Health & Exercise
Exercise helped have an easier labor?
I haven't posted on this board yet, but I was just curious about something. I workout/exercise 2-3 times a week and have been doing so for a while before getting pregnant. Does this make the whole labor/birthing process easier on your body? Does anyone have any experience or think that staying active and fit during pregnancy helped them have an easier or shorter labor? I have heard this before but not sure how true. Thoughts?
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Re: Exercise helped have an easier labor?
I looked at labor as training for a marathon. I worked out all through my pregnancy and I had no complications or stretch marks. My labor was easy and practically pain free (although I'm sure the epidural helped that). I was back in my jeans and walking w/in a week. With only 1 child I obviously have nothing to compare to, but I think working out and my attitude of training for something was a huge benefit. I
just started upping my workouts and intensity so that I can keep up a good exercise routine with my next pregnancy, since they say during pregnancy you can do what ever you did before.
Some people say so but since you can't go through the same labor twice it's hard to say. Can't hurt, though.
I imagine that factors like baby size/pelvis size make more of a difference, honestly. I guess my labor wasn't too hard. I had to push for two hours even though my baby was tiny which surprised me because I was quite fit before pg, lift heavy weights, and had strong abdominals but I felt like I had never tried so hard at ANYTHING and wasn't making progress until I got an episiotomy.
However, I bounced back after labor really fast and felt up to light exercise by 2-3 weeks which I think was, in part, because my body was used to recovering from intense exercise, KWIM?
I may be the case where I didn't have an fast labor/delivery. Easy, I guess so...recovery was fine so maybe exercise helped there?
With DD baby #1- I worked out 5 days a week. (Swim/spin/weights/elliptical) Went to spin class the night before I delivered, went to the gym during labor and did elliptical and stationary bike and realized the cramping (aka labor) was not going away. I was in labor 30 hours (pushing 3 of those). Like I said, recovery was fine, just a really long labor.
With DS baby #2- I taught spin class 2x per week till 36 weeks. I ran till 39 weeks, 4 days (3 days before I went into labor). My labor lasted exactly 24 hours, only pushing for 20 min (could be 2nd child sort of thing). Recovery was great, ran a half marathon 13 weeks after DS was born.
DD baby #3- Teaching spin class 1x per week till 36 weeks. Ran my last 5k at 30 weeks. My working out has slowed down due to more RLP this time around but I'm expecting another long labor.
I think that's just how my body works.
Post partum I was working out within 3-4 weeks and lost baby weight pretty quickly so perhaps my fitness helped more with that in my case.
I was very active through both of my pregnancies (worked out an average of 6 days a week. . . I was teaching group fitness classes through my pregnancy with my son and taught to 41 weeks).
My DD was a scheduled c-section (breech) and my recovery was a breeze. She was 8 lbs. 15 oz.
My DS was a VBAC and labor took just about 7 hours from first contraction to baby. He was 9 lbs. 12 oz. No meds. Easy recovery.
Back to PP weight by my 6 week appointments.
I definitely think that exercise helped me snap back.
Did it help with endurance, yes. Quick delivery, nope.
I was very active during my pregnancy( worked out 6xs a week for 1-1.5 hours, ran 3 half marathons and 7 other races, lifted weights, etc.).
I worked out all the way until she was born at 39 weeks. However, she was induced. The induction was easy, but I ended up pushing for 4 hours. There was nothing quick about it.
On the bright side, recovery was a breeze.