Pregnancy

Exercise to Prepare for Birthing

Exercising is important throughout the different stages of your pregnancy, but when it comes to preparing for birth, exercise can make the difference between an easy or hard labor and delivery. Most of them require minimal effort and just a little space to do them, yielding great benefits without having to visit the gym or install special equipment in your home, except for appropriate gear including comfortable shoes and clothing.

The most widely spread birthing exercises are Kegel exercises, designed to restore pubococcygeal muscles tone and strengthen, preventing or reducing pelvic floor problems and helping prevent urinary incontinence and vaginal prolapse.

Because pelvic floor muscles support the uterus, bladder, and bowels, it is necessary to tone them to prevent some discomforts during the later months of pregnancy, including leakage of urine and hemorrhoids. Kegels are easy to do by stopping the flow of urine when you are sitting on the toilet, but without tightening your abdominal, thigh or buttock muscles, contracting your vaginal muscle instead.

Pelvic tilt, also known as angry cat, is another exercise to strengthen abdominal muscles, improving the flexibility of your back and helping to relieve low backache during pregnancy and particularly during labor, facilitating the delivery. Although you can do pelvic tilts in several positions, the best and easiest is down on your hands and knees.

Start getting comfortable on your hands and knees, while keeping your head in line with your back. Now, pulling in your stomach, arch your back upward and hold this position for several seconds. Relax your stomach and back but keeping it flat and not allowing your stomach to sag. Do this exercise in 3 to 5 times in a series and gradually work your way up to a minimum of 10 repetitions.

If you are considering an exercise that strengthens and stretches muscles in your back, thighs, and pelvis, go for Tailor or Cobbler sitting, an exercise that improves also your posture, keeping your pelvic joints flexible for delivery, improving blood flow to your lower body as well. This exercise requires sitting on the floor in the "butterfly position", your back straight, your knees dropped comfortably, and the bottoms of your feet together.

While pressing both knees, gently toward the floor using your elbows and feeling a stretch in your inner thighs. Be careful avoiding bouncing your knees up and down rapidly. Use a wall to support your back if you find the exercise difficult to keep your back straight. Hold the position for 10 or 15 seconds and repeat this stretching 5 to 10 times.

Get prepared for squatting by standing with your back straight against a wall, and placing your feet about six inches from the wall. Keep your arms relaxed at your sides and slowly slide down the wall to a squatting position, but always keep your back straight until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Hold this position for 5 to 10 seconds, and gently slide back to a standing position, repeating 5 to 10 times.