Exercise Moderately

Regular exercise helps both your body and mind feel good. It is especially important to tone your muscles and make them stronger. Many women choose walking, swimming or riding a stationary bike as exercise during pregnancy. Prenatal exercise classes are also available to help you prepare for labor and delivery. Avoid exercise like horseback riding, scuba diving and contact sports. Talk with your doctor on what exercise is right for you.  

Prenatal Exercises

Exercise slowly without bouncing or jerking. Do not stretch to the point of pain. Start with a small number of repetitions and gradually increase to your individual tolerance. It does not take long exercise sessions to ease aches, increase flexibility and circulation, and generally make you feel better. These exercises detailed in this section can be done while watching television or during short stretch breaks anytime during the day.

Use all the pelvic tilt exercises to help ease backache during pregnancy and labor. During labor, the pelvic tilt on all fours may be helpful in rotating a posterior baby.

Pelvic Tilt

Position: Lie on back with knees bent

Action:

  • Tighten the stomach muscles and flatten the small of the back down against the floor.
  • Hold for 5 counts.
  • Relax. Repeat.

Lying flat on your back after 20 weeks of pregnancy is not recommended.

Pelvic Tilt on All Fours

Position: Assume all-fours position keeping back straight. Do not let lower back sag.

Action:

  • Tighten the stomach muscles so pelvis tucks under and lower back rounds.
  • Hold for 5 counts.
  • Relax. Repeat.

Standing Pelvic Tilt

Position: Stand with knees slightly bent.

Action:

  • Tighten stomach and press the small of the back flat, as if against an imaginary wall.
  • Hold this position for one minute.
  • Relax.
  • Repeat often if standing for long periods.

Passive Pelvic Tilt

Position:

  • Lay on your side with knees bent. Have your partner position himself behind your hips.
  • Using his hand nearest your head, your partner places his palm on the crest of your hip and then his other hand on your tail bone.

Action:

  • Partner slowly rotates the crest of your hip back toward himself.
  • Release and repeat.

Wall Stretch

Position: Stand against the wall with knees slightly bent.

Action:

  • Place shoulders, elbows, and wrists against the wall with elbows bent and fingers pointing upwards.
  • Slowly slide arms up the wall, straightening elbows.
  • Once arms are overhead, try to pull abdomen up and in so the back flattens against the wall.
  • Slide arms back down to the starting position.
  • Relax abdominals.
  • Repeat.

Tailor Stretch

Position: Sit on floor with legs spread apart.

Action:

  • Tilt pelvis and maintain position.
  • Extend legs with knees straight. Extend both arms and reach forward slowly until you feel a mild stretch.
  • Return to starting position.
  • Repeat.

Tailor Sitting

Position:

  • Sit on firm surface, preferably the floor.
  • Sit up straight with your legs stretched out in front of you.

Action: Bend your knees then lower them outward toward the floor. Pull your heels toward your body.

Wall Squat Position

Position: Hold a standing pelvic tilt with back against a wall.

Action:

  • Slowly slide your upper body down the wall until knees are bent as if sitting on a stool.
  • Hold this position with contracted thighs and abdominals while relaxing all muscles not being used.
  • Slowly return to standing position.

Progression:

  • Tighten and release pelvic floor.
  • Use the contracted thighs to simulate uterine contractions while practicing breathing patterns.
  • Slowly return to standing position.

Building Pelvic Floor Muscles with Kegel Exercises

Pregnancy often causes noticeable pelvic floor muscle weakness. Pelvic muscle weakness and trauma can lead to:

  • A difficult delivery.
  • Reduced sexual responsiveness after delivery.
  • Onset of incontinence (uncontrolled loss of urine or stool).

Good muscle tone in pelvic floor muscle helps:

  • Prevent urinary "dribbling" when coughing or laughing.
  • May prevent the need for surgery later in life to pull up a "sagging" uterus or other pelvic organs.
  • Decrease discomfort during pelvic exams.
  • Shortens and makes second stage labor easier when the baby is actually born.
  • Improve perineum healing with episiotomy repair and/or hemorrhoids.
  • Increase pleasure during sexual intercourse. Fifteen minutes of exercise each day for a month can strengthen the pelvic floor muscles. This helps some women reach orgasm more consistently during intercourse. When done by men, these exercises can help sustain erections and allow the woman more time to achieve orgasm.

Kegel Exercises

Prenatal pelvic floor exercises, called Kegel exercises, can result in fewer complications with vaginal delivery, reduced tearing of the perineum, reduced need for episiotomy and reduced experience of back labor. Kegel exercises are done by contracting and releasing the pelvic floor muscles.

To find the pelvic floor muscles, shown in Figure 2-10, position yourself seated with your legs reclined. Tense the ring of muscles around your rectum as if suppressing gas or as if stopping a urine stream or bowel movement.

  • Relax your legs.
  • Do not lift your buttocks off the chair.
  • Stomach should be relaxed.
  • Continue to breathe normally.

Position: Sit on a chair.

Action: Tense or squeeze the ring of muscles around the vaginal and rectal area like you are stopping the flow of urine in midstream. Squeeze the muscles tightly for 10 seconds and then release and relax the muscles slowly. Repeat these exercises 10 times, several times a day.

Another way to explain Kegel exercises is to use an elevator that goes up and down five floors as an example. To go up, tighten the muscles, slowly making the muscles tighter with each floor. To go down, relax the muscles, slowly allowing the muscles to relax with each floor.