More and more women today are choosing to deliver their babies without taking pain medication. Some physical therapists are also childbirth educators and can teach you about the labor process, nutrition and various birthing positions that provide a more comfortable delivery. You'll learn relaxation and breathing techniques, pain management, and prenatal and postnatal exercises.
Pregnant women need plenty of sleep, but nighttime can be very uncomfortable, particularly during the last three months. In the later stages of pregnancy, most women sleep on their sides. This position allows for free flow between mother and fetus through the placenta. To keep your body well aligned if you sleep this way, place a pillow between your knees and another under your abdomen. This will help reduce stress that the weight of your abdomen can put on your natural body alignment. You can also hug a pillow to help keep your shoulders from rounding.
A cesarean section (C-section) is major surgery - an incision is made through the skin and muscles of the abdomen and the baby is removed through the open area. Women have C-sections for different reasons:
- their baby's head may be too large to come down through the birth canal
- the baby may be very large at birth due to the mother's medical condition, like diabetes
- or an emergency might develop during labor, such as abnormal changes in the baby's heart rate.
Whatever the reason for a C-section, women recovering from this surgery need help with pain management and learning how to move in a protected way to avoid strain on the abdominal area. Even the simple motion of sitting up can be painful after a C-section. A physical therapist teaches post-cesarean patients how to guard their movements to keep from hurting themselves and how to manage their pain. Gentle massage techniques and scar tissue management, modified postnatal exercises and the use of a TENS unit can help patients get back to action as soon as they are safely healed.
*Sourced from: American Physical Therapy Association (www.APTA.org). "For Women of All Ages. A Physical Therapist's Perspective on Women's Health." 50M/3-07/PR-38