Pilates and Pregnancy – Week 28: Welcome to the Third Trimester

Welcome back to our Pilates and pregnancy blog! This week the baby is around 2.9 pounds and 17 inches long. He is about the length of a small cabbage. We’ve officially begun the third trimester, which means that I saw our nurse practitioner this week. I’m happy to report that I passed my glucose test, my stomach’s measuring on track for 28 weeks, and the baby’s heartbeat sounded good.

I have noticed some more changes in my body. First, I feel warmer. Most of the time it feels like someone turned up the thermostat a few degrees, but every once in a while I start boiling. Many of my clients assured me that these “personal summers” only get better with age. Second, I feel like either the baby has moved or grown a bunch in the last short while because my belly seems to stick out more than it did just a few weeks ago.

This week Carey and I started on the Reformer. She had me sit at the end of the long box with my feet resting in a turned-out position on the foot bar. We started with gentle rounding and extension movements through the spine and then added some side bending. Next, I sat tall and gently straightened my legs to push the carriage out and then bent my knees to bring it in – giving me a nice hip opening stretch.

We also did the classical exercise Mermaid on the Reformer, with an added twist. As you can see in the picture, you start seated facing one side of the Reformer with one leg tucked up against the shoulder blocks and the other in front of you. You can always tuck that front leg under your other leg for more of a challenge. This position felt good on my hips and so we started there. Then, you press the carriage out with one hand on the foot bar and the other reaching overhead, giving you a nice side stretch. The twist that we added was a literal twist – rotating from the shoulders and ribcage to bring the top hand to the foot bar. We held that position for a few deep breaths to help stretch from the side waist all the way down into the hip.

We ended our workout with some squats in front of the Chair. To start, I faced the Chair – about a foot’s distance back – with my legs turned out wide. I reached my arms overhead and then did a roll down until my hands made contact with the paddle. I pushed the paddle down while simultaneously bending my knees into a deep squat, without lifting my heels away from the floor. To come back up, I straightened my legs and rolled up through the spine to standing.

See you next week!

-Cassie