Postpartum Expectations
Postpartum Expectations and why we need to appreciate how amazing our bodies are.
Whether we are already basking in the glow of newborn snuggles (also sleep deprivation to the max) or we are in the start, middle or nearing the end of our pregnancy, it’s important to take a moment to fully appreciate what a pregnant body has just gone through (and may still be currently going through).
Internal organs got squished and moved around.
Ribs spread to make room for the baby and diaphragm (breathing muscle) got pushed up and probably stopped working properly.
Abs have been stretched out and back muscles have had to overcompensate, and tighten, to make up for the abs inability to handle the extra loading on them from the baby.
Back tightening leading to postural changes which continue as we hold the baby in front or on our hip as they get bigger (hands up, who always holds/held their child on the same hip?)
Pelvic floor has had to handle tremendous amounts of pressure from the growing baby.
Ligament laxity due to hormonal changes.
Sleep deprivation and a whole heap of mum stress as to whether we are doing this mum thing right (or was that just me?)
Where to start our rebuilding journey
Start with breathing: When we start with breathing, our diaphragm starts working correctly again which helps organs move back into place, gets our abs firing and strengthens our pelvic floor.
How to breathe will be covered in the next blog (it’s not quite as simple as we think it should be) but once we have that skill then we are more than halfway there (yuss!)
Core contracting: We need to get our core working again to decrease rib flare (anyone goes up a back size in bras after having babies and it didn’t go back down?) and to decrease tension in our lower back muscles.
Posture: We work on posture to help bring everything together. Chest stretching to reduce tightness from any type of feeding, gentle upper and mid back strengthening to fire those muscles up to help pull our shoulders back and glute strengthening to help support our pelvis stability as our body heals.
If we have had a c-section we add another layer to our recovery which we’ll cover in part two of our blog post.
How can we manage our own expectations of what our body can do?
The answer is everybody is different. What you see on social media is not likely to be the whole story. Don’t base your recovery time frame on someone else's!
Do I need to repeat that? Do not base where you are at in YOUR JOURNEY on where anyone else is.
The rebuilding phase
Workouts may be more mental than physical.
Specific attention needs to be taken so each exercise is targeting the right place and you feel it where it should be working.
We must be patient and consistent as we won’t get anywhere without consistency.
Set expectations for your new normal without comparing to what was happening pre-baby. The timeline to keep in mind is 9 months to grow so 9 months to recover.
Slow, consistent, injury free progress vs. fast progress but injury setbacks.
Lesson: We put our ego in check for the best recovery results.
Our main goal should always be establishing a great base of strength, get our pelvic floor and our core working 100% then we progress smartly.
If this blog post has thrown up more questions than answers then feel free to fire an email to lynneallenpt@gmail.com to ask any further questions, helping in that postpartum time is one of the many things that lights me up!
Lynne x
