Dear Reader,
For anybody who frequented the river
end of Murray St at lunch time in 2012 you would have been graced wtih
the sight of me waddling from the Executive Building to the Barrecode
studio next to Customs House. Whilst it's hard to compare pregnancies - I
think continuing to exercise up until a week or so before my due date
greatly improved my comfort levels during pregnancy and my strength
during labour.
Barre was pretty much the only exercise I
was doing throughout my recent pregnancy - I went 3-4 times a week. I
attended Barre Lite classes with Bonita once a week and prevailed upon
the kindness of the Barreistas and my fellow Barre devotees (who gave up
cherished window spots and endured loads of boring abs, glutes and
no-swimming in order to accomodate the pregnant one) at other times
during the week. I had a lot of hip pain (right around the gluteus
minimus) and symphysis pubis disfunction during my first pregnancy.
Whilst this timeI had a small bout of fantastic pain in the SI joint -
remedied by a visit to the physio and doing extra clams every day, I had
much less hip pain than last time, I think due to the regular butt work
at Barre. The reduction in hip pain meant that I slept much better
throughout pregnancy - it didn't wake me once. And having awesome
triceps made it soooo much easier to get in and out of the bath (admit
it, you had been wondering what the point of those thousands of tricep
dips you've racked up over the years was) - it was a struggle first time
around. Second time? No sweat.
I felt much less
whale-like the second time around. I think I put on less weight and
maintained more muscle mass - which, considering I had a 2yo to chase
around, was a good thing. I cannot recommend enough the services of a
good lady-bits physio - I saw Bernie at Jane Barker's Allcare
Physiotherapy during and after pregnancy. And the Barre Lite classes are
fantastic because I didn't have to worry about modifying any of the
exercises or that I was holding up the rest of the class.
My
hot tips: If your pelvic floor is or has recently held up a baby as
well as the usual grab bag of internal organs? Crunches, deep lunges and
wide plies are not your friend. If you're getting pain in the front or
back of the pelvis, one-legged stuff probably isn't for you either. With
the help of a good instructor and a physio you can probably keep up
moderate exercise right up until D-Day. Get the window spot - you really
don't want to overheat and nobody else wants you to either. Water.
Water. Water. Don't stand up too quickly. Always roll onto your side to
get up rather than trying to sit straight up.
Um... That's all for now.
MM
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