How to Prepare Your Pelvic Floor for Birth
Pregnancy Mini Series
Part One: How to Prepare Your Pelvic Floor for Birth
Part Two: How Strengthening Your Glutes During Pregnancy Relieves Pain and Prepares Your Body for Birth
Part Three: Boost Contractions, Reduce Pushing: Hypopressive Breathing for Labor and Delivery
Part Four: How to Train Your Body to Push
Did you know you can prepare your pelvic floor while pregnant to support a smoother delivery? You're probably reading all the books, taking prenatal vitamins, setting up the nursery, and attending birthing classes. While all these preparations are important, many pregnant women overlook one of the more powerful tools they have: preparing their pelvic floor for labor.
Vaginal delivery is the ultimate challenge to the pelvic floor. Although we were made to deliver our babies vaginally, there is still a lot we can do while we are pregnant to do prepare our pelvic floor for delivery so she has the best chance at a smooth and fast recovery.
As a pelvic floor physical therapist, I see women during and after pregnancy who are experiencing symptoms like leaking, pelvic pain, low back pain, prolapse, sexual dysfunction, diastasis and constipation. These symptoms aren't just "normal prenatal and postpartum discomforts" - they're actually signs that your pelvic floor needs attention. Ideally, if a women can start preparing her pelvic floor before delivery, she has a much lower risk of injury during childbirth.
After a decade and a half of helping women prepare for and recover from delivery, I have seen what works and what doesn't. Here are my top 5 recommendations to prepare your pelvic floor for delivery.
5 Ways to Prepare Your Pelvic Floor for Delivery
Hydration
Your pelvic floor is 70% fascia, or white connective tissue. Its actually more fascia than it is muscle! In order for fascia to be strong and flexible, it must be hydrated. Well hydrated pelvic floor fascia can absolutely stretch to deliver a baby. Dry and poorly hydrated pelvic floor fascia will not be able to withstand the stretch of delivery, nor will it be able to heal fully after delivery. So staying hydrated is absolutely key to a healthy pelvic floor before, during and after delivery. Staying hydrated keeps your pelvic floor tissues elastic and supple, reducing your risk of tearing during delivery, and improving your healing time and healing capacity after delivery. Good hydration also prevents constipation, which otherwise puts strain on your pelvic floor muscles during bowel movements and can weaken them over time.
In order to adequately hydrate your pelvic floor fascia, minerals need to be added to the water for optimal absorption. I recommend Laird Hydrate, because it has the perfect amount of calcium, magnesium, sodium and potassium along with tons of minerals to ensure your cells truly absorb the water. Remember - you can't hydrate your pelvic floor in a day. It takes months of consistent optimal water intake to hydrate your pelvic floor. So how you hydrate during those 10 months of pregnancy will be a major factor determining the strength and flexibility of your pelvic fascia going into delivery.
Check out this video to learn how to calculate your daily water intake.
Nutrition (Especially Protein & Fat)
Since you're growing a baby, your body requires additional nutrients to support both your baby and the changes happening within you—including your pelvic floor. During pregnancy, your protein and fat intake should increase to provide essential support for muscle strength, tissue repair, and hormone production. Your pelvic floor muscles rely on protein to stay strong as your baby grows and to aid in healing after delivery. Additionally, healthy fats play a crucial role in hormone balance and tissue elasticity. As your pregnancy progresses, your calorie needs will naturally rise, and ensuring you get enough protein and healthy fats will help maintain optimal muscle and nerve function for both you and your baby.
Hypopressive Training
Hypopressive training is one of the most effective yet underutilized techniques for pelvic floor preparation. This specialized breathing technique actually lifts and centers your organs, reducing the constant pressure on your pelvic floor that is accentuated during pregnancy.
When practiced regularly, hypopressives:
- Strengthen your pelvic floor
- Increase the flexibility of your pelvic floor
- Decompress your spine to reduce back pain
- Lift your uterus to optimize baby positioning
- Strengthen your deep core muscles without harmful pressure
- Improve breathing mechanics for labor
- Reduce swelling in your lower extremities
- Prepare your abdominal muscles for faster post-birth recovery
Unlike traditional core exercises that increase abdominal pressure, hypopressive training reduces pressure while strengthening the involuntary muscle fibers that make up 80% of your core. Training these deep, reflexive muscles is the most effective way to prepare your pelvic floor for delivery and support recovery afterward. By increasing pelvic floor flexibility, hypopressive training helps your pelvic floor stretch better during delivery (minimizing tearing), and heal more effectively postpartum.
Strengthening your diaphragm and abdominal muscles to naturally lift your organs and relieve pressure from your pelvic floor is essential for postpartum recovery. Hypopressive training is the most effective method for achieving this, helping you restore core muscle function and regain strength from the inside out.
Squats
The ability to perform a good squat is absolutely essential for pelvic floor health during delivery. The squatting movement is excellent for stretching your pelvic floor while strengthening it. I have found that doing 200 squats per day during pregnancy leads to healthy pelvic floor fascia and less tearing during delivery.
Squats maintain hip range of motion, increase pelvic circulation, and strengthen your glutes. Glute strength during pregnancy is key to balance out the growing belly. Your glute muscles work directly with your pelvic floor, providing support and stability to your pelvis. When your glutes are weak, your pelvic floor has to work harder.
Regular squats during pregnancy (with proper form) help:
- Strengthen the muscles needed for a smoother delivery and shorter pushing phase
- Maintain optimal pelvic, spine and SI joint alignment
- Prepare your pelvic floor to open easier for delivery
- Support your pelvic floor from below
- Reduce pressure on your pelvic floor muscles
Many women avoid squats during pregnancy for fear of harming their pelvic floor, but properly performed squats actually create the perfect balance of strength and flexibility that your body needs for delivery.
Perineal Massage
Perineal Massage in the later stages of pregnancy can improve pelvic floor stretching during delivery and healing afterwards. I recommend using a Therawand around the perineum, tailbone and sit bones 2x/wk for about 6 weeks prior to delivery.
Starting around week 34, spend 5-10 minutes releasing trigger points from your perineal tissues. Find areas that are tense or tender and place pressure onto the area with the Therawand until it releases and relaxes. This increases blood flow and elasticity, significantly reducing your chances of tearing or needing an episiotomy during delivery. You can learn my exact technique to reduce tearing prior to delivery here.
How the Core Recovery Method® Can Help You Prepare for Delivery
The Core Recovery Method® combines these elements into a comprehensive approach that prepares your body specifically for birth. This method teaches you:
- Optimal posture and breathing patterns that reflexively decompress your spine and strengthen your core
- Hypopressive techniques that lift and center your uterus to her proper position
- Targeted exercises that strengthen 100% of your core and pelvic floor muscles
- Proper squatting technique to prepare for the pushing phase of labor
- Gentle abdominal massage to improve blood flow to your uterus
- Step-by-step instructions for releasing trigger points in your core and pelvic floor
Moms who follow The Core Recovery Method® throughout their pregnancy often report smoother and faster labor experiences than previous births. They also experience faster postpartum recovery and feel stronger sooner after birth.
The method specifically trains your core muscles to keep your uterus in her ideal position, ensuring she receives optimal blood, lymph, and nerve flow. This allows for stronger contractions and often, a quicker delivery.
Regularly practicing these techniques during pregnancy will improve your stress tolerance, core muscle strength, and pelvic floor health - all factors that support a healthy, easier delivery.
Your pelvic floor doesn't have to be a mystery or a source of anxiety during pregnancy. The Core Recovery Method® helps you actively prepare your body for birth while preventing common pregnancy-related issues like diastasis, leaking, back pain, and pelvic floor dysfunction.
