Often they consider themselves tough and rigorous. Women who enjoy fitness as a way of Life rather than being ‘athletic’ also admire their shape, sense of being in ‘tone’, flexibility and strength.[ad#ad-2]

So why would an athletic woman (including women who just stay fit) need to know anything about childbirth? Isn’t the goal of preparing for childbirth about ‘getting in shape?’

One famous woman athlete made a public comment that if she had gone through labour before her competitive event she would have done better in the competitions. Obviously, childbirth gave her insights that would have improved her performance.

Many athletic women may not know that you are more likely to have a caesarean than most women. We’ve all heard stories that dancers and horsewomen are more likely to have a caesarean;

however, it’s true for many athletic women. Yet, somehow this seems paradoxical. How can being in shape lead to more medically assisted births?

Childbirth at it’s simplest is an exercise in plumbing.

An object (baby) has to come out of a container (woman). In order to do that the object must come through a tube (pelvis), open a diaphragm (cervix) and aperture (vagina). The container has a Mind and if the process of the object coming through is perceived of as painful, then the Mind can respond to those sensations by tensing up the body.

Tension in the body can interfere with the need of the container to relax and open in order for the object to come out. Being ‘toned’ is a form of tension. This means that there is entirely different preparation for giving birth than staying in shape or being in training.

One husband of an athletic woman said after her caesarean: ‘I thought childbirth was about muscles pushing a baby out. Now I understand it’s about creating space so the baby can move through her body.’

Each sport or fitness program uses different muscles, yet it is not just the muscles that can produce tension. Connective tissue or fascia can hold tension as well. In our plumbing analogy, the tube (pelvis) is surrounded by connective tissue which is part of our body’s soft tissue.

Soft tissue is anything other than bone. For example, tension in the connections between the bones in the pelvic girdle (tube) can prevent the bones from being mobile. Our baby’s bones in their head are designed to mold and over lap; however, we can create more space inside this tube when we know how to keep our pelvis mobile.

In childbirth, the sacrum is the bone that needs the most mobility. It’s also the bone that is used to stabilize our bodies as we weight bear and tends to being immobile. We can also reduce ‘back labour’ by learning how to create sacral mobility.

One ice skater said after 3 caesareans: ‘Once I learned to mobilize my sacrum in labour, I had no trouble giving birth to my fourth child naturally. No one told me I had to do that. No one told me I had to do the Internal Work (birth canal or aperture) either.

The soft tissue in our birth canal may also be quite tight. Many women are told to do ‘pelvic floor’ exercises. These certainly are good to strengthen our insides; however, they are not appropriate birth preparation exercises. Instead pregnant women need to learn how to relax inside the pelvis and the muscles of the birth canal.

For many athletic, relaxing is not in alignment with their personal self perception.

One competitive cyclist said: ‘I considered myself very, very tough and I was. I had developed skills and management skills for my chosen event; however, without a whole new set of skills for the event of giving birth I didn’t have a clue and ended up with a caesarean and sense of personal failure. When I discovered The Pink Kit Method for birthing better™ I learned the necessary birthing skills and my husband learned how to coach me.’

The Pelvic Clock exercise from The Pink Kit is one of the many you can teach yourself at home to prepare for childbirth. When used in labour, the Pelvic Clock technique helps you to focus on relaxing where your cervix attaches inside the pelvis. This assists in dilating the cervix. You can use the same concept to mentally relax around the cervix directly which also assists cervical dilation.

NOTE: If you are pregnant now, you can do the Pelvic Clock exercise below, but only do the cervical relaxation the last two weeks of your pregnancy as specific preparation for birth and then feel free to do it throughout labour.

1)    Do this exercise in a number of positions: standing, sitting, lying down or partially kneeling. As you know, different postures engage different muscles and aspects of the connective tissue.

2)    Draw a line around your body, starting midway down your pubic bone, around to the top of where your legs meet your hips and then to your sacrum.

This will be about 1 ½ inches above where the little bumps are, at the beginning of your bottom crack. You have drawn a circle around your pelvis. Inside this circle, inside the pelvis is approximately where the top of your vagina (the soft tissue around the cervix) meets the inside of your pelvis.

In labour the contractions draw this tissue into the pelvis, opening the cervix which is in the middle of the tissue. Where the tissue meets the pelvis is like the rim of a clock face and the cervix is like the area where the hands of the clock join.

Uterine contractions open the cervix so that there is no longer a clock face, rather a large opening for your baby to come down and into your birth canal. The tugging open of the cervix is what is ‘painful’ in labour.

3)    Give your clock face names. Name the pubic bone 12:00, one hip 3:00, the sacrum 6:00 and the other hip 9:00. Now go around the clock and soften (inside) at each o’clock (you can always include 1:30 etc). It’s helpful to say to yourself while you lightly touch that place: ‘Soften inside my pubic bone.’ Pause before you go on to the next place in order to let your mind find that place in your body and for your body to respond. This is yoking your mind to your body.

4)    After you have gone around the outside of the Pelvic Clock and if you are two weeks away from your due date, then you can do the same softening around the cervix which is in closed and in the center. The cervix is made up of 50% muscle cells and the rest connective tissue, so it does respond to intentional relaxation.

5)    Doing both of these things in labour between contractions and even during contractions has been one of the great focus tools that women who have prepared with The Pink Kit have used. It’s an ideal tool for husbands/partners to know. They can feel it in their own bodies and can remind us to ‘relax at 6:00’ if we have back labour, for example.

Notice this difference, just tense up inside, hold the tension while you go around the clock again. You can feel the difference.

Over the past 30 years, The Pink Kit Method for birthing better™ has helped many women athletes to have a positive birth. The information originated in the United States in the 1970s and came to New Zealand with the founder of the Trust, Common Knowledge, in 1995. Since then the multi-media kit The Pink Kit: Essential Preparations for your birthing body through the website.

A number of New Zealand athletic women have used The Pink Kit and found it incredibly helpful. They have been body builders, aerobic competitors, rowers, horsewomen, dancers etc. Each has a different experience and different story of their birth. Some found that their sport had prepared them for the challenge of labour while others were surprised at how challenged they were by labour.

Often athletic women have athletic partners.

When both expectant parents have prepared for birth using The Pink Kit, having a skilled partner as birth coach has been wonderful for the woman. Men do have the same bodies and can feel inner tension in the same manner than women can. When these women found labour challenging, they relied on their partners to help them work through each contractions with the common knowledge skills they had taught themselves. One woman athlete said: ‘when labour got intense, my husband reminded me that I had put in the effort to my sport and that I could do this. He inspired me to keep going instead of using pain relief and he was there every contraction, doing the work with me.’

With the new skills, you can find in The Pink Kit, athletic women and their partners can meet the challenge, achieving a positive birth experience in all situations. Learning new skills become fascinating rather than conflictive. In fact, you’ll get back into shape sooner after birth when you have learned to relax to give birth. There will be less trauma for you and your baby.

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Where our grandmothers had to go through the pain barrier more or less unaided, there are quite a few options available for todays pregnant women that can lessen or even completely remove the pain, allowing the joyfulness of giving birth a much greater chance to be appreciated.

- Birthing Pool

Being in water during the early stages of labor can greatly relieve the contraction pains in some women, as the bouyancy takes some of the pressure off the muscles of the lower back. Some women prefer to stay in the water right through to the later stages of labor, and some even choose to complete the birth in a birthing pool.[ad#ad-2]

Birthing pools have become increasingly popular in recent years, as they are seen as a natural way of reducing pain, in line with today’s widespread preference for keeping things simple and as close to nature as possible.

- TENS

A TENS machine is a small electronic device which you attach to your lower back with electrode pads. The machine passes a very slight electric current through the pads, which is intended to interfere with the pain signals, reducing the extent of the discomfort.

The level of current can usually be increased during contractions, and then lowered back down as the pain subsides again. Some women find TENS machines to be highly effective, while for others the effect is minimal. The devices can usually be hired from the hospital, but are relatively cheap to buy yourself if you want to be sure that one will be available.

- Gas and Air

This is also known as entonox, and is a mixture of nitrous oxide and oxygen that is breathed in via a pipe whenever the mother-to-be feels the need. It is a very light method of pain relief, and is enough on it’s own for some women, especially in straightforward births. The effect is more of a distraction from the pain than an actual reduction, but doesn’t feature the drawbacks of the two more heavy-duty pain relief drugs below.

- Epidural

An epidural is an injection of pain relief drugs direct into the lumbar region, and is extremely effective at blocking pain. The initial injection must be performed by a doctor, although the drug levels can then be subsequently topped up by the midwife for as long as it is required. Early epidurals also interfered with movement, and so the entire birth had to be carried out lying down, but more advanced versions of the drugs used now allow the mother to walk around a little to relieve discomfort.

- Pethidine

This is the strongest pain relief option available in most cases, and is extremely effective in stopping pain over a 3 to 4 hour period. Unlike an epidural, it can’t be used indefinitely, and only two doses are usually allowed, meaning it is less than ideal for labors lasting longer than 8 hours or so. The drug can also pass through to the infant, in some cases delaying the start of breathing. Antidotes are, however, available should this occur.

Although the choice of which method of pain relief to use is usually left up to the mother, most midwives recommend starting with the less invasive choices such as TENS and gas and air, only moving up to drug treatments if necessary later on.

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[ad#ad-2]Your stress level will be higher during pregnancy, you will experience a variety of problems such as moving house, family problems, or perhaps the death of one member of your family.

Stay socializing

The gestation period do not make you become a loner. Meet with pregnant mothers and others to share their experiences during pregnancy. That way you will probably get their input to the problem you experienced. And do not forget to keep in touch with your friends because they can help and encourage you.

Exercise

Exercising during pregnancy can help you reduce stress and improve mood and body, also allows you to sleep more soundly. However, you must remember not to exercise too much. Exercise in accordance with current conditions and it’s good to ask the doctor what type of exercise is good for you.

Read

Reading activities for some women can be entertainment in the pregnancy. Not only that, by reading books about pregnancy, childbirth and infant care can add information and to find ways to cope with the stress being experienced. If you read the pregnancy books and other books relating to pregnancy does not help you, try to read a novel or nonfiction story.

Preparing for the arrival of the baby

Purchase equipment required candidates and prepare your baby everything for the baby will increase your happiness. With increasing feelings of happiness, it will reduce stress levels and provide activities for you, especially after you hit the age of pregnancy third trimester.

Getting help

If your  stress is worse, it never hurts to seek a therapist, or other support group.

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[ad#ad-4]Besides useful to reduce pain and facilitate the delivery process, it hypnobirthing use during pregnancy can prevent emotional disturbances either before or after childbirth. With hypnobirthing, the mother can enter into the realm of the subconscious mind and talk to the baby who is still in the womb.

Hypnobirthing helped a mother to coordinate the functions of the mind body and soul (mind body and soul) in harmony so that a feeling of joy in the birth process or during pregnancy and postpartum.

Gynecology expert, Dr. Grantly Dick-Read, a person who publishes a book Childbirth Without Fear in 1944, and from this book triggered hypnobirthing techniques. Later this technique was developed by Marie Mongan, founder of hypnobirthing Institute, in 1989. This therapy teaches women to understand and let go of Fear-tension-Pain Syndrome which is often the cause of pain and discomfort during the birth process.

Hypnobirthing can be done by every woman, and only requires a short training because basically synchronize efforts between body mind and soul is not difficult to do by anyone.

In the first trimester of pregnancy is usually good to do hypnobirthing, but will not be too late if you’re just starting at the age of seven months of pregnancy.

Not only beneficial for pregnant women, but also beneficial for hypnobirthing baby, husband, doctor and the medical. For the fetus, with hypnobirthing will create emotional intimacy and bonding is stronger, because between the mother and baby have been established in the subconscious communication.

The fetus will feel peaceful and calm and get vibration through the placental growth hormone is more balanced. For my husband, would be more at ease in assisting the birth process, the emotional life of husband and wife is more balanced since it is usually in a few cases of pregnant women who are easily upset with her husband, all this can be balanced with hypnobirthing.

And the medical doctors also get special benefits if the mother did hypnobirthing, which at the time of the birth process will feel lighter. Usually pregnant women who follow this program more stable emotions, not many complain that the birth process would be smoother and faster.

This will also minimize the drug, because of the possibility of a smaller labor complications. The process of opening shorter at birth, and reduce the use of labor induction.

So far have not found the side effects of hypnobirthing, because this technique does not use chemical drugs. If you are interested to follow the hypnobirthing, can be consulted on the obstetrician or contact hypnotheraphy places in your city.

(Source: MelindaHospital.COM)

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