Pregnancy Care

Pregnancy is that magical time of marveling at the changes in your body, and wondering what the heck are all these changes in your body??? Many pelvic floor physical therapists offer pregnancy care and “birth preparation” appointments – what does this entail? Of course, all PFPTs are a little bit different, but here’s what we mean at Protea Physical Therapy & Wellness when we discuss pregnancy care and birth preparation.

Comfort As You and Baby Grow

Your baby grows pretty quickly, and it is amazing how fast your changes happen as well! We take a look at key areas of your body to help keep you feeling pain free and comfortable:

• Helping your posture adapt at all stages of pregnancy

• Keep the hips strong, but also keep them mobile to help prevent low back pain and other sneaky pains

• Guide you through exercise – maintaining your activity as you are able to is very important to your health, and we’ll modify your preferred activities as needed to keep them safe and helpful.

• Manual therapy to help relieve any aches and pains as they arise

• Help manage any signs of incontinence

• Reduce the risk of constipation

Prepare for a Positive Birth Experience

There are many options in our area to help build your experience and we are happy to work with your plans for hospital delivery, OB/GYN delivery, Midwife delivery, Home birth, and/or Doula assistance.

• We work with you on relaxation techniques you can utilize for the big day!

• We educate on labor positions, and welcome partners into your session for practice of various positions

• Perineal massage, or the stretching and massage of the skin between the vagina and anus in order to reduce the risk and severity of perineal tearing

• Cesarean birth planning and education for early recovery

• Discussion of what you can expect at your birth experience, assistance writing your birth plan, maybe even getting you in touch with some wonderful doulas or midwives to help you along your way

Prepare for Early Postpartum

Your #1 priority after giving birth is to rest and bond with your baby. There’s no to-do lists necessary! To help you feel confident we provide advice for the first few weeks after giving birth:

• Make suggestions for items to have on-hand for when you return home (*hint* - my lists are focused on Mama happiness and comfort, we’re sure you’ve gotten lots of advice for what to have for baby!)

• Safe stretches and movements you can do to help reduce postpartum aches and pains

• Advice for the first few postpartum poops – sometimes these can be a doozy

• Education on cesarean scar care or perineal scar care if needed

  
  

How often should you attend pelvic floor physical therapy?

In the absence of symptoms, we recommend checking in with a pelvic floor physical therapist at the end of your first trimester and the start of your second trimester. From there you may only need to check in once every 6-8 weeks to assess your body’s adaptations. At third trimester we recommend gradually increasing frequency to include birth planning and preparation and address any new discomforts that can begin popping up around this time.

If you start experiencing symptoms such as constipation, low back pain, sacro-iliac joint pain, any surprise leaking or incontinence, we encourage you to call a pelvic floor therapist sooner rather than later so we can get you feeling better quickly and before they become a problem. Frequency at this time is decided on a case-by-case basis.