Did you know your labor is governed by more than just the uterus? There's a master muscle group just below which can guide or impede the whole course of labor and birth! I speak, of course, of the pelvic floor!
Heard about kegels for labor and postpartum?
I'm going to say something radical - STOP DOING THEM!
Or at least stop just squeezing! The muscles of your pelvic floor are actually the guide for the pathway through your pelvis, and there is so much more to preparing them than just squeezing like you're trying to stop a stream of urine!
Oh, I'm guilty of it too! I thought I had everything toned and prepped for my labor 5 years ago. And then my son was born - by unplanned cesarean - and I couldn't be intimate with my partner for months afterwards because of the pain "down there." Turns out, I was too tight, and that ring of tense muscle probably contributed to my son not descending into my pelvis.
So I set out to discover what it truly meant to have a toned pelvic floor, and I learned so much more than I thought I would!
The pelvic floor is actually an interconnected network of 3 layers of muscle, and depending on the relative tone within these various muscle groups it can be easier or more challenging for a bay to rotate through your pelvic during the birth process. If we begin on the most outer layer of muscles, we find a set of fibers running from the pubic bone to the tailbone of the pelvis, wrapping around the openings of the urethra, vagina, and anus, and also including the sphincter muscles for these organs. One layer deeper into the body and we find a second layer of muscles with the fibers running sideways from sitz bone to sitz bone. This second layer interweaves with the first pelvic floor layer at the perineum- the space between the vaginal and anal openings. These two layers interweave so as to form a more sturdy structure to support the eight of the internal organs from above. One layer deeper, and we find the Levater Ani group of muscles, which once again run front to back, with openings in the middle for the pelvic organs. Contrary to what most images show on the internet, the pelvic floor actually domes upwards in the body, not down like a hammock. This is so it can exert an upward force to keep the abdominal and pelvic organs in their anatomical places. Why are most images on the internet inaccurate? We could get into a whole larger conversation there, but for this discussion, it is mostly because anatomy dissection is done on cadavers- not living bodies. If you have ever heard that when you die, the body often lossens its bowels- that’s why. Upon death, the pelvic floor collapses, hence the hammock rather than the dome. So those images are the pelvic floor of a dead person- not a living, birthing body.
How does this network of muscles impact labor? Well first off, if the pelvic floor is a dome, then an excessively tight pelvic floor will try to hold the cervix (and baby) up in the pelvis- which is not the action we want during the birth process. Also, if you read my blog post on the cardinal movements, you know that the baby’s head doesn’t just drop straight through the pelvis, but actually spins- because the inlet (top) of the pelvis is wider side to side, but the opening of the pelvic floor is front to back. Cue a 90 degree rotation in the middle of the pelvis, as baby descends during labor. And how stiff those muscles are is going to influence how quickly, or how smoothly, the head is able to rotate. Tense muscles can lead to slower and maybe asymmetrical rotation. Overly loose muscles however give no guidance to rotate, so baby descends and then tries to emerge facing mom’s side, which is like trying to put the key into the keyhole sideways.
Finding balance within the pelvic floor muscles involves not just squeezing (hence lose the kegels), but also stretching to create balanced tone. As I began exploring movements that impact the pelvic floor I began to discover there are simple yoga movements we can do to help bring better overall balance to this dome of muscles.
I put everything I learned into my Pelvic Floor Health online course, a video series available in OmBirth’s online studio. In this series you’ll learn how to evaluate the tone of your own pelvic floor and exercises to support your unique muscle make-up.
I also went further and created an interactive pelvic floor yoga series which meets virtually every few months. And a specialized workshop called Open Path just for preparing your pelvic floor for labor and birth (conveniently when this area is toned for birth, it also helps it postpartum recovery!)
Here’s a look at what the On demand course includes:
Pelvic Floor Anatomy & Integration
Learn about the structure that makes up the pelvic floor and deepen your connection to your pelvic center.
Exercises for Hypertonic Muscles
Learn five yoga postures to stretch and release overly tense pelvic floor muscles as well as common issues that result from tense muscles, including pelvic pain, chronic UTIs, and constipation.
Exercises for Hypotonic Muscles
Learn my five favorite yoga poses for strengthening and toning an overly loose pelvic floor, and better understand the problems loose muscles can cause (such as prolapse, incontinence, and weakness).
Exercises for Combination Muscles
A sequence for when the pelvic floor is too tight in one area but too loose in another. This blended mismatch can result in both pain and possible further pelvic floor dysfunction, such as incontinence, prolapse, and difficulty connecting with the pelvic floor in further exercises.
Cesarean Recovery
Cesarean births does not leave the pelvic floor untouched! This video features a gentle series of exercises to help regain movement and connect to the pelvic floor as an essential part of post-surgical birth recovery.
Working with a Prolapse
A prolapse is when one or more of the pelvic organs falls lower into the pelvic bowl than intended. This is often contributed to by a weak (too tight or too loose) pelvic floor. Learn five poses with modifications that will help support you in your recovery.
The Pelvic Floor Health course is an opportunity to practice functional exercises, learn the physiology, and actually prepare the pelvic floor not only for birth, but to avoid tearing and be better able to recover afterwards. Who wouldn't like to pee their pants less post birth!? (Yeah, that's a thing, if no one's mentioned it yet. Common- but not normal!)
Key Takeaways:
Your pelvic floor does far more than just regulate your bladder and bowels. It guides the baby’s head during the labor process
The pelvic floor is an interlocking network of muscles stretching throughout the internal border of the pelvis- and it domes up not down!
Kegels are not the only or most effective way to tone the pelvic floor
Movements we make during our daily lives can influence the overall tone of the pelvic floor- and there are certain yoga movements which can help bring better overall tone.