Stretch!!!
June 24th, 2009Laying in bed day after day takes its toll-both physically and emotionally. It is essential to keep your body and mind active to stave off the negative effects of bed rest such as muscle atrophy, de-conditioning, anxiety and depression. In this post I’ll review a short stretching series designed to activate all the muscles of the body. This series can be done sitting up or lying on your left side. Check with your doctor or midwife before performing any exercise program. If any exercise is painful or uncomfortable, don’t do it.
To begin, get comfortable and take 3 deep cleansing breaths. After the third breath, squinch up your face; squeezing your eyes shut, cinching your lips shut and drawing them up to your nose. Hold for 1-2 seconds. Now really stretch your face wide; with wide eyes and a wide open mouth. You may yawn and that’s good. Take a wide open mouthed deep breath.
Next, drop your chin to your chest and rotate your head from shoulder in front of you, stretching the muscles of your neck. Repeat this motion 10 times.
Now shrug your shoulders up by your ears. Hold 1-2 seconds and release. Repeat this 3 times and then roll your shoulders backwards 5 times.
Stretch the muscles of your chest and upper back. Start by pulling your shoulder blades back as tight as possible, forcing your breasts forward. Now round your shoulders forward, crossing your arms in front of you and grasping your shoulders with the opposite hands.
Slowly bring your knees as far up towards your chest as possible (And this won’t be far if you’re far along in your pregnancy!). Gently grasp your knees with your hands. Hold for 3 seconds. Now release and fully extend your entire body, arms over head and feet stretching in the opposite direction. If you’d like, clasp your hands over your head. Hold for 5 seconds and release. Repeat this stretch 3-5 times.
Extend your legs pointing your toes, contracting all the muscles in your legs. Now flex your toes again contracting all the muscles in your legs. Repeat this exercise 10 times.
To keep your muscles stimulated and your circulation flowing, repeat the entire sequence every couple of hours while awake.
Tend to Yourself First
June 15th, 2009
I often travel alone with my children. Once we are all settled in our seats, I casually listen to the flight attendant’s safety instructions. I’ll never forget the first time that I REALLY heard a flight attendant say,
“If we experience a change in cabin pressure, oxygen masks will automatically drop down from the ceilings. Secure your own mask first before attempting to help children or other passengers with their masks.”
There I sat with my 3 1/2 year old daughter beside me and my infant son in my lap. The notion of not securing their masks first and saving them made me gasp for air-initially. Then, as I thought about it with a more rational mind it really made sense.
If the cabin lost pressure I would need to have my wits about me. My guess is that I would be panicked and that there would be widespread chaos within the plane. Letting my brain become oxygen depleted would only further complicate matters and would prevent me from my ultimate goal-saving my children. Yet if I secured my mask first, I’d have much needed oxygen traveling to my brain and, hopefully, be able to be focused and attend to the tasks at hand.
This little example is a reminder mamas on bed rest to tend to their own needs, both physical and emotional, before focusing on the needs of their unborn children. At this very tense time, it is very easy to become focused to the point of obsession on our babies. Yet is it important to remember, our babies will only be as healthy as we are.
Being on bed rest is a very vulnerable place. We cannot do for ourselves and must rely on others to help us meet our needs. Ask for help if and when you need it. Don’t be too proud to accept help from others. To successfully survive bed rest, women must make sure the following 4 parameters are met:
Well Balanced Nutrition – It’s imperative that women on bed rest eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean pieces of protein and whole grains. This will no only ensure adequate nutrition, but also will moderate weight gain and reduce such annoying problems such as constipation.
Physical stimulation – The additional fluid load of pregnancy, the ever enlarging uterus clamping down on leg blood vessels and then inactivity puts women on bed rest at risk for developing leg clots. Not only are the clots themselves a problem, but if they dislodge, they can travel to the lungs, heart or the brain and be fatal. Women on bed rest will also become de-conditioned as their muscles lose strength and tone from inactivity. Women should ask their obstetricians or midwives for exercises that are safe for them to do to maintain muscle tone and strength.
Rest – It would seem like there is nothing to do but rest while on prescribed bed rest. However, the stress of being on bed rest and the normal aches and pains of pregnancy often make resting difficult. Again, if you need help with your household duties, child care or other obligations, ASK! Many times family and friends are willing to help. Check for local businesses that may be able to provide services to help. Remember, worry releases stress hormones that in excess are not good for you nor your baby. Manage your obligations and your stress so that you can actually rest and nurture your baby.
Emotional – Finally, if you find that the worry and stress of having a high risk pregnancy are just too overwhelming, it may be time to get some professional help. Speak with a counselor or your pastoral staff. If you don’t know of a counselor in your area who deals with pregnancy issues, ask your obstetrician or midwife for a referral. Many people discount the emotional side of health. But our emotions can have strong effects on our physical health and need to be addressed.
Bed rest is hard, but you can survive. Just remember, the baby isn’t the only precious bundle in this equation. Without a healthy, happy mommy, there is little hope of a healthy, happy baby.
A Life and Death Decision
June 2nd, 2009I was so saddened by the murder of Dr. George Tiller on Sunday morning as he ushered for fellow parishers at his church. I don’t know why crazy acts of violence like this so tip me off balance, it’s not like this is the first such incident, but they just seem so cruel and senseless to me. Kill someone because they kill someone. Is the eye for an eye mentality really the best form of judgment and best means to civil obedience?
I have a rather interesting perspective on abortion. First, it’s not for me. In a perfect society it wouldn’t even be necessary. Yet because we live in an imperfect society, I believe it’s necessary that we have legal, safe abortions available and I hope that they will continue to be available.
Secondly, while I was rotating though OB/GYN as a physician assistant student I assisted an attending physician with a D&C, dilation and curettage. The patient had been pregnant and the fetus had died in utero at 16 weeks. As the attending MD evacuated the contents of his patient’s uterus, my job was to filter the fluid and reassemble the fetus to be sure that we got everything. “Had a horrible experience of a patient passing a leg once,” the attending told me. “Now I make sure everything is accounted for before I’m done.”
That experience had a profound effect on me. I reconstructed that little body with tears streaming down my face. I saw firsthand how well developed a fetus is at just 16 weeks. I’ll never forget that experience and from that day on knew that I could never terminate a pregnancy. Turns out that was not even an issue for me as I had trouble sustaining pregnancies. Isn’t it ironic how life works??
Perhaps you are angered at women who terminate pregnancies because you are doing all that you can to sustain your pregnancy and save your baby. Perhaps you feel guilty because you terminated a pregnancy in the past and you are wondering if the precarious little life you are working desperately to save is payback for past transgressions. Whatever your position, I’d just like you to think about how we could make things better.
We are sexual beings and until we come to grips with sexuality in a healthy and responsible way, sexually transmitted diseases and unintended pregnancies will persist. As parents, educators, community activists and concerned citizens we can help create healthy, responsible attitudes towards sex. We can do it – without all the killing. But we cannot remain silent and we cannot assume that someone else will do it.
If you don’t want to speak out publicly about your views start small, in your little corner of the world. The little one that you are carrying will one day be a living, breathing, sexual being. What are you going to tell your child about sex? How will you teach your child to be responsible about sex? How are you going to equip and educate your child about his or her sexual responsibility so that they won’t ever even have to consider an abortion?
In between the baby registries, birth plans and college financial planning, please take a little time to consider how you want to broach this very delicate topic with your child. Write a little something down and put it away. It may seem hard to imagine now, but your decision today could one day be the difference between life and death.
