4 ways to prepare for childbirth

Childbirth labor often requires strength and stamina, that’s why it’s important to prepare your body for it. So, here are some tips to help you prepare for your cute Pumpkin’s arrival

1. Prepare your body

Exercise: If you are not a gym-junkie and really have not been regularly exercising during your pregnancy, don’t worry too much because, seriously,  millions of women have, and will, give birth highly successfully without having regularly exercised aerobically throughout their pregnancy. So don’t stress about it if that’s felt impossible to achieve.

But, if you are starting to have some lack-of-exercise guilt creep into your otherwise nonchalant existence, then there are some exercises that can help strengthen your body ready for labor. There are loads of books and videos out there you can purchase, or borrow from the library. My personal favorites are the yoga-during-pregnancy videos.

One position in particular that can be very helpful to practice as preparation for childbirth is pelvic stretching, such as squatting. Some childbirth specialists estimate (though not all agree) that squatting widens the pelvic outlet by around 25 per cent and it certainly is one of the most natural positions our body would choose to birth in. However, due to years of high-heeled shoes and sit-down toilets, many westernized women lose their strength and ankle flexibility to comfortably maintain this position without toppling over.

So, practicing squatting while you are pregnant. It is very helpful to adjust to your pregnancy ‘center of gravity. (Birthing stools are a good compromise, but they do require you to sit on your tailbone, which is a slight disadvantage.)

 2.  Cervix dilatation: If you’re not clear, the cervix is at the top of your vagina — in other words, it’s at the bottom of your uterus/womb (same thing).

There are many galenical remedies (medicine composed of herbal or vegetable matter) that have been used since time immemorial (some for well over 3000 years) to help with childbirth matters, such as preparing a cervix in the last few weeks leading up to birth and for efficient dilatation. Even though there continues to exist a great divide between the orthodox modern medical practitioners trained in pharmaceutical agents (drugs), and the myriad practitioners of ancient traditional medicine who promote a vast array of natural childbirth remedies, including some  remedies I know to be highly effective.

For example, taking Raspberry leaf (tea or tablets), during the last month of pregnancy is strongly believed to be beneficial for toning the uterine muscles to work efficiently during labor. Some of the other well-known remedies (each performing slightly different late-third-trimester, birthing and postpartum tasks) are black cohosh, black haw, butcher’s broom, cramp bark, dong quai, false unicorn root, mugwort, peony and squaw vine. Often only to be consumed in the last month of pregnancy, many of these old-school remedies are also supportive of the mother’s endocrine (glandular) system, while containing things like iron for blood and vitality. A personal favorite is Nature’s Sunshine ‘5W’ (which stands for taking it during the last 5-Weeks of pregnancy). 

3. Perineal stretching: Our modern culture places great significance on  the enlarging breasts and growing belly of the pregnant woman, but talks little, if at all, on preconditioning the perineal tissue for the stretching it will be required to do when the baby’s head crowns at delivery. (The perineum is the skin and muscle area between the urethra and the anus — think vagina to anus.) It is, however, very commonplace in many older civilizations to massage ointments, creams and oils into this private area during pregnancy, to encourage the perineal skin to become more elastic and to help it not tear during delivery. Although this practice is no longer commonplace in our society, it is a part of traditional pregnancy care that you may wish to embrace. In my experience, it can substantially reduce perineal tears!

To prepare your perineum for birthing through regular massage is a pretty simple routine: put your thumbs into your vagina, then press downwards and outwards (at the same time) until you feel some slight discomfort, and hold that stretch for a minute or two until you feel the area numbing. Then release the stretch and massage the perineal skin for a couple of minutes with an oil (e.g. olive or almond) or cream (e.g. vitamin E or calendula) or Bio-Oil.

 4. Pelvic-?oor exercises (Kegels): The pelvic floor is the complex group of levator muscles called the pelvic diaphragm, which act like a slung hammock suspended between the pubic symphysis (pubic bone in front) and the base of the spinal sacrum (the tailbone or coccyx in the back). The stretched pelvic floor supports the internal abdominal organs (intestines, stomach, etc) like a trampoline and holds in place the pelvic cavity organs, such as the uterus, bladder and bowel (rectum). Passing through the pelvic floor are outlets for the urethra, vagina, and anal canal, each with their own individual sphincter muscle rings.

Named after the American gynecologist Dr A.H. Kegel, these pelvic-floor-muscle exercises are easy to learn, quick to do, and very worthwhile. They are an indisputable therapy for incontinence.

Kegels are very simple: just tighten and pull in your muscles as if you were stopping your pee mid-stream, at the same time as holding in a fart.

Then visualize those vaginal muscles moving up (3–4 levels) through your pelvis, like an elevator in a building.

Hold this squeeze as strongly as you can for 10–30 seconds (if your muscles tremble, you’re straining them), keep breathing, then slowly release. Repeat a dozen times, even try coughing while you’re holding a muscle contraction. Then alternate this with 5–10 short, fast, strong squeeze-and-relax movements. You can even check the strength of your own pelvic floor muscles by inserting two fingers and squeezing.

Notes: 1. Doing effective Kegels has nothing to do with tightening your tummy, buttocks or thighs. 2. STOP Kegel exercises in the third trimester (because you want a soft, yielding pelvic floor for birth).