I\u2019ve had a couple requests to write about being pregnant and playing the horn (simultaneously), so I thought I\u2019d go ahead and share my experience of it, though it\u2019s important to note that every woman\u2019s experience is different and even every pregnancy is different.\u00a0 So let this serve as one horn-playing woman\u2019s experience of one particular pregnancy!<\/p>\n
First of all, I should say that pregnancy agreed with me on many levels.\u00a0 Though not every moment of it was pleasant, in general I really enjoyed it.\u00a0 I loved learning about where the baby was in his stage of development and planning for his arrival.\u00a0 I thought the changes to the body (not so much the obvious changes, but the little quirky, unexpected changes) were just so crazy and interesting.\u00a0 Once I was to the stage where you could tell I was pregnant, and especially towards the very end, I thought it was downright hilarious and entertaining to be pregnant just because of the funny comments people would say.\u00a0 At one point a man on the street (nicely dressed, in a fancy car) said to me, \u201cIt\u2019s an Aloysius baby!\u00a0 Just remember, there was a strange man on the street that said to name that baby Aloysius!\u201d\u00a0 I\u2019m still scratching my head and laughing about that one!\u00a0 Also, I went to the gym regularly during my pregnancy and tried to keep up some semblance of my weight-lifting routine.\u00a0 At one point an elderly man said to me, \u201cEvery time I see you in here I think you could go anytime!\u201d\u00a0 and he asked when my due date was.\u00a0 He then assured me that I was in good hands if I went into labor in the next hour because he had delivered a baby back when he was in the Peace Corps.\u00a0 Another woman in the beginning of her 2nd trimester working with a personal trainer for the first time saw me working out and said, \u201cSee, I want to be like her when I\u2019m about to pop!\u201d\u00a0 Thank goodness she didn\u2019t see that I was lifting almost NO weight (and still breathless…).<\/p>\n
Strangers would see me in the store and initiate conversation, asking if I was having a boy or girl, saying I looked like I was carrying a boy, saying how much I would love having a boy, asking when I was due, sharing with me their own stories, and wishing me well.\u00a0 It was heart-warming and sweet to have such spontaneous and kind interactions with people.<\/p>\n
As far as being a horn player goes, I perhaps had it easy because of my work situation.\u00a0 Since I\u2019m a freelancer, there are times that are busy, but there are times that are free, and those busy times tend to come in clumps.\u00a0 It just so happened that my busy times came in the easiest part of my pregnancy.\u00a0 I only had a little bit to play during that sick-o, yucky first trimester. \u00a0Even during those weeks, I usually wouldn’t actually throw up (though it happened once or twice) — I just felt as if I could<\/em> at any moment.\u00a0 There was<\/em> one instance when I couldn\u2019t make it to a job in New York.\u00a0 Fortunately, it was a concert for kids at Carnegie that was all readable and my part was very under-the-radar and low-profile, and there was someone who lived a few blocks away to cover for me.\u00a0 Thank you, Nancy Billman!<\/p>\n I was able to do the rest of my jobs during the first trimester without a problem.\u00a0 I just had to move slowly and eat bland little snacks all the time – I couldn\u2019t get too hungry or too full.<\/p>\n After about week 16, I stopped feeling sick.\u00a0 How many times did I hear how great the second trimester was?\u00a0 So many times!\u00a0 Many women say they feel better then than their non-pregnant selves.\u00a0 Not me. \u00a0I didn\u2019t feel terrible, but compared to my non-pregnant self, I still had to take things slowly and not demand too much of myself.<\/p>\n Now the good news about playing the horn, especially in an orchestral situation, is that you can usually sit down and you usually have measures of rest.\u00a0 Unlike being a singer. \u00a0 Being a volunteer member of the St. Mark\u2019s choir showed me just how lucky I was to play the horn for a living.\u00a0 For some reason, I couldn\u2019t tolerate, at any<\/em> point in my pregnancy, the intense Sunday morning schedule at St. Marks, combined with the hot robes (as in temperature – not in appearance!), the amount of standing required over the course of the morning, and the incense.\u00a0 It did me in almost every time!\u00a0 That woman looking faint during the Nicene Creed and fleeing the choir stalls during the Prayers of the People?\u00a0 – that would be Angela.<\/p>\n The major discomforts I had playing the horn while pregnant had to do with a heart rate that would spike up sporadically every so often, breathlessness, and providing a sustained level of energy.\u00a0 Short spurts – no problem!\u00a0 But I felt like I had to turn down a couple brass quintet jobs in the third trimester just because I knew that I was not likely to be able to provide that kind of sustained, high-energy output without the risk of keeling over.\u00a0 But that\u2019s just me – I know other women that have had no problem with it.<\/p>\n The last few weeks of my pregnancy, I didn\u2019t take out-of-town or higher-demand jobs just to be on the safe side.\u00a0 Who wants to worry about getting to your job in Friday rush-hour holiday traffic, wondering if you\u2019re going to go into labor and be stuck on I-95 or the turnpike? \u00a0I was grateful to be asked to do the work, and, honestly, if I\u2019d known I was going to be a week late and not early, I might have gone for it. \u00a0But I still think I made the right decision for myself at the time.<\/p>\n I did practice daily right up until my due date.\u00a0 I had to use the nursing stool I had in the nursery to prop up my right leg (I most often play on-the-leg) in order to be comfortable (by the way, those nursing stools work well for nursing too!), and I could only practice for short periods of time.\u00a0 I was lucky if I got in my warm up and another short session.\u00a0 The hardest part was just concentrating and not jumping up to do some of that infamous nesting. \u00a0It was a challenge to keep my mind from wandering and wondering about all the unknowns!\u00a0 And that\u2019s alright, I think.\u00a0 I just needed some “face time” to maintain my strength so that I wouldn\u2019t be adding an additional month off to my postpartum time off.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure how much of a difference it made to have that practice time before Andreas\u2019 birth, but it made me feel like I was doing a little something to care for that part of my life.\u00a0 The truth is, when I finally picked up the horn four weeks after delivery it felt like a beast in my hands – and a beast I\u2019d never held before!\u00a0 I can\u2019t imagine it would have felt more familiar after seven or eight weeks off instead of four, but maybe it did help. \u00a0Like I said, it made me feel better anyway. \u00a0However, postpartum\/new-mommy playing is something I\u2019m still smack in the middle of living…. and a different blog post!<\/p>\n One of the things I\u2019ll remember most about playing the horn during pregnancy is sitting on stage wondering what my baby was hearing, feeling him kick around – sometimes so much he\u2019d make my horn bounce off my belly when I was holding it during rests – and wondering, does he like the sound of the flute and clarinet and violins? Or is he just kicking just because he wants me to start playing again?\u00a0 Or is he happy that I\u2019m NOT playing? Or is he just kicking because he likes to kick?\u00a0 I\u2019ll never know, but I loved thinking about the world from the perspective of the womb, and feeling him growing and moving around and perhaps responding to what he heard and felt.<\/p>\n Now if I could only brag that he totally digs the horn.\u00a0 Though he has excellent ears, I\u2019m afraid he\u2019s not yet a fan seeing as how I made him cry the other day with my buzzing on the mouthpiece.\u00a0 Oh well!\u00a0 He does like listening to short amounts of very, VERY chill music.\u00a0 Natalie Merchant and Norah Jones are good bets.\u00a0 And he\u2019s enjoyed listening to some choral music as well.\u00a0 In the meantime, I\u2019ll be practicing in a distant room while he sleeps!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve had a couple requests to write about being pregnant and playing the horn (simultaneously), so I thought I\u2019d go ahead and share my experience of it, though it\u2019s important to note that every woman\u2019s experience is different and even … Continue reading