Let you baby fly first class!

Many expectant moms contact me during the last trimester of pregnancy hoping to get some relief from the pain and discomfort that is setting in. It is during these last few months that it becomes more difficult to sleep, to sit, to drive, to walk, or to just be! To make matters worse, tolerance for pain and life events begins to dwindle. While this is usually the point at which one seeks help, it is important to realize that there have been numerous subtle events occurring in the body which prompted these symptoms to surface.

As a rule, pain is the last thing to appear and the first thing to go!

Here is a summary of some changes that take place during pregnancy and why it is beneficial to get a chiropractic checkup early on.

1. Oxytocin is surging throughout the body to create feelings of love, nurture, and compassion, but also affect the muscles and ligaments.

2. Ligaments in your body begin to elongate and become somewhat lax to allow for pelvic expansion.

3. This also creates instability and greater susceptibility to muscle spasms, mild strains, pelvic and spinal misalignment and subluxation.

4. As the baby grows, your pelvis and sacrum tilt outward, like a blooming flower, allowing for the baby to be evenly supported and cradled.

5. Your Cervical, Thoracic, and Lumbar curves also shift to help distribute the anterior belly weight throughout the length of your spine.

A restricted spine and pelvis creates a less than optimal environment for baby, and feels a bit like this.....

Imagine that you are flying from LA to Paris, 11 hours and 25 minutes. You are sitting in the middle seat of the middle row in coach. The person to your left has already fallen asleep and is slumping over your left shoulder. You try to scoot to your right, but all of the elbow room is taken up by the bookworm in that seat. You put your tray table down to have a beverage, but the person in front of you decides to recline his seat ALL the way back. So, you try to recline your own seat, but as soon as you do, someone behind you begins to kick you in the back forcing you to come back to an upright position.

The first few hours go by, you snooze a bit. Then around hour 5 you begin to feel very uncomfortable. Your legs have fallen asleep, your neck stiffened up, your hands are tingling. A few more hours, and you are really feeling the pressure in your back, your thighs are getting numb, and you can't really feel your toes. By the time you land and have to get out of the airplane, it seems as though for a few moments you've forgotten how to walk and move.

Well, your baby is flying in the middle seat of coach for 9 months if your spine is not flexible, your pelvis is jammed and restricted in motion, and if your ligaments are taught, cramped, torqued, and imbalanced. A body that cannot adapt to the needs of a growing baby will not provide the optimal environment for the baby's spinal and nervous system development. This in-utero blueprint may have further implications after birth as the child grows and matures.

We can all let our babies fly first class by getting them a chiropractic ticket!