does a strong pelvic floor make the second stage easier?

[cara2244]

I did no pelvic floor exercises last pregnancy and had a very short first stage and longer/hard second stage with stitches for internal tearing. Have been doing pelvic floors twice a day this time since about 16 weeks.
In people's experience, do pelvic floor exercises make a difference in labour, or is it more about afterwards?

Being aware of how to relax your pelvic floor will help with second stage. Pelvic floor excercises help with that awareness.

A taunt pelvic floor is much more important than a strong pelvic floor (think trampoline rather than regular floor). A taunt pelvic floor (and well-trained muscles around it) open more easily than the typically over-Kegelled 'strong' pelvic floor which actually make the area too tight and weak to hold things properly if not done with other exercises.

Which pelvic floor exercises are you doing? I would recommend reading this website as it really helped me (and I do feel it helped shorten my second stage and make my births easier).

Thanks for the websites, interesting reading! I'm going to ask the physio too at my next appointment.

Think I was just lucky - pretty rubbish pelvic floor and fine second stages. Long with dd but straightforward, nine minutes with ds. Will let you know about dc3- breech at the moment so pelvic floor might not come into it!!