THE EASY SQUEEZE

This simple exercise makes giving birth easier, and it only takes one minute a day

So if you signed up for the London Marathon, you’d find the time to run around the block a few times beforehand, right? And if you booked a bucket-list holiday to climb up to Machu Picchu, you’d at least take the stairs instead of the lift for a few months, yes? Well, now you’ve bagged yourself a ticket for one of life’s biggest moments —your baby’s arrival, no less —here’s a simple, one-minute exercise that, if you do it every day, can help you have an easier birth. Too good to be true? No, the Easy Squeeze exercise tones the very bit of your body that’s going to help you push your baby out.

“Toning your pelvic floor muscles can help make the first and second stages of labour quicker,” says pelvic-health physiotherapist Elaine Miller. “Not enough research has been done to know exactly why it has this effect, but it makes sense that a firm pelvic floor will help you push your baby out.” And if you’re pregnant, then right now your pelvic floor is having a pretty hard time of it. “Your pelvic floor sits at the base of your abdomen, holding in your organs,” explains Elaine. “It’s like the bottom of your handbag— without it, everything would just fall out.” Imagine three layers of muscle slung between your pubic bone and the bottom of your spine: that’s your pelvic floor. And when you’re pregnant, it’s not just holding up your organs, but also the weight of your baby, placenta and all the extra blood that’s pumping around your body. “During pregnancy your pelvic floor is working harder than normal,” says Elaine. “So it needs a bit of help to stop it from stretching.”