The Un-Slouch-inator

Completely unintentionally, I have crossed another item off my Thirty before 30 list. After this particular post, I declared I couldn’t finish everything by my birthday, like my goal had stated. And, I had hoped to work on it during my maternity leave time but ha… that was a humorous assumption.

But, had it not been for Maggie, I could not have crossed #29 on my Thirty before 30 list: “Straighten up! Improve my posture and stop being a sloucher.” Let me explain…

Throughout pregnancy, I spent a lot of time on a large blue exercise ball to “help” Maggie drop (LOL), alleviate back pain, and just generally get a little exercise that didn’t strain me too much. It was a great tool for me.

After Maggie was born and after we all got home from the hospital, my mom discovered that Maggie could be soothed by being held while someone “bounced” her on the ball. It was magic! It was an instant calming action that made her quiet and happy… and pass gas.

This ball came in handy quite a bit during the first few weeks when Maggie would wake up multiple times in the middle of the night. JD and I would take turns “bouncing” her to sleep, sometimes for 2o minutes at a time. It was a perfect fix when no other solution would work, and after many hours bouncing our sweet daughter to sleep, our backs would ache. It wasn’t until we realized that if we sat up straight on the ball, our backs wouldn’t ache… as quickly.

I realized recently while on a walk with the stroller in tow that all the bouncing had affected my posture positively. I was walking upright and comfortably. That stupid blue exercise ball (plus more errands in the sling) had transformed my upright-ness where I didn’t even think about correcting it anymore. I noticed it in the car, while rocking Maggie to sleep (a better, newer soothing technique I recently adopted), and just around the house. I’m not sure how long this will last but hopefully for the long-term, at least while we continue to use the exercise ball!