Did you know there are a few things you can be doing to physically prepare your body for labor? These preparations can potentially make your labor a bit easier.
Certain stretches can help prepare your body for labor
Kegels and Squats
Exercising the muscles in your pelvic floor helps you control these muscles better while pushing, and potentially avoid tears during birth. You may also squat during labor or delivery since it makes use of gravity and opens up your pelvis, so practicing now will help you hold that position with more strength! Further, strengthening your pelvis floor will also help you recover after birth, and restore good urinary control and tone. Your pelvic floor muscles are the ones you use to start and stop the flow of urine. Both kegels and squats take practice, so make sure you try to do a little bit every day!
Exercising the muscles in your pelvic floor helps you control these muscles better while pushing, and potentially avoid tears during birth. You may also squat during labor or delivery since it makes use of gravity and opens up your pelvis, so practicing now will help you hold that position with more strength! Further, strengthening your pelvis floor will also help you recover after birth, and restore good urinary control and tone. Your pelvic floor muscles are the ones you use to start and stop the flow of urine. Both kegels and squats take practice, so make sure you try to do a little bit every day!
How to do Squats: An easy squat exercise is a wall squat. Stand with your back straight against a wall, place your feet shoulder width apart and about six inches from the wall, and keep your arms relaxed at your sides. Slowly and gently slide down the wall to a squatting position (keeping your back straight) until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Hold the position for five to 10 seconds, slowly slide back to a standing position. Repeat five or 10 times. Find more information here on how to safely do different types of squats during pregnancy. How to practice Kegels: Just tighten up the muscles, then relax. You can either do 10-20 quick repeats, with a quick tighten-release; or you can do slow “elevator” kegels, where you count slowly from 1-5, tightening your muscles a little tighter with each count, then count back down from 5-1, gradually relaxing the muscles. It’s best to do 100 kegels a day in late pregnancy. It sounds like a lot, but it’s easy to do a few at a time, off and on all day. You can do them while talking on the phone, or watching TV, or driving, or showering, or whenever. You can do this anytime, anywhere, and no one knows you’re doing it! |