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Meet the Coach advising pregnant women to train for birth

Over a third of moms suffer with incontinence after giving birth, leading to the misguided impression that pelvic floor dysfunction is an unfortunate consequence of motherhood that women just need to ‘live with’.
Pelvienne Wellness
Kim Vopni helps moms-to-be avoid months, even years, of discomfort with her proactive exercise program before giving birth

Over a third of moms suffer with incontinence after giving birth, leading to the misguided impression that pelvic floor dysfunction is an unfortunate consequence of motherhood that women just need to ‘live with’.

But what if you could prevent the leaks, discomfort, and back pain that often occurs during pregnancy and after birth? Would it motivate you to know that statistics indicate 92% of women with incontinence at 12 weeks postpartum will still suffer from it five years on?

Vagina Coach Kim Vopni helps moms-to-be to avoid months, even years, of discomfort with her proactive exercise program before giving birth. “Being proactive is key,” says Vopni, “it’s better to prepare and prevent than to repair and lament.”

Social taboo means most expectant women don’t realize either how common or long-lasting pregnancy-related pelvic incontinence can be. The problem is often exacerbated by simply telling women to ‘do kegels’. Kegels are often prescribed but rarely taught and pelvic floor exercise in pregnancy has a different focus.

Vopni explains that people usually focus on the contraction and squeezing part of Kegels to help make pelvic floor muscles strong. But the certified fitness trainer thinks the muscle-relaxing part of kegels is critical in pregnancy, not just for pelvic health, but for women to have better births.

What’s the point of a Kegel-strengthened pelvic floor if a mom can’t relax her birth canal to allow the baby to pass through? That’s why Kim Vopni has spent over a decade teaching the “Prepare to Push” program for moms to be – for easier births, but also for better recoveries.

Recovering from pregnancy and birth is often overlooked and women are often rushing back to fitness too soon – before the core and pelvic floor has had time to heal and be re-trained. Vopni cautions that the words “‘mommy’ and ‘bootcamp’ do not belong in the same sentence.”

Instead, Vopni wants women to know that giving birth is like running a marathon – and you’d train for that, wouldn’t you? You would also have a recovery element built in to your training and post event. Birth is THE EVENT and is arguably one of  the most challenging times in a woman’s life. As a certified pre-/post-natal fitness specialist, Vopni studied birth’s mechanics, then created a fitness plan to help women prepare their bodies very specifically for the demands of labour and birth while having confidence relaxing into the birthing process too.

Graduates of Vopni’s “Prepare to Push” program often share birthing success stories, of how they don’t experience tearing, back pain, diastasis or prolapse.

For over a decade now, Vopni’s fitness plan tailored to create healthy births has helped moms enjoy a leak-free life.

If you’d like to find out more about her company Pelvienne Wellness and the Prepare to Push™ program, you can visit the website at www.preparetopush.com.