Prenatal Yoga For The Third Trimester

The first trimester of pregnancy can be full of mixed emotions, from the excitement of meeting your new baby to the fear of becoming a first time parent. And also full of increasing hormones, as your body’s increasing some of the hormones it will need for postpartum. Estrogen and progesterone peak around week 32, and your estrogen levels are the highest they will ever be during this trimester. In this third trimester, you might notice a lot of swelling around your ankles and feet. This can be related to the lymphatic system, and estrogen may also play a role because it’s directly involved in synthesizing a hormone related to salt and water retention.

Late in your pregnancy, women can also experience acid reflux, or heartburn, because progesterone has relaxed the sphincter at the base of the esophagus, allowing food and stomach acid to travel back up. Meanwhile, Relaxin helps to loosen those pelvic muscles toward the end of pregnancy to prepare for delivery. Prolactin, or hormone that stimulates the development of your breast tissue to prepare for lactation, ramps up in this trimester.

And doctors don’t know exactly what triggers labor, but it’s thought to be a complex cascade of events, including a rise in the hormone oxytocin and a drop in progesterone. In fact, if you need to be induced, your doctor may give you Pitocin, which is a synthetic oxytocin. Oxytocin also produces the contractions your body needs to eliminate the plates placenta post birth. Oxytocin and estrogen help release prostaglandins, which may also soften the cervix to prepare for birth and relax, and wraps up the loose ligaments and further softens and opens the cervix.

This yoga practice is for those who are in their third trimester. The goal of this gentle yoga practice is to help you relax, turn inwards, and connect to your breath and baby.