Prenatal Yoga Class is My Friend

This morning I attended my second prenatal yoga class - and it is amazing. First of all, everyone is pregnant! I know this seems obvious, but being pregnant all by yourself can be a little lonely, and attending an exercise class with other pregnant people makes you feel normal and less... awkward, especially when you're doing squats.

Secondly, the instructor, Edie, is Grandma-aged (of course, she looks like she's 35, but...) and does this out of the goodness of her heart rather than for the money. We use a yoga center's space, but we pay Edie directly. And it's a very minimal amount.

Thirdly, Edie teaches us labor and delivery techniques, breathing exercises, basic yoga, all rolled into one. This class might be more worthwhile than the childbirth prep class Dave and I took for five weeks in Jan-Feb through the hospital.

Fourthly, Edie asks people for specific physical pains/discomforts and then targets the class directly - for instance, today a woman said she was having sharp pains from her sciatic nerve (something that plagued me two weeks ago and is excruciatingly difficult to stretch out), and Edie changed some of our routine and incorporated positions to take off the pressure on our sciatic nerve. Beautiful!

I *heart* prenatal yoga. Hooray that the class exists and isn't financially out of our league!

Our First Childbirth Prep Class

Last night was our first childbirth preparation class, hosted by the hospital where we will eventually give birth. We did icebreakers about the best part of being pregnant (one guy said all the cute maternity outfits his wife now wears, and everyone replied, "Awwwwww.") and we practiced some relaxation exercises on the floor and we watched a video of a birth. The best part of the video was that the mom and dad were from Boston and they constantly said, "Wicked," in total sincerity, like, "Honey, this contraction is wicked bad," and "Sitting in the shower while being in labor was a wicked good idea."

But then we saw the actual birth, and whoa. The mom was pushing and then the dad saw the head of the baby and started crying and then the baby was pulled out and placed immediately on mom's belly and mom was crying. Since all the people in the video were crying, I began crying, but then the video was over immediately and the presenter turned on the lights and I had snot and tears all over my face. I looked wicked glamorous.

The best part of the class: staring at all the pregnant bellies and comparing due dates with belly sizes. And not being the only pregnant lady in a group of people.

The worst part of the class: being asked to share our bodily changes with everyone, and when I mentioned that my breasts leak (not a lot, but often, and I have to keep washing my pjs more frequently than I would like) there was a nice, deafening silence. Apparently we can watch babies be pushed out of women's vaginas, but we cannot talk about leaking breasts. Hmph.

Classes run for 5 weeks, and are 2.5 hours every Sunday night. So if we're not around on a Sunday night, it's because we're trying to learn something about newborns and delivery and labor. And we're trying to make some friends, even if I am the pariah known as the woman with the leaking breasts. I hope another couple will want to sit with us next week. Otherwise I'll be wicked sad.