You’ve probably never thought about it, but we’re all most comfortable in a home with a straight floor, because a sagging, crooked floor could tip us over while walking or sitting, right? Well, just like your home floor, balance in your pelvic floor improves your whole body alignment. And ultimately, alignment equals comfort and ease during pregnancy and birth.
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Fetal positioning starts now. Aligning and balancing your pelvic floor anatomy now means your baby will have a symmetrical setting from which to curl and move into a good birth position.
This is a BIG topic — more important than most of us realize — so in this age of quick-hitting reads, we are (gasp!) giving the pelvic floor the space it deserves. We invite you to set aside time to read through our entire pelvic floor primer, and we promise to make next week a short one!
Understanding the structure
The bony pelvis holds within it the soft tissue pelvis, which is made up of both the pelvic floor and the uterine and pelvic ligaments. The soft tissue pelvis is in balance when it is not too tight, not too loose, and not too twisty. This helps the joints in the bony pelvis move without pain.
Why pelvic exercises?
Pelvic floor exercise is commonly recommended during pregnancy and postpartum. It’s a specific method of awakening and strengthening the muscles circling the vagina. These muscles are often collectively called the pelvic floor.
What to do
Rather than focusing on strength alone, we want to add flexibility for a living suppleness — much like the phrase, “the supple willow bends, but the mighty oak breaks.”
Support your pelvic floor from front to back with these four exercises:
- Calf stretches
- Kegels
- Ball squeezes
- Squats
Download and print this quick guide to use all month or throughout the rest of your pregnancy. If you want to geek out with Spinning Babies® and learn more about each exercise, read on.
