Bradley Class #1

Ok, so I (we) survived the first session of the Bradley Class. Whew!

No, seriously, it was pretty cool. There are six couples in the class, which (I believe) is the largest class the instructor has ever done. She likes to keep classes small, but there was SO much interest, she had to open a second class. Yay for natural child birth! We learned some helpful exercises tonight...like sitting (no seriously...sitting is now an exercise!).

Ok, I'll explain that one...it's called Tailor Sitting...it's basically just sitting on the floor with good posture and legs crossed "indian style", possibly with a pillow under just a little bit of your butt to help the pelvic bone tip forward a bit. Legs can change position as needed, since we don't want legs falling asleep while sitting!

We also learned how to safely squat, did some butterflies, and then covered pelvic rocking. That's basically just cat/cow (yoga), but you don't have to go all the way into cat...but omg cow felt amazing. Pelvic rocking is good at bedtime, since it helps move the baby out of the pelvic bone to where it has more room. This is more comfortable for the baby, so it sleeps better (which means mama sleeps better, without feeling baby kick like crazy).

We moved into side relaxation, which I thought looked pretty easy...lay on your side while supported by pillows. Apparently, I was doing this wrong. After the instructor corrected me, I seriously was so ready to go to sleep right there on the floor! It felt awkward at first, but I was able to more fully physically relax, so it totally works. Ben's job during this was to help massage out any tension anywhere I needed it. It felt amazing to lay in the most comfortable position ever with low lights and cool music and feel any residual tension get massaged away. I can get used to this. She was talking about how the three goals we have during side relaxation are physical, mental, and emotional relaxation. I got the first two down, but was so unprepared for the emotional rush...I actually started crying in class (quietly) and had to shift myself to a slightly uncomfortable position to distract myself. Something to work on, I suppose.