Prenatal Massage & Embracing Your Pregnancy
- Nikki the Nerd LMT
- 6 days ago
- 5 min read
There's more beauty in being pregnant than the mainstream would like you to think. For 40 weeks of your life, a human being is growing inside of you. There is no one else on earth you will be more connected to, spare your own mother.
The drawback to pregnancy is the wild changes your body goes through in each trimester. The first trimester morning sickness and nausea. The aches and pains from your body preparing to push out a small human. The hormones going wild to support the life inside of you. The dysregulation, discomfort and constantly adjusting to your growing body.
However, those drawbacks are just part of the process. Nothing great can exist without a challenge. The best thing to do, even through the discomfort or sickness is to embrace the beautiful life growing inside you. Even when its hard to do so.
So here are my 5 tips to expectant mothers to embrace pregnancy and shower themselves in self-love and self-care to glow and thrive during their natal journey!
1. Prenatal Yoga
Whether you take a class in-person (which I highly recommend) or find good YouTube video (posted below) prenatal yoga is a fantastic and gentle way to nuture your body and your connection to your baby. The core-focused foundation of yoga is not only good to remain strong and healthy while pregnant but it embraces a deeper sense of connecting to the baby growing inside you. You will be surprised at how much you can safely exercise with your growing belly. A good prenatal yoga instructor will help you modify and also overcome any self-imposed limitations you may be experiencing. The meditative aspects of yoga assist in promoting a sense of well-being and grounding. Last, but not least, the stretching allows you to safely relieve yourself of tension and keep your body loose and pliable while it goes through its changes. These are important when you're not pregnant and even more so when you are!
Brett Larkin is a yoga instructor on YouTube. Her routines are phenomenal and she also recorded some classes while pregnant herself, allowing her to teach from first-hand experience. I highly recommend checking out her series of prenatal massage videos and trying each one to discover which works best for you. Click here for a 35 minute beginner's routine with her that you can do right now.
2. Prenatal Massage
During this time, listening to your body is crucial. Even if youre not feeling any pain, which wow.. good for you, your body is going through daily changes. The hips are opening up to prepare for delivery. This causes increased flexibility and round-ligament pain from the loosening up of the joints and muscles. Low back pain is common as pressure on the lumbar increases as baby grows inside the womb. Sore breasts from hormones strain the pectoral (chest) muscles from the weight of breast-enlargement. Neck pain results from this as well as you begin slouching your shoulders and sitting around more frequently from how exhausting these constant bodily changes can be. Your legs and feet will get sore from the added weight of the growing baby and weight from hormonal changes.
Luckily, prenatal massage from a trained Licensed Massage Therapist is an incredibly safe and relieving practice to regularly receive while pregnant. Getting thoses aches and pains massaged out keep your body and mind at ease as you go through the journey of pregnancy. Areas to avoid during massage are around the ankles, as acupressure and reflexology points are in that area that are intended to induce labor. Side-lying and lying elevated on your back allow you and baby to get massaged in safety and comfort.
Remember-- everything that happens to you effects the baby so if Mama is feeling good and relaxed, so is the little one growing inside you! The stress relief of massage therapy helps expectant mothers to have improved emotional regulation during a period of time when hormones and worries can be high. So be sure to recieve a massage at least once a month.
3. Buy a Exercise Ball
Say hello to your new favorite seat. Sitting on an exercise ball has powerful ergonomic benefits for the low back and hips. The shape of the ball contours to the natural shape of the pelvis and the subtle core-conditioning combined with the hip contour helps alleviate pressure off the low back. Exercise balls help assist with proper posture, which alleviates pain since most pregnant women begin to develop bad posture due to the excess weight and pressure. Swap out your desk chair, dining char, EVERY chair for an exercise ball. These are also used during labor to assist with the labor process and you may see them or be able to request them in the delivery room if you're having a hospital birth.
4. Go for walks
A great way to get some low impact exercise and also increase hip-mobility. Walking keeps your hip-joint fluid and moving, which is very important for delivery. Walking is also proven to decrease stress levels and improve mental clarity. Ever heard of pregnancy brain? Well all those hormones can get our brain sort of fuzzy, so going for a walk can help keep some of that brain fog to a minimum. The other benefit of walking is that is gets you out in nature and increases your time spent outdoors. Connecting with nature is such a powerful thing to embrace during pregnancy as your body performs one of the most natural things is was designed to do.. create life. Consider walking barefoot in grass or on sand and really grounding into nature.
5. Oats & Pregnancy Tea
Tea is one of the safest ways to utilize herbs during pregnancy. Since the water-based exraction of the herbs reduces the intensity of their active compounds, it allows you to adjust the degree of which you absorb the benefits. Not over-doing it and not limiting yourself from its active benefits. Here is a pregnancy "Nourishment Tea" from The Natural Pregnancy Book by Aviva Jill Romm;
Nourishment Tea:
2 parts red rapsberry leaf
2 parts nettle
1/2 parts rose hips
1/4 part spearmint leaf
Mix all the dried herbs together and store in an airtight container away from heat and light. To prepare the infusion, place a heaping 1/4 cup of the blend into a quart size jar and fill with boiling water. Cover and let steep from 30 minutes to 2 hours. Strain, sweeten and drink one to four cups daily. (Romm, 86)
Another dietary and herbal treatment that has several benefits for pregnant and nursing women is oats. Oats promote lactation, provide fiber, aid in digestion and contain beta-glucans, iron, magnesium, zinc, B vitamins and antioxidants. All incredibly important vitamins and minerals for pregnant women, especially those who are pre-diabetic or at-risk. They are also naturally gluten-free. Eat them, drink them and bathe in them. Your body will be properly nourished. Overnight oats are also a quick and easy breakfast you can prepare the night before and enjoy the next day. There's many ways to make overnight oats too, so enjoy getting creative with your recipes!
Overall, pregnancy is a beautiful time for a mother to embrace womanhood, connect with the life growing inside of her and her ability to grow and sustain that life force energy. Though discomfort, pain and sometimes sickness may come along with the process, it doesnt have to define the entire experience. There are so many ways to enjoy your pregnancy by taking active steps toward self care, stress management and healthy lifestyle approaches. Your skin will glow, your hair will look healthy and you will get to fully embrace the natural beauty of being a woman. Don't forget your pregnancy privilege! People will give you their seat, feed you, dote on you and of course, the old latino superstition that if someone takes food from a pregnant woman, they get a stye in their eye! So take in every moment, even the bad, and accept its all part of the process. I will be here to happily support you on your journey!
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