5 Tips to Prepare Your Pelvic Floor For Birth
As you eagerly prepare for the arrival of your bundle of joy, don't forget to take some time out and focus on prepping one very important area: your pelvic floor. It needs both strong support to carry your pregnancy's added weight as well as flexibility, so that baby can make their way out during labor! Make it a priority – motherhood is worth it.
The remarkable pelvic floor is essential to our daily activities, allowing us to engage in everything from supporting the critical organs in our pelvis and stabilizing the spine with other deep core muscles, all while maintaining continence. Its importance goes beyond that; come time to deliver a baby the pelvic floor plays one of its most important roles –which makes it all the more essential that we take care of this special group of muscles throughout.
During childbirth, the pelvic floor undergoes significant changes, and it is essential to understand the importance of this area to ensure a healthy delivery. One of the most crucial roles of the pelvic floor during childbirth is to support the weight of the baby and the uterus.
As the baby grows, the uterus expands and puts pressure on the pelvic floor. During delivery, the pelvic floor muscles stretch to allow the baby's head to pass through the birth canal, and it is essential to maintain a healthy pelvic floor throughout pregnancy and after delivery. Strong pelvic floor muscles can help reduce the risk of incontinence and prolapse, while also improving sexual function.
Here are 5 tips to prepare your pelvic floor for birth!
Learn full range of motion in the pelvic floor:
The pelvic floor's range of motion, similar to other muscles in the body, can lengthen or stretch and contract when needed. Diaphragmatic breathing which effectively helps move the pelvic floor through its full range of motions and keeps it balanced between contraction/shortening & relaxation.
With each inhalation, maximize your mind-body connection by feeling the gentle pressure and stretch of your pelvic floor. Place a hand on it to ensure that you can feel its descent as the diaphragm moves down within your abdominal cavity, creating an increase in intra-abdominal pressure which encourages downward movement of pelvic floor muscles.
With every breath out, birthing professionals encourage expectant mothers to choose relaxation over tension. Deep breathing exercises in various positions can be beneficial for the full delivery experience.
Practicing relaxation techniques and focusing on relaxing the pelvic floor can make a world of difference as you approach your labor.
Focus on inhaling to relax, then maintaining that sense of opening and release during exhale - it's an incredibly effective way to ensure smooth delivery come D-Day! Make sure you give yourself enough time for practice runs; this is not something easy picked up just before labour.
Work with a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist(yes, even during pregnancy).
Working with a pelvic health physiotherapist can help so much with preparing your pelvic floor for birth! They can work on helping you feel a full range of motion with your pelvic floor; teach you how to push; teach you perineal massage; and also help you with any issues such as pelvic girdle pain, low back pain, pubic symphysis pain, pain with sex or leaking urine during pregnancy.
Practice perineal massage.
Your perineum is the area between the opening of your vagina and your anus. It’s composed of skin, fascia and muscles.
Perineal massage during pregnancy can help reduce the likelihood of tearing (link) during childbirth and minimize potential long-term impacts on pelvic floor function.Perineal massage should create a familiar burning sensation, much like when you stretch your mouth with two fingers. It may be worth consulting a pelvic health physiotherapist to ensure proper execution!
Check out our Prepare to Push program for birth.
An educational opportunity to help you: better understand pelvic floor anatomy and how your pelvic floor changes during pregnancy; how to move your pelvic floor with movement and breathing drills; ways to open up your pelvic floor during labour; an opportunity to learn about perineal massage; pushing tips with pelvic floor considerations; and how to reduce pain, tearing, and fear.
Each class will also feature safe and fun prenatal exercises that we'll guide you through over 30 minutes each class. This will all be covered and more in our Prepare to Push program. We want to provide you with the tools to have a more empowering birth experience!