Hi and Pilates and Prenatal Question

[berlina]

Hi! My dh and I just found out we're pregnant late last week with our first. I tested kinda early and I could just barely, barely see a superfaint line on the pregnancy test. I stared and stared at it and then kept going back to look at it again and again until the next morning when I tested again! I've had absolutely no symptoms so far so it still seems a little unreal to me. I never thought I'd be hoping for morning sickness and tender breasts, but I am anxious to get some sort of a physical indication to reassure that there really is a tiny little person forming in there!

I love Pilates and have been doing mat classes 3X/week for about 1.5 years. I am wondering, for those of you who practice pilates, how far along in your pregnancy were you before you stopped or are planning to stop? Does anyone take prenatal yoga? Do you like it? How does it compare to Pilates?

[nubianamy]

Congratulations! =) I'm also pregnant with my first and I know what you mean about it being unreal. The days I have more pregnancy signs are better, even if they're unpleasant, because it feels more real! When I feel "normal," I start to worry... =)

I do yoga and already can tell I am having to slow down. Inverted positions are making me dizzy! I'm not sure about pilates, though -- all that floor work should be OK, but I'm not clear about how safe the stress it puts on your abdominal muscles. Do you have a midwife you can ask, or a local pilates instructor who works with PG women?

Good luck!

[nepenthesea]

That's so funny! I also don't feel like this pregnancy is really "real" yet. I kept looking at the positive test, too, to make sure the line didn't disappear. In fact, I still have the test on my kitchen counter, and every once in awhile I look at it to remind myself . Now that I'm six weeks along, I am feeling more sick and can hardly eat anything, so it's getting to be more real!

I love yoga and pilates, but I really don't know at what point you start to modify your practice. I can say from my own experience that there were already certain poses and moves I couldn't do anymore before I even found out I was pg, so I think maybe your body helps you out in that respect. Have you looked at any of the prenatal pilates videos? I'm planning to buy one, just to be safe. There's also some prenatal yoga videos, too.

I want to be active as long as I can - it's really important to me to be healthy during this time.

[nubianamy]

I agree I want to be active as long as I can! I got a prenatal yoga video for REALLY cheap (they are apparently getting rid of their video stock in favor of DVDs) so will probably start doing that when I can no longer do my usual routine. http://www.gaiam.com/

[allismom]

I am not sure, but i would definately ask about the Pilates. Isn't the whole premise behind it to strengthen your 'core' area? Mainly abs and back? I am pretty sure you are not supposed to do any kind of ab exercises (crunches, etc) when you are pregnant.