lamaze for stress

Ok. I have been suffering from a little stress. (who isn't). Last week was no picnic either. You know something is very wrong when you pull out your old maternity pants. Except for the fact that you're not pregnant.

I couldn't find anything to wear. Mr. Hubsters for the first time got fed up of me changing 5 times that he ran to my closet and picked out something for me. This has never happened in the 20+ years I've known him. (We've known each other since we were 12). Then a week later, I "seem" to fit into my normal clothes. I guess that's what happens for being a woman.

I brought down some dumbbells to do a little workout. I might as well do something productive if I'm forced to watch Barney. Needless to say, those dumbbells haven't moved. Actually, correction, Buddy has moved them into his play box. Imagine, a 14 month old lifting 4 pound weights.

So back to stress. Like any other mom entrepreneur, I'm sure they've tackled this. My stress comes with rapid heartbeat and a slew of other stuff I won't mention. To combat this, I sometimes do the Lamaze exercises. It seems to be working.

Before Buddy was born, I use to watch those episodes on TLC like Baby Story and blah blah. I tried to get Mr. Hubsters to watch it to prepare for the birth, but who was I kidding. He said it was too "graphic". I said "If you call yourself a hardcore UFC fan watching bloody faces wrestle each other to death, you can very well watch a baby being born." He sat through maybe one episode with his hands over his face.

Anyways, there was one episode that showed a Muslim lady go through labour. I was fascinated. In their tradition, they were to be quiet and just breathe through. She didn't utter one peep. And I was determined to be her. And so I did. My midwives commended me for it. (I must also thank my Lamaze Lady who endured us for 6 weeks).

So I've used the same technique to handle stress. And it has proven to work (at least most of the time). So if you and I are having a conversation and suddenly you see me drift off into space, don't take it personally, I'm just doing some breathing.