Pregnancy Massage, Oh Baby!! by Mama to be, Abby Jordan

So, I've told you about Kristi and the Baby Love Birth Services classes, the amazing Dr. Kate Hansen from Essentials Chiropractics where the classes are taught but allow me to introduce you to Cat. Cat is the licensed massage therapist at Essentials Chiropractics. Don't just wait until your pregnant to see her, she does way too good of a job.

After my 4th adjustment I had a pregnancy massage appointment. Yay!!! In an effort to have overall bone, joint and muscle wellness this just makes sense, right? Well, it does. Dr. Kate Hansen talked to Cat about what she had adjusted and where she felt the tight muscles and then Cat came in and went to town. I feel like I was on the table for a good four hours. It was not that long but everything she did and touched felt purposeful. Each of her techniques and procedures had a point and it wasn't just about making me feel good. There was more to it. We talked about what Dr. Kate had done, relaxin taking it's toll on me, where my problem areas were, had been, and might be in the future. She took care of me and I wish I was still lying there.

As you know from the, "I overdid it blog" I am not always the best at letting pregnancy restrict some of the things I normally do. I'm not the type of person to let people take over and do everything for me because I am growing a baby. I would never compromise the health of our baby. The way I look at it, women have been doing all sorts of things during pregnancy for years. As long as I have the baby in mind when I make my daily limit decisions, I should be just fine.

I did not know anything about Baby Love Birth Services or Essentials Chiropractics for the first 24 or so weeks of pregnancy. Now, I really don't know where I would be without them. I might be wearing a baby brace from the doctors office but my tailbone would be still be out of whack. I wouldn't know that back pain is a normal part of pregnancy but also can be alleviated. I would be showing up at the hospital ready to be the best patient they have ever seen, and REALLY crossing my fingers that the nurses constantly refer to my birth chart and guide me through labor accordingly!!

Dr. Kate, My Fourth Visit, I Totally Overdid it This Week! by Mama to be, Abby Jordan

I work in retail. I pretty much always have. The Holiday season is a long one. I mainly focus on meeting sales goals, the last big push of the year, what can I do to literally bend over backwards to get those last sales!!! Well, I've never been pregnant for this lovely season before.

In an effort to get the season started off right, we shipped our biggest order ever on the Monday following Thanksgiving. It was a lot of manual and mental labor but I think the main thing that took a toll was the way I managed the lifting, packing carrying etc. Before you get upset, these were 8 lb boxes at the most. I wasn't carrying 50 lb bags of sugar. The weight was manageable for a pregnant lady. It was just that there were 650 of them. To get through it, I took a tylenol and didn't stop until it was over!!

By that evening I knew I had probably pushed some of those tiny little vertebrae out of their comfortable positions. Not to mention my hip was locked up, my knee was shifted in, I was in need of some adjustment love. My appointment was for Friday and by then I was so excited to see Dr. Kate Hansen!!

Have you ever heard of relaxin? It is a hormone your body produces tons of when you are pregnant to "relax" your pelvis into opening up and letting the baby out. It can also have a negative effect by relaxin' your lower back and joints into falling out of place. I figure this and my bending over backwards for sales have a lot to do with why I keep ending up in pain. The good news is, it can be adjusted. The even better news is I can take proactive steps to helping as well. Heard of yoga? Yeah, I almost forgot too. I used to be so good at stretching every night and somehow over the last few months I have really slowed down my efforts. I'm going to really try and pick it up for the home stretch. Overall, bone, joint and muscle wellness. That's my goal for me and for baby! Good luck to me!! ;)