Saturday, October 11, 2008

Pregnancy Preparation Tracking

Since I started very early, I am taking my time with the Hypnobabies program. It is designed to start about 32 weeks and take each chapter one week to complete before you go in maintenance phase. It is a big commitment. especially starting early, which is why I think they suggest you start later. Since I will be without my husband for the last two months, I wanted to go through the program with him before I leave. That involves listening to one script and one affirmations cd a day, over 30 minutes each. The next chapter, I have to practice the "finger-drop technique" for going into self-hypnosis, 5 times a day. It just takes about 2 minutes each time, but still, a commitment to everyday. As I've said before, the difference in how successful people are with the program seems to be directly related to the amount of practicing they did. I want to get the most out of the program, so I want to do it every day. So far, I've only missed one day of affirmations, but done the script everyday.

I've also been very successful with exercising. Still need to get my workout in for today, though. I was planning to go to yoga but my husband is not feeling well so I let him sleep and stayed home instead. I was able to get Ian to nap and listen to my script, so the time was not lost.

This next chapter of Hypnobabies covers nutrition and recommends 75-80 grams of protein per day. Yikes! that is a lot, I have glanced at the Brewer Diet before and have been eating eggs (started with one and now I am eating two) almost every day for breakfast. I've also tried to drink milk for lunch and dinner. Milk has a lot of protein. Still, I don't know how much I am getting. I am going to start tracking it on the handy protein tracker sheet, but it is like my spending, I am afraid to track because I am afraid to see the results. Got to suck it up and do it (for the protein and the finances).

Then that brings me to the pregnancy specific exercises like Kegels (50-300 per day) pelvic rocking (20-40, 3 times a day), squats and tailor sitting. I haven't been doing much of these, except in yoga class or what is in the dvds. It seems overwhelming. I did not do any of this in my first pregnancy, except for yoga in in the third trimester and by then it was too late. I need to keep my ligaments loose so I have a better chance of proper positioning, instead of breech, like last time.

I am going to make a master chart for all of this. My housekeeping has virtually no chance of improving during this pregnancy, or probably for the 6 months afterward, but I am not totally giving up on that, either.

3 comments:

Elita said...

If there is one thing I regret not doing more of, it's perineum massage to stretch before labor. I tore pretty badly, but other women I know who were religious about having their husbands do the massage fared better. I think it's a bit early in your pregnancy to worry about tailor presses, isn't it? I think I started tailors and squats around 34 weeks. Good luck with everything, you are doing an awesome job with all of this!

Mama Seoul said...

I have been debating perennial massage. I do not want to do it and will definitely wait until I get closer to the end to start. I've heard mixed things about it, but it is probably like anything else, if you do it consistently, it works and if you don't, it doesn't. I bet most people don't do it long enough or regularly enough because it is unpleasant.

I think the other exercises are good for you even when you are not pregnant so that is why I am trying to do them now. I never really got into regular exercise after Ian was born so I need to get stronger. I've been a sporadic exerciser my whole life because I've always been fairly thin so I didn't have the urgent motivation. It does feel good to exercise regularly, though. I am hoping to keep it up after the baby is born. DVDs aren't ideal, but they are better than nothing and the easiest to do when you have kids and don't have a good place to walk. I am glad that I can get to yoga class. I think it will be a lot harder after the second baby is born.

Connie said...

You've been nominated for an award :-)