a mamma in the making

Pretty, isn’t it? Last week, the back pain was so awful that I broke down and ordered one of these oh-so-fashionable pregnancy belts. The good news is you can wear it under your clothes and you pretty much can’t see it. The bad news is, that despite the many rave online reviews, it didn’t do much for me, and actually seemed to agitate bambina, her little body wiggling about within and pushing outwards against it whenever i tried to wear it, just once more, to see if it might work “this time.”

Yet again, it’s a case of “every body’s different.” I think because I am so short waisted, there’s no room for the belt to wrap around the way it needs to to effectively work. Plenty of women seemed to find much relief from it though, so I think it’s worth the $30 to try it out and see. I ordered mine online from BabiesRUs-it came quickly. I’m disappointed it doesn’t work for me, but there are other ways of dealing with the pain.

What DOES seem to help is yoga, deep breathing and massage. It can be tough for me to motivate to go to yoga class, as it is in the morning and I tend to be pretty out of it in the morning from not sleeping well (on top of peeing five times, last night I had another one of those crummy fidelity dreams of Rob deciding to cave into the advances of a model-gorgeous woman…sheesh). But yoga, if you know some basic poses, is simple enough to do at home, too. Marina loaned me a pregnancy yoga video, which ought to be useful, and help me to discover the many modifications necessary in certain poses now that my belly is the size of a small watermelon.

If you’ve never tried yoga, there’s really no better time than now- it stretches you, gets you connected with your breath, tunes in you into the subtle energies of your body, and helps things that are tight loosen- all things that would seem quite valuable come birth day. Not to mention the peace of mind it can often give. There are many times I leave class and feel so centered, serene, strong. It’s also a fantastic way to honor yourself and your body and meet yourself wherever you are that day. A class is your best option if you are new to this, as your instructor will help adjust your poses so that you are doing them correctly and don’t put your body in a compromising position for you or your baby.

I also have one of those big exercise balls, which I lay on every day and let my shoulders open against it. It’s like a supported back bend, opening up the neck, clavicle area muscles, chest, and groin- and a real heart opener.

And if the pain gets out of control in the sciatic area, a tennis ball does wonders. It’s actually pretty useful for any point of tension- just place it on that location and lie on the floor above it, breathing into that area, allowing it to open and relax.

Though I will admit, sometimes all I want to do is lie down on the floor and be still. This is a good one, too…especially when I put my legs up the wall for support. It opens the hips and supports the lower back.

I don’t think it helps that I sit for long stretches of time at my computer, forgetting about good posture. It’s amazing how much better I feel at the end of the day if I catch myself in slouch and re-adjust by lifting my spine, opening my shoulders, and most importantly, pulling upwards and inwards with my abdomen and slightly tucking my tail bone. Because yes, even though there is a very small person growing on the other side of those abdomen muscles, we still have abdomen muscles, and using those core muscles now will help us all out in the long run.

The number one method to alleviating back pain, in my opinion, is to float, whenever possible, in a large body of water, preferably the ocean. There’s something so healing about the salt, the defiance of gravity, merging with the same fluids that make up most of your body and the liquids that your baby is also swimming in.

This entry was posted on July 9, 2008 at 8:59 am and is filed under back pain, helpful hints to make pregnancy easier, pregancy tips, pregnancy, swimming during pregnancy, yoga.

Tags: helping back pain during pregnancy, pregnancy belts, swimming during pregnancy, yoga during pregnancy