Yes, I’m still practicing
I can’t tell you how many people have asked me that question. I can’t imagine going through a pregnancy without yoga. It has helped me adapt to my ever-changing body and gets 100% credit for getting a former back pain-sufferer through pregnancy with zero back pain.
It feels good. My hips have definitely gotten tighter during the third trimester so it feels good to get in that hot room and stretch. My new best buddy is Pranayama. I’ve started doing it every morning when I wake up. It gets me alert much faster and reminds my body how to breathe deeply. I can finally get my lungs off the baby and take a deep breath. I feel for women who haven’t practiced Pranayama-type breathing because as this baby gets bigger, I have to breathe into my chest. There just isn’t any more room in my abdomen for my diaphragm.
We talked with our midwife a few weeks ago about birthing classes. She said, “To be honest, everything you learn in a birthing class, you already practice every day in yoga.” Staying focused and calm through challenging moments, rhythmic, slow breathing, endurance, meditation, etc. The only thing she recommended was a hospital tour.
It’s amazing to me how many woman have said to me that I should keep in mind getting an epidural. When I’ve said I was interested in natural childbirth, I’d say 75 percent of women have told me that’s crazy and to be ready to take the drugs or there’s no reason to feel the pain, etc. It’s pretty incredible that that has become the absolute norm in our country and at the same time we have complications rates similar to most third world countries. We’ll see. I’ve never done this before, but I have to believe that positive thinking and faith in myself can only help.
I think the hardest part now is waiting. Maybe that’s been the hardest part all along. I can remember at 16 weeks, thinking that at 32 weeks I’d almost be done. Now, here I am at 34 weeks and the end seems so far away. It’s like waiting for Christmas morning for eight months.
Blaze Yoga and Pilates 