Financial analyst Suze Orman hosts a show called Can I Afford it? On this show, people call in asking if various things they want to buy are things they can afford or if they would be good financial decisions.
Today a caller named Bethany asks if she can afford a birth doula.
Suze's response: "You cannot afford to NOT get a doula, it is a NEED not a want."
A friend on facebook just posted a video titled 2 People Describe The Same Person To a Forensic Artist and this is What Happened
This is a beautiful reminder of seeing the beauty in our bodies. Pregnancy is time when our body's are making dramatic changes almost daily as our babies grow inside us, stretching not only our uterus and abdomen, but also changing our skin, changing our taste buds, sense of smell, the size of our feet and so much more. This can be a time of excitement as we watch our bodies change or it can be a time of fear as we worry that we are too small or too big, gaining too much weight or not enough. Many of us criticize ourselves constantly.
It's the only time in a women's life that near strangers feel it's acceptable to comment on our size, "Wow you are getting huge!!!" "Are you sure you aren't having twins??" Or maybe you are hearing, "oh you are already six months along, you look tiny." You could be wondering if you will ever look pregnant the way you had imagined and you worry. Any of these comments can make us question our body and our baby and our ability to carry our child.
It can be hard to look past our own insecurities but let's try. Our belief about our body is important. If you are celebrating you pregnant body, than I celebrate with you, celebrate your ability to see the truth about your body as beautiful and powerful as you grow this precious baby. If you are struggling through this process and maybe feeling insecurities about the way your body is changing, that's okay too. Maybe take this post as reminder to make a conscious choice to change our thought process surrounding the changes are body's are going through.
One conscious choice you can make to help celebrate your beautiful changing body is a belly casting session. A belly cast is a 3 dimensional mold of a pregnant moms belly. The belly
cast is made to be a piece of art for your home, as well as a memento
of your beautiful pregnant body. A piece of art to help you celebrate the incredible changes your body has gone through during the short period of time as you carry and grow your precious baby inside you. You can do a series of 2 or 3 so you can document the growth of your belly, or you can wait to get one done towards the end to capture the true fullness before baby comes out.
Don't pass up this invitation to celebrate your body. Click here for more information to book your belly casting session: http://www.mainlinedoulas.com/p/belly-cast.html
Did you know of any particularly helpful comfort measures for childbirth before having your baby? I love teaching Comfort Measure for Childbirth where you can learn tons of neat little tips and tricks to stay comfortable during your baby's birth... come check out the class tomorrow night at the King of Prussia Babies R Us...
I'm loading you all up on the wonderful resources the Main Line has to offer pregnant ladies this week: Marlene Burke is a licensed acupuncturist right at the Bryn Mawr Wellness office on Haverford Road specializing in fertility treatment as well as issues related to pregnancy. I "met" Marlene a while back via our mutual friend and chiropractor Cara Hillwig on facebook and it was so great to meet for "real" tonight.
Marlene taught an informative class on acupressure for childbirth. We learned of a number of acupressure spots to both encourage labor as well as ease pain and help comfort and relax mom during birth. My favorite one was the point in the fleshy part of the shoulder, that feels so good. Our clients are certainly going to greatly benefit from the knowledge gained tonight. Thank you Marlene for teaching this class!!
I am so excited I just met another wonderful resource for our prenatal and postpartum moms. Kelly McBride is the energetic and compassionate owner of Belly Pilates in Bryn Mawr and is the only Certified Master instructor of Pre/Postnatal Pilates in the Philadelphia area.
Diastasis Recti
Defintion from thefreedictionary.com:
diastasis rec´ti abdo´minis separation of the rectus muscles of the abdominal wall, sometimes occurring during pregnancy.
Usually you can tell if you have a diastasis recti if the separation in your muscles is more than 3 fingers width. Do you have any separation?
I was able to speak to her about my own diastasis recti. My separation is about 4-5 fingers! I look forward to learning more with her to practice some really important exercises I can do after baby is born to help repair my abdomen. She was extremely knowledgeable on diastasis and very enthusiastic about her work with moms. She is located right in Bryn Mawr/Rosemont area just down the street from Villanova University and offers both group and private classes.
Diastasis is just one of the many things Kelly works with women on. Please check out her website to learn more about how pilates can help both during the prenatal time as well as postpartum: http://bellypilates.com/