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December 15, 2009

My poor sore legs!

Many women have general aches and pains in their legs and hips during pregnancy. The two affecting me the most are calf cramps and hip ache, both at night, but I have found some simple ways to ease the pain.

Calf cramps

Ayurveda attributes most cramps to Vata, and Vata imbalance is very common throughout pregnancy as your body tries to keep up with all the rapid changes. If you get a calf cramp here are a few things you can do:
  • Stretch it out, even if this hurts a little. Down dog is the best way to stretch into your calves and is safe during pregnancy until 36 weeks, unless you find it uncomfortable.
  • Massage it. Grab the part that is cramping, this can help stimulate the marma point.
  • Warm sesame oil rubbed into your calves every day can really help.
  • Hot water bottles on the site of the cramp are soothing too.
But the winner is:
  • Epsom salt baths. I have one bath a week with 6 handfuls of epsom salts and that prevents cramps all week. Salt balances Vata.
Hip ache

My other main complaint at this point (it changes every week!) is that my hips ache at night. They feel really loose and open and sometimes it feels like my legs are going to fall out. Strange but true: apparently this is more common in women of Scandinavian descent. During the day my hips are fine so I suspect it is related to my posture when I sleep. Here's what I find helps:
  • Give thanks to your body for opening for your baby.
  • Sleep on your side with a bolster under you top knee and your bottom knee straight. The bolster should be high enough to keep your knees aligned with your hips.
  • Slip a thin pillow or a fold of blanket under your tummy. This will prevent the weight of you expanding stomach dragging down through your hip ligaments.
  • If you wake up sore roll over on to the other side and rearrange all your pillows-bummer!
  • A yoga posture that may help is to sit with one knee straight and one knee bent and push your bent knee down to the side and back up to your chest (keeping your foot on the floor). Resist your pushing hand with your leg to build up strength.
  • Avoid doing a large amount of hip opening yoga postures like butterfly.
These things do come and go so be patient. Sweet dreams!

December 02, 2009

General update and baby's first pictures




The baby hammock's going great! It still needs some finishing touches and then I'll post some pitures and how I made it, but seriously if you know how to use a sewing machine you can make one, it's dead easy.

I never posted the pictures from my 18 week scan and there are some cuties, so here they are, it's tiny little feet, a big yawn and a wave for the camera!