Episode #32: Preparing for Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum with Anita Lambert
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In this episode, Dayna and Rhonda have the pleasure of chatting with one of our colleagues and fellow Canadian physiotherapists, Anita Lambert!
Anita Lambert is the owner of Holistic Health Physiotherapy, creator of the Bump to Birth Method and co-host of the To Birth & Beyond podcast.
She’s a mom of two and a perinatal pelvic health physiotherapist with a focus on prenatal and postpartum care. She is also one of the select few physiotherapists in Canada to complete physiodoula training (which she also assists in teaching to other physiotherapists).
She’s passionate about helping clients connect with their body and pelvic floor, plus teach strategies to keep clients active and comfortable during pregnancy. She also loves to help clients navigate postpartum recovery and return to exercise (including sports and dance) without pain or pelvic floor symptoms.
We’re so grateful for Anita for sharing her passion and wisdom with us. We touch on a lot of topics in this episode including:
🔹How Anita got into the physiotherapy profession and why she decided to focus on pelvic health
🔹Her two pregnancy and birth experiences and what surprised her most about them
🔹Advice she gives her clients regarding exercise during pregnancy
🔹How she uses her unique expertise to help her clients prepare for birth
🔹Why she thinks it’s so important to help her clients prepare for postpartum during pregnancy
🔹The importance of rest and seeking out support postpartum
🔹Her experience being a physiodoula
Enjoy! ☕️🧘🏻♀️
➡️ We would LOVE if you would share this episode with a friend, drop a star rating in Apple Podcasts or leave us a review!
Mentioned in the episode:
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Episode #32: Preparing for Pregnancy, Birth and Postpartum with Anita Lambert
We're excited to have you join us for this episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness. I'm Dayna Morellato, Mom, Orthopedic and Pelvic Health Physiotherapist. And I'm Rhonda Chamberlain, Mom, Orthopedic Physiotherapist and Pre Postnatal Fitness Coach. On this show, we have open and honest conversations about all phases of motherhood, including fertility, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, menopause, and everything in between.
We also provide helpful education and information on fitness, the pelvic floor, and many aspects of women's health, including physical, mental, and emotional wellness. Please remember as you listen to this podcast that this is not meant to treat or diagnose any medical conditions. Please contact your medical provider if you have specific questions or concerns.
Thanks so much for joining us. Grab a cup of coffee. Or wine. And enjoy!
Alright, welcome to another episode of Pelvic Health and Fitness Podcast. Today, we are honoured to welcome our friend and colleague, Anita Lambert. Anita is the owner of Holistic Health Physiotherapy, creator of the Birth to Bump, sorry, Bump to Birth Method, and co host of the To Birth and Beyond podcast.
She's a mom of two and a perinatal pelvic health physiotherapist with a focus on prenatal and postpartum care. She is also one of the select few physiotherapists in Canada. to complete physio doula training, which is cool. I'm excited to talk to you about that, but she also assists in teaching to other physiotherapists.
She's passionate about helping clients connect with their body and pelvic floor. Plus teach strategies to help clients active and comfortable during pregnancy. She also loves to help clients navigate postpartum recovery and return to exercise, including sports and dance without pain or pelvic floor symptoms.
Awesome. Thanks for joining us today, Anita. Yeah. Thanks for having me on. I'm excited to chat with both of you. Yeah. Yes. Okay. So we'll dive right in. Uh, why don't you tell us a little bit more about yourself, Anita, and what you got, what got you into physiotherapy and pelvic health from there? Yeah. So yeah, the kind of what Rhonda mentioned off the bat is, uh, is a lot kind of what I do currently with my practice.
I'm in Peterborough, Ontario. We moved from Toronto about What is it now? Six years ago, I guess. Um, and so I have my own practice, Holistic Health Physio, and another great physio joined me, um, Lane, who is just off on mat leave now. Um, but yeah, I have a great practice. It's focused on pregnancy, birth prep, postpartum recovery, any stage.
Um, in postpartum, and I've also got, yeah, two very energetic little ones, six year old, uh, daughter Pippa and three year old Jack. They definitely keep us on our toes. And, um, yeah, how I got into this is, um, I grew up as an athlete, as a dancer, and I, I didn't go to physio myself, but I had a lot of colleagues who would go or teammates who would go.
And I was just always fascinated with the human body and how it healed itself. Um, and even just movement just started from a really young age. So I originally always wanted to be a professional ballet dancer. And when that did not work out, um, I knew physio was like the absolute thing I wanted to do. So it was pretty set on that.
Um, got into it. And also with my dance background, Pilates was always kind of a part of strength training with that. So I did my, um, Pilates training when I was finishing physio school. So my first job was at a clinic that had like. Full Pilates studio, so I really incorporated that into rehab from the get go.
Um, and then over time, what I was noticing is I was seeing a lot more pregnant clients. Not, we weren't advertising that, the clinic wasn't marketing that at all. Um, but a lot of physicians were sending clients because also with back pain and pregnancy, they had heard, okay, Pilates would be great and because she's a physio, that would actually be really great.
So I was seeing a lot of pregnant clients that way and I was like, this is. Like this is really fun. Um, and so then eventually I transitioned over to a woman's health specific clinic. Um, I still was focused orthopedic and external. I was not doing pelvic health. Think Rhonda, you and I had talked about that before, where it's kind of one of those things where I always thought I'm just going to stick kind of with this.
And then, um, My boss at that clinic was like, just shadow me for a day. Like she really wanted me to do pelvic health. Um, and I shadowed her for the day and I was like, okay, I'm going to take all my courses now, this is it. Um, just cause I've always looked at the body very holistically and while you can treat it really well externally.
I just found seeing how clients responded with the internal, um, along with all the external work, the orthopedic background I could offer, um, it just really well rounded my practice. So haven't really looked back since. And then I still see lots of athletes and dancers in my, my practice and now more so within that pregnant or postpartum, um, stages of life.
So that's kind of how I got into it. And I, I always look back and think. Cause with dancers, um, with physio, I would see so many and they would be told from other practitioners of like, you know, don't do this because like, that's not normal for your body to do that. But with my ballet background, I'm like 180 degrees of turnout is kind of standard and kind of necessary.
And that kept coming up. And then I realized with pregnancy, it was the same thing. People will get told you're pregnant, you're going to leak pee. You're like, you're going to have pain. It's just kind of part of the deal. And mentally I was already in that kind of mindset of like, I'm not really cool with accepting that like I think when your body is strong enough to grow a baby, it made zero sense to me that, okay, you're gonna have to, you know, struggle through all these issues.
So, I think that just translated over really well to, to where I am now. That's so cool. So did you undergo all your training before you had kids yourself? Yeah. Yeah. All the, all the initial training, even the physio doula training, like I did all that before, um, before expecting my first, which I think really helped.
I was, um, I think a lot of times now, a lot of public physios, which is great that into public physio because of, um, symptoms and experiences. And I was able to approach it from a bit different aspect. Um, And clients received it really well. I remember my boss was like, you know, you never know, because you haven't been pregnant.
You don't know what your clients, if they'll be like, well, she doesn't know. I had the opposite reaction. My clients were like, when you're pregnant, you are going to be so ready and so prepared. So it's like, this worked out well. So, um, Yeah, so the initial training was all before. So cool. So yeah, speaking of your pregnancies then, how were your pregnancy experiences and how did that knowledge maybe prepare you or what surprised you that maybe was different from your training?
Yeah, so pregnancy wise with both, um, fairly good pregnancies, I would say, like in terms of Um, and I think what was different, I probably had less surprises because having worked with so many clients, I saw all the variations of like quote, unquote, normal. I saw the things people went through, and not just the physical side but like, I feel like as.
Physios like all of our clients feel very safe to share things with us. So I would hear about all the other aspects of pregnancy, um, birth and postpartum too. So I feel like in terms of pregnancy with my first, I didn't have many symptoms other than I remember having, um, tailbone pain kind of about halfway through that pregnancy and having known and been in public physio, I had one of my colleagues be able to treat me for that.
So that was really helpful. Um, and then with my second, I think what was surprising or not surprising was so much more or less energy because you've got a toddler you're chasing at the same time. I also had lower iron in my second pregnancy so I was just like, I need to work, get through the day, and then having exercise was really important to me so I like, made sure that, like, I had some energy to do that.
Um, and then, yeah, I definitely rested more in that. Pippa was doing, like, circles around me and, uh, it's one of those, it's like, this feels different. I don't know, did you two kind of feel in terms of that as well? Yeah, we just did an episode recently about, um, the things that surprised us most about being pregnant.
And for me, it was fatigue for sure, overall for both of them, but it never went away with my second. I call it, it was almost debilitating some days, like taking my daughter Kara to the park was my Everest. Like that was what I could do that day. So I feel that. Yeah. Yeah, totally. And I think with like, with seeing, I know we've all seen pregnant clients is like, I almost went into pregnancies expecting certain things to happen, like some of my physio friends had really severe nausea.
Um, and so I was almost expecting, okay, how am I going to navigate my day treating clients, being super nauseous? Um, and so I was kind of waiting for that and I didn't have that. Um, but I could totally understand when I had clients who were dealing with that and trying to then navigate how they can still, you know, do what they need to do, but knowing it's not going to look the same as someone who's not experiencing it because movement feels totally different.
Um. So, yeah, and with my second, yeah, with Jack's pregnancy, I don't think it really had many pains and I think I learned that a lot with my first is to me incorporating strength and mobility is like the balance that makes such a difference in pregnancy. So with Pippa, with my first, I definitely could do that a lot more, had more energy.
Um. And we lived in Toronto at the time. So I would like walking to the clinic was faster than taking the streetcar. Um, so definitely tons of walking there too, but definitely with, uh, the training and then with Jack's, even though I had less energy, I knew I'm like, I need to fit in some strength training.
I need some mobility work. Cause I know in the end, I'm actually going to feel better. Um, but that was my experience. I know not everyone feels that, um, In terms of birth, um, I had two planned home births, um, with both of them and had doulas as well. Um, and yeah, and I think never thought about having a home birth really growing up.
That wasn't something I was really exposed to. And I think, again, after working with so many clients, going through the physio doula training, so much research that I just found that, um, Felt like the best choice for me, but in the same respect, preparing to be transferred. And that's what I talk a lot about with clients and in bump to birth is like, you can plan a home birth, but please plan for a transfer too.
Because I think. The biggest thing for me is teaching about options and strategies and how to navigate it because I find when you really pigeonhole into one way of giving birth and something comes up, then you feel really stuck and then you feel like, okay, I don't actually feel as prepared as I thought so.
That was kind of really how I went into both of them. Um, and yeah, with my first, I had my naturopath was my doula with my second, um, one of the physios I did my physio doula training with, she, uh, was able to come to be my doula as well. So that was really, really awesome. Great midwife teams with both. Um, and.
Yeah, in terms of the births themselves, they were positive experiences with my daughter, early labor was longer than with my second, but nothing that was like days and days, but I remember being surprised of how it didn't start the usual of spaced out between contractions. They were mild when they started actually on my street car on the way home from downtown, but it was like they came pretty quickly so they were like.
Five minutes apart from the get go. And I remember being like this, this is like really fast. So even I remember my husband who like came to all the classes and I was just like, this is like really close. Like I'm handling these, but they're very close. Um, and then next day active labor took off and I had her the following night.
Um, but it was interesting going back, looking at the midwife notes for anyone who doesn't know, you can totally get access to the charts, like your midwife, your doctor, your nurse. Has to chart everything. So if they're there, if they're charting, um, and she was always head down, but she was, um, she was kind of on the right side, just in a position that I remember now that I know much more about fetal positioning, I feel like early labor, it was kind of a, it wasn't a steep progression.
It was that kind of slow start. I think she was trying to get into a better position. And then when she did, I think labor. Um, and then with my second, again, it wasn't a surprise because I've heard so many birth stories and I know you guys have to, um, is it was a very precipitous birth. So precipitous would mean active labor is like less than kind of three hours.
Like it's pretty quick and start to end. And it was from first contraction was about. eight hours till when he was born, but active labor was under three. So it was about two and a half. Um, and I pushed for about four minutes and he would be considered a big baby. He was 10, two and he was 24 inches. So It was one of those where the midwives never, you know, said anything.
It didn't seem like it was going to be a quote unquote big baby. Even when he came out, the midwives were like, anyone want to guess? And we thought he was about the same size as my daughter and she was 8, 8'7 Um, and she started laughing. She's like, no, he's 10'2 And we all just like cracked up. But I think it just again reinforced to me of like, you know, there's so much conversation around big babies and predicting a big baby.
And I think everyone's gonna have a different experience and I don't want to anyone to feel like, oh, like, if baby's big things are just going to be smooth, either, but. I think just hearing stories around big babies and smooth births can be helpful, you know, as you prepare because there's so much around it and when you start getting told earlier on baby is big, it can lead to a lot of stress and feeling like you're kind of forced into certain decisions you may not have otherwise.
So, yeah, so those are kind of my pregnancy and birth experiences. Definitely, um, positive and I, I am very grateful for all the, um, experience I had ahead of time in hearing so many stories. Cause I think that really helped plus all the prep I did too. That's amazing. Absolutely. Yes. I think it's so important that people hear that just because baby is big doesn't necessarily mean this, you know, all these interventions and like, it can still be what you want it to be.
The, the size of baby doesn't necessarily have to dictate that. Yeah. Yeah. So the three of us share a common love for movement and exercise, obviously, what types of discussions do you have with your clients in terms of exercise and movement during pregnancy? Yeah, I love this question. I find exercise is such a big part.
I know of all of our practices and I think clients are sometimes surprised with how much knowledge we have and how much we can help. Um, so for me from the get go, from our assessment, we're talking about exercise. I'm always asking like, what do they love doing? What are their goals? Um, because I always want to tailor it to that because I think sometimes people get the blanket statement of like, Everyone do this or everyone should swim in pregnancy.
And I'm like, if you hate swimming, I'm not going to tell you to go swim. If you love strength training, which we all do. I'm like, I would love to like, keep you doing that till the end. I think it's really important. So that's really a big discussion we have from day one and also busting myths. I find that's what I'm doing from the start.
I'm like. What have you been hearing, you know, on Instagram, on social media, maybe from other professionals. And so if we can start breaking that down sooner, then it gives them more confidence in continuing doing what they want to do. Um, so yeah, strength and mobility, I find that combination are great.
And. Yeah, really tailoring to what they, um, they want to do. So we might be modifying stuff depending on where they are in pregnancy, um, or any symptoms that they might be experiencing, but I'm, I'm not really one to take stuff away, even if they have symptoms. I'm like, let's first see, can we change how you're doing it?
Your breath work, how you're activating, maybe don't think about your pelvic floor. I know Rhonda, you mentioned about that too, right? Don't think about your pelvic floor. And maybe symptoms will, will. Change that way. So we're, we're doing that from day one and each, um, each appointment checking in, adjusting stuff, um, as needed.
And then as they learn more about the pelvic floor and the breath, incorporating that into their movement that I feel like would be like the best guidance for them. So they can feel good throughout pregnancy. Um, preparing for birth, but then also that postpartum recovery, I'm like, I want you strong going into postpartum, but the mobility comes in because I find that helps with aches and pains.
And prep for birth, because I feel like there's this misconception of like, you need to be strong, like for birth and you cannot muscle your way through birth. It does not work. If anything, it's the opposite. It's like, how well can you let go? How well can you release when you have these sensations piling on top?
Because. If, if it's just about muscling through the contractions, they take over. Oh yeah. So, yeah. So I think, and especially like all clients come in and they're like, CrossFit's my thing. And I'm like, amazing. So how would you feel about, let's have some guidance through CrossFit and fit some mobility stuff in, and this is the reason why.
And they're like, that sounds pretty amazing. So I think it's the, you know, explaining, cause that's, I think the hard part when people get the blanket statement of like, do this, don't do this. And there's this, there's no why or explanation. And then people get really lost and sometimes they'll just stop doing everything.
Yeah. So I think as physios, we can just make a big difference in someone's, uh, pregnancy experience with that guidance. I love that so much. Yeah, that, uh, that piece about the relaxation rings so true for me. So I am the person that learned about all of these things after having both of my kids, because it was only after my second tougher recovery that I thought, Oh, maybe I need to learn about my pelvic floor.
And for me, yeah, like I, you know, I was told all those messages cause I was straight training through both pregnancies and you're just going to push that baby out so fast. You're going to bounce back all of those messages, right. That are problematic. And, uh, yeah, I remember in my first delivery, my midwife said that to me because I, I think I was trying to muscle up.
I'm going to ask for her out because I, you know, that's all I knew. And she said to me, cause what was happening between each push is I was clenching. And so I was pulling her back in with each push. So she said, she told me that like, you need to try to relax in between. I'm like, what do you mean? Like, that's impossible.
And, but honestly, that was, you know, in the physio world, we learn about cueing and that was the cue I needed. To be like, okay, that's what I'm missing. And she came out so much quicker after that. And my second one, I had that in my mind and as hard as hard as it is to relax, that was the difference maker for sure.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's key. How you said it's actually hard to do that because I think that's the thing we all kind of get told of, like, you'll give birth, like, you know, people have been given birth forever. Like it will just happen and, but you need to be strong going in. And I really think the relaxation it's like at the end of a yoga class, Shavasana is actually the hardest part of it because no one wants to lie there and relax.
You're like, I'm done. I'll leave the room. Right. Yeah. Yeah. So. Um, it's that letting go and being able to, so that's awesome that you got that queuing like in it from your midwife and you could then register with that. So good. And especially for the athlete brained people that are just type a go, go, go, that relaxation piece is next to impossible.
All right. So along those same lines, talking about prepping for birth and you had a wonderful experience yourself with having all this knowledge going into both of your births and deliveries. Um, what are the topics that you discuss with your clients in terms of, you said, you know, you talked about different options and just having that discussion.
What does that look like with your clients? Yeah, so I find it starts with like in the assessment, we all ask them what their preferences are if they have any. And some people like I haven't thought about it, but then sometimes as we pry a little bit more, they're like, Oh, I guess actually I do like I would like to have an epidural or I don't want to have an epidural.
I've heard about using this like birth ball or like I want to do that. Like I find people typically do have some preferences if they, even if they haven't really researched things. So that's kind of where we're starting. Um, and then I kind of go through like, how can I best support you? Like, do you want to learn options?
Like, do you want to, let's say you do want an epidural. Okay. You can't get an epidural from the first contraction. So would it be helpful if I teach you ways to cope until you decide you want your epidural? And they're like, That sounds great. So we're even starting that day one so that they feel like they're in control of what knowledge they want to gain.
And then we go from there. Um, and I do think from day one, like learning the breath, pelvic floor, what it does, how to connect, because again, it's like, we're expected to like, birth a baby vaginally, um, and sometimes it's through the abdomen. So I want people to be prepared for that too. Right. But like, we don't learn anything about our pelvic floor, right?
Like all of us, even in physio school, like we don't, I tell clients, I'm like, we don't really learn this in our actual master's degree. Like this is all post grad work that we learn about the pelvic floor more so. I'm not surprised. I tell clients like you're not alone that you like know nothing about these muscles.
So let's start there. Um, cause that's also going to take some of the fear away if you learn how to connect, um, and understand these muscles more. So we start there, you know, activating, but also the release work as well. Um, and then over sessions, depending when I start seeing them, we're also doing mental prep.
So. It's great to do physical prep, you know, positions for labor, what their partner can do is really, really important, um, options. But if you don't have a way to focus through each contraction and be present, all the other stuff will go out the window because you're not able to cope through each one. So mental prep, we go through of.
What do they think will work to keep them present, whether it's listening to a meditation, affirmations, visually seeing affirmations, you know, silence, music. We start pretty early with that and I have them practice whatever it is, start listening to whatever it is early on. So when you get to labor, your nervous system is already, um, connected to once they hear something, specific thing.
They relax. So we do start that pretty early on. Um, and then yeah, kind of different options, medicated, unmedicated, like I said, labour positions. Breathing. We do go through perineal massage a bit later, but I'll have them get to know their pelvic floor sooner while they can still reach their pelvic floor as well.
Um, whether they have pelvic floor tension or not, I'm like, again, these are muscles. We don't know much about ourselves, like our own muscles. Right. So getting them, you know, to actually feel their own pelvic floor as well. And that's why it can be helpful after, um, having an internal pelvic floor exam after explaining kind of how that works, um, and talking them through it, then they can get an idea of what their own pelvic floor, um, feels like.
So that's part of it too. And definitely we bring partners into it so they can always attend a session to learn strategies, all the labor positions in that, hands on things to help their clients or, um, their partner in labor. But I also tell partners like, super common when they're in labor. Sometimes we don't want to be touched.
So I don't want to just teach hip squeezes and sacral pressure and acupressure because your partner may not want you within two feet and don't be offended. That's very normal. So let's find ways again, making sure. Um, your partner is drinking, going pee, like how to position change, all these things that they can help that way.
And I find when partners are more confident than the, the, you know, the person giving birth is a lot more confident and less stressed. So that I find, um, really, really key. And then also around like informed consent, informed refusal, um, advocating for your preferences, creating preferences, even from that day one.
Um, So a lot of aspects that way, but even going back a bit, like at the start, I do find a missing piece with kind of traditional birth prep is not addressing the symptoms, right? Because through addressing pelvic girdle pain or incontinence or prolapse in pregnancy, you get to know your body more. And that in itself.
is part of the physical prep, um, for birth. So that's why I find it's like I see clients through all those stages, um, or getting ahead of symptoms, um, if we can. So that's typically what, um, the birth prep looks like. And that's kind of, I used to do it more so near the end. I've the last couple of years, I start labor prep a lot sooner.
And I think a lot of people like that because traditionally we usually just. Get it all at the end. And I think when you can digest it as you go, and that's also like in my online program, that's why I've set it up that way too, so that you're getting the information and then you apply it and then information and apply it versus just.
All at the end. Yeah. Yeah. Live. I love how you were talking about like affirmations and the mental prep. I often will tell people to not underestimate the power of like something that usually you have on in the background, you know, when you're cooking or something that, so I always give the example, I watched friends or had it on in the background, my entire second labor.
That's what I put on to like, I know it like the back of my hand. It's always on in the background. Pardon me. Probably hear my kids screaming. Um, they just got home. Um, and yeah, I feel like it just really helped calm me because it centered me and I was like, Oh, I know this joke. This feels familiar. Yes. I love that Dayna.
Like I really think and that shows, right. It can be anything, but it's tapping into like auditory wise. What. can help you stay focused. So I love that. And did you two know you have that in common? Because I feel like Rhonda, you're always talking on social media. That's how we bonded in physio school. I think it was like day one or day two of physio school.
It came up that we loved friends and we were best friends from that day on. One of us like quoted. Friends at one point I was like, I see you. You know? Yeah. did. We just become best friends, . Aw, that's so awesome. Awesome. And so I think you talk a lot or I know you talk a lot about how preparing for birth and, and coming to pelvic floor physiotherapy, you're actually preparing for postpartum during pregnancy can, so can you speak a little bit about that?
Yeah. So. I find clients really like if I can see them in pregnancy and then postpartum I'm like we usually the last session or two we'll talk about postpartum recovery ahead so that's that prep ahead but then I'm like All of this is going to sound really familiar because member day one, when we started with your breath and connect to your pelvic floor, that is literally what you're going to do early postpartum.
So it's already there. Like they already have, um, the sensory side of things of how to activate and release and breathe. So that's not new for their body to learn. Yes, it may feel different because whether you've had stitches or not, your pelvic floor had to stretch a lot. So it'll be swollen. Um, the nerves need some time to recover as well.
So I prepare, they won't feel as strong typically as they did before, but they know their brain knows that connection. Um, so that I find is a big part, but then also how same, like the strength training, I'm like, especially first time moms, I'm like, I know you have no idea about this yet, but trust me, like postpartum, there is a lot of strength involved and it's awkward.
So I want to prep you for all the lifting and the caring you're going to have to do postpartum, but the awkward stuff. You're not going to be able to lift your baby from the crib with a neutral spine. No. So let's prep you for that because we all learn that in school, right? And I guess going back to one of your initial questions, that was probably a big surprise.
I would say postpartum is like the things we learned of like how you're supposed to do postpartum, you know, lift things. And I threw that out the window after the first one. And I know so many of our mentors, like Anthony Lowe talks about this of it's. It is awkward. So can we train for that versus preparing, you know, moms for an unrealistic expectation of, you know, all the physical stuff, postpartum.
So we're doing a lot of that. Also a lot of, um, I would say one sided or asymmetrical strength training, because a lot of it, you've got a car seat in one side and you've got something in the other side. Like it's not. Often we're doing the same amount of work with both sides of our body. So I'm like, let's prep in pregnancy for that.
Um, and then it comes back postpartum. So those would be some key things. And then also, um, postpartum recovery items to have ahead and how to use them, um, put them on your registry. And I find like, I'm the friend who I was the one gifting, you know, perineal spray to friends, right? Like all those things.
And I'm like, I know they're not going to get doubles. So this works out well, and they'll thank me later for it. Um, because again, it's these things, if you've gone through it, and then you can help a friend, especially first time, um, first time moms go through. So, we go through all of that in terms of, um, understanding recovery items to have ahead of time, and then also in terms of, Yeah.
Kind of appropriate rehab exercises, those first four to six weeks. Cause people get told do nothing or just do everything. And I always tell them, I'm like, look, you might feel great postpartum and you might be really tempted to go for like a 30, 40 minute walk, a couple of days postpartum. Yeah. I'm like, have my voice in your head saying like.
Not like, it's one of those things I'm very much about empowering clients. I want them to find the edge. Like I want them to be challenged, but also have respect for their body and what it, how it needs to heal. Right. And so I talked to him about like, if you're feeling great, awesome. You will probably want to keep feeling that way going backwards is really frustrating.
And some, I have clients who have, and they come when I see them usually three, four weeks postpartum, we'll have our first appointment, um, virtually. And sometimes they'll say, you know what? I felt good. And I remember you saying that, and I still went for my walk and yeah, I came back with pain and I learned my lesson.
Yeah. So I get it that sometimes people, you have to kind of go through it to feel it. But at least if I can give that little bit of a warning ahead of time, that will stick. And even if they kind of push it one time and realize maybe it wasn't great at it, they're like, okay, I'm cool. Now I'm going to keep the slower pace so I can get where I want to in the longterm actually faster.
Um, so yeah, we go through. rehab exercises they can do. And also it's, it is the walking. I find, again, people get told like, don't do physical exercise. However, walk as much as you want. And when we know, like, again, whether you've had a vaginal or cesarean birth, like your pelvic floor has been affected, it's going to be more tired.
It's not going to be as flexible, as strong as it was. Um, post caesarean, again, even though they don't cut through your, uh, muscles because of the connection, your abs are very much affected. So even standing up tall post caesarean is really challenging. So with walking, I give guidance like first week, if you can rest like as much as you can, like, please.
And that's what we talk about postpartum supports ahead of time too. Who, like partner, friends, family, who. can be there to physically support. Um, and do you feel, cause I always ask, I'm like, okay, so and so can be there. Do you feel you could ask them to do anything or do you kind of feel like you have to tiptoe around what you can ask them to do and will they listen?
Right. So that they get an idea ahead of time, who the best supports would be, who they can ask. Um, and then professional supports too. Right. Like. If they're seeing me in pregnancy, they got a pelvic physio, but again, we talked about lactation consultants, um, also even like therapists in the area, social workers, um, other, you know, osteopaths, all the different professionals that they can see.
So they feel like they have a good, um, support system after and thinking about it ahead, um, is great too. So that's. That's, I find what we're going through and post Caesarean recovery too, because I have some clients, their goal is, I don't want a Caesarean. Like I've definitely gotten that day one. And I'm like, totally understand.
How do you feel about also being prepared in case that happens? Because in North America, it's around 30%. And they're like, okay, yes, I definitely want to be prepared. So we're talking about that too. And I think a lot, um, My clients who are physios, I see a lot of like care providers and they're like OBs, GPs, midwives, physios, RMTs, I find it's the, um, physios and like allied health, they're actually the most surprised with the lack of postpartum care.
Yeah, like, I actually thought they were gonna give me more, especially post caesarean and they're like I got pain meds and sent home and I'm like, Mm hmm. So I think and then a lot of times like I'm even thinking one of my clients in my head right now like she's going to go into pelvic health. Um, and I think her experience in that whole kind of postpartum system definitely like kind of is pushing that too.
Um, so just preparing with. With what you can ahead, I totally get you cannot prepare for everything, but it goes back to pregnancy and birth. It's like being prepared of how to navigate how your recovery is going to give you more, um, more options. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. Yeah, I think I, I went into both my experiences sort of ignorance is bliss.
And I feel like I was sort of prepared for pregnancy and birth in the sense that, yeah, that's the only research I did. But had zero awareness about postpartum because again, you know, society taught me because I was fit because I was strong, I was active, I was going to have such an easy time. So I just thought I didn't need to know anything.
Right. So I think, you know, we all live in a fishbowl where we see things are changing and improving. But hearing you say that where a lot of practitioners are still, you know, mentioning to you that they just felt so lost in the dark, that clearly still needs to get a lot better. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I, I think it's great to see so many of like care providers, L and D nurses, doulas.
So many are wanting to get more education. Like I, I feel privileged to be able to get that back. Kind of that behind the scenes idea of like how much training they get in pelvic health. Um, and about this and being able to be a part of that. increasing their education, but then also knowing that then they can pass that on to their patients.
And hopefully we will be seeing more changes, um, in the system. Well, well, we're all in this, in this together. So could you tell us a little bit more about what it means? to be a physio doula that I think that's so cool. So I did my initial training. So it was, yeah, it was before I got pregnant with PIPA.
So yeah, I guess about seven years ago. Um, and there was a physio from the U S she came here, she had kind of created, um, a course there and she came here and taught it and it really blended like birth doula training and expertise with the physio expertise and everyone who was in, it was also a public physio.
It was not. There was no internal, so it wasn't like a public physio course, but then we also had all that background and so did she. So it was really neat to kind of blend both sides of it together. And I find, because it was like, then I got pregnant with Pippa, so it's like I didn't, I I don't go to births now.
I use all of that within, um, education within the clinic and to create bump to birth. Um, but it was really neat kind of initially too. And I would love to get back kind of when the kids are a bit older. Cause I'd especially listeners, you may not know doulas, like you're on call two weeks before the due date to two weeks after the due date, like literally have your, you know, sell with you.
You're on call constantly. Um, you can't really go anywhere cause you need to be able to kind of be there quickly. Um, and so it's just with little ones and also clinical practice, it's just not, not really possible to do that right now, but yeah, so that's kind of how the training was. It was probably one of my absolute favorite physio trainings like ever.
And then from there I also did another I did a regular doula training because I really wanted to see the difference. I wanted to know like what was so different about what we did and I definitely saw it was a great training. And they did actually have a bit of public health and I've actually done a lot of guest speaking and different doula trainings to be able to bring that aspect into it.
Um, But yeah, because there is, there isn't necessarily like the pelvic health side. Um, and I really bring that into everything like labor positions, pushing, minimizing, tearing, all those things. Um, and then now there is a course through pelvic health solutions who is taught by Trish. So she was actually my physio dealer with Jacksbirth.
Um, and I get to assist that course, which is like such an honor and so fun. I do it with my friend Rob and she assists as well. Um, so we get to be a part of that. Teaching, um, to, and then guest speaking from there as well. And then yeah, with bump to birth again, bringing that's, that was a big part of kind of, you know, the education brought into that.
Cause I did notice that with PIPAs, um, like I said, it was already in public health and I wanted to go to all these prenatal courses and my husband was a great sport. He came to all of them. And, uh, and cause I was like, Hey, I'm like, If I could learn any more, you know, tools, tips for my own pregnancy and birth.
Awesome. But I also wanted to see when my clients were learning. And so what I did find was if the pelvic floor was brought up, it was usually Kegels kind of a blanket statement, not really explaining much how to do them or anything. Um, maybe perineal massage. And not the most updated information and even people in the class be like, I've got pelvic pain or I've got this.
And sometimes they'd be told of like, yes, like that is just kind of part of it. I remember just kind of like trying to put my blinders on and just being like, so I need, I need to be a part of changing this. So that's why like really. Lots of education, whether through the podcast, social media, online program.
Like I wanted to be able to reach more people because it's amazing one to one clients, but you realize there's only so many people you can actually physically see. Um, so yeah, so that's a bit about the physio dealer train. There's definitely physios who do like Trish, um, cause her kids are older. Like she's gone to quite a few births over the year.
Um, she went to mine and Robin's, um, as well. And, uh, and yeah, so there's definitely physios who do. Go. And like I said, with my first was my naturopath, who was also a doula. So kind of similar in her profession as well. So cool. I took that course, uh, with, with Trish public health solutions. It was one of the most fascinating courses I've taken to date.
I loved it so much. So if you are a physio or health professional listening, um, take it. It was fantastic. Yeah. It was wonderful. Okay, so you've mentioned your bump to birth program as one of the ways that people can can work with you is more to say about the bump to birth. How else can people find you?
How can we work with you? Yeah. So yeah, bump to birth is my online program. So like I said, it kind of All the steps I teach clients in more of a general way so it's not individualized because you can, there's an on demand option so you can sign up anytime throughout the year, do it at your own pace and really get not only the education guidance but I'm very much about taking action because that was the other issue I find with prenatal classes is sometimes you go for a weekend, you get this information, maybe you'll practice a bit and then that's it and then you and your partner are like, Do you remember what we did?
Um, so it's very much broken down into really like small lessons, really easy to digest, but then always with a practical part. So whether it's an exercise strategy, you want to practice it. Um, And it goes through how to have less pain and pelvic floor symptoms in pregnancy to all the preparing mentally and physically for birth, minimizing tearing, um, lots about pushing, because that's another topic I find is not always done in depth in prenatal courses.
So that's a real passion of mine. And then there's the postpartum recovery. So those first six weeks postpartum. Similar to what I talked about today, we cover everything from recovery items, supports to have in place. What is your six week appointment really tell you that you have, um, and rehab exercises and guidance.
So you really get that those first six weeks. And a lot of people will then repeat that six week exercise series as well, and then continue on whether seeing someone or another program. Um, I also see clients one on one, um, in clinic and, Absolutely. Like love it. And I was thinking, did we ever graduate the same time?
Like, have we all been physios for like 12 years? Yeah. Yes. Is that when we graduated? Yes. Okay. So we all, yes. We're the same, right? Um, Oh my gosh. It was like so long ago. Um, cause it's great to be able to do the one on one and, um, and yeah, for a number of years, my practice has been focused pregnancy, birth prep postpartum, but then also preconception.
Um, And I have, I've had for a while, like a pretty long wait list. And that was part of also creating bump to birth. So if I can't, cause some people don't hear, um, about seeing a physio in pregnancy until later. And then by the time they could see me they're postpartum. So that's why I kind of have the two offerings.
So if you're wanting to learn, then bump to birth is a great option, um, for pregnancy. Um, with that, but yeah, love my one to one clients. They're so motivated and awesome to work with. Um, so those, I'd say would be the two main ways I work with people. And people can sign up for bump to birth anytime, Anita.
Yeah. So the on demand is open year round, and then I do twice a year, a group option, which includes going through the modules live together. So then you can get, um, kind of coaching and that way and be able to ask questions live. Awesome. And how can we find you on Instagram? Yeah. So I'm at Holistic Health Physio.
Um, probably the most common place I am on, uh, on social media and love connecting with you two on there as well. You're always sharing awesome info. Yeah. Anita's page is so great. You offer so much. You're just a wealth of advice and yeah, so much great resources. And also the sort of, um, motivation for Dayna and I to start the podcast was your and Jesse's podcast.
To birth and beyond podcast. So yeah, how long have you been doing that now? Well, it was, it's been, I think like four and a half years this year. I remember messaging Jess. I was like, is it been four years? Has it really? And I'm like, we always remember because our kids are both six, like they're each six months apart.
Hers are six months older. So, um, Yeah, I was almost pregnant with Jack. He was pregnant when we were in a few months in. So I'm like, Oh my gosh, it's been about four and a half years, but we're like not planning on stopping anytime soon. It's been fun. And there's always topics people want to hear about and explaining.
I even look back, right? Like you'll look back at some of the first episodes and be like, you know, maybe I talk about things a bit differently now or explain things differently. So it's nice to then have multiple episodes on a similar topic too. Yeah. Yeah. So check that out. We'll put that in the show notes.
Absolutely. Thank you so much for joining us, Anita. You are, you are a gem in this profession and thank you so much for being here. Thank you both for having me on. Thanks for listening to today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed the conversation. If you liked what you heard, we would love if you could share this with a friend, leave us a review or subscribe to anywhere that you listen to your podcasts.
Thanks for being here.
