I did prenatal yoga every week with my first child. I loved it and there was as a studio not too far from my house with a St Vincent employee discount. It was a great set up and I was so thankful for an amazing teacher. It was such a wonderful experience. I really loved that commitment that I made to myself and William at the time. I wanted to continue that with my second pregnancy. It is different when it comes to finding time and money to do that activity with baby #2. Life is so crazy busy and with a toddler, I have had to make arrangements for William in the evenings so that I could attend a yoga class. That is one of the main reasons that I think make it so hard for moms with multiple children to be able to continue their prenatal yoga practice.

I have now reached my third trimester and I am at 35 weeks and we are about 5 weeks away from meeting Baby Busenburg #2. These last few weeks are definitely the most uncomfortable and I have been working to re-prioritize my yoga practice. It is worth it to have that 75 minutes a week to stretch, realign and re-center myself. I went to my first class back in awhile last week and it was amazing. I felt so much better after the class. I am so thankful for a husband who is willing to help me with William so that I can take that time and go to the yoga studio. I did my initial Prenatal Yoga post back in 2016, the last time I was pregnant. If you want to check it out - CLICK HERE and you can read through some great reasons for our prenatal yoga can prepare you for labor and delivery.

Even if you haven’t practiced yoga before and you are now pregnant, enrolling in a yoga class can be super helpful. There are so many benefits that prenatal yoga provides throughout each trimester of pregnancy.

First Trimester (for some more information - CLICK HERE)

It can be tough at times to want to get up and do anything. When you first find out you are pregnant often there is a lot of nausea, vomiting and just overall exhaustion.
If you are feeling poorly a nice, smooth motion can sometimes help you calm down and feel better. Doing something like prenatal yoga is a great way to help take your focus on your “bad feelings” and instead focus on your practice.
If you are exhausted feel free to take breaks and even modify positions as they feel good.

Second Trimester

This trimester is great because you start to feel better and tend to have more energy. This is the perfect time to work on some strength training during your yoga practice. Plus, at this time your belly isn’t that big yet so it is not uncomfortable to be in certain positions.
Some strength training exercises can involve squats to help your legs and pelvic floor. Doing stretching is also helpful to manage any hip pain and increase in the hormone release of relaxin. This strength training is helpful for labor.

Third Trimester

As you reach this trimester, mommy and baby are growing and this shifts your center of gravity. That can make things more uncomfortable.
Focusing on meditation and pain management is helpful when it comes to anticipating labor. Focusing on centering yourself is helpful as you work through that labor process.
More relaxin is released and again this causes mom to be more uncomfortable and doing stretches/some strength training to help with other movements and relieve some stress.

It can be tough to make time for prenatal yoga or really any yoga practice. It get more complicated when you have children to think about or other work responsibilities. I wanted to encourage you to take some time for yourself. It is worth the time and investment in helping you feel better. Make a short term goal for yourself and work towards that goal. If you are interested in trying to find some prenatal classes, check out the list of some locations around the Indianapolis area.

Prenatalal Yoga Locations around Indianapolis

Broad Ripple Park - Indianapolis
City Yoga - Indianapolis
Invoke - Indianapolis (multiple locations)
Source Yoga - FIshers
Flourish Yoga - Fishers
IU North - Carmel
Simply Yoga - Zionsville

So as you probably now know my husband, Chas and I are expecting our first child in December. It was been a crazy ride so far, but as I head into my 2nd trimester it is wonderful to start feeling better and more like myself.

I would say that I am a very active person. I enjoy running and doing yoga. I am sure you can tell from my blog that I enjoy being active and can not sit still for too long. With the start of this pregnancy I really struggled with feeling exhausted, nauseated a lot of the time and just lacking that normal vigor for life that I possess. Now I feel like I have come through that and am on the other side. I am starting to feel better and more like my normal self again.

I have been getting back to running, which has been fantastic and I have made the commitment that I want to regularly attend prenatal yoga classes. For all of you who are pregnant, this definitely pertains to you! I am a strong believer in balance of one's self physically. I think that yoga really helps to accomplish that. You should never do just one type of activity or motion repeatedly so added variety and balance to our routine is important. I know I can tell a huge difference in my own body's alignment when I sit a desk all day or on the coach. I can feel it in my back and doing yoga helps to stretch and strengthen my body.

So maybe you are pregnant and we have never done yoga or you aren't conceived this could be something that could help you.

Your body needs and gets more support - With pregnancy your body changes A LOT. Even in ways that you can't see. Your body releases a hormone, called relaxin and this makes your ligaments more stretchy. It is help with labor in the future, but this hormone is released early in pregnancy (~10 weeks). This can cause some pain or movement into joints. Your body requires more support now with pregnancy and doing exercises that promote balance and support will be helpful. Learning safe ways to stretch, strengthen and support your body will be helpful as your body continues to change over the next 9 months to support your growing baby.
Strengthening important muscle groups - Prenatal yoga helps to strengthen your pelvic floor, hips and abdominal muscles which will be stretched and pulled in the labor process. The key to keep these muscle group toned - meaning a proper balance between the length/strength of the muscle. This will help with supporting your growing baby, laboring for multiple hours and for recovery afterwards.
Better prepared for labor and delivery - Yoga teaches mindfulness, proper breathing and a sense of relaxing. This is helpful in the labor process, because we all want to tense up, be slightly afraid and this will make labor more difficult. Using techniques learned in yoga to do cleansing breathes and to stay calm will help with the flow and even the duration of labor.
Connectedness with your baby - Taking the time out of your busy schedule for yourself and your baby helps with feeling connected to this little one growing inside of you. This is also a place to meet other mothers and have a sense of camaraderie with those in class with you. During the class there is lots of mindfulness towards your baby and taking a moment to think about them.
Healthier overall pregnancy - Research is showing that mothers do practice yoga tend to have less preterm infants and have a lower chance of having a low birth weight infant. Yoga counts as a form of physical activity and we know that maintaining your physical fitness during your pregnancy leads to better outcomes for yourself and your child.

Hopefully some of these benefits to doing prenatal yoga have started you thinking about maybe joining a class in your local area and becoming more physically fit. I know that participating in prenatal yoga classes (that last over an hour) helps to calm me down after a stressful day, my whole body feels better and I have a much more positive outlook on life.