Pelvic floor muscle exercises are otherwise known as Kegel exercises, so named after the doctor who developed them as a way of improving the performance of the set of muscles between the pelvic bones.
Why are Kegel exercises important?
The pelvic floor muscles support the organs that can be affected during birth: the bladder, rectum, uterus and urethra (the opening of the bladder).
Doing the exercises is important in order to keep these body parts toned for the years ahead. Pregnancy can put a special strain on them as everything is stretched, but everyone needs to keep the pelvic floor muscles in shape in order to stave off incontinence as their body gets older.
(As well as pregnancy and birth, inbalanced oestrogen levels and being overweight can be factors in weaking the pelvic floor, too.)
How do you do Kegel exercises?
You can start to do the squeezing exercises before you give birth. However, it is easy to get them wrong and it's worth asking in your ante-natal classes for some direction on how to do them properly.
Tense the muscles as if you are trying to hold in your pee. (Though you should NOT actually do this whilst passing water!) Imagine you are squeezing the muscles around where you would put a tampon, or try putting your finger into your vagina and feel those muscles squeeze around it.
Concentrate on holding these muscles for a count of three, and then release them. Make sure you tense the muscles without using other muscles in your bottom or legs at the same time. Breathe in and out to help concentrate on this small but vital exercise.
Tensing them for ten squeezes at a time, whenever you remember - on the bus, at your desk, in bed, whilst making the tea - throughout the day, can really help. If you want to be more organised, try doing them for five minutes in the morning and five minutes at night.
Keep up your Kegel exercises after the birth
When you've had your baby, your midwife will ask you if you are keeping these exercises up. They really are useful and worth keeping up as long as you can. Indeed, we should all continue to do them through our lives as we are likely to 'loosen' as we get older.
When my midwife asked me if I was doing my exercises when our son was a couple of days old, I said yes. My partner was alarmingly willing to snitch on me… 'You haven't been doing exercises!' he exclaimed, thinking these pelvic floor exercises involved some form of gymnastics round the room!
