvic/back pain and Braxton Hicks. It is all wonderfully relaxing and I always fall asleep - no fail - at the end of the class when we lie down and do relaxation exercises.
Last night we had our first couples evening. R wasn't too keen initially but donned his track-suit bottoms nonetheless and drove us determinedly to the yoga centre (of course he's decided my route is inefficient and he tried to figure out the ultimate directions to get there - hey, he's a man). After the informative section we got down to the nitty-gritty. We (the women) had to breathe deeply 'through our stomachs' and then expel the air slowly. Our husbands had to stand behind us with their hands on our bellies and shift their weight (and ours) to the left and to the right with each exhalation. A few people got the giggles when they looked around and saw everyone doing this rather strange dance, but it was actually incredibly relaxing. We did a few other breathing exercises sitting down, to be used if the contractions become very intense or the woman is starting to panic. R was sitting there with his hands on my ribcage, muttering "Speed it up, come on, breathe faster!"
Finally all the mums-to-be had to lie down and the men were taught a massage technique they can use on our legs during the contractions. It was wonderful! R has very large, strong hands and would have made an excellent professional masseur. I was quite disappointed when the yoga teacher said the men could lie down too - how the hell was he going to continue his massage lying down next to me? Alas, all good things come to an end and it was time for the final relaxation exercises. All in all it was really special to be able to share this with him and to have something we can actually do together. Sometimes I find pregnancy quite a solitary experience as there isn't much you can share, apart from your feelings, so doing this together was really lovely.
After our half-hour of information, we do the yoga exercises we came for. She especially focuses on breathing techniques, designed to relax the body and ease the contractions. We also learn about the various birthing positions as well as exercises we can do now to help with pelvic/back pain and Braxton Hicks. It is all wonderfully relaxing and I always fall asleep - no fail - at the end of the class when we lie down and do relaxation exercises.
Last night we had our first couples evening. R wasn't too keen initially but donned his track-suit bottoms nonetheless and drove us determinedly to the yoga centre (of course he's decided my route is inefficient and he tried to figure out the ultimate directions to get there - hey, he's a man). After the informative section we got down to the nitty-gritty. We (the women) had to breathe deeply 'through our stomachs' and then expel the air slowly. Our husbands had to stand behind us with their hands on our bellies and shift their weight (and ours) to the left and to the right with each exhalation. A few people got the giggles when they looked around and saw everyone doing this rather strange dance, but it was actually incredibly relaxing. We did a few other breathing exercises sitting down, to be used if the contractions become very intense or the woman is starting to panic. R was sitting there with his hands on my ribcage, muttering "Speed it up, come on, breathe faster!"
Finally all the mums-to-be had to lie down and the men were taught a massage technique they can use on our legs during the contractions. It was wonderful! R has very large, strong hands and would have made an excellent professional masseur. I was quite disappointed when the yoga teacher said the men could lie down too - how the hell was he going to continue his massage lying down next to me? Alas, all good things come to an end and it was time for the final relaxation exercises. All in all it was really special to be able to share this with him and to have something we can actually do together. Sometimes I find pregnancy quite a solitary experience as there isn't much you can share, apart from your feelings, so doing this together was really lovely.
posted by MrsJ at
2:27 pm
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