For all my pregnant readers, I am sure by now you have heard about the pelvic floor multiple times. The pelvic floor is a a layer of muscles that supports the pelvic organs, including the bladder, bowel, and uterus in women. The pelvic floor muscles are used to control your bowel and bladder functions and they also play an important role in your sexual function. The pelvic floor muscles are stretched during pregnancy and will go through even more impact during the delivery itself (if you are having a vaginal birth). I am sure many of you have heard jokes about moms who pee a little if they laugh too hard or women who joke about how they can’t jump on trampolines anymore. The importance of strengthening your pelvic floor was not a priority before and it was accepted that woman would just lose a bit of bladder control after having children. this is not the case anymore! There are a lot of resources regarding how to take that control back and how to get our bodies stronger and better after childbirth.

One of the most famous pregnancy exercises are “kegels”. While kegels are a good way to work on your pelvic muscles, I often find it difficult to remember to do them. One good thing about kegels is that you can do them anywhere and anytime, but for some reason I always forget! I downloaded an app that sends you a reminder everyday and also allows you to customize the type of kegel exercises that you do. The app is called “Easy Kegel” and it is free (you can pay for some extra features). I found the app to be really helpful in reminding myself to do my daily kegels and it also features two types of “slow” or “fast” exercises that will maximize your muscle strengthening.

                                                  

Apart from kegels, I would also highly recommend training with a prenatal certified trainer during your pregnancy. They know all the ins and outs of bodily changes during pregnancy and will develop specialized training that fits your fitness level/body and the stage of pregnancy that you’re in. My trainer Esther from Aqua Terra is awesome and I definitely feel more confident about my delivery and postpartum recovery because of our training sessions together.

We should all take a proactive role in getting our body back in fighting form after pregnancy! Bladder leakage and decreased sexual function should not be something that women accept as a natural consequence of childbirth. With the proper training, we can all get back to where we were, if not even better.