Exercise and easier birth?

[crazycatlady82]

Hi

Did anyone find regular exercise made their birth easier?

I used to be very active then it dropped off over Xmas and just when I went to start TRX again I found out I was pg!

So thinking walking, yoga and pilates.

Also, no laughing now, I am considering using pelvic floor weights to strengthen my pelvic floor in the hope that the stronger these muscles are, the easier the birth will be any thoughts?!?!

xx

[stargirl1701]

Ummm, I did the 'Ready for Birth' exercises from the leaflet my MW gave me x3 daily from around 32 weeks. I bounced/rocked, etc. on my ball 6-8 hours a day from 32 weeks. I also did Aqua Natal, Pregnancy Yoga and Pregnancy Pilates. I had 2 SVD which I found easy but that may have nothing to do with the ante-natal exercise. I think easy birth is related to baby position. Luck would seem to be a big part of it, IMO.

I am a teacher and was due Sep & Aug for my 2 girls. This meant I was off work from around 32 weeks due to the summer holidays. I could devote a lot of time to exercise/prep. My toddler joined in on her own ball with DD2

[crazycatlady82]

Congratulations on your 2! I think the exercise may have helped.

I really need to step it up a gear!

[Metalhead]

I carried on going to the gym until I was about 6/7 months, then did yoga at home. Still had a shitty birth with over 2 hours pushing.

[AggressiveBunting]

Yeah, sorry. Me too. I guess maybe it would've been even worse if I'd been unfit though.

[NickyEds]

Don't think it makes a difference to your birth, sorry!I think it has far more to do with the position of your baby/induction/luck etc. I stayed reasonably fit during my first pregnancy and think it made carrying ds easier though, I'm fatter and more unfit with this one and finding it much harder going. I was still walking miles on end, decorating etc at 8.5 months with ds but I'm knackered after a couple of hours cleaning with this one at 22 weeks.

[crazycatlady82]

Thanks ladies.

I think it's probably a tricky question because if you were reasonably fit you will never know how it would have gone if you were very unfit, if that makes sense?!?!

[Bolshybookworm]

My two fittest friends had terrible forceps births. One of them walked miles every day right up to her due date. My two relatively unfit friends (who both put on a lot of weight during pregnancy), OTOH, had easy, quick labours.

Being fit won't do any harm, and it will help with stamina if you have a long labour. Ultimately, however, it comes down to what PP have said- luck, baby position, your hormones, anatomy etc.

[meglet]

I stuck at the gym until over 8mo pg and had sections both times (faulty cervix).

BUT it meant I was still in good shape once I had recovered from the ops 2/3 months down the line and I didn't really lose any fitness.

so don't get overly obsessed with how it will help your birth, although I'm sure it does help a little, but focus on the post baby phase when you want to get active again.

[meglet]

yy madri I used my martial art calming and breathing techniques in labour for dc2 . I was mooing away thinking 'it's just like a really hard grade, the pain will stop soon".

[crazycatlady82]

Thanks madrigals, love a bit of research evidence

I also like that it makes post partum recovery easier.

Thank you ladies

[Showy]

I was pretty fit with both. Particularly with dc2. I was running 3x a week even up to the day my waters broke.

I had two very long labours, one of my pushing stages was 8hrs and I also ended up with two emcs.

I think being fit is very good for you for myriad reasons and is a small thing you can do to nudge your chances of labour and recovery into a direction where you might find them more manageable. The vast majority of what happens on the day will be down to luck however. No exercise in the world will change the baby's head circumference or the odd permutations that can occur on the day.

Exercise might make the pregnancy better in terms of your mental health and physical capabilities.

Remember though that you must never start a new fitness regime or new exercise whilst pregnant. Only a continuation of what went before. Remember your ligaments are much more prone to injury, your joints are looser and you might find you need to take it easier than you anticipate.

[minipie]

I think fitness makes recovery from birth easier. However I suspect that some kinds of fitness - in particular a lot of running - can actually make birth harder. This is purely anecdotal but friends who are keen runners have all had very long births or breech babies (so c section).

[Victoria2002]

I do recommend pregnancy yoga classes as there is an element of mediation, a quiet time to think about birth & motherhood, plus meeting other pregnant mums etc. it can't hurt to be fit-childbirth is pretty physical!

[kittygirl33]

I sropped running about 20 weeks and stopped gym work at about 27 weeks. I swam right up to the end though and did pregnancy yoga and walked a lot. I think swimming and bouncing/all fours on my exercise ball really helped get the baby in a good postion. I had a v quick labour of just over 2 hours. There is definitely a large element of luck though! I think keeping your body strong and fit is a good idea but overdoing it can be counterproductive. Next time I wouldn't bother running, I would stick to swimming and walking. I love fitness but I wish I hadn't stressed so much about my changing body and instead appreciated what it was doing (cheesy but true).

[Jackieharris]

We'll statistically older women and obese women have worse births.

Maybe look up and see if there are studies comparing fit vs unfit same age, same bmi, nulliparous women?

I had an easy first birth. I was fit but I was also young and have 'child bearing hips' .

[Fresh01]

I have had 4 natural deliveries. I would say the thing that made the biggest difference to how the labour went was how tired I was when labour started. With DC4, she was just after a busy xmas and I was tired before labour even started. Then didn't get a good nights sleep before the main part of labour kicked in so I found that my hardest delivery by far. dC1 and DC2 were daytime labours. dC3 I had had a few hours sleep before labour kicked in.

So there is a reason people say to get a lot of rest in the last couple of weeks.

[HazleNutt]

yes, I do think it made a difference to birth, recovery and especially the pregnancy itself - I had none of the usual aches and pains. I was quite active though - Bodypump, tae bo and similar. I'm not sure walking will have too much of an effect.

[OllyBJolly]

I had a dreadful first delivery and the midwives said it was because my stomach muscles were so tight! I had a 26 hour labour - with the latter 12 hours being really tough going. I'd been a gym bunny and runner.

I was much less fit for baby no 2 and labour lasted 20 minutes in total.

I think it's largely luck.

[noddingninja]

I only have one experience to relate (and therefore nothing to compare it to) but I think being fit did help with labour and recovery. I am overweight and had a BMI of 33 at booking, but I worked out with a trainer until 36 weeks, swam, walked and did a pregnancy yoga DVD. Due to my BMI I had to have a glucose tolerance test which was fine. I participated in a pregnancy and exercise study and wore a heart rate monitor for four days; from that I learnt that even if you are overweight exercise helps with controlling glucose levels.

As for my labour, it was long and tough because DD was direct OP (back to back) with over 3 hours of pushing. I was just lucky that her heart rate never dropped so I stayed in the birthing centre with no medical intervention. She was born in the birthing pool (which helped me a lot)

[VikingLady]

More pelvic floor exercises would help with late pregnancy and recovery afterwards, without a doubt. I'd ask a midwife about using pelvic weights though, as I was told not to put anything much up there in case it irritates the cervix. It's a lot more sensitive during pg and bleeds pretty easily for a lot of people.

[VeryPunny]

Cycled hundreds of miles whilst pregnant with DD, gym, swam etc. DD was breech, labour was agony and ended in EMCS - but recovery was a doddle.

Did bugger all with DS, labour was longer than DDs, absolute agony. VBAC but again recovery was fine. So no difference to labour here.

[TheOriginalWinkly]

I had a shite labour, but none the less I would highly, highly recommend a good pregnancy Pilates class. Fantastic for the pelvic floor and core, and I found it very relaxing too.