Birth Skills
Birth skills are skills you can learn to help you with the challenges of labour and childbirth. Approaching the birth of your baby is a time of great anticipation and excitement, but you might also be feeling a little nervous. Birth skills help you feel more confident and empowered, whether it’s your first time or not. Besides, even if you’ve had a baby, it’s vital you revise and learn new skills.
Physiotherapy birth skills will give you and your support person practical education and skills that’ll help break the stress response and panic cycle that can so easily occur in labour. You’ll learn relaxation, touch and massage, movement, breath awareness and techniques, positioning for comfort, effective pushing positions and skills and the use of TENS.
Skills for labour and beyond.
The great news is, these skills are invaluable during labour – but also for the demands of life with your newborn. So remember, at Pelvic Health Matters we’re here to help you during your pregnancy and way beyond!
The great news is that birth skills are not just invaluable during labour – but also for the demands of life with your newborn.
Our Proven Pathway for Supporting You With Birth Skills
Discover what matters
You’re assessed as a whole person
Our first step is to learn all about you, as a whole person. So we’ll gather information:
- QUESTIONNAIRE: You’ll complete a pelvic health questionnaire online before your first visit. This helps us understand about your history, current health concerns and what matters to you.
- 1-on-1 CONSULTATION: Here, we’ll take the time to learn about you, your pregnancy and your hopes, thoughts, concerns and worries about labour and birth. We believe a holistic approach enables us to understand how your specific physical, emotional and lifestyle factors might influence you and your birth experience.
- THOROUGH ASSESSMENT: This includes an assessment of any pregnancy-related problems. For example, this might consist of a pelvic floor or back examination.
- CONNECTING THE DOTS: Now that we’ve discovered so much about you, we can explore how to help you with skills for labour and childbirth. This may involve understanding how your beliefs and fears might influence your birthing experience. Or maybe we’ll need to focus on something else entirely.
- SET GOALS: We’ll help you set meaningful pelvic health goals such as:
- Feel empowered and positive about my upcoming labour
- Learn skills, positions and movement that can help me
- Involve my partner so they feel confident in supporting me during labour
- Understand options for positions and skills for effective pushing
Restore what matters
You’ll have a personalised pelvic health plan.
This is where we get to work. Together, we’ll discover your existing coping skills. Then, we’ll unpack beliefs and thoughts regarding pain during labour – and your ability to cope with this.
We’ll practice skills that you can use at home or in hospital throughout different stages of labour. These might include:
- Relaxation
- Touch and massage around the neck/lower back for example using spikey balls (or what your partner can do)
- How and when to effectively use TENS
- Movement such as rocking or pelvic tilt in standing, leaning on a fitball or when side-lying
- Breath awareness and techniques
- Positioning for comfort
- Effective pushing positions and skills
- Perineal massage and how this can help prepare for a vaginal birth
- Early postnatal advice, especially regarding pelvic floor and perineal recovery
You’ll leave with lots of practical tips and tricks, excellent resources and a toolkit of options for labour. You’ll also have plenty of time to ask questions and discuss how each strategy might apply to you. Plus, you’ll experience all these strategies, so you can work out which ones might suit you best.
ABOUT YOUR APPOINTMENTS: Together, we’ll work out how often we should see each other. We’ll agree on what works best for you, your commitments and your finances.
Enjoy what matters
You’ll be living your best life.
Labour is unpredictable. So it's vital to stay open-minded and have the birth skills that give you the confidence to handle whatever comes your way. That’s why we’re here to help you maximise your chances of a positive birth experience and the best possible recovery. Besides, these birth skills won’t just be helpful in labour. We want you to feel equipped to use them when navigating the sleepless and at times stressful, early months with a newborn.
So please remember, if you have any pelvic health problems after the birth of your baby, we’ll always be here to help you.
Read about Lucy 32 yrs, Mia 32 yrs
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Pelvic Health Matters
New name.
Same exceptional care.
Formerly known as Women’s & Men’s Health Physiotherapy, our new name reflects both what we believe in and what we do. We have an unwavering belief that pelvic health matters for everyone, at every stage of life.
Same phone number: 03 8823 8300
New email: physio@pelvichealth.com.au