Pregnancy and Postpartum Care

Pregnancy and Preparation for Birth

Pelvic floor therapy can be a vital support during pregnancy, a time when your body is probably feeling pretty weird and rapidly changing. We can work on increasing your comfort, building and maintaining strength, and helping you feel good in your body while you’re accomplishing this totally wild transformation.

Symptoms like pelvic girdle pain, feelings of pressure, and other discomforts might feel annoying or even debilitating, but they can often improve with small changes. I’ve helped many people who believed their aches and pains would only go away after birth and were surprised to find relief much sooner than they expected.

If you’re looking for

  • guidance on how to prepare for birth, both physically and psychologically

  • less pain and fewer symptoms during pregnancy

  • information on methods that may reduce the risk of tearing during vaginal birth

  • expert guidance in choosing birth positions that can help improve your intuition and increase your confidence

  • ways to include your partner or support person in the birth plan that feel good and empowering for everyone

Preparing for birth involves more than just physical strength; it’s about finding the most relaxed and effective way for your body to exist during labor. We can use tools to practice and figure out which positions feel most comfortable with the least amount of tension. Through gentle guidance, you’ll learn how to listen to your body and trust your intuition. We can also go over push prep, discussing breathing techniques and strategies to help you feel more confident and in control during labor.

For some, pregnancy can bring up feelings of dysphoria as your body goes through big changes. Soft Power offers a safe space where you can address these feelings and focus on confidence in your body as you navigate this time and prepare for your birth experience.

Postpartum pelvic floor therapy

In the postpartum period, pelvic floor therapy is an essential part of recovery for any birth method. Some folks think the pelvic floor is spared with cesarean or surgical birth, but this is unfortunately not true! The pelvic floor and abdominal wall both face significant challenges from pregnancy itself: just managing the effect of gravity and changes to bladder and bowel habits can contribute to dysfunction. I can help you rebuild strength in your core and pelvic floor, manage incontinence, and help alleviate pelvic pain, which can be frustratingly common after birth. For those who have had a cesarean birth, therapy can also help with mobilization and integration of scar tissue, improve abdominal muscle function and mental connection, and normalize tension in the pelvic floor. Returning to sex can also feel a little scary for some folks, especially with perineal trauma like tearing, episiotomy, or birth interventions. Your sessions can include a thorough assessment and give you tools to reduce the likelihood of pain or discomfort with postpartum sexual activity.

Pelvic floor therapy can also help reconnect your body with your mind, offering a safe space to process the physical and emotional changes you may be experiencing and remind sleepy muscles to get back on board. For those who are bodyfeeding (also known as breastfeeding or chestfeeding), the postpartum period can bring its own set of challenges, and pelvic floor therapy can provide an inclusive approach to healing, offering both physical support and emotional care in a space free of judgement and full of encouragement. Best of all, you’re free to bring your new little person with you if you don’t have childcare or just want to include them in therapy. We can work with real life situations to help troubleshoot childcare tasks you might find challenging or painful.

Diastasis Recti

Diastasis recti, which is also sometimes called abdominal separation, can be really common during and after pregnancy. It’s not a true separation of the muscles like a hernia; rather it’s a thinning of the muscle tissue. Some research suggests almost 100% of pregnant people will have some degree of diastasis during pregnancy. For a lot of people, it spontaneously resolves after birth, but depending on genetics, lifestyle, and other factors, it can linger for others. Diastasis recti is one of my favorite things to treat because there was a lot of fear and confusion around it for a long time. I have provided workshops for other practitioners about treatment of diastasis and have found my treatment style to be extremely effective in restoring function of the abdominal wall. Diastasis recti can also affect babies and adults who have never been pregnant, including people assigned male at birth (AMAB).