Miracles, classes, and photographs

Miracles

Yesterday I went to see my massage therapist, Tanya (www.massageforhealing.com - yes, I am a shameless promoter of the people and services that do a good job.) Tanya has been looking after my aches and pains since before my hip surgery last March. Before the surgery, she got my screaming IT band to quiet down and then, after, she was more successful than two physical therapists in helping me address and reduce pain and stiffness in and around my hip joint. When she found out I was pregnant she went out and purchased some special pillows and foam risers to enable her to continue to massage me in the prone and supine positions. Yes, not only is she good at the massaging part, she is also an extremely wonderful person who clearly cares about her clients beyond professional interest. After I initially injured my pelvis a couple of weeks ago, she was the one who alerted me to the fact that my pubic bone appeared out of alignment - she literally led me toward my own diagnosis.

Tanya's technique is a combination of many styles of massage therapy and reflexology, I believe. I'm sure she could provide more technical terms but I think the style of massage she subscribes to is "Somatic Massage". It's not your typical swedish massage by any means. Whatever it's called, it works. That's not to say it's a blissful 60 minutes on the table but it is the only 60 minutes of pain that I have ever actually looked forward to. Yes, there are times where the massaging in tight spots is a huge relief like with any massage but Tanya also hits unusual spots in your body that most therapists don't (like literally on your joints/bones) and when they are sore it's a whole different experience. You don't know they're sore until she gets to them but when she starts to massage them, you're like "What the hell? I never knew that was sore until now!" Massaging these areas is almost like someone forcefully massaging a fresh bruise on your body. Yeah, owww.

So, back to yesterday. We started on my back which had been spasming since my ill-fated walk around the block. Yes, I decided to walk around the block. To give you the edited highlights - began well, started pain in my right hip, progressed to lower back pain, and then baby started kicking me in the cervix, resulted in me turning around and coming home. Therefore, timing was awesome. We addressed my back while I layed safely, face-down, on my pillows, concentrating a lot on my sacrum where, incidentally, the broad ligament that holds the uterus in place posterially is located. God it hurt but slowly I started to feel the soreness subside and my back respond to the massage. Woot woot! Then, amongst other things, Tanya had located some assisted, isometric stretches (along the same lines as what my PCP gave me) to help my pubic bone release and we did those.

Then the time came to get off the table and I slid off cautiously. I couldn't believe it when my feet touching the floor did not initiate pain in my pubic bone and lower abs. Even getting dressed and putting on my pants (usually a process that requires sitting) was pain free. I walked out of the massage room and still no pain. Yes, a little discomfort (the problem hadn't magically gone away, of that I was aware) but no pain or discomfort that affected my movement. I could even lift my knees up and do a kind of march on the spot - unthinkable just an hour ago!

Which leads me to topic one for my blog post heading - miracles. Tanya is my miracle worker.

The soreness and a little of the pain did creep back throughout the evening but, overall, there is a noticable difference.

Classes

Last night was our first birthing class, or whatever you want to call it. Mercy Medical calls it "Great Expectations." Yeah, whatever. Every Monday night from 7pm to 9pm for the next 6 weeks, that's where we'll be - learning all about the gruesome details of pregnancy, labor, and childbirth.

Night one wasn't too gruesome although many of the fathers involved clearly had their moments of "ewww" and "owww". Mostly, us women sighed and groaned with the inevitability of it all. There were introductions (I was the only one w/ SPD and even the teacher hadn't heard of it. Of course, I'm the odd one,) then an overview of what's been happening inside our pregnant bodies as baby has been growing (as in, where did your intestines go?), a review of the signs that something is wrong, a description of what it feels like to have your water break, and a brief floor-exercise stint where Hubby and I realized that most normal people have no idea how to do a proper squat. I also realized that, despite my SPD, I was the ONLY woman in the room who could manage to get my knees on the floor in a butterfly pose.)

Overall, not too off-putting yet. The teacher seemed capable and non-preachy and the class of 30-or-so of us consisted of some fairly normal people, just like us. One thing I did happily notice, however, is that, in a room of 15 other pregnant women due within a week of me, I AM NOT ANY LARGER THAN ANY OF THEM. In fact, I would say my lump represents the middle ground. So, take that random people with something to say on my size.

Photographs

We have a sneak peak of a couple of the photos from this past weekend's photo shoot. The photographer, Penny, maintains a blog and posted a couple of pics on there this morning. Take a gander here for a quick look: http://www.portraitsbypenny.com/newblog/

So, all in all, a good 24 hours.

Over and out until the next 'development'.