Entirely unscientific poll about mother’s fitness and birth/pregnancy

[IsTheRainEverComingBack]

Wasn’t sure whether to put this here or in pregnancy?

I’ve been reading a bit about the heathier and physically fitter the mother, the easier the pregnancy and labour. Labour’s perhaps quicker, less complications. I know being healthier is better for getting pregnant, but in your experience do you think your fitness/health, or indeed lack thereof, had an impact on your pregnancy and birth/s?

I’m gearing up to start TTC next year, I’m currently 2 stone ish overweight and really quite unfit. I need to get myself sorted before I start trying to incubate a child. Some motivation that it might make childbirth easier might be helpful 😬

I was average weight but hilariously unfit when I got pg, my pregnancy and labour were textbook. Really easy birth (had epidural, wasn’t assisted, tore badly but that was because I didn’t stop pushing when the midwife told me to!)

So I don’t think it has much bearing on how pregnancy and birth go, more luck of the draw.

Thing is.you can't compare the experience unfit you had with the one fit you did. My birth was a car crash, despite swimming, walking, gentle gym visits and lots of prenatal Pilates. But for all I know it would have been much worse without.

Ultimately it is only ever going to benefit you to be at a healthy weight and to keep fit.

I’m naturally petite (5’4”ish, and around 8st 4lbs at the moment).
I do a lot of yoga, but also weight train, was in a physically demanding job and was a dancer all through my childhood and teenage years.
I had 2 babies very close together, and while the experience of an induction with DC1 was a hideous one never to be repeated, the birth itself - actually pushing her out was relatively easy. DC2 was a homebirth and was a great experience, labour was manageable and he was out in 2 very small pushes.
My midwife was a huge advocate of proper birth positioning - ie any position that allows gravity to help your baby out, pretty much anything other than laying on your back. If you lay on your back, you have to push your baby up-hill and round a bend all yourself, whereas being in an upright-ish position, you are pushing downhill and the kind of “u-bend” formed by your sacrum is the other way round, so easier for your baby’s head and shoulders to manoeuvre.
All in all, if you are physically fit - I’m not meaning Olympic athlete - in theory you should find it easier to get into and maintain optimum birthing positions, which in turn make the pushing stage easier on you and your baby.

Overweight but good core strength from riding - labour with first relatively short - 5 hours from established labour to birth, 12 hours first twinge to birth.

2nd pregnancy- similarly overweight, decent core strength, much better cardio fitness and still struggling with this ridiculous heat.

For exercise focus on core - yoga, Pilates- things that work the deep core muscles. Weight helps especially if carried on you middle- I've had no issues with scans etc because I carry most of my podge on my are and thighs...

Well, I walked and swam til quite late (39 ish weeks) in both pregnancies.
DS1 labour was short, DS2 was exceptionally short (2 hrs first contraction to baby).
I'm overweight, but i move about.

It's impossible to know for sure, but anecdotally, I had two very fit pregnancies (worked out whole way through) and two great births. First one no drugs, no interventions, no tears and reasonably quick for a first labour, second one induced and took a while to get going but then totally straightforward, again no tears and back on my feet straightaway. Fitness isn't going to be able to rescue things if, say, baby is malpositioned or badly stuck but all other things being equal, being fit during pregnancy is likely to help baby get in a better position and help you handle labour better. It's also going to make pregnancy more comfortable.

Did marathons, cycled hundreds of miles, lots of yoga and Pilates. Toned it down a bit when pregnant but otherwise very fit. Pregnancy easy but DC1 was breech, so labour was a bit of a car crash, despite all the hypnobirthing bollocks. Emergency section.

Less fit with DC2 but still active and healthy - DC 2 was a VBAC but still a bloody painful nightmare relieved by lovely lovely epidural.

I was a bit overweight but had reasonable stamina from walking lots. I also didn’t put on much weight at all in pregnancy as I was really careful about what I ate and avoided sugar as much as I could.

I had a really great, easy birth. I have no idea if it would have been better/ worse if id been more or less fit. I do feel less fit now than then, my commute changed and I don’t walk as much and I would feel less confident about giving birth now.

I think the main thing you need is some stamina for the pushing part.

Super fit with my first....3 exercise classes a week (body.pump and circuits modified in places) until 32 weeks when I switched to aqua. Result:38hr labour and section.

Dc2... slightly podgy. No classes as I had a pulled ligament in my stomach from a class.at 9 weeks. It never got better with my rapidly expanding girth. Dc completely natural delivery in 2 hrs with a minimal tear.

Stay podgy people!

I'm probably a bit fitter than average, had a very easy pregnancy and an amazing recovery from a c-section for a breech baby. My friend, who is super fit - daily runner, regular hiker, very healthy diet - had an easy pregnancy and a hideous 50 hour labour culminating in induction. Another friend, who is obese, had a hideous pregnancy, was induced at 38 weeks because of it, and had an easy birth and recovery.

It's not as straightforward as: a+b+c circumstances will equal x+y outcome. That said, being fitter absolutely isn't going to make it more difficult, so it's probably worth the effort - for you in the longer term, even if it's not going to transform your birth experience.

Average weight, but never really done much in the way of exercise - walk quite a bit and do some very basic yoga when I remember.

I had a very straightforward pregnancy and birth. 4 days overdue, 11 hours from first contraction to birth (on a birthing stool, as PP mentioned position!) Baby was positioned well though.

I'd imagine being physically fitter is more likely to benefit you from a stamina point of view, as others have said. I can't imagine it could make any negative difference, but equally it would be unlikely to change how well your body would respond to the specifics of labour.
My NHS antenatal classes included sessions from a womens health physio, and she just talked about gentle exercise for general fitness (plus birth positions and lots of pelvic floor exercises!).

Thanks all, this is interesting. It probably is mostly chance, I’ve several women close to me who’ve had very difficult, often traumatic births so I’m pragmatic about the whole thing, I know what can I go wrong I just hope that it won’t. But more stamina does make sense, and as you say being fitter in general is never going to be a bad thing.

I was really fit the first time I got pregnant. I ran, cycled, lifted weights. But I had hyperemesis so was good for nothing for the first 17 weeks. Then I piled on a couple of stone very quickly and did literally zero exercise. My labour was very quick and easy. I was very unfit afterward. This time I would say I am even fitter than the first time, but clearly shit at pregnancy and envisage it going the same way. I know people who exercised and ate healthily throughout pregnancy but still ended up with a complicated birth.

Sorry that wasn't very encouraging. I do believe I had stamina though due to being very fit before hand.

I think being physically and mentally healthy and strong must be an advantage to childbirth but so much depends on circumstances way out of your control that it must be hard to compare. I’m a fitness fiend who had two textbook pregnancies and birth but a friend who competes at a similar level to me had a nightmare of a time. Depends on so many different factors.

I had very strong pelvic floor muscles (Pilates) and every time I pushed ds1 on a contraction my pelvic floor muscles pulled him back in again. Two hours later they gave me an episiotomy and he was born. His head was the shape of a cone and he had a bulge like ventous babies have. So I'd say that exercise was a hindrance!

Helped for positioning and stamina as a PP said.

During my twins' pg I ran until 26/7w then gym x4 per week. I went to the gym for 2 hours the morning before the induction. During the induction I walked up and down 30 - !! - flights of stairs which resulted in a very fast and almost painless labour.

Whilst being fit and healthy will likely help a lot if it is luck.
I had two different extremely rare pregnancy conditions each time and not a single risk factor. One premature birth and emcs, second baby poorly.
I'm fit, healthy, within recommended weight range, no prior health conditions.
I guess this might've helped avoiding c section recovery complications though but impossible to know!

I was very fit pre-pregnancy. Developed HG at 5 weeks and did next to nothing exercise-wise for the whole pregnancy. Suspected that birth would be awful because I was so exhausted by pregnancy, but it actually went very well- no stitches needed or anything. I did lose a lot of blood though.

DS1 - slim but not that fit as had spent past 2 years constantly ttc, pregnant then miscarrying (3 of them needed ERPC under GA). Terrible pregnancy. Constantly sick then very swollen and developed preeclampsia so induced at 35 weeks. Easy labour and birth though (under 4 hours).

DS2 - much fitter, continued weight training throughout pregnancy. Much easier pregnancy with little sickness, went in to natural labour at 36 weeks and easy delivery (under 3 hours). I believe fitness played a role in it and has definitely helped post partum.

I was very slim pre-pregnancy but not wholly healthy! Probably on the underweight scale and did little to no fitness. I put on over 3 stone in pregnancy, maintained a healthy diet throughout as I had dreadful morning sickness and had to go vegetarian due to meat making me sick but didn't do any exercise. Birth lasted for 4.5 hours, pethidine only and walked out of hospital when baby was 3 hours old. I had separation of abdominal muscles due to heavy lifting during pregnancy but they returned to normal a few weeks after birth.

If I was preparing for pregnancy, I would definitely have increased my fitness levels.

I've been very fit throughout both pregnancies - i did spin classes, circuits and boot camp the whole way through. But i did have pre eclampsia and blood pressure problems both times and was induced both times too. My midwife did say that I must have been in good shape to get my second baby out so quick as she was in a very awkward position.

I'd say exercise and being in shape is never a bad thing. In a shallow way I was quite glad I bounced back to my normal size fairly quickly, but I guess some people do that without exercise too.

I had PGP (pelvic girdle pain) during pregnancy and it was pretty miserable, walking was painful so exercise was difficult. I managed pregnancy yoga and a bit of swimming.

I think that one factor in my PGP was having a weak core when I got pregnant. The pregnancy yoga helped a bit but in hindsight I think pregnancy Pilates might have been even more helpful. If/when I TTC again I will try and do yoga and/or Pilates beforehand to strengthen my core.

It’s hard to say whether it affected the birth. Unfortunately I had to have continuous monitoring (due to meconium in my waters) and the bitch nasty midwife forced me to labour on my back which made it difficult. I didn’t want an epidural and managed without it. But DS has shoulder dystocia (and I think my birthing position was probably a major factor). I had an episiotomy and was very bruised and sore afterwards.

No ventouse or forceps though (to my relief) and no EMCS. So I did manage the pushing! I think most people do tbh if there are no major issues, regardless of fitness level your body just does it. Obviously if it’s a long labour or there are other complications then it’s a different matter, but that’s mainly down to luck and not really to do with fitness.

Unfit (I'd been reasonably fit at the start of each pregnancy, but months of morning sickness put paid to any remaining fitness), overweight during second pregnancy. Two easy homebirths.

I find the fit healthy mum = easy birth absolute bull.

I ate healthy and exercised all the way through my pregnancy with DD. Long walks, weights, gym cardio, spinning up to 40 weeks and swam every day up to 42 weeks.

Pregnancy was a breeze. Went into labour naturally at 42+3 and ended up with an emergency section under general anaesthetic after 21 hours of labour.