prenatal exercise
Mamas on Bedrest: Do You Have “Linguine Legs”?
March 8th, 2011Bedrest Coach Darline Turner-Lee is offering mamas on bed rest a free webinar on March 11, 2011 at 11am CST. The webinar will review the basics of bed rest exercise including getting into the correct position in bed, the use of pillows, the use of an exercise band to perform active and passive movements and a sampling of exercises mamas can do. To participate, send an e-mail to info@mamasonbedrest.com.
Mamas on Bedrest: This is how its done
March 2nd, 2011I have received numerous e-mails and inquiries from mamas on bed rest asking what exercises women can do while on bed rest. Others have inquired, Why do I even need to exercise while on bed rest?
In your normal daily life, you walk around, climb stairs, lift things, do household chores and engage in other vigorous activities. When you do these activities, your muscles contract and release, strengthening the muscles and enabling them to do more, i.e. get stronger. Every notice that once you begin working out, you’re able to carry heavier loads, push heavier things and move things further along? This is because the muscles become more developed with activity and are able to do more work as a result.
As muscles contract and release, they pull on the bones they are attached to. This is actually a good thing because the pull on the bones by muscles causes them to shed old bone cells and build new bone cells keeping your bones healthy and strong.
Finally, with activity, your heart pumps more. The more your heart pumps, the more blood is circulated around your body. Blood delivers much needed oxygen and nutrients to all the cells of the body as well as removes waste products and carries them to the kidneys, bowels and lungs to be released as urine, feces and expelled air. Your blood also acts as a cooling mechanism. When you more around a lot, your complexion becomes flushed-i.e. more blood is rushed to the skin surface to release heat and keep your body at an appropriate temperature.
So what happens when a someone is sedentary or on bed rest? 
Women on bed rest are not walking around, moving briskly or engaging in any vigorous activities. So the muscles are not regularly flexing and releasing. They are not building and getting stronger, on the contrary, they are breaking down and becoming weaker. As many of you on bed rest may have noticed, the firm shape that you once had in your legs is gone within weeks of being on bed rest. This is due to the lack of muscle stimulation leading to decrease in size and strength better known as atrophy. Over time, women on prolonged bed rest can lose significant muscle strength and actually need post partum physical therapy to do simply activities such as walk or even hold their babies for an extended amount of time. Many women also reported that they were not able to adequately labor following bed rest and had to have a cesarean section delivery.
Bed rest is also associated with bone demineralization or bone loss. Because the muscles are not pulling on the bones, old cells are not being removed and being replaced by new cells as rapidly as when women are active. Calcium and Vitamin D replacement via vitamins may help stem some of the bone loss, but many women suffer significant bone loss as a result of prolonged bed rest.
When we don’t exercise, we don’t increase our heart rates. As a result, our hearts don’t pump vigorously, we lose endurance and stamina. Many women note that they are winded just walking to the bathroom. When the heart doesn’t pump vigorously, blood is not circulated vigorously and pooling or swelling in distal extremities (the hands and feet) occurs. Blood pooling in the lower legs can be problematic if clots form (which is more likely in pregnancy due to the increased blood levels needed to support the pregnancy). Clots can eventually dislodge and then travel to the heart, lungs and brain and potentially be fatal.
Many of these negative side effects of bed rest can be alleviated with simple movements or exercises. Several are compiled in the DVD Bedrest Fitness. While this DVD is easy to follow it’s not for everyone.
Mamas on Bedrest and Beyond is happy to announce a series of informational webinars on exercise while on bed rest. These 30 minute sessions will address the basics of exercising while on bed rest, what you’ll need and how to position yourself in bed to do the exercises. Participants will need internet access, a webcam and a very light resistance exercise band. The webinars are free and will be limited to 10 participants per session. Webinars will begin on March 11, 2011.
If you’d like to participate in a free webinar to learn the basics of exercising while on bed rest, send an e-mail to info@mamasonbedrest.com to reserve your spot.
A Word of Encouragement for Mamas on Bedrest
November 3rd, 2010It’s so nice when life affirms you!
Today, I had the sweetest surprise when I walked into my dance exercise class. One of my former prenatal/post partum exercise clients was there with her beautiful daughter. Milbrey began prenatal fitness training with me at the beginning of her second trimester and continued until just days before her due date. She had her daughter Morgan on her due date via an uncomplicated vaginal birth. Today was Morgan’s 5th birthday.
I became overwhelmed when I saw Morgan and my own emotions at seeing her surprised me. The last time I had seen her was shortly before her first birthday. She was a wide eyed baby, full of wonder and scooted herself as fast and as far as her chubby little arms and legs would carry her. Today she is a beautiful little girl with a head full of blond curls, bright blue eyes and an expansive vocabulary for a 5 year old. She is expressive and fearless and considers herself “one of the ladies of the class.” She was all decked out in her favorite pink dress for “her day”.
Looking at this adorable little girl I couldn’t help but to marvel, “Wow, I played a role in this little girl’s entry into this world”. Now granted, her mama did most of the work; curtailing her work hours as an attorney, eating well, exercising…Yet, it encouraged and heartened me to think that by taking my classes, by entrusting me to show her the best ways to move and stay fit during her pregnancy, this mama kept her body toned and fit. She had a quick and uncomplicated labor and delivery. And she continued to take care of herself post partum in my Mommy and Me classes. Yes, my role in this little girl’s life and that of her mother’s was small. But seeing my work manifested “in the flesh”, felt as if a voice from up above was whispering in my ear, “Well done. Your work is not in vain.”
Seeing Morgan gave me the shot of encouragement that I needed today. Sometimes when you work in a field that is not well known, not really considered significant enough to mention and generally overlooked, it’s easy to feel like what you do doesn’t matter. It’s hard to make people aware of how difficult it is to be on bed rest for weeks on end. So many people think that mamas on bed rest are lounging in luxury, lucky to be off work and able to “rest” for the bulk or remainder of their pregnancies. They know nothing of the angst that a mama on bed rest feels, questioning whether or not something she did is the reason that the life of her baby hangs precariously in the balance. People who are uneducated about bed rest know nothing of the aching and discomfort that occurs as a result of being in bed, especially if you can only lay on your left side, for days on end. People who are unaware of the bed rest situation are equally unaware that working mamas who go on bed rest do so typically without pay and at the risk of losing their jobs if they are out more than 12 weeks. They know nothing of the families that struggle to take care of the day to day activities with little or no support and who risk financial ruin because mama is on bed rest. No, bed rest is not a luxury. Bed rest is not fun or relaxing. And bed rest is most certainly not something any woman would fake so that she can “have some time off”. (Yes, I actually had someone tell me this because they did not believe that pregnant women deserved paid maternity leave!)
But to the mamas on bed rest who may read this blog I say this to you. Hang in there. Continue to do your best. Lord willing, its all going to be okay. I know some of you are doing your best to fight unwanted contractions. Some of you are doing all that you can to stay calm in the hopes that it will help lower your blood pressure. Some of you are hanging on by a thread-literally! Your cervices are so effaced that the only thing standing between your baby and the outside world are the threads of your cerclage. But again I say to you hang in there. You are doing great.
When all is said and done, many of you will give birth to healthy babies. Some of you will give birth to babies that will struggle at the outset, but will get stronger and grow on their merry ways. For some of you, this journey won’t end as you had expected or hoped. Your children may be significantly premature with major health challenges or your babies may only grace us with their presence for a few moments before returning to be with the angels.
Mamas on Bedrest you have undertaken the monumental task of bearing a child (or children) and unfortunately due to the luck of the draw, your road is the one less taken (and certainly not chosen!). But I hope for you, as it happened for me today, that one day you see the culmination of all your efforts and hear that still soft voice that tells you “Well done. Your work was not in vain.”
