What does pelvic floor therapy look like during pregnancy?
Many people think pelvic floor therapy is only helpful after having a baby, during the early postpartum years. However, did you know that Insight Pelvic Health was built to help people specifically during pregnancy?
While I, Dr. Julie, was a pelvic floor therapist before having children, I was always taught that it wasn’t necessary during pregnancy. Thus, when I was pregnant for the first time, I didn’t do any pelvic floor work. I ended up needing a c-section due to failure to progress. I am 99% sure it was because my pelvic floor muscles were too tight to relax and allow my baby to descend into my pelvis.
During my second pregnancy, I wanted to have a vaginal delivery, so I fought hard and had to convince a pelvic floor therapist to do internal work on me to help me be able to have a vaginal delivery. I successfully had a vaginal delivery, however I did sustain a 3rd degree tear.
This is when Insight was born. I learned so much from my personal experiences and didn’t want anyone else to experience what I had, so I built Insight Pelvic Health. All of the therapists at Insight are trained to work with people during pregnancy to help them have vaginal deliveries, with minimal tearing.
We focus on helping people connect with their pelvic floor and feel how to actively RELAX the muscles. We go over pushing to make sure that when you are pushing, your pelvic floor is staying relaxed, rather than contracting, causing you to work against yourself. We teach you and/or your partner how to stretch your pelvic floor muscles at home so you can do as much as possible without us.
When we work on the pelvic floor muscles in the clinic, it can be a similar feeling as the “ring of fire” that you might experience during delivery. We coach you on breathing into that sensation, so you are familiar with it when the time comes. This is important so you can allow the baby’s head to help stretch your muscles gently, rather than quickly pushing your baby out the moment you feel that sensation, which can lead to more tearing.
Pelvic floor therapy can be beneficial for so many reasons. Other than labor prep, pelvic floor therapy can help eliminate pain, pelvic pressure or heaviness, peeing all the time, and/or constipation, just to name a few things.
It is safe to do internal pelvic floor therapy during pregnancy as long as you are not on pelvic rest. As pelvic floor therapists, we are working on the pelvic muscles. We do not work on the cervix. We are not trained to measure how dilated you are or if your pelvis is the “correct” shape to have a baby. But we are definitely trained and really good at telling you how well you can relax your muscles.
If you are pregnant, or know someone who is, don’t hesitate to give us a call. The earlier you contact us when you are pregnant, the better! This allows us the time to ensure you have the custom treatment plan that meets your needs.
