What do I need to Know? …You are meant to  Be Perfectly Pregnant for you.

​First of all, you need to know is  that your body knows how to do this. All you have to do is get out of the way and allow it! In pregnancy there are some unique essential changes that happen.
  • Hormones
Your Body has chemical communication messengers and they control all bodily functions. You know them as hormones, they get blamed for everything! Specific pregnancy hormones are so smart that they support your body’s metamorphosis into whatever unique state is required for your baby’s development, birth and nurturing. Special pregnancy hormones are released that make your bones and muscles more pliable and allow the growth and development of your Baby.
  • Breathing - Your breath - FreeFloBirthing
Your connection,to your power source,is Your breath, and it is THE most important thing during pregnancy, labour and childbirth because it controls the amount of oxygen you and your Baby receive as well as optimizing how well your Body works.
During labour and birth your breathing is your connection to what is happening with your Baby. Also, with each stage of labour and birth your breathing will change in order to aid the process if nothing gets in the way of that flow.
This is the basis for natural childbirth.

Therefore, we will cover more about this when we look at preparing for birth.

Simple Breathing techniques:
● Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.
● Notice the rhythm, in, pause and out, in, pause and out. Your in- breath more or less matches your out-breath.
● Now breathe deeply through your nose, breathe into your abdomen, fill the abdomen and then fill the lungs with air, expanding the lungs fully, pause and then breathe out through your mouth, making a sound as if you are shushing a Baby, slowly emptying the lungs and then the abdomen, expelling all the air in the lungs and taking all the toxins out of your body.

                                       Your out-breath should be at least 3 – 4 times longer than your in-breath.

● Keep that rhythm going. Keep focused on the rhythm and keep your out-breath longer than your in-breath
● It can help to practice breathing and relaxation techniques and strategies during pregnancy so that you can use them effectively in labour.
                                                                 You see it’s ALL about FLOW! 

Take the time to connect to your breath. Notice when it changes and why. Building that connection will enable you and your Baby to experience a truly wonderful labour and birth.
  • Nutrition
Nutrition plays a big part in a healthy pregnancy, as it does in a healthy Body. There are many myths about what you should eat and not eat during pregnancy and most of them have no basis. – see Myths exploded
A lot of what we read, hear and unfortunately are advised by well-meaning people, and professionals, is unfounded and the fact that it is repeated so often is what gives it substance.
Use logic and common sense and you will get there. Maintain a well-balanced diet that incorporates non – processed, whole foods including, if you enjoy them:
  • Lean meats
  • Fish
  • Fruits
  • Vegetables
  • Whole-grain breads
  • Dairy products
  • Chocolate – YES chocolate!
By eating a healthy, balanced diet you’re more likely to get the nutrients you need. You will need more of the essential nutrients (especially magnesium, calcium, iron, and folic acid) than you did before you became pregnant. If you are taking prenatal vitamins it doesn’t mean you can eat a diet that’s lacking in nutrients. It’s important to remember that you still need to eat well while pregnant. Prenatal vitamins are meant to supplement your diet, and aren’t meant to be your only source of much-needed nutrients.

  • Exercise during pregnancy
Yes! You can exercise when you are pregnant,  furthermore, it is beneficial to you and your Baby. You should however, avoid lying flat on your back after 16 weeks, as it may make you feel faint.

Specific exercises to help the muscles include……

Stomach-strengthening exercises
As your bump gets bigger, you may find that the hollow in your lower back increases and because of this it can give you backache.
These strengthen stomach (abdominal) muscles and ease backache, which can be a problem in pregnancy:
​
Cat Curl
  • Start in a box position (on all fours) with knees under hips, hands under shoulders, with fingers facing forward and abdominals lifted to keep your back straight.
  • Pull in your stomach muscles and raise your back up towards the ceiling, curling the trunk and allowing your head to relax gently forward. Don’t let your elbows lock.
  • Hold for a few seconds then slowly return to the box position
  • IMPORTANT!!!! Take care not to hollow your back: it should always return to a straight/neutral position.
  • Do this slowly and rhythmically 10 times, making your muscles work hard and moving your back carefully.
  • Only move your back as far as you can without discomfort.

Pelvic tilt exercises
  • Stand with your shoulders and bottom against a wall.
  • Do not lock your knees.
  • As you breathe in – Pull your tummy button towards your spine, so that your back flattens against the wall: hold for four seconds and release breathing out.
  • Repeat up to 10 times.

 Pelvic floor exercises​​
                                              –  YOU WILL DO THESE FOR LIFE!! (If you are smart)

Pelvic floor muscles are extremely stressed during pregnancy and when the baby is born. The pelvic floor consists of layers of muscles that stretch like a supportive hammock from the pubic bone (in front) to the end of the backbone (coccyx). If your pelvic floor muscles are weak, you may find that you leak urine when you cough, sneeze or strain. This is quite common and you needn’t feel embarrassed. It’s known as stress incontinence and it can continue after pregnancy. By performing pelvic floor exercises, you can strengthen the muscles. This helps to reduce or avoid stress incontinence after pregnancy. All pregnant women should do pelvic floor exercises, even if you’re young and not suffering from stress incontinence now.

                                                                          **********NOTE!!!!********
                                   This also makes your sex life much more enjoyable for both of you!!!

How to do pelvic floor exercises:

                                                     DO THIS EXERCISE WITH AN EMPTY BLADDER!
  • Imagine there is a string coming out of your belly button and you are pulling on it. Start from there NOT from the back.
  • So, you pull on the string and it tightens your abdomen.
  • Tighten your urethra like when you want to stop peeing.
  • Then slowly tighten your vagina as if you’re gripping a tampon, and then your buttocks and your anus as if you’re trying to stop your bowels moving.
  • Do this exercise every time you go to the toilet after peeing, while washing your hands.
  • Do it quickly, then do it slowly, holding the contractions for as long as you can before you relax: try to count to 10.
  • As well as these exercises, practice tightening up the pelvic floor muscles before and during coughing and sneezing.
                                         Remember: DO THIS EXERCISE WITH AN EMPTY BLADDER!

Using a gym ball / pregnancy ball
Always sit with knees slightly more than hip width apart, feet flat on the floor, back straight and arms relaxed at your side.
  1. Bounce up and down as you breathe slowly and consciously, this relaxes you and the baby. Connect to your body and your baby. Ask Baby how he feels, what he needs. Tell him you love him. See him in the womb perfect and growing, everything as it should be.
  2. Move your pelvis clockwise stretching the lower back and tightening the abdominal muscles. Keep your back straight. Repeat 10 times and anti-clockwise 10 times. This opens up the birth canal and prepares you for labour and birth.
  3. Sit upright with arms out, breathing in lift the right leg in line with your hip, keeping the leg straight, balance and breathe out lowering the leg, repeat 10 times both legs. This helps the body maintain balance.
  4. In cat curl position while using the ball to rest your head and chest on, let your arms hang loose. Breathe in and curl your back (as in cat curl) up to the ceiling, pause, breathe out and relax. IMPORTANT!!!! Take care not to hollow your back: it should always return to a straight/neutral position.
 
  • Relaxation and Connection
We will again cover this topic in more detail  when we look at preparing for birth as it is especially relevant to achieving a wonderful birthing experience-
During your pregnancy, you will notice that you feel tired at times and, if you do not relax enough you will notice this is more of an exhausted state, even when you have not been exerting yourself. This is your body telling you that it needs that relaxed state to grow your Baby and keep you healthy.
If you have practiced yoga, use the relaxation and breathing techniques as often as you can. Even if you only do this for a few minutes every day, I promise, it will really help.
If you have never done yoga, take time to just sit, breathe and relax as much as possible.
Again, even if just for a few minutes every day.
If you don’t your body will eventually make you one way or another, there is no doubt about that.
This is how complications occur, when you do not listen!