Preparing for Labor and Delivery

Hi everyone, it’s Erienne with Peak Endurance Performance & Physical Therapy. I wanted to talk today about things that we can do to prepare ourselves for not only pregnancy, but for labor and delivery as well. So these are things that I’ve been thinking about now as a women’s health physical therapist. And now that I am in my second pregnancy and preparing for that second delivery there are things that I am focusing on more this time around.

The first one is just making sure that we are as resilient physically as possible. And this should try to start as early on as as possible, if not before we become pregnant. This includes things like making sure we have good nutrition, our water intake is good, our protein intake is there to help build a strong body.

The other thing I’m thinking about physically is strength. Pregnancy, as we know, feels like a marathon, and then labor and delivery feels like different kind of marathon. It is a physically demanding time, and our body needs to be able to match that physical demand. So making sure we are strong, we’re getting our strength training in and we’re getting our nutrition on point.

The second more short term thing to focus on physically is as we get closer to third trimester, closer to our due date, I’m really going to start emphasizing things like pelvic floor relaxation. I’m making sure I know how to relax my pelvic floor. I’m in tune with it. Also focusing on hip mobility. My go-tos are things like a 90-90 hip swivel to start working on that. And then things, like a prone frog to kind of get some good hip mobility going for that labor and delivery.

The last thing I’ve been thinking more about this time around, just because I’m more aware of it, is having a birth plan. And not just how my birth is going to go, but positions of comfort I want to be in. Positions I want to potentially labor in that aren’t just on my back. What do I feel comfortable in late into my pregnancy?

The other thing I have started practicing with my partner is giving me counter pressures during contraction. Counter pressures can look like a pelvic squeeze. So he or she would put both hands on the hips and they give a squeeze together to counter pressure that contraction. That can feel pretty good and be helpful during contractions.

The other counter pressure that can be given is right kind of on that sacrum. So they’d give a good forward sacral pressure which can help reduce some of that pain during pregnancy.

Going over positions that feel comfortable, comfortable for us late in pregnancy, and then having your partner give you some counter pressures during contractions. And practicing them early so they know how to do them. You know you can coach them on what feels good, what doesn’t feel good.

So those are just some things to think about for you guys. If you are pregnant or planning to become pregnant those are some things to think about to make it a little bit easier.