pregnancy and teaching….

Hi Gabrielle

I am a hot yoga teacher (teaching since early 2004 and practicing since late 2003). I am a little confused at the moment regarding both my teaching and my practice during pregnancy and really hoping that you can give me some of your sensible and informed advice?

I’ll try and keep it as short as i can!
So a little background:.. basically after about 5yrs of trying for a baby naturally (using every possible natural and holistic method available) we ended up down the assisted fertility route. We had three failed IUI’s and one IVF which thankfully worked first time!…( i like to think it was down to all the natural methods i’d been working on before!).

I am now 21 weeks pregnant with our little girl and extremely happy and excited and nervous all at the same time.

However during the IVF and in the first week of the pregnancy i developed ‘hyper stimulation of the ovaries’ (OHSS)- a horrible side effect of IVF and ended up in hospital with an enormous amount of fluid in my abdominal cavity and ovaries the size of grapfruits with a massive risk of blood clotting and other unpleasant things. As a result i wasnt able to practice hot yoga (or do anything at all to that matter) and although i attempted to teach but not practice (around week 13 of my pregnancy when i felt a little better and was through the generally acknowledged danger period) i discovered i was no longer sweating like i used to. I was just getting very very hot which i think was due to the excess of fluid still in my abdomen protecting my swollen ovaries and the resulting reduction of fluid elsewhere in my body).

So i spoke to my studio owner who was very very supportive and decided it wasn’t worth my working at this stage. (she advised me to stay off work until about week 20 or even longer if i liked just so i can be sure that everything is ok – assuring me that i could always have my classes back when i wanted them which was incredibly sweet of her and really helped me to deal with not working)

I have also had some spotting and a couple of mild but scary bleeds around week 13 14 and 15 of the pregnancy….all scans showing that the pregnancy and the baby are fine and the bleeding probably due to the IVF complications…i’ve also more recently had a couple more ‘spotting’ episodes……everything is always fine but obviously it is scary and stressful at the time. i’m led to believe this is quite common in IVF pregnancies though but i’m not sure.

SO! that’s the background!… and my question is:
I have now decided to go back to teaching three classes a week and not practising(i am doing my own pregnancy yoga instead).

I have taught 3 classes already and i LOVE being back and working but i have noticed that i am still not sweating as i used to before i was pregnant (i was always a profuse sweater and not generally bothered too much by the heat). I notice now that my face gets red and sweaty and pretty hot and that my arms seem to get very hot but not that sweaty although my costume is pretty damp at the end of class so obviously i am sweating a bit. Yesterday i felt my pregnant belly with my hand while i was teaching and noticed that the skin was cold to the touch. My initial thought was ‘great! the baby is not overheating’ but my second thought was that all the blood must therefore be in my extremeties to try and cool my body down and therefore the oxygen will also be directed away from the baby!…….which led to me worrying that i’m not doing the right thing for my pregnancy.

I make sure i drink enough water before and after class as i know that’s hugely important in pregnancy and that i’ve also eaten enough before and after class so i don’t feel dizzy. However I taught a 6.30 am yesterday and noticed that as i hadnt eaten as much or drunk as much as i would have liked and i felt a little bit dizzy and hotter than in the the other class where i was able prepare a bit more before)

Before i was pregant i always thought i would practice from the beginning to the end of my pregnancy no problem and have always been positive about pregnant women practising in my classes….indeed i have witnessed many students and teachers have great pregnancies doing hot yoga.

My complication with the IVF however and just the sheer preciousness of an IVF baby (not to say that normal pregnancies aren’t precious but i don’t think you trust the natural processes of your body as much so it makes you more nervous)mean that it really didnt feel right to practice or teach for a long time. Add to that well meaning friends who are vehemently adamant that i shouldnt be teaching at all in a heated room and that i am taking unecessary risks… i cant seem to feel completely at ease with teaching even though i am loving being back at work….and very tempted to practice too!

I’m sorry that is such a long story and i hope it’s not too garbled! … I’m not practising, only teaching so i’m not really raising my core body temperature or exerting to much effort i suppose and honestly i don’t know if there is a right answer but after reading your site i thought you might be a good person to ask… (i should probably just go with with what i feel but unfortunatley ive thought about it so much that i’m losing touch with what my instinct is about this!)

Any advice would be welcome!

Thank you for your time
XXXX

ps the studio i work at likes to keep the temperature about 42 degrees celsius(the students can get a bit stroppy if its not).