Pilates and Pregnancy – Article 4 Third Trimester
In the last of issue of Prescott Healthy, we touched on the second trimester of pregnancy and what to expect with your Pilates practice. How being further along in the pregnancy we are now modifying movements and, in some cases, avoiding certain positions and dynamics of movement all together. Be assured it is important to communicate with your instructor about your pregnancy and how you are feeling so you can together plan (along with your health care provider) the best way to move forward with your Pilates practice.
Going into your third trimester, you’ll be following everything you’ve learned and adjusted from the previous months. Your body is starting to produce a hormone called relaxin to loosen the muscles, joints, and ligaments in your pelvis to support labor and delivery so it is a great opportunity to start thinking about ways to open up and restore your body to prepare for birth and a little less about the intensity of a workout you may be used to.
You may be feeling signs of fatigue again and perhaps have shortness of breath as you are growing at a high speed now and the size of your baby is starting to put pressure on some of your own vital organs. Along with your baby’s (and belly’s!) growth and the relaxin in the body, you may notice your balance is a bit off. This doesn’t mean you need to be worried about movement, it just means you need to take time with the various exercises and start to think of wider stances so you have a broader base of support. Those wider stances are also what you are also being taught in your birthing classes so it is a great time to get comfortable and practice them.
It is important to give your back and chest some extra attention to counter act the added weight in the front of your body so you can feel your best and avoid upper back pain and strain. This will also help for postpartum as you’ll likely continue that forward rounding pattern a lot with feeding, carrying, cuddling and kissing your baby.
Be sure to include some light upper body arm workouts to get yourself ready to not only carry baby but all of the things that go with them -- heavy car seats, diaper bags, potential older siblings and who know what! Trust me and all the other mom’s out there...you’ll start to feel like an octopus in no time! LOL!
All kidding aside, you are about to welcome a beautiful little being into your life. Take this time to be gentle with yourself and focus on your breath and the beauty of what is about to come. It truly is a blessing!
In the next issue we’ll touch briefly on postpartum and how you can gently start introducing exercises back into your routine with a little one by your side!