Got a case of the Mondays

Back to Monday. Oh Monday, why do we hate you so? Why are you the least favorite day of the week for most "regularly scheduled" workers? Oh why Monday do you annoy us so?

I tried to use reverse psychology on myself this morning by putting "YAY Monday" on my Facebook profile. Didn't work. My negative vibe kept attracting more negativity (there's that darn law of attraction); I discovered what I thought was my compensation during my maternity leave was no where close to reality, which really brought me down.

Why Monday, WHY?

Today I also noticed a few on-going oddities in my body that seem to have become worse. First, my right eye has been twitching since the middle of last week. Apparently, eye twitches may be caused by stress or fatigue - didn't think I was much of either, but apparently I am. Then my hands and feet felt kind of odd, like they're swelling. It's not like my wedding ring or my shoes or too tight, but they feel weird. It's called edema, which is "when excess fluid collects in your tissue. It's normal to have a certain amount of swelling during pregnancy because you're retaining more water" according to BabyCenter.com.

Is there anyway to prevent or lessen the swelling? BabyCenter.com says to:

• Put your feet up as much as possible.
• Keep blood circulating by getting up often and taking short walks.
• Don't cross legs.
• Sleep on left side.
• Drink lots of water.
• Exercise - one site said that yoga helps circulation so it should help minimize the swelling.

Some yoga postures that are supposed to help alleviate edema:

• Ankle rolls - roll in one direction 10 times and reverse.
• Interlace fingers and reach palms and arms up to sky
• Reclined bound angle pose

According to Louise Hay's book You can Heal your Life, edema is caused by not letting go of something. Here's the affirmation according to Louise: "I willingly release the past. It is safe for me to let go. I am free now."

Better get some sleep so my eye will stop twitching and say my affirmations. Goodbye Monday!

26 weeks and starting to nest

Feeling an abrupt stream of motivation, I prepared immensely for baby this weekend. Good for me!

Finally began a list of "baby to dos" on Excel, started organizing my maternity leave paperwork, enrolled for a "Baby 101" class at a local hospital, and I think I found a pediatrician for the baby! Pause.... inhale, exhale ... must add to spreadsheet to continue breathing throughout tackling my to-do list.

My mother-in-law Donna and I also began our second store registry for the baby at Target. I was very apprehensive about setting it up there since it has such a Hitler-return policy (Remember to send receipts, people!). However, I adore Target and was actually an employee in high school and college so I couldn't shun the retailer. Hopefully I won't regret it. So now we're all set at Babies R's Us and Target! YAY! Donna and I also made the trek over to Nebraska Furniture Mart, this crazy big furniture store, to look at cribs. Lots of selection and prices on cribs there, but I have no idea how to disseminate between the choices. Good news is my mom informed me she and Dad are going to purchase the crib - yay!

I do have a budget on the crib and am wondering what type to buy. Do I need a conversion crib that changes into a child's bed? Donna brought up a good point that if we're planning on having another kid, then we're going to need the crib for it and the oldest won't be able to use the bed anyhow. Plus they are a lot more expensive. I also saw a crib with a small changer table with drawers attached. Anyone out there have one of these and if so, are you glad you bought it? I thought it looked kind of cool, but I was planning on skipping the changing table since we have one on the pack n' play. Is a drawer underneath necessary because they usually cost extra? I am also debating between white and maple/natural finish. I really like the look of a white crib with the baby bedding I registered for at Babies R' Us (in photo), but my mom thought it looked girly and since we don't know what we're having, I can't decide if white is a no-no for gender neutral.

Who knew cribs could be so complicated?! Help!

Give the gift of Metta for Valentine's Day

Last night I taught my power yoga class at the Y. Since it's Valentine's Day today, I thought I should have a related theme so I incorporated metta or lovingkindness ideas from a Yoga Journal article into the practice.

As the article suggested, we began in a Supta Baddha Konasana (Bound Angle Pose). Unfortunately the YMCA doesn't have bolsters, so I asked people to bring their shoulders in and underneath and lift their chests to open their hearts while having an awareness of their heart center and the feelings that arise there. Then I asked them to set the intention of acting with metta towards themselves throughout the practice - to give unconditional love and nurturing to themselves and to send thoughts of metta directly to "problem" areas when having trouble with a specific posture.

We flowed through our practice and performed postures to lift our hearts, like airplane or Warrior III (I always remind them to puff up their chests like in updog), modified camel and bridge. At the the close of class, we held our hands in the receiving mudra. I learned it from another teacher; place one hand in a bowl-like shape, palm up underneath the belly button. Then place your other hand on top of it in the same way. As we held this mudra, I guided my students to allow themselves to receive all the metta we created during our practice.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the class, but it really hit me when I got into my car. I felt so much happiness and love and felt really connected to my baby. I ended up having my first long and meaningful conversation with my baby. I also felt really confident I would be a strong and loving mother and that we will enjoy journey together.

On this Valentine's Day, try giving and receiving some metta of your own.