Pregnancy, Child Birth, and Your Pelvic Floor
Having a baby soon? Now is an important time to learn about your pelvic floor!
For most women, their pelvic floor has just been running on autopilot and we don’t spend much time thinking about it. Since our pelvic floor is not really something we easily see on a day-to-day basis, it falls into the “out of sight, out of mind” category for the majority of women. In fact, many women have never even seen their own pelvic floor. If you’re a woman who is pregnant or planning to have a baby soon, now is the time to get connected with your pelvic floor. It can be helpful to grab a hand mirror and actually visually examine the external structures of your vulva. In addition to seeing your pelvic floor, getting in touch with how the pelvic floor moves under your voluntary control is also important to prepare you for childbirth and postpartum.
What is the pelvic floor? The pelvic floor is actually made up of 3 layers of muscles. Similar to how we call the muscle on top of the thigh the quadriceps muscle (but it’s actually comprised of 4 specific muscles in one group called the quadriceps), the pelvic floor is not 1 muscle, but rather includes at least 12 specific muscles within the 3 layers. The primary functions of these muscles include support for the abdominal contents including our internal organs; sphincteric control (closure) of the urethra and rectum to prevent leakage of urine, gas, or feces; stability for the trunk, as the muscles of the pelvic floor work in coordination with all of our other “core” muscles to provide stability to the body with movement; sexual function as the muscles of the pelvic floor are involved in orgasm and can also be involved in painful intercourse; circulation as the muscles of the pelvic floor assist in lymphatic drainage and blood flow to/from the lower body to our hearts for circulation throughout the body.
The pelvic floor muscles in a resting position are like a trampoline. There is some amount of resting tension to provide the support to our organs. From that resting position, under your voluntary control you should be able to “lift” the pelvic floor in order to close the urethra and rectum, such as to avoid leaking urine, gas, or feces. Also, from that resting position you should be able to “bulge” or open the holes to allow urine, gas, or feces to pass through out of the body. As you can imagine, in preparation for a vaginal birth it is important to understand how to gain good control of these functions of the pelvic floor, since you will need to be able to open the holes to allow the baby to be delivered through the vaginal canal.
It is also important to learn how our pelvic floor can react to stress. Often, during times of high stress, our pelvic floor may lift/tighten. As you might imagine, enduring labor pains and uterine contractions during the labor process will create stress on
your body and your pelvic floor response to that pain and stress may cause the holes to close/tighten rather than allowing them to open/relax. Learning about how you connect with your pelvic floor before you are experiencing pain and stress is helpful, and learning how your body reacts to stress. Our pelvic floor will naturally lengthen or open during a deep inhalation and naturally shortens and closes a bit during exhalation, so learning how our breathing can assist during childbirth can be very helpful.
Lastly, learn about your pelvic floor in all different positions. Labor and delivery doesn’t necessarily happen in one position. In fact, it can be very beneficial to be moving around between many different positions including standing, seated on a ball, leaning forward, on your hands/knees, and more! When we change positions it can be challenging to connect with our pelvic floor in these positions if you’ve never tried. Take some time to try moving your pelvic floor muscles through a lift, relax, and bulge in each position.
Consider seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist during your pregnancy to discuss preparing your pelvic floor for birth. It can also be helpful to get to know a pelvic floor physical therapist prior to your birth, as many women will benefit from some pelvic floor physical therapy in their postpartum recovery. Even the most prepared individual can experience changes in their postpartum body that will benefit from a pelvic floor physical therapist. Connecting with your pelvic floor prior to having a baby will only help you during delivery and also with your postpartum recovery.
Written by: Renee Hancock, Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist
