Training for labour: Inspired by Elvis

Elvis may not seem the most obvious inspiration when you are 'training for labour' but he wasn't 'the pelvis' for nothing.  Yes, it was a great excuse to include a photo, but still, not tenuous.  Here's why.   A lot of women suffer with backache, pubic symphysis pain or sciatica when they are pregnant and in the latter stages are told this is normal, yada yada.  Yep, normal.  However ignore it at your peril.  

In case your attention span takes you no further, this is what you need to do - get checked out by an osteopath or chiropractor who specialises in pregnancy, when you hit the third trimester.  Or earlier if you have backache.  In order to accommodate a growing baby, your bones need to move in a certain way, supported by the ligaments and muscles around them.  If everything is working in harmony, then your baby has its very own deluxe mansion with sea views.  However, so many babies end up in the equivalent of a bedsit on a grotty main road.  And if the space is cramped, i.e. if the pelvis is misaligned in any way it may reduce the amount of room available to a developing baby.  This restriction is called intrauterine constraint and it can also make it difficult for the baby to get into the best possible position for delivery.  Which in turn can lead to interventions.

A baby in breech position may not have room to move into the optimum position, so if you have been told your baby is breech I strongly recommend you both see an acupuncturist and a chiropractor or osteopath.   Babies move around a lot, so a baby that is breech at 34 weeks can still move - but this is much harder if the room isn't there to move into.  In my clinic I have found that combining the acupuncture protocol (I will write a separate blog post about this soon) with a treatment from a specialist bodyworker like Mary Anne Shiozawa or Nancy Nunn, delivers brilliant results.