Pregnant women

Preparing for Your 'Labor Day': Strengthening Mind and Body During Pregnancy with Diastasis Rehab®


Labor Day…is a holiday that honors the American labor movement and the contributions that workers have made towards the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country. Here at Diastasis Rehab®, I would like to prepare pregnant women for THEIR day of labor!

Strength is key for your prosperity and well-being during your pregnancy and for a successful “Labor day”.  This is achieved by preparing both your mind and body for labor. In stage one, you must learn how to relax and surrender to the pain.  At the end of all my Maternal Fitness® classes, I would turn down the lights and play soothing music I recited birth visualizations. My clients loved the music and birth visualizations so much that they asked me to make this into a CD that they could listen to it at home and also during labor to help them relax.  What I found is if they listened to the CD during their pregnancy it helped them relieve anxiety during labor. Their minds were so used to relaxing upon hearing the music that when they played the music during labor they were more inclined to relax.  This is sort of like when Pavlov rang the bell and the dogs would automatically salivate!   This CD is called Coming Contractions®.  This has helped thousands of women. One client said it even helped calm the hospital staff!! Warning: Please do not listen to it while driving as you may fall asleep at the wheel!

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As a childbirth educator and nurse, I realized that childbirth education comes at the end of the pregnancy and only prepares a pregnant woman’s mind. You would not run in the race without training, why wouldn’t you train your body for the marathon of  labor?   Your abdominal muscles must be strong and close together to push effectively in labor. If your abdominal muscles are separated because you have a diastasis recti, this could put you at an increased risk for a C-section.  Separated muscles cause your cervix to be pointing sideways instead of downwards. You need a downward facing cervix so the baby can come out!  You must also learn how to push with your strengthened muscles and how to relax your pelvic floor. This is like patting your head and rubbing your belly! So just like practicing relaxation, you need to practice the skills of pushing during your pregnancy so it becomes second nature for you. So every time you go to the bathroom and have a bowel movement, you need to practice pushing with your abdominals and relaxing your pelvic floor muscles.   In my Perfect Pushing® DVD, you will learn how to strengthen your abdominal muscles, make your diastasis smaller, practice correct pushing , and learn the modifications for exercising during pregnancy.

Hope you have a great Labor Day, and I would love to hear about your “Labor Day” experience with the Tupler Technique®.

To order your copy of Perfect Pushing click here.

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