This past year, I was so fortunate to meet Dr. Yeni Abraham, an amazing pelvic health physical therapist and educator. Dr. Yeni is incredibly knowledgeable and owns a private practice, Triggered PT, in Arlington, TX. A few months ago, I saw Yeni post about traveling to pursue a specific training utilizing manual therapy to optimize fertility health, and I knew, I just had to talk with her!
I’ve been working with people struggling with conception for many years. I initially started helping this population around 10 years ago when I lived in Greenville, SC. I had connected with a few fertility specialists in the area, and they started referring patients to me who were trying to conceive, but had struggles related to pelvic pain and pain with sex. It was incredibly rewarding to work with these people, helping them feel better and have pain-free sex. And, that follow-up e-mail of, “Guess what? I’m PREGNANT!” was literally the absolute best!! So, I’ve known for a while that there is power in touch, helping a person connect with and optimize their bodies. And, through witnessing many of my friends, patients, and colleagues struggle with fertility challenges, I’ve learned that fertility challenges are complicated, multifactorial, and often require a team-based approach.
So, enter Dr. Yeni. This amazing, passionate person, who truly cares so much about helping people! Her journey toward helping this population was inspiring, and I’m amazed at what can be done to make a difference for people. I hope you’ll enjoy listening to her interview as much as I loved recording it!! Please know that Yeni sees patients in her office in Arlington, TX, and some patients additionally travel to see her. So, contact her if you want to learn more!! Thanks again Yeni!! <3
Yesterday afternoon, I met my team of pelvic PTs at at the office for some photo and video time. Our model? Dr. Kellie, who is about to have her last week with us in the clinic before leaving on maternity leave for her second daughter. You see, working at a pelvic PT practice, we have to take advantage of one of our own being pregnant! How could we miss an opportunity to record videos and take pictures to expand our library! 🙂
Movement during pregnancy is incredibly useful. First, it can help with many of the aches and pains that commonly develop. It helps to keep your muscles active, and ultimately, can help prepare you for the process of labor and birth. We wrote a while back on healthy exercise during pregnancy, so start there if you want to know where you should get started for movement.
Today, I wanted to focus on movement to help you feel better. These exercises promote gentle movement around your spine and pelvis and activation of the muscles around your deep core.
Cat-Cow
Goal: Improve mobility around your spine and pelvis. Coordinate movement with breathing.
Inhale slowly, and as you do, gently let your tailbone out, and lift your head
Try not to allow your back to dip super far down but stay within a comfortable range.
2. Exhale and gently tuck your head, lifting your belly up and rounding your spine, allowing your tailbone to tuck.
3. Repeat this flowing gently with your breath as you inhale and exhale
Aim to do this 10-15 times in a row, alternating with the modified child’s pose that is described below.
Modified Child’s Pose
Goal: Lengthen lower back, gluteal muscles, pelvic floor, and inner thighs. Encourages relaxation and opening around the pelvis.
This exercise works really nice to alternate between sets of the Cat-Cow.
First, place pillows in front of you, leaving a gap for your belly. You can use 1-3 pillows, depending on your belly size.
Sit back on your heels, and open your knees to a comfortable width.
Lean over the pillow, allowing your body to relax and reaching your arms forward. Let your head rest to one side or the other.
Relax in this position for 1-2 minutes.
Ball Pelvic Mobility
Goal: Improve the movement around your pelvis and spine
Sit comfortably on an exercise ball with your feet supported on the floor
Inhale, letting your pelvis out, allowing a small arch in your back
Exhale, tucking your pelvis under gently pulling your belly in.
Repeat this to warm-up x 10
Then, add a rotation, inhaling and rotating clockwise with your pelvis until you reach the arched back position. Then exhale, continuing to rotate clockwise until you reach the tucked position.
Repeat this x 5-10 repetitions, then switch to counter-clockwise.
Bird-Dog Progression
Goal: Activate your deep abdominals and pelvic floor muscles paired with your breath.
Begin in a hands and knees position with your spine in a neutral position (not flexed or arched)
Inhale to prepare, exhale and gently engage your pelvic floor muscles while gently drawing in your belly. Aim for a slight contraction (not hard!).
While you do this, extend one arm in front of you.
Exhale, lowering your arm and relaxing your muscles.
Repeat, alternating lifting with your opposite arm. Be sure to keep your spine in a comfortable position while you are doing this exercise. Repeat this movement for 10-15 repetitions.
To progress this exercise, you can also perform with an alternating leg movement, aiming to keep your spine in a neutral position.
Wall Squats
Goal: Coordinate movement with breath, activate pelvic floor with gluteal muscles
Place a ball behind your back and lean against a wall. Keep your feet placed out in front of you, flat on the floor.
Inhale while you bend your knees and lower.
Exhale, engage your pelvic floor muscles slightly, and lift up to standing.
Repeat this exercise for 10-15 repetitions, performing 2-3 sets.
Note: While doing this, keep your feet far enough in front of you that your knees don’t cross your feet.
I hope you’ve enjoyed these exercises! What exercises do you like to do to move well during pregnancy? Any favorites we need to add?
Look for more coming from us on all of this in the future!
If you’ve been pregnant before, you know the feeling of going out and having everyone comment on your beautiful belly. Of course, we all get the occasional, “wow, are you sure you’re not having twins?” “When are you due? You’re not going to make it there!” (And can we collectively just tell those people to leave us alone!!) BUT, the majority of the comments are, “you look amazing!” “Wow, she is really growing!” “How are you feeling? Congratulations on your baby!” Honestly, my own body self confidence was at a high during pregnancy. But then, our sweet little love muffins are born. And society expects us to very quickly bounce back to our pre-baby state (and I have so many thoughts on that…because we just went through this transformative, incredible experience, that took nearly 10 months to build! And often times mamas are left alone to figure things out after birth).
As an aside, this was one of the BIG reasons that my friend and colleague, Sara Reardon, and I decided to partner together to create live & on-demand classes! We recognized that soooo many people are struggling with pelvic health problems. While individualized pelvic PT is so beneficial, it’s not always possible for people at the time they need it. For one…ummm…coronavirus/social distancing. But also, some people prefer trying to learn and work independently, may feel too nervous to discuss their problems with a provider, or may have a schedule/time constraints/financial constraints/geographical constraints that just don’t allow individualized care at the time they are wanting it. SO, these are our classes.We have 2 LIVE postpartum classes coming up– TOMORROW 4/14 is our “Postpartum Recovery After a Vaginal Birth” Class, and the following Wednesday 4/22 is our “Postpartum Recovery After a Cesarean Birth” Class (SO excited about this one as a mama of 2 Cesarean babies!). These classes are built for the consumer—BUT, if you are a health care provider, I can guarantee that you’ll learn a bunch also! We sold out before the start of our “Pelvic Floor Prep for Birth” class, so if you’re on the fence, register soon and reserve your spot!
Anyways…back to our topic at hand: Diastasis Rectus Abdominis.
The abdominal wall is stretched during pregnancy to accommodate the sweet growing munchkin, and in some cases (most cases, according to some research!), this leads to a stretching at a structure called the linea alba- the connection between the two sides of the rectus abdominis or “6-pack” muscle group. When this becomes larger than about 2 fingers in width, it is known as diastasis rectus abdominis (DRA). This is what it looks like:
Mikael Häggström, M.D. – CC0, obtained via Wikimedia Commons
The two “+” marks indicate each side of the lines alba, and you can see that it is wider than it likely was previously. Note, this is an ultrasound image of a 38 year old mom who had diastasis after her pregnancy. DRA is different than a hernia. When a hernia occurs, there is a defect that allows an organ or tissue to protrude through the muscle/tissue that normally contains it. So, someone could have a DRA and not a hernia. Or, they could have a DRA and a hernia. Make sense?
Diastasis rectus abdominis is common during and after pregnancy, and varies in severity. For some moms, they may not really realize it’s even there. Others may feel a complete lack of support at their belly, notice a bulge, or even worry that they still look pregnant. A recent study published in 2016 found that among 300 women who were pregnant and gave birth, 33.1% had a DRA at 21 weeks gestation. At 6 weeks postpartum, 60.0% had a DRA. This decreased to 45.4% at 6 months postpartum and 32.6% at 12 months postpartum. So, basically, many pregnant folk get this, and while for some it gradually improves over time, for others it can persist.
The link between DRA and musculoskeletal dysfunction is not confirmed. A recent systematic review published in 2019 found “weak evidence that DRAM presence may be associated with pelvic organ prolapse, and DRAM severity with impaired health-related quality of life, impaired abdominal muscle strength and low back pain severity.” This makes a lot of sense to me. Conditions like pelvic organ prolapse and low back pain are complicated, but in some cases do have components related to pressure management. The abdominal wall is very crucial in helping to modulate intraabdominal pressure, so it makes sense that when it is not functioning optimally, a person could struggle with managing pressure well.
The intra-abdominal pressure system involves coordination between the respiratory diaphragm, low back muscles, transverse abdominis, and pelvic floor muscles. These muscles need to work together to control pressures through to abdomen and pelvis and create dynamic postural stability. When the abdominal wall has a loss of support, this system can be impacted and contribute to pressure problems like prolapse and low back pain. However, those diagnoses are complicated. There are many other factors involved (like connective tissue support, amongst other things), so this is why a comprehensive examination is often very beneficial. This is also why not everyone who has DRA has pain.
I think it’s important to note here, that for some people, their DRA may not be contributing to things like back pain or prolapse, but it may still be a huge problem for them. People can feel guilty about caring about the cosmetic component involved in some instances of DRA…you know…the pooch. But, you know what– if this matters to you, then it matters! Feeling confident and strong is so important! So, don’t let anyone tell you what is or isn’t important for you to care about!
So, how do you find out if you have a diastasis?
The best thing to do if this is sounding like you is to see a pelvic PT to be evaluated comprehensively. There are many different things that can contribute to a loss of support at the abdomen, so looking at the complete picture is the best option. We’re going to talk about some of those pieces and how we as pelvic PTs evaluate DRA in Part 2 of this blog series. However, there are ways you can examine yourself and find out if you have a diastasis rectus. First, lie down on your back with your knees bent.
In this image, my two fingers are at my belly button, and my other hand is over the top, reinforcing what I feel.
Start by placing two of your fingers at your belly button. Next, lift your head and your shoulders up (like doing an abdominal crunch) and sink your fingers in, gently moving them back and forth to feel the sides of your rectus abdominis. Notice if your fingers sink in, and if you feel a gap between your muscles. Repeat this a few inches above your belly button, and again a few inches below your belly button. Also notice how you feel as you do this– do you feel tension at your fingers? Do your muscles feel strong? When you lift up, are your fingers pushed out or do they sink in? What do you notice? (This is great information for you to understand how much force you can generate through your “gap” and will be important as we start discussing how we treat this!)
How can you help a diastasis?
Well, the good news is that there is so much we can do to help improve diastasis, make your belly stronger, and help you feel better. In part two of this series, we’ll discuss the ways pelvic PTs can best evaluate someone who has a diastasis, and the methodology we use to treat this problem. The method of treating this has changed over time, so I’m going to give you my best understanding of the research as it’s available today! Stay tuned to learn more!
Stay healthy during this time my friends– and wash your hands!
Happy Pelvic Pain Awareness Month! I do plan to post a few blogs on pelvic pain over the course of this month, I promise, but I wanted to quickly share with you a few events I am going to be a part of over the next month!
First, next Wednesday, May 15th, I will be the special guest at a FREE pelvic health education event hosted by PLS Yoga and Wholeheart Psychotherapy, “Women’s Pelvic Health: Key Considerations for Health and Wellbeing for Women Living with Pelvic Pain” The event will run 7-9 pm at 6 Lenox Pt NE in Atlanta! If you are struggling with pelvic pain, please join us for this incredible evening!
Next, on Sunday June 2nd my colleagues and I will have a booth at the Mama Bear Fair, hosted by Dr. Jamie Michael’s chiropractic clinic in Smyrna! Fitting, as this is just 2 weeks before my due date (I did tell you all I was expecting another baby girl, didn’t I?) Stop in between 3-6pm to chat with me about prenatal/postpartum care and pelvic health! RSVP for the event via Facebook!
I hope to see some of you at these events! Please feel free to be in touch if you have any questions!
About 2.5 years ago, I had the incredible opportunity to join Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute as a Faculty instructor for the Pelvic Health Series. This was an absolute dream come true for me, as I completely love teaching and had always dreamed of teaching continuing education in pelvic health. (Seriously… as a new grad, I remember asking an instructor at a course what advice they had for someday becoming an instructor. Funny story is that I now co-teach with that very instructor!). Teaching in pelvic health has been such a incredible blessing for me– not only do I get to travel across the country and help other clinicians learn to treat my most favorite population of patients, but I also get the opportunity to co-teach with inspiring and incredible experts in pelvic physical therapy.
This past September, I had the opportunity to teach with Sara Reardon, PT, DPT, WCS, BCB-PMD, who is not only an incredible clinician, but is also hilarious, down-to-earth, and passionate about women’s health. One night at dinner, Sara, Darla Cathcart, and I had a long conversation about pregnancy, childbirth, the postpartum period, and becoming moms. At one point, I think all of us had tears in our eyes, as we shared our own journeys, challenges we/our family/our patients have had, and our hopes for making everything better. After that chat, I just knew I needed to interview Sara here so all of you have the opportunity to learn from her and feel her passion! I hope you enjoy this interview! Please feel free to leave any questions or comments below!
If you would like to see Sara’s work, check her out at www.thevagwhisperer.com. Here, you will find information about seeing Sara in-person, her online therapy options, mentoring options, and her instagram/blog presence!
Happy New Year!
Jessica
If you want to see all of our expert videos in one place, be sure to check out my youtube channel! This video as well as the others can be found here!
I am thrilled to be partnering again with Therapy Network Seminars to present this live webinar providing participants with an introduction to the management of musculoskeletal pain during pregnancy!
So often, clinicians feel ill-equipped and lacking in knowledge to provide quality treatment to women during this important stage of life. Often, clinicians are fearful of complications or precautions their patients may face, or may not know how to modify examination procedures or exercises to accommodate a woman who is pregnant. I hope that this webinar will help more clinicians feel confident in helping their pregnant clients, and inspire many to help reach a population who so very much needs our help!
I hope you’ll join me on Wednesday September 14th for this live 90-minute webinar! Registration is available via Therapy Network Seminars! Let me know if you have any questions and I hope to see you there!!
NOTE: This webinar was rescheduled from the original date of August 18th. If you can’t make this webinar, or would like to listen to some previous webinars, they are available on-demand! Check out the topics available here!
So, I’ll be honest… I’m writing this as much for myself as I am for you. You see, as a women’s health specialist, I have preached the benefits of exercise during pregnancy for years. I’ve taught classes to women in the community on how to exercise safely and encouraged them in all the way exercise would help their babies, their bodies, their overall health. I’ve lectured other health care professionals on how to help pregnant women start exercise programs, how to monitor them for safety, and which specific exercises are better for women during pregnancy.
But the thing is…I’m now pregnant. 26 weeks to be exact. With this darling, sweet little angel GIRL!
You have to admit, she’s already adorable, isn’t she?
And it has been wonderful, amazing, incredible to experience…and… educational. I thought that I would be the perfect fit pregnant lady. I would follow all of my own advice on everything and stay super active and fit throughout the pregnancy (I mean, I’ve told so many people that pregnant women can keep exercising at the same level they did before pregnancy!). But, then reality hit… First trimester, I was reallllllyyy realllyyyy tired. Like super tired. In fact, I sometimes just fell asleep on the couch after work (and I am really not a napper). My bedtime effectively became 8pm. And, on top of that, I was nauseous. Which creates the perfect combination for not being a super active, fit pregnant lady. But, I tried to do the best I could! Which mostly meant walking sometimes (on the treadmill or outside). Better than nothing though!
Then, second trimester hit, and all of my symptoms got so much better (just as we tell people they should!). I had more energy, could stay up until at least 9pm, and no longer felt nauseous. Buuuttt… I also was in the process of buying a new house, cleaning and updating said house, then moving, unpacking, and trying to organize our home… So, needless to say, I was not the picture perfect fit pregnant lady over that time either.
So now we reach today. 26 weeks, 2 weeks away from starting my third trimester, and walking as well as a little bit of yoga/pilates is still the best I have done for exercise (Not saying anything bad about walking… I have loved it during pregnancy, it has great benefits, and I plan to continue it! But, I also want to add some variety and a little more frequency to my routine!) So, this post serves both to give you some great information, hopefully motivate a few of my fellow pregnant ladies to jump-start their fitness, and also hopefully to motivate me to up my exercise frequency and throw a little variety in the walking routine. 🙂
So, why exercise during pregnancy?
For many years now, exercise has been supported as effective and helpful during pregnancy. The benefits of exercise during pregnancy are actually pretty incredible:
Cardiovascular benefits (improving blood pressure, heart rate, etc) are passed on from mother to baby… so baby can actually have a healthier little heart when born!
Decreased weight gain during pregnancy, which actually can prevent obesity in both mom and baby. Recent studies have suggested that women who gain excessive weight during pregnancy (when starting at normal or overweight BMI) are more likely to have larger babies. The interesting this is that when this occurs both mom AND baby are at risk for developing obesity in the future.
Decreased risk of gestational diabetes (and improvements in women with GDM)
Decreased likelihood of Caesarean or operative vaginal delivery
Improved recovery postpartum
Improved psychological functioning during and after pregnancy
How should you exercise during pregnancy?
The great news is, most women can actually continue exercising at the same level they were exercising prior to being pregnant. The American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology just updated their recommendations on exercise during pregnancy this past December. The most recent guidelines recommend that pregnant women exercise 20-30 minutes at moderate intensity most days of the week. The safest types of exercise identified by the committee include:
Walking
Swimming
Stationary cycling
Low-impact aerobics
Modified Yoga
Modified Pilates
Running or jogging
Raquet sports (as long as able to do so maintaining good balance)
Strength training
The following types of exercise are recommended to be avoided (for mostly obvious reasons):
Activities with a high risk of falling (downhill skiing, water skiing, surfing, off-road cycling, gymnastics)
Scuba diving
Sky diving
“Hot” yoga or pilates (due to temperature regulation issues in many pregnant women)
How hard should you exercise?
You may be familiar with the standard method of determining intensity of exercise by monitoring heart rate. This method is not reliable during pregnancy as cardiovascular function changes with pregnancy, thus, the numbers won’t provide accurate guidelines. Instead, women are encouraged to utilize a scale such as the Borg Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale. Basically, this scale goes from 6 (sedentary) to 20(maximal exertion). Pregnant women are encouraged to aim for moderate intensity (13-14 somewhat hard) during exercise. Another option for monitoring intensity of exercise is the familiar “talk test.” Basically, as long as you can continue a conversation the intensity is likely not getting overly difficult and should be safe.
When shouldn’t you exercise?
There are several times when it would not be indicated for a pregnant woman to start or continue an exercise program. Absolute contraindications for exercise are shown in the following table (taken from the recent committee opinion listed above):
An absolute contraindication means that if this is occurring, the person should not engage in an exercise program for any reason. A relative contraindication means that a person should take caution and consult with her physician prior to engaging in exercise. The relative contraindications are listed below:
There are instances during pregnancy when it may become unsafe to continue an exercise session. If these situations occur, it is important to immediately stop exercising and contact your physician, as continuing to exercise in these scenarios may be harmful to the mother or the baby:
Vaginal bleeding
Regular painful contractions
Amniotic fluid leakage
Dyspnea (shortness of breath) before exertion
Dizziness
Headache
Chest pain
Muscle weakness impacting balance
Calf pain or swelling
Getting started
If you are pregnant and have not started exercising, it’s really not too late! There are a few things to keep in mind as you get started!
Talk to your Obstetrician. If exercise is not routine for you, talk to your doctor first before you start a program to make sure it will be safe for you to exercise during your pregnancy.
Start gentle and slow. It generally is better to slowly ease into exercise. Remember, the guidelines encourage 20-30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise most days of the week. But, when you first start, it may be wise to start with smaller increments and make 20-30 minutes your goal. Walking, gentle prenatal yoga or water aerobics may be a good, safe place to start.
Something is a lot better than nothing. It really is. And I feel ya, some days you’re exhausted or nauseous and just can’t get to the gym. So, when that happens, do what you can. Go for a short walk. Try some home prenatal exercise videos. Or, just take the day off and rest. Then try again tomorrow.
Listen to your body. And I really mean it. If something isn’t feeling right, pay attention to it! Talk with your doctor if you notice anything unusual or if something isn’t feeling well when you are exercising. Take breaks as you need to, and don’t push yourself too hard.
Get some help! Reach out to your local Women’s Health physical therapist to come in for a session and get some help developing a program that will work for you! Also, talk with your physician, midwife or doula about resources in the area. If you live in the Atlanta area, like me, there are great programs like OhBaby! Fitness offering exercise classes for new or expectant moms. Remember, you don’t have to do this alone!
What motivated (or is currently motivating!) you to stay active during your pregnancy? What are your favorite exercises? As always, I’d love to hear from you!
I love helping women prepare for childbirth- I really do. In fact, it made me want to consider becoming trained to be a Doula a few years ago! Unfortunately, most of the women I have helped have either been women who were already seeing me for low back or pelvic girdle pain during their pregnancies– or physicians/physical therapist colleagues who were wanting to be proactive in preventing future pelvic floor problems.
So, who should work with a pelvic physical therapist during pregnancy? Honestly, EVERYONE. I’m serious. A skilled pelvic PT can do so much to help a woman not only have a safe and healthy pregnancy (helping to manage pain that creeps in, fitting for support belts/braces if needed, coaching to help get the right exercise routine, and much much more), but we also can do quite a bit to help a woman prepare her pelvic floor for delivery. My dream is that one day all women will be encouraged to work with a pelvic physical therapist while pregnant and after delivery. I think we would see happier mamas, and reduced problems in the long run.
So, how can a pelvic physical therapist help you prepare your pelvic floor for childbirth?
1.We can help you manage low back or pelvic girdle pain. I know what you’re thinking– this post is about preparing for childbirth, not treating pain during pregnancy! And you’re right, it is. But, pain during pregnancy matters for delivery. We know that women with pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy tend to have tender pelvic floor muscles. Tenderness in the pelvic floor is often accompanied by a difficulty lengthening or relaxing the pelvic floor–which is totally needed for vaginal delivery, right? So, in improving pain levels, we also improve the pelvic floor muscles’ ability to relax, which can assist in improving delivery. Did you know that close to 50% of women experience low back or pelvic girdle pain during pregnancy? Most tend to think it’s normal, but it really isn’t (One again, common is not the same as normal!) The great thing is that there is so much we can do to help this pain get better!
2.We can help you learn what your pelvic floor muscles need to function optimally. There used to be the thought that ALL pregnant women needed to be doing lots and lots of kegel exercises. But, as you saw above, we now know that there is a huge population that doesn’t really need to try to tighten constantly, but rather, needs to learn to lengthen, drop and open the pelvic floor muscles. But should some be strengthening? Absolutely! A recent review found that performing strengthening while pregnant can reduce both urinary and fecal leakage after delivery. However, it’s important that these recommendations are individualized–and that is something a skilled pelvic PT can help you with.
3. We can teach you proper pushing mechanics. This is actually one of my favorites– I generally will spend a session with all of my pregnant women helping them learn how to push in a way that will encourage the pelvic floor to open, and lengthen. Pelvic PTs can use SEMG biofeedback to help you visualize what your muscles are doing and retrain the most helpful pattern of muscle lengthening. I also focus on learning breathing strategies to learn how to coordinate the breath with the pelvic floor, and to encourage using the diaphragm in the best way we can. This helps women to feel more prepared to push when the time comes.
4. We can help you find out which positions for labor/delivery work best for you. For me, this is typically something I work on while helping women learn the right way to push. Now, some hospitals will require women to push in a certain position, but if your doctor is open to you laboring or delivering in different positions, it can be helpful to learn which positions are the most comfortable and relaxing to you. Typically, we try a variety of positions and see which position leads to the best muscle relaxation and helps facilitate the best pushing pattern. Now, of course all of this planning can go out the window depending on what happens during labor/delivery, but it is always helpful to practice and have a few ideas going in– I find this helps women feel prepared and can calm fears heading into delivery.
5. We can teach you perineal massage techniques to help your pelvic floor stretch during your delivery. Did you know that massaging and gently stretching the opening of the vagina in the third trimester can help to reduce trauma and tearing during delivery? Well, it can–especially during your first delivery! Perineal massage is a safe (for most women) procedure that can help to not only improve the flexibility of the muscles near the vaginal opening, but also, can help a woman learn what relaxed vs. contracted feels like, and can help a woman to recognize the stretching sensations she will feel during her delivery. It is important to note that there are times when a woman should not perform perineal massage, so it is always important to consult with your obstetrician or midwife before getting started.
What else have you tried to prepare for your delivery? PTs- are there any other important pieces you would add? Let me know in the comments below!
