Move!
Sitting is the new smoking people.
At the beginning of this journey, there was a lot of sitting! Thinking and sitting. Googling and sitting and googling and googling! Discussing with Chris and sitting, meditating and sitting. Not only was sitting exhausting, but it made me feel like continuing to sit! How many times do you think I can say sit in one paragraph?
The fix is so easy right, get up and move! Sometimes, however, I felt stuck. You know, like when a toddler is having a tantrum, and they can't move, you encourage them to stand up and literally take a step forward to break the spell. I found this to be true for me too. Come to think of it, my behaviour while trying to get pregnant resembled that of a two-year-old at times. Hormones are a hoot! I had to get up and move to keep from being overwhelmed. I was overwhelmed by intel, by decisions, by feelings, by fear.
I had a close relationship with my computer. That was a massive part of my sitting. I was determined to learn everything there was to know about the female body, reproductive system, men's reproductive health, and getting pregnant after a certain age. Those articles led to recipes, meditations ancient Chinese secrets, and top fertility practices...in the world. THAT was the beginning of the sit-a-thon! OMG, I would get sucked into the google monster machine, glance up at the time and realize that 3 hours had passed and my arse had fallen asleep! Then Chris and I would sit and discuss all the many things I'd learned from my new best friend Google-ina. Afterwards, I would sit to meditate on it all. You get the picture. Being still is a great thing, but too much sitting can really be a bummer! See what I did there?
Setting myself up with a movement schedule was so important for me. At first, I set a timer and sometimes I still do to remind myself to move. That may seem elementary but for me if I didnā€™t have that sound to snap me out of my head I would sit there until I was stiff! Every hour ding ding, get up and change my scenery. Occasionally I would check-in on my mindset. Was I feeling anxious or sad? Did I have trouble keeping my eyes open when I knew I had plenty of sleep the night before? Was I searching for an answer for something or trying to make a decision and felt stumped. Was I letting the stats get me down? My quick fix for all of the above was getting up and moving my body.
I was advised by our integrative doctor after our first visit to be kind, loving and gentle with my body in all workout scenarios pre and during pregnancy. He told me to stay away from any hard-core, kick ass, almost make you pass out workouts. He also said that if I had a hard time deciding what was too aggressive that I should just move as if I was already pregnant. That made total sense to me! Starting that day, through all of our fertility treatment years, transfers and the entire pregnancy, these five methods of moving my body were what worked wonders for me and were safe for the prep and carrying of Avalon.
Mind, body and soul, it's all connected.
Ā
ONE. Walking. Brisk walking. Preferably outdoors. Move your arms and breath deeply. Sometimes I would get bored, so I tried the audible book thing and fell in love! A great novel on a fall day for me was heaven! I promise you will double your walking time if the book is good enough! OMG I will never forget listening to "The Year of Yes" by Shoda Rhimes and walking around this humanmade (OK autocorrect just changed my word from manmade to humanmadeā€¦.very sensible) lake in Peachtree City. I also recorded my affirmations and future memory journaling entries and listened to them as well (more on FMJ and affirmations to come). Mostly I loved that time of pure escape though, fiction in the sea of so much FACT. Sometimes if I didnā€™t have the time to commit to full on power walk I would get up, go outside and walk around the outside of our house, no further. On a lousy day, I would make a trip around the interior of the house. The point is to get your circulation moving, keep your limbs from stiffening, give yourself and energy infusion and shift your mindset.
TWO. Swimming. Ahhhhh swimming! A tranquil, rhythmic, plunge into liquid calm accompanied by a physical, impact-free challenge. That ended for me when I read an article about chlorine getting up into the whoo ha and messing with your natural ph. I don't know if there is a lick of truth to that. My integrative Dr. and my Husband would often say to me in a sing-songy unison, "Weeeeell, if you read it on the internet, then it MUST be true." I had no intention of testing it, so I waited until after the baby was born to dive back in.
THREE. Yoga was my best friend. I made sure to do a form of pregnancy yoga (long before I was pregnant) that was very mild and eliminated the upper body twisting poses. There is one Kundalini session I found online that was my fav. After a session with my kooky yogi in a white flowy get-up, sounding all high and I felt like EVERYTHING was OK! She was magic to me, AND I got a safe workout!
FOUR. OH BABY FITNESS workouts. Youtube provided me with so many options to execute from home. If there is an OH BABY facility near you and you want to get out of the house then go, however, they have done a great job of hooking you up if you're going to stay at home. I did these at home before being pregnant as well not only to get into the habit, but I believe in the power of the subconscious mind and acting as if, was big in our house!
FIVE. Stretching. Never underestimate the power of stretching. Good, old fashioned stretching is absolute bliss. Gentle, gentle, gentle. Much the same as yoga it has a meditative, mindful vibe. I would light a candle (one that didn't spew lead into the air) start on my back and go through a whole-body series of stretches with a little extra love for my lower back, hips and hamstrings.
All of these forms of movement brought me peace, emotional relief and prepared me to carry the baby before I was pregnant and keep on carrying until delivery! I know it may sound nutty but doing all the pregnancy workout regimes before I was pregnant was vital to me. "Acting as if" made me feel like I was already in possession of my prize. It made me happy to do pregnancy yoga and pretend I was pregnant. By the time I WAS pregnant, these workout go-to's were already in place.
Mind, body and soul, it's all connected. Movement kept me sane through it all. Still does.
