My Maternity Photo Shoot - brilliant photographer!!

So allow me to indulge myself a little and show some AMAZING pics from my Maternity Shoot from a local photographer who I think has a REAL flair for doing creative and amazing pictures! Here is the site http://www.facebook.com/SharaleaPhotography   - she does AMAZING work.  If she can make my 9 mo. preggo belly look good, she can do anything :)

Questions from moms IMMEDIATELY POSTPARTUM

So do you really have to wait 6 weeks to do ANY kind of exercise after having a baby (or 8 weeks for C section moms)?   Does every muscle HAVE to atrophy during this time period?  These are valid questions!  And since I am 2 weeks away from my due date - my posts certainly reflect that aspect of the Tupler Technique®

The answer is YES there is definitely something you can do immediately postpartum!!

WITHIN 24 HOURS:  After vaginal birth you can start doing Seated Tuplers within this time period (I even do it BEFORE 24 hours).  Why?  First of all they are great to get all the gunk in the pipeline out – very gently and instrinsicly.  It speeds up the cleansing process.  It also starts getting the abdominal area that has turned into a big ball of JELLY back to its mind-body connection it had pre-baby.  It speeds up the time it takes to get back into pre-pregnancy clothes and get back to how you were.  GRANTED – its not going to happen right away.  That first week or two (or more), you belly will still look like jelly.  But the sooner you start, the sooner your diastasis will close, the sooner your waistline will shrink, and the sooner your abs will lay flat.

WITHIN 24 HOURS:  You can start doing Kegels.  This will speed up the mind body connection that was shot during the vaginal birth process, and the pregnancy itself.  During pregnancy, you have all 30 lbs (more or less) on the pubbococcygeus muscle (the one that controls urine flow) ALONE.  That poor muscle has had so much stress upon it during this time!  So during pregnancy the muscle is weakened. During the actual birth, that muscle is FURTHER weakened.  And if you had an episotomy or tearing, that muscle is FURTHER weakened!  Its no WONDER many women suffer from leakage – incontinence, etc.  So the sooner you start Kegels the better!!

The best way to go?  WORK THE SLOW TWITCH AND THE FAST TWITCH MODE OF THE MUSCLE!!  Close the muscle that controls the urine flow as if you were trying to stop the flow of urine – hold for 10 seconds – then release slow and close back in slowly 10 times – end with the muscle closed.

 GRAVITY does affect this muscle – so don’t do this one standing – a squatting position is great, as it sitting with legs relaxed and slightly apart.

WITHIN 1 WEEK:  Those women that have had a C section  can start doing the Seated Tuplers within 1 week.  This will allow for a bit of time for healing, but will help promote BLOOD FLOW to the area.  This will help the mind-body connection to the muscle as well.  I can’t tell you how many women who lost feeling in the area they had a C section – some 20  years later who are still NUMB!  They were told not to do anything – even intrinsic – so blood flow was not brought to the area, mind-body connection was lost, and numbness ensued.  This is SO avoidable! 

So take heart ladies – you don’t have to let your body go dormant and passive – you can start to intrinsicly strengthen the abs and “kegel” muscles within 24 hours to 1 week depending on what kind of birth you have.  Its so nice that you can do SOMETHING – and it feels refreshing to the muscles to give them a task to do during this time!

The PERFECT WAY (and the NOT so perfect way) to PUSH OUT THAT BABY!!! Your questions answered!

You know the drill – you hear of women that spend not just 30, or 60, or 90 minues pushing, but upwards of 120 minutes of pushing…or more!  Then mom to be gets fatigued and can’t do it anymore – especially while only having ice chips for who know HOW long by this point – and a C section is recommended.  Embattled mom-to-be agrees.

Meanwhile, mom’s blood vessels have popped open under her eyes, her internal organs are “not the same” and may even “hang low” down there, and her stomach muscles have bulged out and split further than they did during pregnancy.

Now, while baby positioning can definitely put a wrench in even the best of circumstances (baby going shoulder first, or hip first, or head face up) pushing can go MUCH BETTER.  

In fact, this is called PERFECT PUSHING®!

So what does that entail?

Just like with the Seated Tuplers, which ideally have been done during the entire pregnancy, the transverse is brought all the way back to the spine (feels like belly button to the spine) WHILE the pelvic floor remains relaxed!  This puts a backward force on the abdominals, rather than a forward forceful motion which is counterproductive!

Why does my midwife and Ob tell me to BEAR DOWN AND PUSH then?

It is impossible to try and teach someone a new skill during labor, and especially when they are in pain.  “Bear down and push” is the extent of what they can say really if the mom has not been engaging the transverse muscle during pregnancy, and strengthening it with the Tupler Technique®.

  The best thing to do is think BEAR BACK (bringing the transverse to the spine) while either breathing out slowing alternated with holding breath. That will save the blood vessels on the face caused by pressure in the head from BEARING DOWN, and will save the bowel, bladder, and uterus from getting unnecessary forceful pressure outward “down there” which can contribute to not fun post recovery (all those things hanging very low on the vaginal area).

How do I practice pushing correctly?

A very good question!  People usually make a face at me when I tell them the answer, but the BEST TIME TO PRACTICE PUSHING the baby out correctly, is DURING A BOWEL MOVEMENT.  It is the same exact feeling you have – and you want to bear BACK during the bowel movement while opening up and RELAXING the pelvic floor.  So you can practice roughly once a day until you deliver!

 On a side note, it help IMMENSELY for practicing purposed to put your feet on a 7 to 9 inch stool while  doing thing because your body will be in a more “squatty” position, which opens everything up down there (and unkinks the bowel in 2 places) – makes for a much quicker and easier bowel movement.  I use the $4 stool with the blue dots from ikea :)

Why doesn’t my midwife or doctor tell me what I need to be doing to understand and do PERFECT PUSHING®?

Among the top ten reasons:

• It takes TIME to teach someone how to engage the transverse muscle correctly (SEATED TUPLERS; Tupler Technique®) and this does not fit into their time frame as practitioners
• Many have not learned about PERFECT PUSHING yet!!  But it is ideal for them to learn because their patients push babies out much quicker than their counterparts (women who “bear down.”)
• As stated before, women cannot learn a new skill while in pain or during labor – especially one involving muscle strength (transverse strength) – and it must be practiced and strengthened during pregnancy.

So its ok for me to do the Tupler Technique and Seated Tuplers during pregnancy?  I thought I wasn’t supposed to do ab work during pregnancy?

First of YES – it is SO IMPORTANT to do Seated Tuplers during pregnancy!!!!  I can’t stress this enough!

• It will keep your recti together as much as possibly, if not totally, during pregnancy!
• It will keep you strong!!
• It will alleviate those pregnancy backaches (work the lower lumbars)!!
• It will make your recovery SO MUCH BETTER!
• It will help your midsection to bounce back more more quickly!
• It will help you keep mind body connection with your transverse and recti during pregnancy RATHER THAN LETTING THEM ATROPHY!!!!!
• It will make pushing SO much more effective (just remember to do seated tuplers WHILE relaxing the pelvic floor when pregnant, and the pelvic floor which naturally want to also be working with the transverse).

The abs that are TERRIBLE to do during pregnancy (and ANYTIME REALLY) are crunches, pilates 100, teaser, standard oblique work, corkscrew, jackknifing – all those things create a FOREWARD FORCEFUL MOTION of the abdominals which can easily create a diastasis and weaken the abdominals, ESPECIALLY with the added foreward forceful PRESSURE caused by the expanding uterus.

So please pass on this info to doulas, midwives, friends, daughters – anyone who is having a baby or help those who have babies!!  My last pregnancy with #3 – I did one MONSTER push with the transverse all the way back to the spine.  I was told I could take a break and try again, but my transverse was so strong that I was good to go – and out she came!  My pregnant clients have also confirmed – their pushing went so much faster while engaging the transverse during labor (and relaxing the pelvic floor)!

For more info go to:
http://www.diastasisrehab.com/perfect-pushing.html