quick clicks

pregnancy today articles

pregnancy today q&a

message boards

research baby names

prepare a birth plan

content channels

ip channel rss feeds

read birth stories

read parenting stories

recommended books

e-newsletters

safety recalls

ip diaries

ip store

mom of the month

dad of the month

editor's letter

letters to the editor

Training Day

Preparing for Childbirth
through Exercise

By Teri Brown

Any woman who has given birth understands the physical demands of the event. It is a long, exhausting and demanding exercise in physical endurance.

But what if you prepared for the blessed event by training for it as you would for a marathon, with an understanding of the physical demands it would take on your body? How would that improve your delivery?

Patti Brown, mother of four from Beachwood, N.J., believes that her prenatal preparations helped her to have all four births without pain medication, something she and her husband were hoping for.

"We did prenatal exercises regularly," says Brown. "My husband did them with me every night. Not only did we do breathing, but stretching of the arms, abs and legs. And best of all: squats! My husband hated these but in the end could squat longer than me!"

Brown even did abdomen strengthening exercises. "The last pregnancy, I had a personal coach give us a great refresher," says Brown. "She taught me these exercises that worked on the abs that helped with pushing. They were helpful – you pulled your abs in toward your spine and sort of 'pulsed' them very gently. The baby loved them. I felt like she was doing them with me!"

"For one thing, training for delivery can be instrumental in getting you to delivery day healthy," says Bridson, who is an American Council on Exercise certified personal trainer and a Baby and Me Fitness certified pre- and postnatal fitness instructor. "There are so many things that can go wrong in a pregnancy; getting physically fit can minimize those risks."

Some of the other benefits of training for delivery include increased physical endurance, more control over your pelvic floor for the pushing stage of the delivery and a faster recovery.

But the physical benefits are not the only reason to train for delivery. "Mentally and emotionally it helps give you a feeling of control in a situation where you don't have a lot of control," says Bridson. "That sense of strength gives you an edge during the physical demands of birth."

JoAnn Dahlkoetter, author of Your Performing Edge

Want to see more?

• Episiotomy: Is It Necessary?
• Battle of the Baby Bulge: Returning to Your Prepregnancy Weight
• Pelvic Power: The Benefits of Kegel Exercises for Pregnancy and the Rest of Your Life
• Talk about it!