Birth Prep with a Women’s Health Physio
You’ve listened to the podcasts, you’ve chatted with your friends, you’ve been told to come and see a women’s health physio but you have no idea why.
Let us explain why we believe everyone should work with a women’s health physio in pregnancy to help prepare for birth.
One of our key objectives is to help you prepare for the birth that you want while minimising the chance of birth injuries.
Pelvic floor injuries and trauma are rarely discussed in pregnancy from fear of inducing fear. However, we believe that education during pregnancy plays not only a role in decreasing the risk of injury but can help improve our sense of control and knowledge on how to rehab if these injuries were to occur.
We also strongly believe that education and knowledge is crucial to making informed decisions during birth.
Birth is never without risk or total control and we can never promise an injury won’t occur, but we can give you the tools to minimise the risk.
How we can help:
1. By teaching you perineal massage:
This massage technique takes 5 minutes a few times a week and this has been shown to:
reduce the risk of episiotomy
reduce the risk of grade 3 & 4 perineal tears
decrease the severity of postpartum perineal pain
reduce the risk of anal incontinence
reduce the second stage of labour
2. Pelvic Floor Muscle Training.
Pelvic floor muscle training has been found to reduce the length of second stage of labour.
There is a common misconception that the pelvic floor muscles push baby out. However, it is the uterus that contracts and then the pelvic floor relaxes to allow bub to pass through.
One study assessed women at term and performed an ultrasound their pelvic floor. The women who knew how to contract and relax their pelvic floor had a shorter second stage of labour. Knowing how to contract and knowing how to lengthen the pelvic floor can help improves bubs passage through the pelvis.
3. Positions for labour and birth.
Did you know that a swiss ball has been shown to help reduce labour duration, pain and fatigue during delivery? Or certain positions have been shown to be helpful in keeping the perineum intact?
This is only relatively new evidence that is emerging and may not be widespread. But we can chat to you about ways to move in the second stage of labour to reduce risk of injury.
4. Teaching the role of hormones during birth and how to create a safe space.
Jessie has undergone further birth prep training to understand how some hormones (oxytocin) can help labour progression. And others (adreanline) have been shown to slow labour.
The balance of hormones is important for allowing labour to progress. Just little things like bringing comfort items from home, or having a support person in your corner can help labour progress by stimulating these happy hormones.
5. Knowing how to care for yourself in the postpartum period.
We believe the best time to teach early postpartum care is during pregnancy. Why? Because if you are seen on the wards (which generally only happens privately or if you have sustained an injury in the public system) you are likely to be seen day one or two after birth. Which, you are likely to be sleep deprived, experiencing a huge drop in hormones, as well as caring for your newborn. Strangely enough we don’t think this is the best time to be taking on new information for how to best poo.
Why is early postpartum care important? I’ve had women who have had really straight forward births who have then suffered constipation and developed prolapse. After birth we are still vulnerable through our pelvic floor and therefore it is important to help support this as best we can in the first 6-8 weeks. We believe this education is best given in pregnancy when you are able to retain this information.
At Kin we are passionate about the women of Geelong being informed about birth.
So if you’re pregnant and preparing for birth we are here for you and we can’t wait to work with you during this special time.
