Giving birth to a child is one of the most miraculous moments in your life. While the actual birth only happens on one day, you might have most of a year to get ready for it, if you know how to prepare your body for giving birth.
Get Involved With a Class
The very first thing that Parents.com recommends is finding a child birthing class. For that matter, join it as soon as you can. Classes like these fill up quickly. Also, some of them only run three months at a time, especially if they focus on The Bradley Method.
Pick Yourself Up
Don’t go it alone with trying to get the baby out. Use upright positions to let gravity pitch in some of the work. Standing, kneeling, sitting, squatting, walking, and even slow dancing can all help you jiggle your baby into just the right position to come out when they are ready. By practicing these positions beforehand, you will train your body to become more flexible, enabling you to perform these activities when the time is right and when it really counts.
Relaxation Is Essential
The more relaxed you are, the more able you are to cope with how challenging labor can be. You’ll conduct yourself with more calm and clarity. Training yourself in self-hypnosis can help you manage discomfort and anxiety, reducing the length of your hospital visit and a number of complications. Visualization is also helpful in the same direction without going as far as hypnosis itself.
Be Ready for a C-Section
According to the CDC, approximately one-third of all baby deliveries occur through a cesarean delivery. Also known as a C-section, this is a surgical procedure where incisions are made through the uterus and abdomen to deliver the baby. When these incisions are closed up, one tissue layer might be sealed onto another layer when it should actually glide freely. This creates a visual puckering known as a c-section shelf.
It can include differences in skin texture, puffiness, and even physical discomfort. Fortunately, scar tissue massage and various other treatments can help minimize pain and complications with a cesarean section shelf years after the fact. Just be aware in advance that you might be at risk for it if you plan to deliver via C-section.
Use a Warm Tub
Consider practicing going through labor in a warm tub. The weightlessness of it and the warmth involved will be very soothing. Just get the okay from your physician or midwife. Once your water breaks, there can be a risk of potential infection.
Treat Yourself to a Massage
Touch helps ease the tension in a woman’s body. It releases endorphins which are chemicals that make the brain feel good. A foot or neck rub can do a lot to get your mind off of contractions or just off the stress of carrying another person inside of you for nine months. Train your partner in doing this when you can’t make it to a studio or clinic for professional therapy.
Try Prenatal Yoga
Your body needs all the support it can get while it’s supporting two people at once. Prenatal yoga is effective at many stages of pregnancy. You can use it to keep limber and relaxed. It helps you prepare for the actual delivery, and it should even leave you in a good position to heal once you actually deliver your child. It’s also a great chance to spend time around other expecting mothers going through the same stage of life.
Exercise
Through most of the pregnancy, you’ll be able to exercise almost as much as you do regularly. Just something as simple as walking can help you maintain your sense of balance and build up the lower back and abdominal strength. Stress relief is always going to be a benefit, and keeping your immune system strong helps your child along the way.
Sex
It’s a form of exercise. It should bring you and your partner closer together, and it helps your body feel good and unwind in a seriously stressful time. Not only is sex crucial in order to become pregnant, sex while pregnant helps release a flood of endorphins that keeps mother and child happy and healthy.
Whether it’s the first time you’re going to give birth or you’ve been down this road before, it helps you and your child to be physically ready for giving birth. Do as many of these as you can so you’re prepared. Nutrition, exercise, and mental preparedness will help your body and mind prepare for the beautiful gift of motherhood.