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Home › Articles › Exercise in Pregnancy › Nine Months of Strength

Nine Months of Strength

Your Guide to a Healthy Baby

By Teri Brown

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My book teaches readers which positions are best and encourages them to practice them ahead of time so they can hold the poses when the time comes. The most critical position for labor and delivery which women find the most difficult if they haven't done it before is the squat. It's the ideal position for helping the baby come down into the pelvis as it opens up the pelvis by as much as 30 percent. But it's a hard position to hold if you have weak quads and tight calves, so it's advised that women start their squats early on in pregnancy.

Strengthening your abdominals after Baby:
Women can do abdominal contractions after birth to strengthen their transversus abdominus (the innermost muscle). Also, it's important to note that women must go slowly with abdominal work after birth. The rectus abdominus muscles can, and usually do, separate during pregnancy and take time to heal.

Stretching and strengthening vaginal, abdominal and pelvic muscles necessary for labor:
To help prepare you vagina for the baby's head, a woman and her partner can begin manual perineum stretching six weeks before the baby is due. This can help prevent tearing and the need for episiotomies and can help women to begin to feel the sensations of birth while learning how to control these muscles in preparation for birth. You can also condition your pelvic floor with Kegel exercises, which can help prevent and treat urinary incontinence caused by birth, can help ease the delivery of the baby and can even help the baby's head rotate when needed.
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