We often welcome gifts with open arms, but when the time comes to welcome our baby — our own flesh and blood — into this world, a woman is screaming and shouting,” rues Dr Rita Shah, Lamaze consultant, who runs the “Nine MonthsPregnancy Programme” at N M Medical Centre at Linking Road, Jaslok Hospital, Leelavati Hospital and private sessions at Napeansea Road.
With Nine Months, Dr Shah has designed an exclusive fitness program which combines Lamaze breathing techniques, relaxation methods and exercise. “During pregnancy, a woman is afraid, confused and not aptly prepared for this happy and joyous occasion,” she says.
She is bombarded with seemingly innocuous suggestions and tips by well-meaning relatives.
Family members often pose restrictions on diet, exercise or posture, which depress her, and by the end of it all, she is confused and thinks of her pregnancy as a burden,” she avers.
The programme also provides information through videos, lectures and advice, to prepare a woman for a smooth, safe and easy delivery. “In my 13-year experience, I have found that during labour, women are more comfortable with their spouses than with their mothers-in-law or relatives. After all, if they have conceived the baby together, isn’t it better to share this monumental experience too? Why leave the poor father out?” she queries.
Keeping this in mind, Nine Months also has sessions for fathers so they can take an active part in the birth of their babies.
Not only does this help them stimulate the infant’s learning response, it also provides the expecting wife with support and assistance. The programme entails, improving posture/ appearance, relieving back pain, strengthening muscles for delivery, corrective breathing techniques for different stages of labour, reducing muscle tension by promoting relaxation and generally promoting a feeling of well being.
The program is very safe and is carefully crafted to make it a physically and emotionally fulfilling experience.
A pregnant woman is full of trepidation and her list of complaints is long, considering that out of eight mothers, four to five complain of cramps in the legs and breathlessness.
Nine Months provides moral support to the mother-to-be by providing her with an opportunity to talk to other women and share her worries with them. “After all, however supportive a husband maybe, after the first two or three times of complaining, he is going to be bored and eventually turn away and go to sleep,” she laughs.
Not only does this preparation help normal pregnancies, but also high-risk pregnancies, where expecting mothers with high blood pressure, diabetes or twin pregnancies, can also benefit from these exercises. Pregnant women tend to waddle when they walk and exercises at Nine Months, which are aimed at increasing flexibility, eliminate the waddle.
At Nine Months, we have mothers who are CEOs and VPs of companies and who breastfeed their babies while working actively,” maintains Dr Shah, who promotes breastfeeding by providing information and instructions. Postnatal sessions help mothers get back in shape and tone up stretched muscles after delivery. It also includes personal and infant care after delivery and education and information regarding post-natal depression — an affliction that is not as rare as believed.
Incidentally, Dr Rita Shah has been trained at the APSO-Lamaze (American Society of Prophylactic Obstetrics) in the US. She claims she is the only Indian representative of Lamaze International, where childbirth educators from all over the world meet once a year to exchange ideas on latest labour techniques.