7 Ways To Prepare Your Pelvic Floor And Body For Pregnancy Before Trying To Conceive

So you’re not pregnant yet but you’re starting to think about trying to conceive in the next year or so. People often wait until they’re pregnant to start preparing their body for the changes that come with pregnancy, but if you are thinking about trying to conceive in the near future this piece will guide you through 7 ways to prepare your pelvic floor and whole body for the changes to come.

You cannot control the pregnancy and birth you have, but these are steps you can take to best set yourself up for the journey. In this blog post, we’ll talk about how building strength, addressing underlying pelvic floor dysfunction and increasing abdominal wall and pelvic floor flexibility can help prepare you for pregnancy.

Read on for 7 ways to prepare your pelvic floor and body for pregnancy.

• Build strength and muscle mass

The stronger you go into pregnancy, the stronger you come out. Building strength and muscle mass prior to pregnancy will help support your body if and when you go through periods of low energy, decreased activity and bed rest during both pregnancy and postpartum recovery.

More specifically, building strength in the muscles surrounding your pelvis can help support your pelvic floor and prepare your body for the progressive strain of growing a baby.

Strengthening your abdominals, glutes and postural support muscles prior to trying to conceive will help set you up for feeling strong throughout pregnancy.

• Address underlying pelvic floor dysfunction

Are you someone who always leaks a little when you sneeze or laugh? Or has sex always hurt? Or maybe you’ve always had nagging hip or tailbone pain but you’ve never been able to figure out why?

Your pelvic floor could very well be the culprit. These symptoms may be a sign of an unhappy pelvic floor. Pelvic floor dysfunction prior to pregnancy increases the likelihood of pelvic floor symptoms during pregnancy.

Addressing symptoms like these prior to conception reduces the likelihood that you’ll experience a worsening of these symptoms during pregnancy.

• Build core strength, control and mobility

Let’s start with some definitions.

What’s your core? Your core is a canister made up of your pelvic floor on the bottom, abdominals on the front, diaphragm on top and lumbar support muscles along the back. These muscles work together to form your core.

In order to best support you through pregnancy, your core needs to be strong, mobile and have good mind-body connection. What you need to work on will depend on your body.

If you don’t have a consistent core fitness routine, you may need to strengthen your core. If you’re someone with a stiff abdominal wall, you may need to work on mobility. And if you’re not sure how to engage and relax these muscles, learning to control them may be the place to begin.

Figure out what your core needs most and start there!

• Learn To Relax Your Pelvic Floor

This is particularly important for first time pregnant folks. While the media will have you believing that kegels are the way to prepare your pelvic floor for pregnancy, it’s more common for people who have never been pregnant to have pelvic floor tension, not weakness. Because kegels are a pelvic floor strengthening exercise, they can increase pelvic floor tension for those who already have underlying muscle tightness. Some signs of pelvic floor tension include having pain with sex, tailbone pain, constipation and feeling like you have a small bladder. If any of those sounds like you, learning to relax your pelvic floor may help you prepare your body for the demands of pregnancy and birth.

Here are a few ways to practice pelvic floor relaxation:

• Ask yourself if you are clenching your glutes and anus throughout the day: So many of us walking around clenching without realizing it. Can you relax your glutes right now? Can you relax your anus? If the answer is yes, you were just clenching. Keep reminding yourself throughout the day to relax these muscles.

• Learn to do diaphragmatic breathing: Diaphragmatic or belly breathing is a form of breathing that teaches you to relax your abdomen and pelvic floor with each breath. As you inhale and allow your full rib cage to expand, your diaphragm drops down. In a well coordinated diaphragmatic breath, your pelvic floor will drop when your diaphragm does. If

• Use a pelvic wand: A pelvic wand is a tool that can be used internally to perform trigger point release on the pelvic floor. This tool can be beneficial for anyone with pelvic floor tension to release internal muscular restrictions.

• Work with a pelvic floor PT: Working with a pelvic floor PT can help you better understand what’s going on with your pelvic floor and give you a personalized plan to address whatever you’re experiencing.

• Start taking a prenatal vitamin

ACOG recommends beginning to take a prenatal vitamin at least one month before trying to conceive. It’s important for your prenatal vitamin to have at least 400 micrograms of folic acid and to continue taking the prenatal vitamin throughout your pregnancy. Folic acid helps form the neural tube and taking this supplement during pregnancy can help prevent major birth defects of the brain and spine. It’s recommended that pregnant people consume 600 micrograms of folic acid per day, but because you are unlikely to get this from your diet, supplementing with a prenatal vitamin is recommended.

Nature Made is the brand recommended by our obgyn friends, but be sure to talk to your team for brand recommendations.

• Schedule a pre-conception visit with your OBgyn

If you’re thinking about pregnancy in the next 6-12 months, schedule an appointment with your OBGYN for a preconception visit. If you have a partner, bring them.

At this appointment, your OBGYN can:

• talk to you about your questions & concerns

• discuss any necessary medication changes

• recommend genetic testing if necessary

• help you determine necessary lifestyle changes

• educate you on realistic expectations for conception timelines

• offer additional resources as necessary (mental health, nutrition, etc.)

Ideally, you’d want to find an obgyn that you trust and connect with.

• See a pelvic floor physical therapist for a preconception visit

If you’re wondering what you can do to prepare your pelvic floor for pregnancy, there’s no better way than scheduling an appointment with a pelvic floor physical therapist who specializes in pregnancy, birth and recovery. When our patients come to see us for a preconception visit, we spend time:

• Discussing and evaluating any preexisting pelvic health conditions

• Discussing and fears and goals around conception and pregnancy

• Performing hands on treatment like trigger point release, dry needling, cupping, fascial and visceral mobilization therapy to address anything found

• Creating a personalized plan that you can work on while trying to conceive

If you’re ready to prepare your pelvic floor and body for pregnancy, we’re here to support you. Remember, whether you’re preparing for your first, second or 5th pregnancy, it’s never too early to prepare your body for the changes to come.

Want to schedule a pelvic floor PT appointment at our clinic in Austin, TX or a virtual visit from anywhere in the world? Send us a message, here!