Something to Remember Your pelvic floor muscles make up the floor of the pelvis and support the organs and the uterus inside your pelvis. The weight of the baby can stretch these muscles and may cause you to urinate when you cough, sneeze or laugh. Greenslopes Maternity Your Journey 17 Pap test It is safe to have a Pap test in pregnancy unless your doctor advises otherwise. You may have some bleeding after a Pap test in pregnancy, but the bleeding is from the neck of the uterus, not the pregnancy itself. Pelvic exercises Your pelvic floor muscles make up the floor of the pelvis and support the organs and the uterus inside your pelvis. The weight of the baby can stretch these muscles and may cause you to urinate when you cough, sneeze or laugh. Try the following pelvic floor exercise: Step 1 Sit, stand tall or lie on your back with your knees bent and legs comfortably apart. Step 2 Close your eyes, imagine the muscles you would tighten to stop yourself from passing wind or to ‘hold on’ when you need to pass urine. If you can’t feel a distinct tightening of these muscles, talk to your doctor. Step 3 Now that you can feel the pelvic floor muscles working, tighten them around your front passage, vagina and back passage as strongly as possible and hold for three to five seconds. By doing this, you should feel your pelvic floor muscles ‘lift up’ inside you and feel a definite ‘letting go’ as the muscles relax. Breathe normally while holding these muscles. If you can hold longer (but no more than a maximum of eight seconds), then do so. Remember, the squeeze must stay strong and you should feel a definite ‘letting go’. Repeat up to 10 times or until you feel your pelvic floor muscles fatigue. Rest for a few seconds in between each squeeze. Steps 1 to 3 count as one exercise set. If you can, do three sets per day in different positions. Placenta The placenta or afterbirth is responsible for the growth of the baby. It supplies the baby with nutrients and oxygen, removes waste products and acts as a barrier against some harmful substances. It also produces hormones that help to maintain the pregnancy. The placenta is commonly called the afterbirth because it is expelled from the uterus after the baby is born. It begins to form soon after conception and is well established after the tenth day. There is good circulation through the umbilical cord by the tenth week of pregnancy. The placenta usually attaches itself to the top of the wall of the uterus. However, sometimes the placenta attaches to the lower part of the uterus very near or over the cervix (called placenta praevia). This may lead to complications and sometimes causes bleeding in pregnancy and it may be necessary to deliver the baby by caesarean birth. However, in the majority of cases where the placenta is low early in pregnancy, the uterus will get bigger and the placenta will move away from the cervix. Most women start to feel Braxton Hicks contractions about halfway through their pregnancy.
GPH Materntiy Your Journey Book PI499 0216
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