Postpartum Recovery

Pregnancy and childbirth is quite the journey. A beautiful, challenging and often traumatic journey. There tends to be a lot of emphasis on preparing the body to carry & deliver your baby. Then the emphasis naturally shifts to devotional care of the baby. But what about mom? The one who just warriored through an intense labor. The one who was stretched to her max, torn, stitched, manipulated to create 2 bodies from 1. This transitional period where baby adjusts to life outside the uterus and mom gets used to body without baby is called the 4th trimester.

Rest + Recovery is so important during the first 6 weeks postpartum. If you had any tearing, a c-section or had any instruments used during your delivery like a vacuum or forceps do not begin any exercise routine before getting guidance from your OBGYN or pelvic floor physical therapist.

A lot of times the pelvic floor muscles can actually become too tight and not be able to fully relax following a traumatic birth. Tight pelvic floor muscles can lead to incontinence, urinary urgency, pain with sex, constipation, ect. If you start doing kegals and your pelvic floor muscles are too tight, it will make your symptoms worse over time. You cannot assume your pelvic floor muscles are weak. Make sure to have your pelvic floor muscles assessed by a trained pelvic floor physical therapist before deciding to begin doing kegals on your own. Everyone should have a 6 week check with a pelvic floor physical therapist after their 6 week clearance from their midwife/OBGYN. Check out my blog on the 6 week check for more info!

What can you do within the first 6 weeks?

Now that you survived childbirth, where do you start?

Rest + Recovery is so important but there are some simple exercises that are safe for most to begin early on. Movement is important for not only physical health, but mental health as well. Everyone has a different journey and birth story so there are specific recommendations to each individual but most people can start these gentle movements:

• Deep breathing exercises with abdominal contraction on exhale

• Heel slides

• Knee drop outs

• Bridges

• Walking : start at 5 minutes, add 5 mins/week until you reach 30

I have more information, explanations and descriptions of safe exercises to start within the first 6 weeks on my Instagram & TikTok @Magdalenlink_dpt

Xoxo-

Magdalen