What Does It Really Mean To Prepare Your Body For Pregnancy?

I’ve been seeing more content out there lately about “Trimester Zero”, the span of time before actively trying to conceive or getting pregnant. A lot of focus is put on getting mind, body and soul in optimal shape before having a baby. And a lot of this content is coming from social media influencers with limited professional knowledge and motives slanted towards financial gain. I think there are some good ideas in there but, as a pelvic floor and orthopedic physical therapist who works with pregnant and postpartum people every day, I’d like to clarify what really matters.

First of all, I do think that the idea of giving some time and thought to preparing for pregnancy is good. Not all pregnant people get the luxury of doing this, but if you do I think it can be very helpful. Pregnancy, birth, and parenting are all uniquely stressful things for your mind and body to undertake. Whatever is already there tends to get magnified by these situations, but we aren’t powerless to help ourselves.

I’ll speak mostly to the idea of getting your body ready to get pregnant, since this is my specific scope. If possible, the one thing I would have every person do before getting pregnant is to get strong. Our muscles are our best form of support from managing pregnancy to giving birth to parenting small children. increasing activity and strength training before getting pregnant sets you up with a good foundation to carry the loads of pregnancy, maintain activity and mobility throughout your pregnancy, potentially have less discomfort in pregnancy, and manage birth/postpartum more easily. The comparison of birth to an Olympic level degree of physical exertion isn’t unfounded, so training for it is absolutely warranted. Getting strong can look like a lot of things. It doesn’t have to be barbells and intense weight lifting, but if you get your muscle working your body will thank you.

I also really recommend that people check in with their pelvic floor. If you already have any pelvic pain, urinary leakage, constipation, or other concerns below the belt, go see a pelvic floor PT before getting pregnant. We can help with these issues, and it’s easier to do it before you add pregnancy to the mix. For those with no pre-existing concerns, I do recommend seeing a pelvic floor PT at some point before giving birth. Even a single session to understand your pelvic floor baseline and get some tips for birth can be extremely helpful. Often people are only engaging with the pelvic floor after birth when there is a problem, but understanding even a little about if before birth can make for an easier recovery because you know what you’re trying to get back to.

Mental health is not in my professional scope, but I do highly recommend working on any issues of anxiety, depression, or other mental health struggles before pregnancy if possible. Hormones and a drastically changing lifestyle can significantly impact mental health and your relationships. I entered mental health therapy during my pregnancy and continued through a long time postpartum, and it was essential to navigating a completely new set of challenges brought on by the shift into parenthood (especially when I developed post-weaning depression). Taking care of your mental health state is just as important as preparing your body.

So what don’t you need? While every person will have their own sense of what helps them, extensive supplement regimens are unlikely to make a real difference in your pre-pregnancy health. I would be suspect of anyone trying to sell you a lot of products, whether it’s supplements or extremely specific workout/nutrition plans. If those things bring you joy and are not a financial strain, then that’s fine, but know what you can be just as healthy and ready for pregnancy without them.

As with our health in general, pre-pregnancy health will best be supported by the same un-sexy things that help us at any stage: supporting good sleep, balanced nutrition, not too much alcohol, regular exercise, mental health support, stress management, and positive social interactions. Those things may not be able to be packaged into a snazzy regimen, and one size is unlikely to fit everyone in terms of how you improve those areas, but they will help us the most. These things also get harder to do once you have a baby, so establishing these habits before entering pregnancy and parenthood will make it a little easier to keep contact with them during the harder times. Even if you can’t do them all, picking a few that you need the most and working on those will still set you up well for pregnancy and parenthood!