Congratulations, You're Pregnant! Start With These Pregnancy Essentials to Help You Prepare For Birth.

If you're pregnant and have no idea what to do, or where to start keep reading to see my favorite pregnancy essentials to practice through your pregnancy that can actually help prepare you for birth.

360 Breathing

Learn to engage your deep core and pelvic floor along with 360 breathing. This foundational skill will allow you to efficiently build core strength throughout your pregnancy.

• Here's How:

  • Inhale and feel your entire ribcage expand (front, side and back)

  • Exhale as if you were blowing out a lot of birthday candles

Take this foundational concept into your more challenging movements. For example, if you are squatting, inhale as you lower into your squat, exhale as you press the ground away to stand.

Pelvic Tilts

This foundational pelvic mobility move can be done almost any time, any place. The goal is to learn to move the pelvis forward and back to create space at different levels of the pelvis during pregnancy.

• Here's How:

  • I love starting on hands and knees (quadruped)

  • Try to lift your tailbone toward the ceiling, then tuck your tailbone under. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

  • This may feel like cat/cow, but we are trying to just move the lowest part of the spine, not the upper back

  • You can also do pelvic tilts lying on your back with your knees bent, seated, standing with knees soft, etc.

These adaptable pelvic tilts are great to prepare the pelvis for birth, mobilize the pelvic floor muscles, and they feel great for low back tension and tightness.

Pelvic Floor Length and Relaxation

Start to gain awareness of your pelvic floor muscles, and their ability to relax or lengthen. Your pelvic floor muscles don't push your baby out, your uterus does. The pelvic floor muscles actually need to be able to lengthen to their absolute max during pushing.

• Here's How:

  • Using props is key to build better awareness of your pelvic floor muscles. Your hands, a soft/deflated ball, rolled up towel, etc placed underneath the Sitz bones at the bottom of the pelvis can do wonders for feeling the muscles and building that brain/body connection.

  • Use the breath like you did above with the 360 breath.

    • Inhale to feel the ribcage expand, and the pelvic floor muscles lengthen down toward the prop. This may feel like a heaviness or melting/relaxing toward the prop.

    • Practice 2 versions of the exhale:

      • Exhale and feel the pelvic floor muscles lift back up (away from the prop) -amazing for core and pelvic floor strength

      • Exhale and keep the pelvic floor muscles relaxed down toward the prop -amazing for pelvic floor relaxation and practice for the pushing stage

Practice These Pregnancy Essentials As Much As You Can

These 3 simple tips can make a huge difference in your pregnancy and birth, and lead you on the path to feel empowered in your pregnancy, postpartum and beyond. I love these essentials so much, I'm leaving this FREE Pregnancy Essentials Class from my self paced prenatal exercise and birth prep program "Aligned and Empowered". Enjoy!

Take The Class