On My Bookshelf

Lately, my bookshelf has been a revolving collection of baby, parenting, and post-pregnancy books on trial from the library. After reading quite a bit of "professional" advice on eating, sleeping, and routines, I've happily dumped most of them right back in the library return box. The extent to which some of these guides want you to structure your day is exhausting. I just don't have the time or inclination to schedule "alone play time" for my 7-week-old and trying to structure feedings by the clock has proven to make my days more harrowing than restful. Anyway, there have been two books that I actually felt compelled to buy. One about me and one about Miles. 

The first is a book called The Wonder Weeks, which takes a more positive spin on the fussy periods in an infant's development. Instead of seeing Miles as a cranktastic baby that needs to be fixed, it has helped me understand that these trying times are actually quite wonderful because it means he's growing, both mentally and physically. After reading the chapter on the Wonder Week 5, I realized that earlier in the month, Miles wasn't just being a total pain in the butt for no reason. He wasn't napping, he was feeding constantly, and was generally a grumpy little guy -- all indicators that he was making mental leaps and was probably really overwhelmed. The next milestone is Wonder Week 8 in which babies start to understand that they are not one in the same with the world around them. He'll start to recognize that his arms are in fact his and colors and patterns are more clear. The book also provides a really great checklist of some of the things that you might start to see in the week leading up to and following each wonder week. For instance, this week one of the games they suggest is helping him pull up into a sitting and standing position. We tried it and he loves it. In fact, he wants to stand all the time now, which is awesome and a little frustrating because it really tires him out. One thing that we also read is that around this time, babies really enjoy watching rustling leaves and being outdoors, so we decided to take him out for a spin in his Baby Jogger stroller because the weather was so nice. 

Which leads me to my second book, Exercise After Pregnancy. Even though I only have about 3-5 pounds to shed to make it back to my pre-pregnancy weight, my belly is still pretty mushy and jiggly. The other day I pulled out my prenatal pilates DVD, which has a special postnatal workout, and found it nearly impossible to finish the 20 minute session. I don't consider myself to be greatly out of shape, so struggling through the "easy" warm-up exercises was difficult to swallow.  

I learned from the book that it's important to take it slow and focus on getting your abs back into the right place before doing any hardcore strengthening exercises. Apparently, a lot of women's ab muscles split down the middle and are stretched to maximum capacity -- and we all know how big my belly got toward the end! When I checked to see if this was the case with me, I found that I had a good three finger widths between my right and left side. With that in mind, the book focuses on getting back your posture by gently strengthening your core. Also, all of the women pictured in the book are actually moms -- round midsections, love handles and all. For me, exercise is much more tolerable when it's coming from a woman who actually looks 12 weeks postpartum as opposed to Brooke Burke cheerfully bouncing on an exercise ball with unnaturally perky boobs and a 14-inch waist.   

So for now, I'm now working on getting my rectus abdominis pulled in closer and then I can focus more on shortening the muscles to back where they should be. I mean, while my maternity jeans are oh so comfy, I'd really like to be able to put on a normal pair of pants sometime in the near future.

So Sore

A friend of mine passed along an email earlier this week that a local fitness studio was having a Mother's Day special of free prenatal classes in the Pearl District. I emailed to reserve a spot and was surprised to find that they still had room (in D.C. if you signed up for anything free you had to do it within 5 seconds of a public posting or you were out of luck).

It was a beautiful day yesterday, so I took a nice stroll to 10th & Marshall, not knowing exactly what to expect. I've taken yoga classes before, which never really seemed to do it for me, however I realize that I've not done any strength training at all during my pregnancy and am feeling pretty soft these days. Barre3 intrigued me because it boasts that it's "where ballet barre meets yoga and pilates," and that's exactly what I got from the class. It totally kicked my butt (in a good way). We stretched and strengthened nearly every muscle in my body with exercises modified specifically for pregnancy. I left feeling totally spent, but not exhausted.

This morning I woke up very aware of every muscle in my body, but I can't wait to sign up again for next weekend!

(photo from Barre 3)