Come and play! Free yoga = free goodness with awesome peoples.

This week is my last week for several classes and then life will look way way different. I am still going to be teaching my evening classes and Saturday at Castle Hill. I am also planning on teaching a lot of workshops in Austin, Georgetown, San Antonio, and possibly Dallas soon. I hope to maybe pick some more classes up in the future once we figure out what our schedule will look like at home. We shall see!

Lottie has been an absolute peach so far! The love I feel for that little nugget is totally amazing and nearly overwhelming. I love every second of it and we are so so excited for every day ahead of us.

Here is my new schedule, all at Castle Hill, starting on the 15th!

Tuesday 6:15pm Ashtanga Primary Series
Wednesday 6pm Vinyasa Flow
Thursday 6:15pm Ashtanga Primary Series
Saturday 9-10:15am Vinyasa Flow

ALSO, I am still teaching privately. So give me a holler if that is something that interests you!!

Saturday Night 7-9 – Panama Hats, Jazz, Folk, Latin, etc

New World Deli
4101 Guadalupe St · Austin, Texas · 78751

Good food. Good music. Good peeps of all ages!

AT
Moksha Yoga on the Square
824 S. Austin Avenue
Georgetown, TX 78626

512.868.6600

Come and join me for one last “mass” tomorrow morning if you can! Thank you so much to all my students who have made teaching on Sunday mornings such a pleasure. Some of you I have seen almost every Sunday now for 8 years! Thank you from the bottom of my heart and know that this was a hard decision to make. Love you all and see you in yoga! -ymb

Lottie Bird’s Birth

On Wednesday, February 22nd, we had a prenatal appointment in the early afternoon at the birthing center. My mom had arrived from Ecuador the night before, and she had come along with Matt and me to see the center and meet the midwives. Jayme was on duty that day. Mama’s and baby’s vitals were healthy, and everything looked good. We made our next appointment for the following week, but of course I was thinking and hoping that I wouldn’t make it that long before “Butters”, the nickname we had given the mystery baby, made his or her appearance.

Later that afternoon, knowing that staying active was a good way to help Butters along, I walked the three mile loop around Lady Bird Lake. It still felt good to move and get some exercise, but during this walk, I definitely noticed an increased sensation of pressure lower in my pelvis than usual. I came home and then went with Matt to his evening vinyasa flow yoga class, while my mom went to an Ash Wednesday church service. The yoga felt a little more taxing than usual, which wasn’t too surprising since, at this point, I was feeling bigger and bigger by the day.

Matt and I came home, had dinner, and put on an episode of Seinfeld that we had on DVR. At about 8:45 p.m., halfway through the episode, “The Couch”, I started to shift my weight to change positions when I suddenly felt a little pop in my pelvis, and then a warm gush started to soak my underwear. I looked over at Matt on the other end of the couch and said, “My water just broke!” His eyes got really big and a look of excitement, joy, and a hint of fear spread over his face. I got up and ran to the bathroom before the water soaked through my pants, and let it drain into the toilet. Matt started cracking up and said that he wished he could have captured the deer-in-the-headlights look on my face as I froze mid-movement, clutching the sides of the couch at the moment I felt the pop. We checked to make sure the amniotic fluid was clear of meconium, and called Jayme to give her a heads up that depending on how fast things progressed, we might be calling her back in the middle of the night to head to the birthing center. She recommended that we try to get as much sleep as possible before things got more intense. Right after we hung up the phone, my mom walked in the door, and we gave her the news. Matt called his folks to let them know that Butters was on the way.

I was still in my sweaty workout clothes, so I went up to take a shower and wash my hair. During the shower, I started having some light contractions. Matt and I got into bed and tried to sleep. Matt dozed off for a short time, but I was never able to fall asleep with all the anticipation and the building sensations. My contractions were already coming less than ten minutes apart, but they weren’t that intense yet, more like having bad menstrual cramps. Over the next few hours they kept getting stronger and closer together. Taking a cue from Matt, who is always making up silly songs by inserting people’s names into existing songs and changing the lyrics up, I was getting myself through contractions by singing little songs in my head about Butters, and reminding myself that, though the contractions were starting to really hurt, every one was bringing us closer to finally meeting our baby. At about 3:00 a.m., I had been having strong contractions every two to five minutes. Matt was awake, and we decided it was time to think about heading to the birthing center. We called Jayme and planned to meet there in an hour. We woke up my mom, and she and Matt started getting my bag and our snacks gathered up and taking them to the car. I called Elizabeth, one of my best friends whom I’ve known since junior high, and who was also going to attend the birth for extra support wherever it was needed. At the time of Lottie’s birth, Elizabeth was about twenty weeks pregnant and still trying to decide if she wanted to have hospital birth with a doctor, or take the midwife route, so it was also an opportunity for her to see the birthing center experience.

When we got to the birthing center, Jayme and the apprentice midwife, Stephanie, checked our vitals and let us rest in bed for a while to adjust to the new setting. My contractions slowed down a little with the change, but started picking up speed again soon. Elizabeth arrived at about 4:45. At this point, my perception of time gets fairly blurry, but I remember that over the next few hours while I continued to labor, I noticed it going from darkness to light out the windows of the birthing center, and knew that my mom had gone out to take some photos of the beautiful turn-of-the-century house in the light of dawn.

I labored lying on my side in bed for a while. The midwives didn’t want me to get in the tub too soon because sometimes it can relax you enough to actually slow labor down. When the contractions had become very intense, they started filling the huge garden tub for me. Meanwhile, Matt and Elizabeth teamed up to rub my low back and legs while I breathed my way through contractions. I remember thinking about how helpful the “pursed lip breathing” technique that I frequently teach patients at work was at getting me through the waves. Long slow inhale through the nose and long slow exhale through puckered lips. When the tub was full, Matt and I got in together. I sat on my knees and hung my arms on the side, with my forehead resting on a towel on the edge, rolling my head around on the towel, groaning and sighing at the height of contractions. Matt held a cool towel on the back of my neck and continued to rub my back as the contractions continued to surge higher and higher. All the while, Elizabeth was regularly offering me sips of the coconut water that I had brought to stay hydrated. Over the course of my labor, I drank three large cans of the stuff, and I don’t think I will ever be able to dissociate coconut water from being in labor for the rest of my life!

Jayme suggested getting out of the tub and moving around to help the baby work its way lower. Matt and I went upstairs to the yoga space and slowly walked laps around the big room filled with morning sun, taking breaks to either lean on him or kneel over a chair when I started feeling a wave coming on. After a while we went back downstairs and I sat and ate a yogurt. The contractions had goitten exhausting by now, and I was starting to feel like it was never going to end. I did a stint sitting on the toilet, but I couldn’t relax onto the seat without bringing on wrenching pain. At this point, Jayme wanted to do a cervical exam to make sure I was dilating, since I had been in active labor for quite a while now and hadn’t felt the baby get lower. She didn’t give me a number, but said that I was opening beautifully, and that at any point thereafter, if I got the urge to push, to go ahead. This was encouraging, though nothing even close to the urge to push had happened yet, but the thought that I was getting close was a a major relief. I don’t know what time it was, but it was still definitely morning, and I’m glad I didn’t know how many hours I still had to go, because it would have seemed impossible.

I was getting quite fatigued, having been awake for well over twenty-four hours at that point. Jayme had me periodically “rest” by lying in bed on my side for a while, which I alternated with kneeling over the birthing ball on the bed. The intensity in my abdomen and back during the contractions was reaching what felt like emergency level and I was having to put every ounce of concentration into keeping my breaths long and slow, and keeping my sounds low, which promotes staying more relaxed. While I was on the ball, I heard Jayme say to Matt, “There’s your baby,” and pointed out that from the back, you could see the baby’s head pressing my sacrum up and shifting it around during the contractions. Somehow in the midst of my own intensity, I was impressed that he seemed fascinated by it rather than wanting to pass out.

A couple of times I started crying a little, not as much because of the pain, but because it felt like it was going on and on with no progress. I started feeling like I was failing and I wanted so badly just to throw in the towel and get completely drugged up at the hospital. I was desperately fighting resentful thoughts of being in the midst of the most horrible event of my entire life, and not even caring about the coming baby aymore, just wanting anything to make the contractions stop. Matt, on the other hand, had been tearing up with emotion and empathy the entire time, and though I wasn’t cognitively processing it at the time, his connection to and expression of the emotional side of the momentous event happening was invaluably helping me hang on to the ability to keep enduring and concentrating on what I needed to do for as long as it took to bring Lottie to us.

Over the next several hours, Jayme coached me through a circuit of techniques to help the baby keep working its way downward and turn into a better position for exit. I walked up and down the hall doing high knees, did stints sitting backwards on the toilet, and alternated “Captain Morgans” with my left foot up on the bed and squatting during contractions. Jayme performed a “hip rocking” technique on me, where I lay on my right side while she vigorously rocked my body side to side between contractions. I could tell by the light coming through the windows that it was no longer morning, and that we were forging on into the afternoon. The baby’s and my vitals continued to be rock solid, and though I was exhausted by now, I just had to keep going.

Elizabeth had gone out to get lunch for everyone, and Matt had stepped out briefly to eat while Jayme and Stephanie continued to monitor our vitals and coach me through contractions to help me stay as relaxed as possible. By the time Matt came back in, he told me later that he could sense a significant change, and said I looked like I had gone into some deep primal state of being. I stilI didn’t feel like I was making progress, and voiced to Jayme that I didn’t know how much longer I could do it. She assured me that this was a good sign that I was getting closer, and firmly stated that I could keep doing it as long as I needed to, taking it one contraction at a time. I tried to make myself believe her. It was taking every ounce of power in me to keep breathing in a controlled way and keep my entire body from clenching up. At some point I noticed that April, one of the other midwives had also arrived.

While I was taking another “rest” on my side, Jayme observed that it seemed my baby really liked gravity, and suggested kneeling on a pillow on the floor and leaning forward over the edge of the bed. I felt like I might need to go sit on the toilet to try to poop, but Jayme persuaded me to try a few contractions in kneeling over the bed first, and said that maybe the urge I was feeling was actually my baby finally coming down. I was at the point where I didn’t really care if I pooped on the floor anyway, so I got down to the floor. Matt sat in front of me on the bed and I held onto his legs to brace myself as each new wave came on. Down on my knees, I still wasn’t feeling a strong urge to push, but the pressure in my bottom was growing a little. I decided that I had nothing to lose by trying a few pushes, so with the next contraction, I tentatively started to bear down a little as I exhaled. It felt okay, so I gave a bigger push with the next breath. The pressure started to dramatically increase and I felt a head-sized object wedge down lower into my pelvis! Finally!

All the midwives started into a flurry of activity putting gloves on and warming towels up. Even though the contractions still hurt, I got got an intense rush of euphoria knowing that there was an end in sight, and was able to completely reconnect to the excitement of getting to meet this baby I had been carrying for so long now. I eagerly, but patiently, waited for the next contraction and gave three pushes of mounting intensity with my breaths. I felt the baby move further and further down with each one, and began to feel my tissues stretching wider. I would push until I felt like I would tear if I kept going, then stop to let my tissues relax around the baby and wait for the next contraction to start pushing again. With the first few sets of pushes, I could feel the baby slide back up a little between contractions, but as the head continued to move down, I could tell that it was on its way out. The stretching was getting intense and burning, but I didn’t care because I knew it was only a matter of minutes at this point. I heard the midwives saying that they could see an ear. Jayme was using olive oil to feel around the edge of the head to check for the cord, and telling me that I was stretching beautifully. I wanted to keep it that way and prevent as much tearing as possible, but I also wanted that baby out so badly. I gave a strong push, making what I’m sure sounded like a wild animal cry, and felt the entire head come out. One more big push brought the shoulders and rest of the body through with a big, warm swoosh.

A wave of relief like nothing I’ve ever known swept over me and I gave a huge sigh, releasing my vice grip on Matt’s legs. Jayme was rubbing down the blue, slimy baby, and I held my breath for a second until that first scream hit the air. After hearing me make the cry that was unmistakably the sound of a final push, my mom and Elizabeth rushed into the room just as the baby began to scream. The baby’s little body quickly went from blue to pink as the midwives massaged it.

I anxiously looked over my shoulder to finally find out the baby’s sex. At first glance, I thought I saw little testicles and said out loud, “It’s a boy!” but then registered that something didn’t look quite right and double checked. There was no little penis, and what I had thought were testicles were really swollen little labia, and I cried out, “No, it’s a girl!” Though I would have been completely thrilled either way, I had secretly been having strong intuitions that it was a girl, and finding out that it was indeed felt like everything was falling into place as it should. We had a Lottie Bird! Matt and I had chosen her name for a hypothetical daughter long before we even knew whether or not we wanted to have kids, and had never considered any other girl names along the way. When I took Lottie Bird into my arms that first time, she perfectly embodied her name, and it felt like destiny.

I still had to deliver the placenta, which slid out effortlessly with a gentle contraction and slight pull on the cord. With the placenta in a little tub on the bed, and Lottie still attached to let the blood pump into her body, Matt and I held her little body wrapped in a warm towel with wonder and elation. With the help of the midwives, we got her to latch on to my breast and nurse for the first time. Then, the midwives gave us a little time to rest and take in our new daughter. They came back in a little while, and Matt cut the cord. The midwives examined an alert, but calm Lottie, who weighed in at six pounds, thirteen ounces, and was twenty and three quarter inches long. She got her shot of vitamin k and didn’t even cry. Matt diapered and dressed her while she wiggled and squirmed.

I felt pretty good, but I was still bleeding a little more than normal, and was feeling a little light headed when I tried to stand up. My pulse was up a little and my blood pressure lowering. My fundus wasn’t quite shrinking down like it should. Jayme wanted to keep me for observation a while to make sure I wasn’t having any internal bleeding. I ate a little, knowing that low blood sugar and fatigue were probably contributing to the light headedness. When the midwives started doing more fundal massage on me, I realized that I had to pee really bad. They didn’t want me to get up, so they put a chuck under me and I let loose. Aaahhh… It turned out that I hadn’t been getting the signal that I had to pee due to urethral swelling after the birth, and once we figured that out, I had several amazing pees over the next hour. Without the obstruction of a full bladder, my uterus was able to shrink up again and the bleeding waned. My vitals normalized and I started feeling better. After holding me a little longer to make sure I had stabilized, the midwives released us.

We packed Lottie into the carrier, hugged the midwives, and headed home. I sat in the back with my beautiful little girl, unable to stop staring at her perfect face and stroking her soft head of hair. We made a stop at the grocery store for some smaller diapers, since we realized the ones we had were too big for her tiny body, and a “0″ candle to put on her birthday cake, which was the other half of the Italian cream cake left from her baby shower that we had stashed in the freezer. We got ready for bed and nestled down with Lottie between us for our first night of intermittent sleep between feedings and diaper changes, exhausted and deeply in love.

Come on out this FRIDAY, 7-9 at The Green Mesquite! Food, fun, dancin, beers, and meet my daughter if you have not yet had the pleasure! Always a great time playing this venue!

1400 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78704-1011 · Get Directions

1 512.479.0485

http://www.greenmesquite.net/

March 24th, 2-4:30

MORE Intro to Ashtanga Yoga with Matt Borer
The Hatha yoga practice known as Ashtanga, is a set sequence of asanas practiced in the same order using the coordination of breath and movement (vinyasa). It is considered the origin of vinyasa or flow styles of yoga. The constant movement and particular style of breathing (ujjayi) WILL create a certain amount of internal heating in the body and thus a self heated cleansing practice! This classical system of yoga has been passed down to us from Sri T. Krishnamacharya and the late Sri K. Pattabhi Jois (1915-2009).
In this workshop we will explore the unique and challenging Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga. There will be plenty of explanation concerning history, philosophy, and theory behind this practice as well as moving through the sequence of asana.

AT
Moksha Yoga On the Square
824 S. Austin Ave., Georgetown TX 78626
512-868-6600 or www.mokshayogaonthesquare.com

1400 Barton Springs Rd, Austin, TX 78704-1011 · Get Directions

1 512.479.0485

http://www.greenmesquite.net/