Hello. I would like to share my yoga for birth class plan. Please let me know if there are any changes you think would improve it, or switching the order of the class to make it flow better. 🙂
Begin with a opening and welcome to class chat to briefly explain the class, ensure that everyone is feeling well and okay to practice, and to ask any questions now/during/after class.
Then move into a meditation which connects mum and baby, begins to relax mum into the class and some visualisations for birth.
Move into a couple restorative, supported poses, following by a couple of sitting poses to relieve any aches/pain in legs.
Then progress into tabletop poses, knee lunges, squats and warriors. During this section I would provide information about the pelvic inlet and outlet, creating space and alignment, so that the body is opening and allowing optimal positioning of the baby, all while building stamina to assist at birth.
A long supported/restorative savasana will follow with a guided meditation for releasing fear/anxiety around birth.
Lastly, we would practise a few breath work techniques to assist during labour, including Bee breath and Ujjaji.
Finish formal class but encourage a discussion around self-care to increase oxytocin, the role of the partner/doula/midwife in labour, massage, rest and meditation in preparation and during birth.
My summary for a new student to a pregnancy class: It would be a casual questionnaire style chat 🙂
Welcome to this class, can I ask what trimester you are in? How are you feeling today? Do you have any medical/pregnancy related conditions that I should know about before we begin? Is this your first pregnancy? You are encouraged to stop, rest and have a drink of water at any time you need to, and remember to listen to your body first, I will let you know along the way any modifications that suit your trimester. And lastly enjoy the class!
Hello ladies. Before I share my story I just want to thank you Bettina for sharing yours so beautifully.
My pregnancy journey started quite quickly. We decided to start trying around Feb 2018 and I was pregnant by May 2018. Luckily my pregnancy was a wonderful experience. I didn’t get very sick or crave wacky foods! By about 30 weeks in a scan it was clear that she was breech. So I tried some exercises at home but she had really set up camp in my belly and was not going to move. At around 37 weeks the doctors carried out an ECV on me (which is where they try to flip the baby manually). This was an extremely painful experience and I would not do it again if given the option. Oh, and it didn’t work. About a week later I started going into labour after a night of really mild contractions which I thought were just braxton hicks. Because she was still breech, I was booked in for an emergency c-section the following day. During the wait at the hospital, my waters broke and I ended up being about 4cm dilated by the time I went in for the birth. The c-section surgery itself was a good experience, I remember being overwhelmed with emotion and very scared but everything went smoothly. Once she was born, I spent the whole night awake with her just trying to figure out what to do, how to breastfeed and staring at her. I had to ask a nurse how to swaddle her and change her nappy because I just wasn’t prepared. A couple memorable shocks to the system after giving birth was the pain I felt when my milk came in, and the c-section recovery was far more intense than I expected. I had many tears, and sleepless nights but pure love for her outweighed it all.
