Checking in quickly here… I’ve been writing a bit elsewhere, but I miss this space and I realized how helpful it is to have the journal of my previous pregnancy experiences to look back on as I don’t remember much when I try to think back on my own.
So here we go again… 19 weeks along (I think… I can’t seem to keep track this time), due March 3rd. Definitely not the “princess pregnancy” as number one was… I sort of feel like I’m being dragged kicking and screaming into pregnancy, mostly out of fear and dread of last time’s complications.
I’ve ditched the Ashtanga for a while and I’ve become a regular at the level 2/3 vinyasa classes at a yoga studio in town. (GASP) I shudder when I think of how far I’ve strayed from my once-dedicated ashtangi roots… but I realized that one of the main reasons I fell from my yoga practice last time around was how much of the ashtanga practice you have to modify or give up as pregnancy changes the body. Primary series turns into one half-bend after another, and in my second series poses, well… there goes pasasana, shalabasana A and B, dhanurasana, bakasana b, ardha matsyendrasana, bharadvajrasana… I was practically in a state of mourning last time around. And while there’s still several poses in the Vinyasa classes that I’m modifying or skipping completely, I don’t feel that huge sense of loss as I did with trying to continue with a daily ashtanga practice. I’m happy where I’m at now, and I think that by keeping up with some form of a regular, physically demanding yoga practice through the next 5 months, it will be that much easier to come home to my ashtanga self-practice after March.
This time, I keep looking for the reasoning behind avoiding certain yoga poses instead of blindly adhering to the advice. Why give up handstand if you have an existing, controlled handstand practice? Why give up backbends and dropbacks if they still feel good?
On the “being pregnant” front, this whole high-risk thing sucks. I’m on weekly progesterone shots to keep the pre-term labor at bay. I was warned they “might make you a little grumpy” and HOLY HELL was I angry all day Tuesday after that shot. Could be partially placebo effect, but shit. Stay out of my way on Tuesdays from here on out until baby #2 comes in March. In the meantime, I suppose I’ll invest in some aromatherapy oils to get me through those mood swings without committing crimes of rage.