Preparing for Labor & Delivery

Hi everyone, Erienne from Peak Endurance Performance & Physical Therapy here. I want to talk about some things that you can do on your own to start to prepare your body for labor and delivery of your child.

I get this question a lot. And there are three specific things that I suggest doing consistently the three to four weeks leading up to your due date or your delivery.

1. Number one is pelvic floor relaxation. So usually, if you work with a women’s health or pelvic floor physical therapists, you go over this. I like to use deep breathing, deep diaphragmatic breathing, deep belly breathing, in order to facilitate this pelvic floor relaxation, particularly in some specific positions.
   1. Okay, so  the number one position I like is a deep supported squat. Have your back up against a wall, leaning back in this deep supported squat position Take deep belly breaths in and a slow exhale on the way out.
   2. The number two position I like is a child’s pose position. So knees wider than hips a little bit and sinking back. You will obviously have a large belly so do what you can range of motion wise. Then deep breathing in this position. So that can be done multiple times throughout the day. You want to be hanging out in a position for one to two minutes at a time. And try to tune into that pelvic floor relaxation.
2. Number two is some hip mobility. My go-to’s for this are a pigeon stretch. And again, because of the large belly bump, we can’t typically get into that standard pigeon. So I have people do a tabletop pigeon. If you can see on the video, come to a table or a chair and get that leg up onto the table. Stand tall and lean forward. You should feel that outer hip stretch. And then I also like some hips swivels on the ground. So sitting on your butt, leaning back, and dropping those knees to the same side. Working both internal and external rotations on both sides. Hip mobility as well can help prep you for labor and delivery.
3. And then the last one is parallel perineal massage.  And I suggest doing that once a day for about two to three minutes. I would suggest asking the practitioner you’re working with, whether it’s OBGYN, midwife, pelvic floor, physical therapist, to kind of go through that and demonstrate that with you so that you know the right technique there.

So again, three to four weeks leading up to that due date or that end of pregnancy. We’re working on pelvic floor relaxation, hip mobility and perineal massage.