(ARA) - She knew that pregnancy and motherhood are physically challenging to any woman, so when Samantha happily found herself pregnant for the first time at age 40, a lot of attention went into staying healthy, strong and flexible. The fact that she was a dancer and is currently a Pilates instructor definitely gave her a head start. Her goal was to gain a healthy amount of weight and stay as strong and as flexible as possible.
Samantha Binah started each day with breakfast. She is a believer in eating three or small balanced meals a day, as opposed to skipping meals and eating one large meal at the end of the day. Breakfast, for example usually consisted of a slice of whole-wheat toast and a soft boiled egg. She often picked yogurt for a midday snack. Lunch was usually a salad with protein, and for dinner she chose a protein with vegetables, rice or potatoes. She allowed herself one sweet each day. Sometimes that meant fruit and sometimes that meant chocolate. During her pregnancy, there were certain periods when her hunger increased. During those times she definitely ate more, but always tried to make healthy choices.
Normally her exercise program consisted of three, one-hour sessions of Pilates and three, one-hour walks per week. During her pregnancy, she continued these two types of exercises, but varied the time spent and types of movements performed to support the changes in her body. For example, some weeks she opted to do 20 minutes of Pilates a day instead of the three full hours. As a Pilates instructor, she knew that 20 minutes a day instead of three hours would be an invaluable way to safely stay strong and prepare for pregnancy and motherhood. Pilates is a weight bearing and low impact strengthening technique.
Samantha chose four areas of the body on which to focus: legs, back, arms and pelvis. She strengthened all the muscles in her legs and focused on stretching the inner thighs and hamstrings. She worked to keep her ever growing tummy comfortable, and gently stretched to ease any nagging backaches.
She knew that motherhood would challenge her lower back muscles with constant carrying and lifting of baby and baby gear. As she strengthened the biceps and triceps of her arms, she paid special attention to her posture. Keeping a straight, strong upper back would assist with the lifting in future months.
The last area of focus was the pelvis. She performed several variations of pelvic lifts and mimicked Kegel exercises to strengthen the pelvic floor. Surprisingly, she did not work to strengthen her abdominals. Due to her body awareness, she knew that she already had very strong and tight abdominals. For her body, it was important to allow her uterus to grow without constricting it with more tightening.
Working with a pregnant client, she might encourage abdominal strengthening for a very short period into the pregnancy. Another reason to be cautious about abdominal exercises is that late in pregnancy abdominal muscles can separate. This is called diastasis.
When she practiced her own routine for pregnancy and when she worked with pregnant clients she encouraged avoiding the supine (lying flat on the back) position in the third trimester and sometimes even into the second. This is because oxygen may be slightly cut off to the baby in this position. She advises those not familiar with an exercise routine to work with a trained professional if exercising when pregnant. During pregnancy, ligaments loosen due to hormonal changes and special care should be taken.
On September 23rd, Samantha's bundle of joy arrived. She delivered her 6 pound, 9 ounce baby naturally, which was a dream come true. Soon after arriving from the hospital she started to get Noah used to his sleeping arrangement.
Placing her baby next to her own bed, Samantha chose the Arm's Reach Co-Sleeper Bassinet. It fastens securely to the adult bed yet keeps the baby close.
"I am breast feeding and the Co-Sleeper allows me easy access to the baby without getting out of bed. I love it," says Samantha.
For information about the benefits of keeping your baby close, particularly in his early days, log on to http://www.armsreach.com/.
Courtesy of ARA Content
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