Pregnancy + Postpartum
Pregnancy is beautiful. How vagical is it that us women can create a human inside of our bodies!? It is however really common to have pain during pregnancy. During pregnancy our body is emitting tons of hormones for ligament, tendinous, and muscle laxity. When this happens our joints are really unstable. When our joints are unstable, things are shifting out of place and can be really uncomfortable. Pelvic floor Physical therapists can help give you exercises to address the areas that need strengthening and stabilization to help decrease your pain. Pelvic floor therapists can also help you strengthen your PFM to prepare you for delivery and postpartum. In therapy we are also able to help assess with visual feedback which position your PFM will be the most relaxed, indicating the position best for labor and delivery. Vagical Stuff!
Quick note I want to share about labor and delivery. You are allowed to move around and change positions. It is also important to try and breathe and stay as relaxed as possible. The female body has been giving birth for centuries without medical intervention, so most of the time our body knows exactly what to do if we just breathe and let it do its thing. I use the comparison of child birthing to pooping in public. Imagine you are trying to poop in a public restroom and someone kicks open the stall door and shouts ‘PUSH!!!!’ The last thing you’re going to be able to do is have a successful and peaceful bowel movement. Most likely you will not go poop at all and will have to wait until you get home. Make sure you EXHALE as you push during delivery. Do not hold your breath. I’m a huge fan of duala assisted births and it is always worth a shot to check out your local midwives to see if that is an option you want to go with. Remember it is your body, your choice, and you can do whatever you feel comfortable with whether that is in a hospital with all of the drugs possible, or in your home bathtub with your midwife. The choice is and should always be yours.
Postpartum
There are so many things that can happen after delivery that we have no idea will happen until we have our babies. Such ailments include: SUI, UUI, fecal incontinence, constipation, hemorrhoids, painful intercourse, hip pain, low back pain, coccyx pain, poor abdominal/pelvic floor strength and coordination, and diastasis recti (seperation of the abdominal wall). In most other first world countries, it is a standard of care to see a pelvic floor physical therapist after childbirth, except for in the United States (I could write a whole blog on our patriarchal society, but maybe I will save that for another day). So 6 weeks after having your baby, I highly encourage you to go see a physical therapist who specializes in pelvic floor/pelvic health therapy to help you get back to your life after baby. Follow me @believeinvagic on IG to see more on pregnancy and postpartum.