Last week I went for my first ever session of prenatal yoga, and it was AWESOME. In the past, whenever I have a stubborn headache or back pain, I would search for "yoga for headaches" or "yoga for back pain" on YouTube, and just follow the moves on the screen. I have only ever attended one yoga class, and that was before I got married. After I got married I got pregnant straight away, and I was afraid to do any form of exercise in the early stages of pregnancy.
With my recent excessive weight gain, lower back pain and sleeping problems, I figured I need to do some sort of exercise that a) does not involve going out into the extremely hot and humid weather; and b) is safe to be performed during pregnancy.
So I emailed a few yoga studios that offer prenatal yoga sessions and only one replied: Yoga Sadhana. I chose to attend the class once a week. I went for my first session on Friday, after work.
Yoga involves slow and gentle movements, but ironically, it was intense! It was gentle and slow, yes, but I was sweating A LOT. It felt SO GOOD and relaxing - I almost fell asleep at the end of the session (which is normal in yoga - the ending is the most relaxing, in my opinion.)
And you know what? That night I had THE BEST sleep that was undoubtedly long overdue. I haven't had a good night's sleep in MONTHS. The great sleeping schedule continued the nights after that, and I now feel so fresh every morning when I wake up, and get this: NO LOWER BACK PAIN. At all.
However, last night I couldn't sleep. It's back. I need to go for another yoga session pronto!
Here are some photos from my yoga session:
On to pregnancy updates, I went for a checkup on Monday and guess what? I lost 300 grams! It may be minimal to most people, but it is HUGE for me, who, for the past few months, have been gaining so much weight that I had to go for bi-weekly blood pressure tests because the doctor was so worried about the baby. This is the biggest achievement I have gained so far during my pregnancy. Thank you, thank you *bows down on stage*.
I am also now required to count the baby kicks to ensure that the baby is okay. Basically if there are ten movements between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the baby should be fine. If there are less than ten movements in that period then I am supposed to rush to the emergency room to check the baby's heart rate which will determine whether or not an induced labour is required.
On Saturday, we went for a 4D ultrasound because we have been dying to see the baby in a clearer image. I know, I know, I'm too excited because it's my first baby. When the doctor did the ultrasound, he asked us if we can guess the baby's gender. I said "We don't know yet; we want it to be a surprise."
Do you know what he replied? "There's the scrotum - definitely a boy."
Oh wow thanks doc, for the early surprise. NOT. I couldn't even be angry because now that we know the gender, we're even more excited! Also, I have been wondering why we bought all the baby stuff in blue and none in pink. It turns out it's a boy! Tears welled up in my eyes, as usual, seeing how beautiful and perfect and healthy the baby is. The doctor said the baby's size and weight is normal, he looks healthy and everything looks okay. That is the most important thing to us - that the baby is healthy. We went home smiling from ear to ear and couldn't stop talking about our newfound news.
I love you, baby boy.
The clinic also gave us a diaper bag and some free formula samples for me and the baby.
We can't wait to see you, baby!
Sofiya
With my recent excessive weight gain, lower back pain and sleeping problems, I figured I need to do some sort of exercise that a) does not involve going out into the extremely hot and humid weather; and b) is safe to be performed during pregnancy.
So I emailed a few yoga studios that offer prenatal yoga sessions and only one replied: Yoga Sadhana. I chose to attend the class once a week. I went for my first session on Friday, after work.
Yoga involves slow and gentle movements, but ironically, it was intense! It was gentle and slow, yes, but I was sweating A LOT. It felt SO GOOD and relaxing - I almost fell asleep at the end of the session (which is normal in yoga - the ending is the most relaxing, in my opinion.)
And you know what? That night I had THE BEST sleep that was undoubtedly long overdue. I haven't had a good night's sleep in MONTHS. The great sleeping schedule continued the nights after that, and I now feel so fresh every morning when I wake up, and get this: NO LOWER BACK PAIN. At all.
However, last night I couldn't sleep. It's back. I need to go for another yoga session pronto!
Here are some photos from my yoga session:
On to pregnancy updates, I went for a checkup on Monday and guess what? I lost 300 grams! It may be minimal to most people, but it is HUGE for me, who, for the past few months, have been gaining so much weight that I had to go for bi-weekly blood pressure tests because the doctor was so worried about the baby. This is the biggest achievement I have gained so far during my pregnancy. Thank you, thank you *bows down on stage*.
I am also now required to count the baby kicks to ensure that the baby is okay. Basically if there are ten movements between 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the baby should be fine. If there are less than ten movements in that period then I am supposed to rush to the emergency room to check the baby's heart rate which will determine whether or not an induced labour is required.
On Saturday, we went for a 4D ultrasound because we have been dying to see the baby in a clearer image. I know, I know, I'm too excited because it's my first baby. When the doctor did the ultrasound, he asked us if we can guess the baby's gender. I said "We don't know yet; we want it to be a surprise."
Do you know what he replied? "There's the scrotum - definitely a boy."
Oh wow thanks doc, for the early surprise. NOT. I couldn't even be angry because now that we know the gender, we're even more excited! Also, I have been wondering why we bought all the baby stuff in blue and none in pink. It turns out it's a boy! Tears welled up in my eyes, as usual, seeing how beautiful and perfect and healthy the baby is. The doctor said the baby's size and weight is normal, he looks healthy and everything looks okay. That is the most important thing to us - that the baby is healthy. We went home smiling from ear to ear and couldn't stop talking about our newfound news.
I love you, baby boy.
The clinic also gave us a diaper bag and some free formula samples for me and the baby.
We can't wait to see you, baby!
Sofiya
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