Class 2: Function

Hi, my name's Georgia, and this is class to function in the c-section and traumatic birth recovery program. In this section we're going to talk about how to pick up your baby and how to do some strength building exercises that shouldn't hurt or irritate your incision. So I want to start with some breathing to bring awareness to the transverse abdominis and release our pelvic floor. Before we start any exercise. Okay, so let's find our feet grounded and sitting really tall. Feel your spine lifting.

Take a nice long natural breath in through your nose and just relax. Let your shoulders fall. Just allow the breath to fill completely in, three dimensionally through the front side and back of your body. And again, just release and relax as you exhale. Okay, so we're going to use an image of a jaw yarning to release our pelvic floor.

So first, don't you to visualize the pelvic floor right at the base of your pelvis, sling of muscles. And as you take a breath in, I want you to imagine that sling pressing down and opening up almost like your jaw opening as you exhale, release everything. Try not to bring any extra tension into your body. As you inhale, release and feel your jaw and your pelvic floor opening up. And as you exhale, release completely. Okay. Inhaling three dimensionally, front, side and back as you open through the pelvic floor and through your jaw and exhale to release.

Okay, good. So the next part of this series, we're going to practice picking our babies up. Going from a seated position to standing. Okay. And now my assistant Allister. So after my c-section, the midwife told me not to lift anything heavier than my baby, but she didn't say how to do that.

So let's talk about how to safely lift a baby without hurting yourself. So if this were my bed, I would want to make sure that I've got one leg forward and one leg back almost in a lunge position and sticky my tailbone back and keeping my spine straight from here, I bring my baby very close to my body before coming up to stand. So now we can some sit to stand, lend squats. So here we go. First thing in my sit to stand squat is I want to make sure I scoot my hips all the way to the very front edge of my surface. I'm going to tech my feet back so they're almost underneath me.

From here I hold my baby very close to my body and I hinge forward. Press through the balls of my feet, make sure my heels are anchored, and then push all the way up to standing. Get. So from here will inhale, sticking the tailbone back, maintaining a neutral spine and exhale to lift to inhale on the way down. And then exhale, hinge, press through your feet and lift three. Inhaling down and right. Make sure you keep them close to your body, keeping the lever really short.

And as you exhale, press through the feet to lift up. Standing Tall. Good. Inhaling to sit and exhaling. Stan. Let's do two more. Inhale down, exhale up. And then one more time. Hey mm, all the way. Good. So from here, let's do some lunges.

I'm going to turn my foot to one side, still holding my baby very close to my body. I'm going to bend the back leg and then straight inhale on the way down and exhale on the way up. Inhale on the way down. Push through the front foot. Lift tall right through the crown of the head. Inhaling down, exhaling, up and down and up. Let's do one more time just like this and held down and let's turn all the way around. Get a view of the ocean. Here we go.

Ready and bend down. Inhale down. Exhale and inhaling down two and three in Hilton and four and five. All right, turn the face center, holding your baby close to your body. We're going to go down, sticking the tailbone backwards, keeping your spine nice and straight. Transfer weight over to the right and stand tall. I'm not going to lift my foot. I want to keep balance. Inhaling down center. Exhaling. Inhale down. Exhale up.

Exhale high. So the closer you keeping me your body, the better. Inhaling down, keeping my neutral spine and app one more each way. Inhale down. Exhale Nolan down and come back to this center. All right, thank you Allister. Time for a nap. All right, so now that I've have a moment without my baby, I'm going to find some time to open up through my chest, bring a little bit of strength and stability into my upper body. So I'm going to stay seated here and start just by finding a comfortable position, feeling my feet grounded.

Let's just take one arm straight up to the ceiling and take a long breath in, and as you exhale, just reach over to one side. Allow yourself to relax into the position. As you breathe in, feel that three dimensional breath, front, side and back, and then exhale to relax the arm. The other arm goes up as you inhale, and then exhale, just reaching gently over to the other side. Take a nice long full breath in, and then all the way down. Let's try that again. Big breath in, three dimensional breath. Exhale, reach over, stay firmly grounded into your sitting bones.

Inhale, lift, and then exhale, relax. One more like that. Inhale, lift the arm. Exhale gently, side bend, reaching over, staying grounded into that opposite side. Inhale, lift and exhale to release. From here.

Let's take the right arm up and then all the way around you can let your left arm slide down the right lay look over your shoulder and just gently grow through the crown of your head. As you twist behind you slowly unravel your spine. Bring yourself back to a centered position. Okay. Or their arm goes up, and then as you exhale, twisting all the way around. Am I right hand? We'll just slide down the left leg as I grow through the crown of my head. Feel anchored through the sitting bones and just allow your spine to ring out, unwind your spine, come all the way back to good big breath in and twist. Exhale, gently deepen growing to the crown of your head and then release and unwind and then reach. Exhale, twist.

Keep really rooted into the chair. Keep growing through the crown of your head and then gently on wind. Good. From here, let's stay seated. Nice and tall. Lift the right ankle and cross it over your left knee. Take your breath in, grow tall, and as you exhale, just release your body forward.

We want to allow the lower back to stretch the outside of the right hip. Should feel a gentle stretch. Let's take a big breath in here. Imagine your jaw and your pelvic floor opening like a yawn. Slowly round up your spine all the way and release the leg.

Take a breath, and then we'll lift the second leg up. Crossing over knee. Grow tall through the crown of your head for breath in. And then just exhale, relax. Notice how different it is. [inaudible] from side to side. So again, we're going to take a breath and feel that three dimensional breath in front, side and back. And as you exhale, should I relax a little bit deeper into the position? Good.

Slowly roll all the way up your spine. Good. Take a big breath, reach your arms all the way up, and then as you exhale, fold forward straight down. Still allow your body to hang between your legs. Take a nice three dimensional breath in, feeling the pelvic floor, relax open, and then have release completely. Let's slowly roll all the way up bone by bone.

Find yourself in a tall seated position. From here. Let's release through the shoulders. Sit Nice and tall for one last big breath, expanding front, side and back. Feel how the pelvic floor opens. Your job widens, and then relax. Okay, so join me on my next video in this series.

So class three, we're going to release tension through body rolling and we'll work on some gentle scar mobilization and massage. Thank you.