35 Weeks Pregnant

35 Weeks!

Baby Size? Honeydew Melon

Baby development? Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (about the size of a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight. (babycenter.com)
Gender? Boy!

Sleep? Horrible. I am up every hour checking on bleeding and worrying myself sick.

Food Cravings? any kind of sandwich.

What I miss? I miss my water birth plan at the birth center.

What I love? That I get to meet my sweet baby boy so soon!

Movement? yes

 

Highlight of week? I had 2 baby showers this week. One on Saturday that some girlfriends of mine did and one from my mother and law. They were so fun. My girlfriends had a fall theme with the most delicious sandwiches, salad, pumpkin pie, pumpkin chia, home made whipped creme and so much more. We played a guess who this pregnant celebrity is, and I am embarrassed to say I won. It was so fun to catch up with ladies that I love so much but don't get to see enough of. My mother and law had a "she is about to pop theme" with salad poppy seed salad dressing, poppy seed sandwich, pop corn, pop sodas with pop suckers, rice crispy treats, cake pops... it was so well thought out. I got to see a lot of women from her side of the family that I don't see enough and it was so fun talking about this baby boy. We played a prediction game where all the guest wrote down when I would deliver, how much baby would weigh, hair color, eye color, skin color... and she is going to mail them to me after the baby comes! A really really fun weekend of baby celebrations.

Symptoms? ANXIETY!!! Bleeding, contractions, and heartburn.

Exercise? nope on bed rest. 

 

Delivery? Oh how my plans have changed from that peaceful drug free birth center birth I was imagining for months. After so many episodes of bleeding the doctors and midwifes decided that it is safest for the baby for him to be delivered via c-section on TUESDAY (which is tomorrow) and we found this out today! I am nervous for the surgery but so excited to see and hold our baby boy and I am so so so excited to see my husband Tyler hold our baby boy. The c-section is in about 18 hours. Let the count down begin.

 

To my son,

I love you so much. Growing you has been a highlight of my life and one I will never forget. I can not wait to hold you close to me. I can not wait to get to know who you are and learn from you! I promise to love you for always. I have loved you for 9 months and I cant wait to feel this love I have for you, which is already so big, explode into even more love tomorrow when I meet you, my little man.

Your Mom

Pumkin

I love all the pumpkin goodness that comes with fall. Pumpkin is an incredibly healthy food to incorporate into your diet.

5 reasons why you should eat more pumpkin:
Pumpkins are full of fiber, which aids in digestion and elimination.
Pumpkins are rich in a variety of minerals, including potassium, which helps prevent your muscles from cramping after an intense yoga class, as well as magnesium, zinc, and iron.
Pumpkins contain tryptophan, which helps your body to produce serotonin, your natural mood-booster. Eat pumpkins = feel happy
Pumpkins are also anti-inflammatory which means they reduce your risk of disease and cancer.

Week 34 Again

Week 35 Week 34...Again

Update: At our first appointment with our new hospital midwife (after being transferred from the birth center) we were told that our estimated due date is actually November 18, not November 10th like we were previously told. The reason the switched our due date was because the first ultra sound we got gave the due date of the 18th and later an ultra sound gave us the due date the 10th. The 10th dates lined up so well that the birth center thought it was more appropriate to go with that date. However at the hospital it is “standard protocol” to go off of the first ultra sound because it is most accurate.

This was hard for me to hear. Yes it is just a number and baby boy will come when he is ready…. But this number is one I have been counting down from for the past 240 something days. On the bright side if do go past my due date having a later estimated due date will help by me time before they push induction on me. Super good news the midwife took me off of bed rest and put me on “modified daily activities”. I still cannot teach, hike, or do anything vigorous. But I can lightly clean, gently stretch, and go for short walks. This has been terrific!

34 weeks 6 days

 

Baby Size? Butternut Squash

Baby development? Watch what you say! Your curious baby is listening in to your conversations at 34 weeks -- and might enjoy a lullaby or two -- so go ahead and sing to him. Some say that baby will recognize songs mom sings while he’s in the womb, and may even be more easily soothed by them if he’s used to them once he’s on the “outside.” At week 34, you might breathe a little easier, since baby may descend lower into your pelvis and give your lungs some space. (Ahh!) Of course, some babies don’t do this until the day they’re born, so we’re not making any guarantees. The pitfall of this descent, of course, is even more pressure on your bladder, so be prepared to make even more trips to the ladies room over the coming weeks. (thebump.com)

Gender? BOY

Sleep? I am getting insomnia. I used to go to bed around 10-11 and now I am up until 1am!

 

Food Cravings? Butternut squash soup, pumpkin pie (this could be that the leaves have changed color and its feeling like fall).

 

What I miss? I miss teaching my yoga classes and seeing my yoga students so so much. Not being able to do it reaffirms for me how important it is to me, and how much it lights up my being. I find myself day dreaming about teaching or scheming on how I can get away with teaching one class or one workshop before the baby comes. I also miss taking the dogs on hikes. I love being in the mountain’s during this time of year and taking in the fresh air and beautiful colors.

 

What I love? I love that I am allowed to move now! It was so hard staying in bed and I was getting so sore from laying on one side or the other. I have been doing some much needed stretches (what a previous post about my gentle prenatal sequence) to help undo the bed rest soreness and fatigue. I have also been loving going on short walks with the dogs and I breathing the air and walking through falling yellow leaves.

 

Maternity Photos. Yesterday my good friend Alyshea owner of Alyography Photography came to do maternity pictures for Tyler and I. Our plan was to go to memory groove but it was raining so we stayed at the house. They turned out so good. I think the pictures capture the love Ty and I have for each other and this baby boy in my belly. (Maternity photos below)

   

Movement? So much.

 

Symptoms? Insomnia, congestion, frequent need to pee, heart burn, sore feet, sciatic pain, tired, and anxiety.

 

Exercise? GENTLE: stretching and walking.  

Meditation? Yes it has been especially helpful with the changes in the birth plan and the pregnancy complications to help me calm and help me keep my positive birth experience while letting me go with the flow a little more gracefully.  

 

Choose To Make More Beauty

Being on modified bed rest has been a great opportunity (looking for the good) to go through old yoga notes. Yesterday I was reading my notes from the Anusara-Inspired teachers gathering in Tahoe during Wanderlust, during it John Friend said, “Every day we get to choose to make more beauty, to make more light, to bring more love into the world, or not”. This really stood out to me. We have a choice! Meaning we can choose to bring more beauty + light + love into the world or we can choose to bring more ugliness + darkness + hate into the world. I hadn't thought about the flip slide of this before. I just thought laa dee daa I am bringing more beauty into the world. I didn't think that all those times I don't feel good, don't hold the door open for someone, flip someone off driving, make rude judgemental mental comments in my head at the market, gossip with friends about someone, be in self pity, or just leave the house in a bad mood. In all those examples I am choosing to negatively impact the world we live in and share.

This made me think about emissions. We are all emitting energy all the time, it is often called our aura or the energy field that surrounds our body. Think about what it feels like to be physically close to someone who is happy and how it makes you feel to just being near them. Now imagine what it would feel like if that person was sad, or angry. The energy they are emitting and you are experiencing just from being in their field is drastically different. In this way just by choosing our attitude we are choosing to either add more love + joy + enthusiasm to the world or we are choosing to add more  hate + sadness + angry to the world. (Not to say we should never experience these feelings it is healthy to experience the full spectrum of emotions but not healthy to stew in it... another topic for another post.)

When I think of things that emit in a way that brings more beauty and love into the world I think of the sun, artists, flowers, happy dogs, color full leaves, rainbows... when I think of things that pollute the world I think of smoke stacks, cars, oil spills, garbage, cigarette smoke.... Which do you want to be? I want to be a bright flower that makes people smile + feel better.

WHAT ARE YOU EMITTING?

 OR...

This simple yet profound teaching has struck a chord in my heart and now I am so much more aware every time I open my mouth to speak (or sometimes too late, and I notice it after I have already spoken...change comes at first with awareness).  I am a big fan of the gratitude practices, of writing in my journal, often at night, a list of things I am grateful for. I do this especially when I am feeling sorry for myself. Well I am starting a new practice! A Shri (beauty) practice! I write down how I added beauty + light + love to the word for the day. It has been making me feel really good to look at the list and brings happiness to my heart as participate in creating a happy earth for all. I invite each of you to become more conscious of the ways that you contribute more beauty to the world each day.

Look, touch, speak, and breathe beauty!

Definitions:
E·mits: To give or send out (matter or energy).
pol·lu·tion: The presence in or introduction into the environment of a substance or thing that has harmful or poisonous effects.

Ananda

The word ananda with a long "a" at the beginning meaning  as “vibration of bliss”, the long "a" is very important or the word becomes without bliss. We chant "ananda" in the second line of our invocation- “saccidananda murtaye.” Another translation of this word could be “deep contentment”. For me, the practice of yoga (specifically Anusara yoga) has brought me deep satisfaction and joy in life. It has fostered a feeling of calmness and happiness with in myself during the many fluctuations of life. I find myself not bouncing around in the extremes of emotion, but centering myself in my heart which is always content + fully rejoicing in it’s experience.

Definition of contentment (n)

1. satisfaction: a feeling of calm satisfaction
2. something that makes somebody contented: a circumstance, or a feature or characteristic of something, that gives rise to satisfaction

Definition of bliss (n)

1. complete happiness: perfect happiness
2. spiritual joy: a state of spiritual joy

A Review About Me from 2010

I just stumbled upon a blog post someone wrote about one of my classes and me as a teacher. I remember both the students. Oh so sweet! I remember when I started taking Anusara classes how I did not like demoing poses (in fear I would do a bad job) and did not like partnering up (again afraid I would do a bad job). Now I love demos and partnering because I learn so much more then I could by myself. Thank you for the lovely blog post Doris.

September 06, 2010

Something to cheer about

Yesterday in my Anusara Yoga class our instructor, "Kim", needed a student on whom she could illustrate the effects of locking knees during the yogic alignment process. This is a beginning class and filled with women (and one man) of all ages, shapes and ethnicity's. In our previous class session, Kim had asked for a volunteer. In this session she pointed to a young woman, "Ann," in the back row and asked her if she'd be willing to be the "demo" person that day (evidently Kim had noticed Ann's "locking-knees" habit). Although Ann agreed, her face turned bright red and her discomfort was palpable.

When the time came, Ann stepped forward gingerly. Her face exuded raw discomfort. I sent up silent prayers that Kim would handle this situation with her usual grace and compassion. I feared that the reason for Ann's discomfort was because she was the largest person in the class. Kim was thankfully gentle and kind and Ann was able to illustrate her points beautifully. As the lesson progressed with Kim guiding Ann through aligning her body it was like watching a magical transformation. Although still nervous, Ann no longer looked as if she wanted to bolt from the room. Her body responded to instruction in a way that made me envious. "Alignment" sounds so easy but it is really a tricky process of self-manipulating seven distinct muscle loops and spirals, too complex for me to explain here. Yet Ann was able to accomplish the task with what appeared to be little effort.

As Ann brought her body into alignment she radiated beauty. It was stunning to witness the difference in the energy exuded by a person who went from standing tentatively and self-consciously to a person standing well-grounded and perfectly aligned. I found myself wishing that my body was as bendy as Ann's. I told Ann as I left class that I'd been touched by her grace, beauty and flexibility.

I look forward to tomorrow's class, although I pray that Kim never calls on me to be the "model." Ann was an inspiration but the thought of having to attempt to align my body in front of the entire class is not something I look forward to...not because of "body shame" but more because my body is just beginning to unlock its flexibility. Although, when I think about it, my body could easily demonstrate what not to do during alignment. Maybe I COULD be as instructive as Ann! Ahhh...to add a flexible body to my evolving flexible mind...now that's something to cheer about!

Sending blessings until next time,
Doris

Stretching/ Prenatal Yoga on Modified Bed Rest

After being on bed rest for 10 days I got the midwifes approval to do some light prenatal yoga and I am now on "modified" bed rest. Yippie!! I was so excited to start moving my 34 week pregnant body again.

Here is a gentle sequence I have been doing. My hips feel tight and misalignment from all the side lying I have been doing, my legs feel super tight from like of movement and stretching, and I feel like my circulation is no good. My intention this practice is to wake up my body, open my hips (in preparation for birth), re establish alignment in my hips, tone and lengthen the muscles of my legs and increase circulation.

Table- gentle cat/cow very gentle I don't want to compress the belly with to much core work but I do want to puff into the kidneys during cat. For cow this big belly already causes a back bend so inside I focus on length.

Table shalabasana wrist and ankle circles to help reduce swelling and increase circulation.

Parsvotonasana [2 blocks]  inside of front leg to avoid compressing my belly. Focus on drawing back thigh in and toward the back of the room which shift my hips more over the front leg and then add contacting spiral pulling front hip down and under to avoid binding in the hip flexors.

Low lunge quad stretch again i am focusing on inner spiral on back leg shifting the hips over the front leg + contracting spiral on front leg pulling glute down, under and pressing into heal. This is a back bend and like I mentioned above pregnancy already gives me the tendency to collapse into a back bend so I have to use gentle strength to pull the floating ribs in a puff into the kidneys without to much abdominal work. Then full extension rooting down from the hips into the floor and from the hips up through the arm pits and crown of head.

Deep low lunge quad stretch same alignment as above.

Pigeon quad I love how repetitive Anusara yoga can be. Its practicing the same alignment ques in different poses that help me better understand the incredible depth that these principles offer. That being said. Same work here. Tone the leg muscles, draw back leg thigh in, back and wide shifting hips over the front leg. This will create a deeper crease in the front hip (a collapse) so I scope my front hip under moving my front sit bone closer to my tail bone then extending into the floor. This will create space around the hip flexors. This again is a back bend. So i draw the floating ribs in, expand into the kidneys, and lengthen up through the side bodies to give me baby lots of space.

Deep pigeon One thing that makes me cringe as a yoga teacher is watching students move into a deeper pigeon. Often a student will sit off on there front hip side grab their foot and swing it forward trying to get the foot in line with the knee. They do this with no muscle energy in the front leg. This is a NO NO NO NO!!! With no muscle energy in the front leg all the flexibility they are getting is in their knee and pigeon is about opening the HIPS not the knees. We do not want more flexible knees. The way I get in this pose is starting in a narrowed version of pigeon I curl my toe nails into my mat this will engage my front leg and ankle. Keeping this engagement I slowly lift up my front knee (my front foot is still anchored to the floor) and move it back a little, then i move my back knee back and I either stay there or repeat until I get the angle in the front knee I want. When the front knee is narrow the front foot should be flointed (pointed with the toes pulled back) and when the knee gets to 90 degrees the front foot should be flexed pinkie toe spreading into the mat. Okay there is my little rant. I just love knees and don't like hearing stories of people blowing out their knees from yoga.
Malasana Squat depending on how long I want to hold this pose for I find it nice to sit on a block on the second level so i am more supported. Very nice prenatal treat.
Baddha konasana [block]5x this is currently my favorite sequence ever!! It opens my hips so much which will come in handy for labor. I start in baddha konasana soles of the feet together engage the muscles of the legs especially the outer hips. Keeping the muscles drawing up toward the hips I extend from my upper inner thighs out through my knees pressing the knees to the floor (with muscles alone no help from my hands). Next I grab my block and put the narrowest version of the block between my feet and repeat the alignment. Then I turn the block to the medium width put that between my feet and repeat the same alignment. Then, you probably guessed it, I turn the block to the widest aspect and put it between my feet and repeat the alignment actions. Lastly I remove the block bring the soles of my feet together and repeat the alignment yet again. I try to catch my jaw as it falls to the floor in shock at how much more open I am. Depending on how much time I have depends on how long I do this for. I will hold each version of baddha konasana for 2 mins, 3 mins, or 4 mins (i use a yoga timer app which is awesome for this). This is something I will do all by itself to. Its a nice way to spend 20 mins and get into the hips.

Double pigeon
Virasana pre pregnancy my knees would touch in this pose. Now my hips are much wider so there is about a fist space between my knees. I want my knees to line up with my hip sockets. More knee alignment stuff includes lining up the second toe with the middle of the ankle, I like to spread my toes with the help of my hands and squeeze my heels toward the mid line.  I also make sure my inner thighs are rotating in toward the floor creating a healthy lumbar curve in my back. Lastly organically extend from hips into floor and lift chest toward sky. I will do gomukasana arms during this pose to sometimes for a shoulder stretch.  
Ardha hanumanasana - hanumanasana tone the muscle of the legs, rotate back leg in back and wide shifting hips over front leg, scope front hip under pressing out through the ball of the foot. That will help square up your pelvis. I really like playing with muscle and organic energy in this pose. Drawing from the feet into the hips SO much that it feels like my leg bones get shorter because they get so plugged into the hip sockets. Keeping that engagement I extend from the hips out through the feet. This entertains me so much I forget what a killer stretch this is (especially after bed rest!)
Supta pada A- B [strap] With my leg perpendicular to the floor or foot slightly forward of the hip i use a strap and ground my whole femur bone into the hip socket as I extend from my hip back into the strap to create some space around the joint. I make sure my bottom leg is tones, second toe in line with ankle, knee and hip and inner thigh strongly rooting toward earth. Next I loop my strap together and put the strap behind my head, right at the base of my hair line below that boney bump. I practice skull loop as my leg gets pulled closer to my face. If you dont have the flexibility to do this or it doesnt feel good just hold the strap one in each hand. I have been doing this for years and love it. I dont need a strap. Then i grap the outer edge of my top foot and open my leg for pada B. Strong bottom inner thigh work, and strong hip scoping work on top leg.
Hanumanasana
Femur rooting/psoas release