Hi Friends!
If you don't know me from posts about our lives the last 7 years in our Facebook Group , Hi I'm Ashley. I'm a now mom of 3 with 2 very traumatic births. I loved both experiences using hypnobabies and learned the hard way that being in control of my birthing experience in a hospital was harder than I could ever imagine. Because I wasn't screaming uncontrollably, it was hard to take me seriously and in both cases no one thought I was in labor until baby was basically crowning.
Our third baby and my second birth involved some trigger warnings I'll avoid in this post that resulted in hard and fast pushing against nature. I'm lucky enough to have gotten in with a Pelvic Floor Therapist who shared that relaxation and breathing techniques PRIOR to kegel contractions are what I should try. She was so encouraging that she wants to see me back again in 14 days so I'm excited.
After sharing how excited I was, I was reminded how few unfortunately have access to such an amazing resource so I'm sharing the exercises and stretching that was recommended to me below.
Before you read: Many will say that a doula would have solved the situation above. And while I agreed with that in 2019 prior to giving birth, an almost lawsuit and subsequent non disclosure agreement have determined that is not the fact.
Note about the below: I was personally diagnosed physically with a weaker pelvic floor at all 3 layers. And the exercises below were recommended for me to strengthen. There are many women I've seen on social media videos with TIGHT pelvic floors and kegels are NOT recommended.
Final Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. I don't claim to be. I don't like books that much lol. But with the amount of my co-pay AFTER insurance I fully understand this to be a very out of reach experience for many. And for that reason, I share with you the exercises recommended to me.
Exercises recommended to me are listed below IN ORDER.
I was provided internal links to a company website that I cannot share but these are easily checked out on YouTube. I am not comfortable linking personal videos on google for various scammer/spam reasons otherwise I would have posted linked.
- Supine Diaphragmatic Breathing - 1 x daily - 7 x weekly - 3 sets - 10 reps
- Supine Pelvic Floor Stretch - 1 x daily - 7 x weekly - 3 sets - 30-60s hold
- Supine Transversus Abdominis Bracing - Hands on Stomach - 1 x daily - 7 x weekly - 3 sets - 10 reps - 5s hold
- Supine Pelvic Floor Contraction - 1 x daily - 7 x weekly - 3 sets - 10 reps
- Sit to Stand with Pelvic Floor Contraction - 1 x daily - 7 x weekly - 3 sets - 10 reps
- Standing Pelvic Floor Contraction - 1 x daily - 7 x weekly - 3 sets - 10 reps
Always keeping it real.
XOXO Ash