Postnatal yoga - tips for teachers and postpartum women

Here's another great article by Brenda Plakans, one of my favorite yoga bloggers, (Grounding Thru the Sit Bones) about yoga for postnatal women called "Tools for Teaching Postnatal Yoga" on YogaJournal.com. It's written for yoga teachers on how to guide postnatal students, however if you've just given birth, it has great tips for your own, personal yoga practice.

A postpartum woman should not exercise for the first four to six weeks after giving birth (make sure to ask your doctor!). I haven't done any yoga myself, although I have thought about doing a few stretches but lack of sleep seems to derail those plans.

Once able to do asanas or the postures of yoga, the article recommends the following:

• Focusing on the abdominals with belly backbends like cobra and locust, which can't be done during pregnancy so I'm very excited to do those again!
  
• Do "poses that help bring awareness to the torso and engage the muscles include a variety of seated twists" like easy sitting pose with a twist.
  
• Extended Side Angle and Warrior I Pose are also recommended.
  
• Once you feel comfortable with the abs, practicing Navasana or boat and plank should be doable and beneficial, according to the article.

I can't wait to feel good enough and be able to get back to my practice. I'm supposed to begin teaching at the end of July so I will need to get started as soon as my midwife allows.

Decorating the nursery

Thought you all might like to see a few photos of Brijin's room. It's still a work in progress, but I think it turned out well. Since we didn't know if she was a boy or a girl until delivery, we went with the gender-neutral, animal theme.

My mom, or I guess I better say GRANDMA, bought some cute animal pictures at Target and hung them when she and GRANDPA were up last week to help with Brijin once we returned home from the hospital. Found the bedding on Ebay (Pottery Barn Kids!) and the other room accessories at Babies R' Us - the window treatments, hamper and diaper stacker. Also scored big time at garage sales with a glider chair/ ottoman and a diaper changing table that my hubby painted red to jazz up - I wasn't even intending on going to garage sales. However I randomly drove by two separate ones on different day with items I'd been wanting practically sitting on the side of the road just waiting for me! ASK AND IT IS GIVEN!

Still planning to fill you all in on the big day of delivering Brijin and all the other topics I referred to in the post last week when I finally returned back online from my hospital stay. But there just aren't enough hours in the day nor in my sleep pattern to do so quite yet.

Here's some more photos of Brijin, just because she's so darn cute! Also happy birthday Dad, or shall I say Grandpa!

Preeclampsia - who me?

Yoga Mama and baby Brijin visited our respective doctors on Wednesday. Since going to the hospital to deliver, I had been having high blood pressure readings. After she arrived, I noticed tightness in my chest and a decent amount of pain when I was still in the hospital up until a few days later. My mom didn't remember having such a rough recovery after her deliveries, but I just figured it had been 30 years since she had been through it so she must have forgotten. Due to my high blood pressure readings, the nurse who released me said I needed to make an appointment with my doctor within a week. I ended up calling in to be seen even earlier due to tightness in my chest and swelling in my feet that felt bad enough where I couldn't stand.

My lab work ended up coming back with elevated levels of liver functioning; coupled with high blood pressure, signaled I had become preeclampsic. I still don't really understand it, but worst case scenario it could lead to seizures and poor organ function of both mother and baby (if she hasn't been delivered yet.)

So I'm taking it easy, at least as easy as Brijin Joy will allow!

UPDATE (6/6): By the way, Brijin did gain weight at her doctor's visit on 6/4. Went from 6.5 to 6.13 in 48 hours. Guess you shouldn't let sleeping babies lie! ;)

News alert - umbilical cord dropped and breastfeeding quandaries

Brijin's umbilical cord dropped off! Yippee! Now I don't have to worry about getting that thing wet anymore. YAY! Plus it kind of grossed me out. She is now completely untethered and on her own! Well, in theory, that is. ;) As her grandma still says to me to this day - and I'm 30-years old - she'll always be my baby girl. I guess she can take a real bath now versus a sponge bath, but I'll check with the doctor today at her weigh in.

Please pray she's put on weight. WARNING - about to talk about breastfeeding for those few men I have reading my blog... :)

At her last appointment on Monday, she had lost another 3/10 of a pound from Friday (I think that's right but math is not my forte!). The nurse said feed her often and until she practically pukes. So that's what I've been doing. Breastfeeding and pumping so that I can bottlefeed her my "juice" when she gets all fussy on the boob. We'll see if all the hard work paid off. Otherwise we may have to supplement with - gasp! - formula.

I know I have quite a few breastfeeding experts out there, so if you have any suggestions, PLEASE COMMENT. Our main issue is she just won't continue to suck. She gets a great latch and sucks for a while, but then either falls asleep or pushes off (she's a strong week-old chica). So I have to constantly relatch her, which she can do for about 10-13 minutes on the first side on a good day (maybe six or seven on an iffy one) before she gets all lazy with her latch. So then I burp and switch her. I'm lucky to get another good time on the other side - average is probably six minutes. And then I usually have to give her at least an ounce of pumped breast milk in a bottle.

Which brings me to another question. Does anyone have recommendations for good bottles/nipples if you're trying to continue breastfeeding while supplementing? I've been using Avent Naturally and nipples for 0+ since that was the only brand with nipples specified for newborns at Target.

Postpartum symptoms to be aware of

Thought this was interesting for new moms to read: 5 Unexpected Postpartum Symptoms.

Back to Brijin!

Bringing Joy

I really should hit the sack for the hour or two I have between Brijin's next feeding... but I couldn't resist sharing a little something tonight. My brother's wife was IMing with my hubby earlier and said my brother thought our new baby's name (Brijin Joy) sounded like "Bringing Joy."

I started to cry when the hub shared this with me... that's exactly what I want this little girl to do, not only for others but for herself because that's how she will achieve her dreams. Check out the following quotes from Abraham-Hicks Web site about joy, and you'll see what I mean.

It's not your work to make anything happen. It's your work to dream it and let it happen. Law of Attraction will make it happen. In your joy, you create something, and then you maintain your vibrational harmony with it, and the Universe must find a way to bring it about. That's the promise of Law of Attraction. --- Abraham
Excerpted from the workshop in Larkspur, CA on Sunday, August 16th, 1998


Here's some more from Abraham-Hicks teachings about using your joy to create the life of your dreams, which is exactly my hope for our little Brijin Joy:

You are here in this body because you chose to be here. You wanted the opportunity to experience this delicious contrast in time and space, and with great anticipation you came to co-create with other joy-seeking beings, to fine-tune the process of deliberate thought. (What, where, when and with whom are your choices, too.)

The basis of your life is Freedom; the purpose of your life is Joy. You are free to choose to discover new avenues for your joy. In your joy you will grow; and in your growth you will add to the growth of All-That-Is. (However, you are also free to choose bondage or pain... but everything anyone chooses is only because they believe it will help them feel better.)

You are a creator of thoughtways on your unique path of joy. No one can limit where you can direct your thought. There are no limits to your joyous journeys to experience. On the path to your happiness you will discover all that you want to be or do or have. (Allowing others their experiences allows you yours.)

Actions to be taken and money to be exchanged are by-products of your focus on joy. On your deliberately joyous journey your actions will be inspired, your resources will be abundant and you will know by the way you feel that you are fulfilling your reason for life. (Most have this one backwards, therefore most feel little joy in their actions or their possessions.)