25 weeks pregnant seems like just one week further down the road from 24 weeks, but each week there are so many changes, just like when you were first pregnant. Do you remember back then? In the first 16 weeks, your baby and body was changing at the speed of light. When those 16 weeks were finished, you still couldn’t feel your baby move, you still felt fat rather than pregnant and morning sickness had just passed.
The last 15 weeks now is another growth spurt of your baby. Between 25 weeks pregnant and 40 weeks pregnant your baby will put on increasingly more weight, causing your uterus to have huge growth.
We’ve found two very different but very helpful posts on the topic. We’ll address or point out information in these that we think will interest you and highlight how Birthing Better skills add a whole new dimension in the conversation about pregnancy and childbirth.
Talks about Kegel/Pelvic Floor exercises. We’ll discuss this further.
Pretty general conversation. Nothing we’ll discuss from this post.
Birthing Better families want to add at 25 weeks pregnant:
- What about Pelvic Floor or Kegel Exercises?
DON’T DO THEM at 25 weeks pregnant!
Don’t believe Birthing Better families? Try the exercises given below. Unfortunately, doing Kegels is one of those housewife myths that women have passed onto each other for centuries. I was told to do Kegel exercises when I was pregnant in 1970. It was wrong then and wrong now.
Kegel and Pelvic Floor exercises are great AFTER THE BIRTH but not to prepare for The Birth. Your job in birth is to open up so your baby (a big object with a head the size of a grapefruit) can come down, through and out. What are the qualities your body needs to help?
- Mobility
- Softness
- Pliability
- Openness
What are the purposes of the Pelvic Floor/Kegel exercises?
- Tightness
- Contraction
- Firmness
- Strong
The goals of Kegel exercises are great for other times in your life, but not when you are pregnant and you are closing in on your baby’s birth. You want to work with your softening hormones, not against them.
Do this Pelvic Floor exercise #1:
- Tighten up ‘down there’ … In other words, do a Kegel now
- Hold it … just like you’re told to do
- Ask yourself... ‘Would it be easier or harder for something the size of a grapefruit to get out if I’m tight down there?’
The answer is, of course, much harder. Our goal is to make the birthing process as smooth and comfortable experience as possible for both you and your baby.
Bottom line: Do your Pelvic Floor/Kegel after The Birth. Now you need to learn The Pelvic Clock Softening … one of your Birthing Better Childbirth Preparation skills.
Pelvic Clock exercise #2:
- Tighten up your muscles … Don’t feel shy about focusing your attention on tightening all the muscles around the vaginal and pelvic areas. Although it may feel strange at first, it’s an important first step to this exercise that will greatly assist your birthing process.
- Now let go of that tension … Take a deep breath in and exhale it out slowly. Take your time to fully relax those muscles.
- Exhale intentionally while you push your pubic bone out and forward from INSIDE … Your body might react to this in a few ways. You might fart, which is perfectly okay and natural. It might feel weird, and that’s okay too. You’re creating space for your baby. It’s also normal to not feel much movement as your pubic bone isn’t supposed to be too changeable.
- Next exhale intentionally push back and out from the inside at your sacrum … Your sacrum is the bone at the end of your spine. Take a moment to focus on the feeling. Your baby only needs a little bit more wiggle room, and this movement should help you be able to feel yourself slightly pushing out the sacrum. This is the bone your baby will try to move if they need more room.
- Next exhale intentionally and push out from the inside of both hips … This is to practice the motion that will widen your pelvic bones during the birthing process and help a smooth delivery.
- Do another Kegel and notice the difference.
Comparison … Which exercise makes you feel more open? The Pelvic Clock is much more effective in preparing the pelvic muscles for the birthing process and ensuring the most uncomplicated delivery possible.
You might have to go back and forth to really cement your new learning, as with any new skill, but you’ll feel the difference very quickly.
The Pelvic Clock is just one of the amazing skills you’ll learn in Birthing Better online birthing classes
Your partner can also do these exercises. They can feel the same thing doing the above exercises. This means they will understand how to help you prepare your pregnant body easily and how not to store or place tension inside your pelvis during your baby’s birth. It would be useful to recruit your partner in doing these exercises with you.
Two more things about 25 weeks pregnant
There are two more points to discuss with you after reading those two articles.
- There is mention of heaps of tests. You will have medical assessments, monitoring and some/many procedures (AMPs). Tests fall into one of those categories. You will hear them referred to as ‘interventions’. However, using the word ‘Intervention’ can make you feel they are unnecessary, imposed and imposed ordeals that you have no control over. We’ll talk about this in later posts but it’s best to get into the habit of referring to these tests as Assessments, Monitoring and Procedures or just AMPs. These will, to some degree, be part of your pregnancy care, The Birth and after baby/newborn care. You can discuss with your obstetrician and midwife which ones you want and don’t want, but there will be some required within the ‘evidence based’ maternity system and ‘standards of care’.
- There is NO mention of becoming skilled: This is the biggest issue for us. You are about to give birth to your baby. Doing so is a HUGE event, experience and ACTIVITY. We’re telling you how essential preparing your body is for birth as well as learning birth and birth-coaching skills. Become highly skilled! Birth is a one-off activity that is dramatic, dynamic, intense and transforming. You, your partner and baby deserve your skills!
25 weeks pregnant recommended resources in LESSON TWO of Birthing Better online birthing classes
Now we’re going to ask you to think about your upcoming birth.
READ: Are you making a Birth Plan about your coming birth? Read the eBook that fits your want or image of the birth you believe you will have. Then read the eBook about the birth you absolutely dread or can’t imagine having. This will give you the skills to learn how to use your Birthing Better skills no matter what type of birth unfolds. The eBook on TABS is important to read. You want to reduce or prevent birth trauma to yourself or baby and if your birth is traumatic you want to be able to cope with that in a healthy way to prevent long-term trauma.
- PDF: Labor to Vaginal Birth – 19 pages
- PDF: Labor to Unplanned Caesarean – 16 pages
- PDF: Planned VBAC- 23 pages
- PDF: VBAC to Caesarean- 8 pages
- PDF: Elective or Planned Caesarean- 11 pages
- PDF: TABS … trauma after birth syndrome- 19 pages
Birthing Better skills were developed by moms and dads in the early 1970s in the US and used by many thousands globally in all types of birth. Birthing Better online birthing classes are housed in Common Knowledge Trust.