Pregnant Women Can Do Something - Almost Anything- And Improve Their Birth Outcomes

So the title might seem like a strange statement. However, after reading through studies and articles in pregnancy magazines, I find that the same theme comes up over again and again.

For example, an article on prenatal chiropractic in Midwifery Today's Summer 2014 issue stated that mothers and infants had better outcomes including higher fetal weight, less prematurity, and fewer interventions. After reading many studies of massage during pregnancy, that article could have had the word chiropractic replaced with the word massage, since the results were the same. Since prenatal chiropractic is a special certification, you can find a chiropractor at icpa4kids.org by clicking here.

In a studyon our website about prenatal yoga compared with massage, the attendants of prenatal yoga classes had similar results to those mentioned for chiropractic. Prenatal massage has also been show to reduce prematurity, improve birth outcomes, and significantly shorten labor times. Many other alternative practices have similar results, shown in other studies.

So I started to realize that if a pregnant woman does just one thing from a choice of many, she improves her chances of having an uncomplicated birth with a stronger infant. I think a study should be done to show what happens when more than one of these things are combined. Are the effects cumulative? Considering that the benefits of massage have been shown in another study to be cumulative, I suspect that the benefits of all of these alternative healthcare methods are.

So what does this mean for pregnant women? Basically, it should be recommended that every pregnant woman do at least ONE of these things during and possibly after her pregnancy. But the best advice would be that every pregnant woman should do as many of these things as her budget and time will allow.

Every pregnant woman who wants to go through labor and avoid a C section should take a childbirth class. In addition, every pregnant woman should have at least one massage, chiropractic session, or acupuncture session, depending on her preference. She should also sign up for and take a series of prenatal yoga classes. This will help her to have the best birth outcome possible for her and her baby. Many midwives and obstetricians are beginning to realize the benefits of alternative care for pregnant women. This is likely to increase in the future, since an uncomplicated pregnancy makes their job easier.

Top Benefits of Having a Post Partum Doula

A doula is a relatively new profession in the US. There are two types of doulas: those who assist the pregnant woman during labor and birth and those who assist afterwards. The doula I am referring to here is the type that assists after birth.

In many cultures, the new mother is assisted for the first few weeks at home by her mother or sisters. This is true of Indian cultures, Chinese culture, as well as others. In the US, however, the new mom is often left to fend for herself, with no one to help. Her husband generally returns to work after a few weeks, and she is on her own. This often makes caring for the new baby difficult.

A baby brings a host of new responsibilities. They must be fed, and with the new recommendations about breastfeeding, as well as the new baby's tiny stomach, that often occurs every twenty minutes during the first few days or weeks of life. Add to that the need to change diapers, clean the house, wash dishes, do laundry, and other household chores that were easy before, and it is easy to see how the new mom can become overwhelmed.

So this is where a post partum doula can be of great help. Post Partum doulas are trained to help the new mom care for her baby, as well as assist with the household chores of cleaning dishes, doing laundry, as well as cleaning in general. This can make the new mom's life much less stressful, as well as help her to focus on the task of bonding and breastfeeding her new baby.

When a baby is just born, they may need to feed every twenty minutes or more to grow properly. When a woman is breastfeeding, this can be a challenge in general. Even more so when she is left to do it all alone.

In addition, a post partum doula is trained in the care of the new mom. If she is not a massage therapist herself, she is likely to recommend massage therapy for the new mom. Post natal massage has been shown to speed recovery from birth, increase milk production, reduce post partum depression, along with many other benefits. Your doula is likely to help you find a therapist to come to your home, as generally the baby cannot go outside by order of their pediatrician.

In addition, your doula can help with anxiety about the baby getting enough food, as well as other concerns you may have about caring for the new member of your family. Post natal depression is a real concern, and a doula can help with this. Often this type of depression stems from the new mom being alone to take care of the baby and the home, so having someone to help can go a long way in alleviating this type of depression. According to Mothering the Mother by Klaus et al, these doulas have been shown to help with depression in a number of studies.

In all, a post partum doula would be a worthwhile investment for you and your family. You can find these doulas listed on the DONA website, the doula match website, and the Childbirth International Find A Doula website (Click on each of the site names to link to their sites). For more info about post natal massage, please visit our website at njmassage.info by clicking here.

Choosing A Home Birth – Your Pregnancy Can End At Home With Proper Preparation

When you are pregnant, you have many different people offering you so many suggestions that it can be confusing to know what the right choice is for you and your baby. Most of your friends and relatives have given birth in a hospital, and they argue that this is the safest way. However, more women than ever in the United States are choosing to have home births, and most of those births are uneventful in terms of complications. They also create a deeper bond and a more lasting memory for the woman giving birth.

If you read stories about home births online (such as on the forum located here), you will find that almost universally, women were extremely happy with their choice. If you think about it, it is easy to see why. A birth at home is in the most comfortable environment for you. You can shower if you would like, and you can move around your home freely. The lighting is the type of lighting that you like best (no harsh overhead fluorescent lighting), and you bed is there for you right after you have given birth. In addition, it is going to become the most familiar place for your baby once he is born, so why not start him out in the place where he will be spending most of his time and life.

So, if a home birth sounds like a good choice for you, there are some things that you can do to ensure that you are able to have one. Of course, it is not possible to prepare in advance for every eventuality, and some women are not able to have a home birth even if they want one. Conditions such as preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and placenta Previa are certain to prevent a home birth, since they are complications that are much more likely to require the intervention of a hospital medical team.

However, for those women who are having a normal pregnancy, with no complications, who are at low risk, there are a number of things that you can do so that your wishes can be honored. First, be sure you are getting adequate nutrition. Following the basic food groups, having good portion sizes, and eating whole grains and healthy fruits and vegetables can help ensure you are having good nutrition. The baby’s weight is also a good indicator, so be sure your doctor agrees that your weight gain and the baby’s are appropriately progressing.

Second, you should ensure that you are taking the proper pre-natal vitamins. For the most part, doctors and midwives today have been recommending pre-natal vitamins based on the favorable results of many studies, including those performed by the March Of Dimes. Certain vitamins have been definitively shown to prevent birth defects, and increase fetal health.

Third, you may wish to consider having a pre-natal massage session or a series of sessions before you give birth, and then continuing after you have given birth, preferably in your home. Due to limitations to mobility, getting yourself to a spa may become impossible, and massage therapy can be crucial for your pregnancy. Rather than allowing the lack of mobility to stop you from having one, it is best to have one in your home. Evidence is mounting with each passing month and year on the incredible benefits to both mother and baby of prenatal massage therapy.

Fourth, it is advisable to sign up for a pre-natal yoga class, or to obtain a prenatal yoga video, such as can be found on amazon by clicking here. Pre-natal yoga has demonstrated beneficial effects for every stage of pregnancy, and many physicians and midwives heartily recommend the practice. Like massage, it can help your body be prepared for labor by loosening and relaxing the pelvic floor muscles, making pushing during labor easier.

Fifth, it is strongly advised that you hire a doula, in addition to a skilled and experienced midwife. The doula will help the laboring woman with emotional support, as well as helping to calm the laboring woman and her partner. Having a doula is almost certainly a must if one wants to have a natural childbirth at home. You can check the links here and here to help you find a certified doula in the New Jersey area.

While there are risks of a home birth, the risks are generally small. Usually, the risks involve complications during the birth that were not foreseen, leading to the need to be transferred to a hospital. Prior to the 1900s, nearly all births were home births. Advances in modern medical treatment have made even home births safer, with midwives generally bringing fetal monitoring equipment with them, along with oxygen for the mother or baby. With proper preparation, it has been found that home births are nearly as safe as those in a hospital or birthing center, and their popularity is on the rise. Research for this article was performed on The Mayo Clinic's home birth page, the American Pregnancy Association’s page, and a recent Huffington Post article detailing the results of a study of home births in America.

Since more and more modern women are choosing to insist on a natural childbirth, feeling that their decision matters and that they have a say, it is only natural that home births are following in the footsteps of this growing trend. Just as C-sections come with many risks, but are performed routinely, perhaps there will come a time when births are routinely performed at home even though there are some risks to this. If you are considering a home birth, then you are paving the way for future women just like yourself to make the same decision. You are treating pregnancy and birth as a natural process rather than a medical condition, and this is to be applauded. We can only hope that more women in the future will follow in these footsteps toward a more integrated approach to their own labor and birth.

Why Every Pregnant Woman Should Educate Herself About Pregnancy

Every pregnant woman should read at least one book about her pregnancy. I would state, actually, that every pregnant woman should read every book and internet article about pregnancy that she can. It is very important to be informed. In the introduction to the book Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn, by Simkin et al., the author states that “…expectant parents [should] have a portable, comprehensive, and unbiased source of factual information and sound advice…” about their pregnancy, as well as how to care for the new baby once it is born.

While this is an excellent book, and every pregnant woman should obtain a copy, there are many other books, websites, scientific studies, and scholarly articles that one should research upon becoming pregnant. Since the evolution of the e-reading device, as well as magazines available on Google’s newsstand app for smart devices, it is not difficult to get most of the information you need right on your smartphone or tablet device, thus making it easier than ever to make informed decisions about your birth plan, your medical care, and the desired outcome of your labor.

Some of the decisions to make involve medications such as epidurals, whether you want a natural birth or C-section (this desire cannot always be honored, although it is best to know what each option entails beforehand), and whether you want a hospital birth, home birth, birthing center birth, or a water birth. Each of these decisions required careful research on the risks and benefits, the statistics regarding success rates, and possible side effects or harmful effects on you and the baby for each decision.

While pregnancy is a completely natural event, there have been advances in medical science that every woman should know about. There is also a lot of knowledge among the general public about certain advances and interventions, but some are not fully understood. There are procedures that bring with them a certain level of higher risk, but many women may not be aware of these risks.

For example, an epidural and an amniocentesis are both rather routine in this day and age. However, there are some women who would not want either of them if they were aware of the risks and possible damage that can occur to mother or fetus. In the case of an epidural, there is a 1 in 1,000 risk of temporary nerve damage, and a 1 in 13,000 risk of permanent nerve damage in the leg, foot, or stomach. This nerve damage can result in numb patches on these body parts. Permanent urinary incontinence can rarely result from this procedure as well.

The overall complication risk, including all complications both minor and major, is 23% This is according to the website listed in the next paragraph. The rate of caesarian section increases among women who have had epidurals, by 7 percentage points. Other complications have included a drop in blood pressure, the need for assistance in delivery with forceps or vacuum, as well as fetal distress, blood vessel trauma, and punctured Dura.

Infections, high fever, and backache were also common. This list is only a brief discussion about some of the problems associated with epidurals. Every woman who is considering having one should know all of the risks. The website located here is well-referenced, with many studies about epidurals listed in the footnotes. While the pain of labor is intense, and is obviously what has prompted the popularity of this procedure, it is still best to know as much as possible before accepting it. Also, while the risks of major problems are rather small, especially compared to other medical procedures, it is still best to make such a decision with both eyes open.

Similarly, an amniocentesis is a routinely administered procedure, where doctors may minimize the risks of the procedure when discussing the procedure with a possible candidate for it. Since many miscarriages occur in the second trimester, when this test is performed, it is very hard to accurately estimate the miscarriage risk. The accepted risk for miscarriage because of an amniocentesis is between 1 in 200 and 1 in 400.

To some, that may not seem a small number. This test, however, is the best way to test for a genetic abnormality. This test is performed in the second trimester to allow a woman the option of aborting the pregnancy if a genetic abnormality which will create a significant burden to the family is discovered. The burdens of having a genetically abnormal child include financial burdens, as well as social burdens with regard to when the child is in school, as well as in normal social situations with friends and family.

There are other risks of this procedure as well, including causing uterine infections, the needle coming into contact with the baby possibly causing damage, and causing the water to break (i.e. creating a leak in the amniotic fluid). This would cause labor to be induced prematurely, since the amniotic fluid is what keeps the baby alive and nourished in the womb. Click on the website names that follow for links to discussions of the risks and benefits of an amniocentesis at Babycenter and the American Pregnancy Association.

In the case that a baby will have a genetic abnormality, if the woman is not planning to have an abortion (whether for religious, moral, or other personal reasons), then the performance of the test is questionable. At the URL located here, the doctor speaks about the increasing risk of having a baby with Down’s syndrome for people who are older adults.

The benefits of this test are significantly mitigated if they lose the baby due to the test itself. And again, if they are not planning to abort the fetus, then the advantage of having the test may be quite small since there is nothing that can be done. Amniocentesis has very accurate results with regard to predicting Down’s syndrome. However, many women feel that a 1 in 200 potential risk for miscarriage from this procedure is too high and have chosen to not have one done.

There are hundreds of other reasons to become as informed as possible about pregnancy, especially with regard to your birthing choices. Whether to have your birth in a hospital, birthing center, or at home, are each choices that come with certain potential risks as well as certain potential outcomes. For example, if you choose to give birth in a hospital, you have a greater chance of having a cesarean section. Giving birth at home is nearly as safe as giving birth in a hospital or birthing center, according to recent research. An article at The Huffington Post, and another at the American Pregnancy Association go into greater details, and can be accessed by clicking on the website's name in the preceding sentence.

Home births are usually only allowed or normal pregnancies with low risk of complications. The disadvantage to a home birth is that there is no way to do a C-section if something goes wrong, and only a midwife would be willing to perform the delivery. This is probably the most important choice to make during your pregnancy, before the time of labor comes.

There are many other compelling reasons why every pregnant woman should be as informed as possible. With the evolution of smartphones and tablets, it is no longer even necessary to carry around a bunch of books to read about pregnancy and the birth experience. Kindles and e-readers, as well as other apps are available to read all about pregnancy right on your smartphone. Scientific studies and other information are available through social media sites and other apps. Every pregnant woman should learn about the procedures she will be having before undergoing them, and her birth partner should take an active role in learning to be better able to help her during the birth experience.

Such foreknowledge will make the pregnant woman feel more empowered and in control of her own pregnancy. Since much of pregnancy belongs to another (the fetus), having the most information can serve to make a woman feel that she is more of an active participant in the process, rather than just a vessel for the entrance of another being into this world. While it is certainly the case that the process is focused on the birth of a new person, it will help the pregnant woman to know that she, too, is an active participant in her own life and the creation of the life of another, since both lives will be forever changed by this experience.

Some of the Strange and Fun Experiences and Facts About Being Pregnant

An interesting slideshow on the Australian Mother and Baby website, which can be linked to here, talks about some of the stranger aspects of being pregnant. Some of them are very cute, so I will share some of them here.

The first interesting fact that is not widely known is that you only need 200 extra calories a day when you are pregnant in order for the baby to have enough nutrition. A normal healthy woman should gain only about 25-35 pounds, so if you are adding this amount of daily calories, it is easy to stay within the normal range. This extra caloric need can be satisfied by, for example, an extra slice of toast and a banana with your breakfast meal.

Something else not many people know is that when you become pregnant, and especially when you find out you are pregnant, it takes a very long time for your pregnancy to be noticeable. Then, if you don’t tell people, no one will ask you for quite a while, because they do not want to offend you if you are not pregnant.

Something that most people do know is that when you are pregnant, your hormones are totally crazy. You may burst into tears over nothing, or start fights with people over some perceived offense, when you normally would not act that way.

Another great article about fun and interesting facts of pregnancy can be found by clicking on this parents.com link. The first interesting fact they mention is that you will stop traffic whenever you cross the street when you are pregnant. Also, many people will look at your growing belly and smile, since your being pregnant has made their day brighter somehow. Of course, we all know this doesn’t happen with everyone, but it does happen sometimes.

When you are pregnant, you might notice that you can eat a whole pint of chocolate ice cream without feeling guilty. And you can repeat the same thing every night. You can also eat pickles with the ice cream, and think it tastes great! Or some other food combination that when you are not pregnant would thoroughly disgust you, but when you are pregnant, it sounds like heaven on earth.

You also take lots of naps when you are pregnant, and again, you don’t feel guilty or lazy when you do this. You also get to watch your husband turn into a daddy when “he kisses your belly goodnight, reads to the baby in utero, and stays up until 3 am putting the crib together – just in case the baby decides to come eight weeks early.” :-)

You don’t feel quite so embarrassed in a bathing suit, since you want to show off your belly instead of hiding it. You also get to imagine the possibilities. And my favorite from their list is the incredible anticipation. It is the most exciting anticipation of your life waiting for the baby to be born.

So these two lists had some really cute and interesting fun facts about pregnancy, and I hope you enjoyed reading them. For more cute and interesting pregnancy facts, you can visit our twitter page, where we tweet about pregnancy pretty often, as well as our facebook page, where more fun and cute pregnancy facts are often shared. Click here for our twitter account, and here for our facebook page. You can also visit our pregnancy massage page by clicking here.

Post-Natal Massage: Helping the New Mommy to Unwind

Being a new mom is rough. You don't get very much sleep (three hours or less becomes the norm), you are always tired, and care for the baby is non-stop. The baby will want to be fed every three hours or more, and eventually your energy reserves, which were already somewhat drained by the last trimester of pregnancy, can feel completely used up. You feel burnt out and just want to some time to relax and unwind.

Post-natal massage can help the new mother to deal with some of the stress and anxiety that comes with a new baby. Our certified post-natal therapist is used to being interrupted by, or being delayed by, the feeding cries of the newborn, and it is always OK. Even if there are a few extra minutes before the massage starts, it does not come off your time. We have allowed for the extra time when we set up the appointment.

You will have the full hour to become fully relaxed, thus preparing you for the continued demands of the new baby. Although, as we all know, caring for this new bundle of joy is and will be one of the greatest joys in your life, and it is really short lived. Breastfeeding does not go on forever, and once it is over it does not start again until you have another new baby.

So this is a time that you want to savor as much as possible, but if you are completely exhausted and drained, it can be difficult to do (and even harder to remember if you are half asleep). So, a post-natal massage can help the new mom to relax and be strong and awake, thus being better prepared to become fully present to these first few months of her new babies life.

If you would like to learn more about post-natal massage, or to book an appointment, please visit our website by clicking here.

Post-Natal Massage: The Many Benefits of A Post-Natal Series

As women from India have long realized, post-natal massage is totally essential to every woman. In India, massage therapists travel to the home of the new mom to provide massage therapy every couple of days for several weeks after she has had her child. This helps the new mom in a variety of ways.

First, and perhaps most importantly, massage can help the new mom produce enough milk. Very often, when it is a woman’s first child, her body is not capable of producing enough milk. This often leads to supplementation with store bought formula, since regardless of the mom’s capacity to produce; the infant’s needs are ever present. So, to avoid this, post-natal massage can help the mother’s body to produce more oxytocin. This hormone is responsible for stimulating the production of milk, so this can help to increase the amount of milk she is producing.

Second, this same hormone stimulation is well known for facilitating the bonding between the mother and her new baby. It is the bonding hormone, in addition to being the milk production hormone. Every new mom should have at least one post-natal massage session to help her body adjust to its new job of producing milk for the newborn.

A third benefit of post-natal massage is in reducing the amount of stretch marks, and the severity thereof. While one massage may not help much in this area, several massages over the course of the few weeks following birth can have a significant effect on stretch marks. Massage helps restore the skin to normal, and helps bring blood flow to the skin of the abdomen, conditioning it and restoring its suppleness and flexibility.

There are several other helpful benefits of post-natal massage that are only available when a trained certified massage therapist provides it. Restoring the uterus to its proper place in the abdomen is one of the most crucial benefits. If the uterus is not restored to its proper place, the abdomen will never return to its prior shape. Other massage techniques can be applied at the abdomen to help it return to its normal size and shape. All of these techniques are best applied by a certified peri-natal massage therapist, to have the best result.

There are other benefits of post-natal massage, many of which are enumerated in studies that can be found on our massage benefits page, linked to by clicking here. If you would like more information on post-natal massage, or to book an appointment, please click here to visit our website.

Abdominal Massage During Pregnancy: Helping Your Baby in the Womb

Abdominal massage during pregnancy is quite healthy, both for you and for the baby yet to be born. Pre-natal massage therapists have been practicing abdominal massage since pre-natal massage has been taught. It has been found that, in addition to the benefits it gives to the mother, there are also benefits to the unborn baby.

As far as benefits to the mother, it helps to relax the mom to be more so that just massage everywhere else. It can help relax the musculature in the abdomen itself, which can become tired from carrying the extra weight.

In addition to the relaxation benefits, there are also cosmetic benefits to abdominal massage. During pregnancy, the formation of stretch marks is normally a fact of life. While this is so, even in spite of interventions, sometimes abdominal massage can help to reduce the formation of stretch marks by making the skin more pliable and by increasing blood flow to the area.

Now, when it comes to the unborn child, abdominal massage can have some helpful effects. First of all, it can help to calm the unborn baby and reduce stress levels in both his and his mother’s bloodstream.

Perhaps the most important benefit to the unborn child is when the baby is in the wrong position. Several techniques of pre-natal massage are specially reserved for the time when the birth is drawing near, and can provide a non-invasive way to get the fetus into the proper position for the birth itself. These techniques can help to turn the baby around, or even sometimes to help the baby to turn from upright to upside down, so that his head is prepared to exit the birth canal. While it is rare that a complete turning upside down can be accomplished through abdominal massage, it has happened.

Most commonly, it is possible for the baby to be rotated into the correct direction if the rotation is simply from back to front. Abdominal massage is a non-invasive way to cause the fetus to be in the proper position for birth. Many midwives are already aware of these techniques, and have been using them for many years to turn the fetus to the proper position.

When abdominal massage does not work, the midwife will have other techniques in her arsenal to use to help the fetus come out in the proper direction. It is normally the desire of the midwife to do everything possible to ensure a natural birth rather than a c-section, so abdominal massage, along with other techniques, can be helpful for this. Of course, having a pre-natal massage therapist present during the birth is also very helpful, as there will be techniques specific to massage therapy that can help to reduce a woman’s pain, and accelerate the birthing process. These techniques are the specialty of every pre-natal massage therapist, and can be very effective and helpful.

If you would like to learn more about pre-natal massage therapy, or to book an appointment, please click here to visit our website.

Pre-Natal Massage and Circulation: The Dangers of An Untrained Therapist

There are many incorrect views and mis-conceptions about the practice of pre-natal massage. The first view is that all pre-natal massage is dangerous and should be avoided. As with many things, this is a popular mis-conception. The second view is that all massage therapists can give pre-natal massage. This mis-conception is made stronger by the fact that many massage therapists will provide pre-natal massage when they are not certified.

When a woman becomes pregnant, there are many changes that her body goes through that must be understood by her massage therapist. Especially when it comes to circulation, there are many critical changes that take place that do indeed make massage therapy by an untrained therapist dangerous. When a woman becomes pregnant, her body dilates all of the veins in her system. This is fine, but when receiving a massage, it can become dangerous if it is given in the wrong areas.

Most massage therapists who are not trained in this area do not know that certain areas on the legs should not be massaged on a pregnant woman for her own safety. If these precautions are not followed, there can be serious consequences to the woman. The most important and dangerous consequence is a pulmonary embolism, which can be caused by excessive pressure on the woman’s legs.

A pulmonary embolism can easily become damaging and potentially deadly if it is not treated. And since the symptoms of a pulmonary embolism resemble those of other problems, such as a heart attack, diagnosis may be difficult. In most cases, this condition does not lead to death, but if the clot is large and blocks a large portion of the lung, it can cause death.

Massage therapists who are trained in pre-natal massage and post-natal massage are familiar with these issues, and are able to avoid areas where a deep vein thrombosis may occur. While a deep vein thrombosis, or deep blood clot attached to the wall of a vein or artery, is somewhat common during pregnancy, it is when it is dislodged from its location that it causes a problem. For this reason alone, it is wisest to seek out a massage therapist who is trained in this area, for your own protection.

There are also other reasons to seek out a trained therapist as well. The more training a therapist has as it relates to your specific condition, the more techniques they will be aware of to specifically help you. For example, the aches and pains brought on by pregnancy can be better helped by someone who knows where they are likely to be. Also, a pre-natal massage therapist will be trained in abdominal massage, without fearing that she will hurt the fetus since she will be doing it properly, as trained.

For these reasons, among many others, a certified pre-natal massage therapist is a valuable addition to your pregnancy healthcare team. Mountainside On Site Massage Therapy has several trained pre-natal massage therapists available to provide massage to you during your pregnancy. Please click here to visit our website for more information, or to contact us to schedule a pre-natal massage.

Post-natal Massage: Helping to Restore Your Flatter Tummy

Most women who have had their first child are very disappointed with the speed at which their stomach returns to normal. In a normal situation, the stomach starts to flatten in a couple of weeks, and becomes more or less normal in a few months or more. I say more or less because without certain interventions, the tummy will not return to completely normal.


The interventions that I am mentioning specifically relates to reconditioning of the rectus abdominis so that it joins together again. Most women are not aware that the main muscle in the center of the stomach, the rectus abdominis, actually splits in half during pregnancy. If it did not split in half, it would become stretched and distended, thus becoming non-functional after the baby was born. Instead, our intelligent bodies preserve the form of the rectus abdominis by splitting it right in half down the middle, and sending half to one side of the body and the other half to the other side of the body.


Please click here to read the rest of this blog

Pre-Natal Massage: Preparing For A Natural Healthy Birth With Fewer Complications

It has been reported many times in the past few years that women in New Jersey have among the highest rates of cesarean sections in the country. For many women who have become pregnant, this is an alarming fact. It is sometimes a statistic that they do not want to add to. It has also become known in recent years that cesarean sections are not the best way for a woman to give birth. It is a major surgery that is, usually, not life threatening. However, there are many risks that are associated with it that can become life threatening. Some of the risks that are involved with a c-section are outlined in this excellent article that can be accessed by clicking here.


However, there is also a much longer post-partum recovery period simply due to the fact that she has just undergone a major surgical procedure. Pregnancy massage has been studied with regard to natural birth complications, with positive findings being reported by the Touch Research Institute. Fewer complications often mean a better chance of completing a natural, rather than a surgical, birth.

After you have given birth, the long sleepless nights begin. Along with that, if you are nursing, the neck and shoulder pains from long nursing times also begin. This is certainly not the ideal time to be recovering from a major operation. Many people do not realize that a c-section is a major operation simply because it is so common. There are some women who even have a scheduled c-section around their due date, and arrive in the hospital to deliver their baby on their own schedule.

As with everything else, every person has their own decisions to make for their own body and life. For some women, childbirth is a natural end to the pregnancy. More and more women are choosing to have their child in a safe environment with a midwife, a doula, and very often, a pre-natal and post-natal massage therapist. Other research by the Touch Research Institute has concluded that receiving pre-natal massage can help labor go more quickly and more smoothly, which is a very desirable outcome. Considering the recent rise in popularity of doulas and midwives, it is possible that the statistics mentioned above with regard to c-sections will change in the next few years.

Undoubtedly, there are situations where a c-section is absolutely necessary, and where not performing one might lead to the death of the child. Situations such as placenta previa, where the placenta blocks the passage to the birth canal, might necessitate a c-section. However, many midwives are experienced in restoring a natural birth situation even when conditions exist where a physician would normally call for a c-section.

Perhaps it is not well-known, but I have known many pregnant women who have given birth to breech babies under a midwife’s care without the need for surgery. Nuchal cord babies have also been safely naturally birthed with a midwife’s care. A nuchal cord birth occurs when the umbilical cord is wrapped around the baby’s neck. A good midwife will begin the natural birth, and when the head appears, quickly and deftly unwrap the cord, thus saving the infant from asphyxiation. These types of situations are covered in the training that a midwife receives, and experience and intuition also help the midwife to know what to do in these types of situations.

Many women who are interested in having a midwife are also referred to a pre-natal massage therapist, and may also have a massage therapist present during the labor and birth itself. In this case, the therapist may be able to help with the pain of labor, reduce the stress of labor, assist with the process of labor with certain acupressure techniques, and provide emotional support to the new mother as she gives birth to her child. Then, of course, continuing with massage therapy in post-natal treatments after the birth is always a wise decision. Other blogs on this site have discussed the benefits of post-natal massage therapy in great detail.

For more information on pre-natal massage therapy, please visit our website by clicking here.

Pre-Natal Massage: Preparing for the Rigors of Labor

Most women who have gone through the rigors of pregnancy and childbirth are familiar with the aches and pains that become a normal part of life afterward. For many women, for example, lower back pain starts during or after the birth of their first child. Neck and hip pain is also common during and after pregnancy.

This is why it is so important for women to have a pre-natal massage before they have given birth. Not only can it help reduce the aches and pains associated with the pregnancy, but it can also help to condition the mom-to-be for the rigorous activity that is childbirth. As the child is brought into the world, many muscles that have never been used are activated for the first time ever.

Uterine muscles, whose sole purpose is to birth a child, will suddenly become extremely active, as the new baby is pushed out of the womb. The activity is strenuous, as the muscles must contract forcefully enough to be successful in pushing the new baby into the world. This leads very often to fatigue in these very muscles, which most women have never noticed or knew they had. So there will now be new pains in places that were not ever an issue before.

Pre-natal massage can help to reduce some of this future pain, with gentle and careful abdominal massage, as well as other techniques. Some pre-natal massage therapists can assist with helping the mom-to-be relax the muscles in the pelvic floor region, thereby allowing the muscles of the uterus to be assisted and not have to push so hard. When the pelvic floor is relaxed, there will be less force needed to push the baby out. This is undoubtedly an overlooked benefit of pre-natal massage for new moms.

Other benefits include overall relaxation, reduction in some lower back pain and shoulder pain, as well as postural guidance by a pre-natal certified massage therapist.

If you would like more information on pre-natal massage therapy, please visit our website by clicking here.

Pre-Natal Massage: An Under-Utilized Form of Help For The Future Mom

Pre-natal massage is a seriously under-utilized and misunderstood modality that most pregnant women are not aware of as an excellent form of preparation for their impending motherhood. Massage therapy has been shown to have numerous benefits for pregnant women.

One of the most important benefits of pre-natal massage is its helpfulness in preparing the body for the actual act of birth. By relaxing the muscles involved in childbirth, it can help to make the process of birthing slightly less painful, and it can also help reduce the trauma of labor on the new mother’s body, especially when employed during labor. Some of the more common muscles which can be hurt by the process of labor are the quadratus lumborum, the iliopsoas, and the muscles of the pelvic floor.

Certain techniques of pre-natal massage can help to prepare the pelvic floor for the process of birth, and these techniques are used in the last trimester or pregnancy. Other techniques can be used throughout the process of pregnancy to alleviate the muscular tensions created by the baby being formed within the pregnant woman.

Some of the most useful benefits of pre-natal massage are the techniques that can be taught to the pregnant woman’s partner, as well as postural lessons and teaching helpful breathing techniques to alleviate the anxiety that can occur when the baby starts to press on the lower ribs and take up some of the space normally reserved for the mother’s lungs. Suddenly being unable to breathe fully, where you had been previously able to take a complete deep breath from the front of the body, can cause unnecessary anxiety in the new mom.

Another benefit to pre-natal massage is the stimulation of the lactation hormone, oxytocin. This hormone promotes lactation, and also helps with the birthing process, as it stimulates uterine contractions when the baby is ready to be born. Massage therapy has been shown in some studies to promote the production of this important hormone.

Of course, one of the most understood forms of massage is post-natal massage, which is sought because of the extreme amounts of tension that the new mother is experiencing from the act of birthing along with the strain of having the weight of the baby pulling on her back. However, new moms should know that some of these tensions can be prevented through regular pre-natal massage before the birth of the baby.

Pregnant women can benefit from pre-natal massage in many ways. If you are pregnant and thinking about receiving a pre-natal massage, please visit our pregnancy massage webpage by clicking here.

Post Natal Massage For Healthy Mother and Baby Bonding

Post natal massage therapy has been recognized as an essential part of post-partum care in cultures around the world. In India, the mother and baby are secluded for a period of 40 days, with the mother receiving massage therapy and giving her baby regular massages throughout the day.

Oxytocin is a hormone that has been shown to facilitate the bonding between a mother and her baby, in addition to the widely known effects of increasing breast milk production and making feeding easier for the infant. A recent controlled clinical trial performed at UCLA determined that massage therapy, in contrast to a control group, was able to increase levels of oxytocin in a person’s bloodstream.

This is great news for first time mothers especially, but also for all mothers in general. Very often, first time mothers have a hard time producing enough milk for their infant, and are forced to seek out formula rather than underfeed. Since this hormone is known for increasing milk production, it makes perfect sense that other cultures have appreciated the effects of post-partum massage therapy.

An article published on parenting.com strongly suggests infant massage by their mothers are further facilitating the bonding between the mother and baby. Simple infant massage techniques can be taught to new mothers by massage therapists or by books readily available online and in bookstores. Massage therapy’s stimulation of oxytocin production in the infant and the new mother has also been shown to help the new mother and baby bond.

For more information about post-natal massage and how it can benefit you and your baby, please visit our post-partum massage page by clicking here.

Stressful and Hectic Lives Benefit From Mobile Massage

One of the most common complaints we get from people in today’s modern world is that they are under enormous amounts of stress. This stress contributes to their entire life in a negative way. They are in constant pain, especially in their neck, shoulders, and lower back. They may have chronic headaches and other tension in their bodies. This is one of the main reasons why people seek out mobile massage at their own location.

One might wonder, as many of us do, what causes the body to react in this way. Why does stress build up in the body? For one thing, people today have very high stress jobs and lives. They work long hours, sometimes as many of 9 to 12 hours in a single day. Their workload is very heavy, with deadlines that loom quickly, and so much work to do before they pass that it can be a lot to deal with.

Then, there is the way the body itself reacts to stresses that is the main culprit. Stress in general causes the heart rate to rise, the stomach to tighten, the blood pressure to go up, and adrenaline to be released into the system. Constant stimulation of this “fight or flight” response, which is not really the best response to the stresses that are presented, is one of the biggest contributors to long term health problems. When this autonomic system is constantly stimulated, the parasympathetic system which balances against it eventually burns out and is unable to counteract the above problems.



One of the greatest benefits of massage therapy is the balancing effect that it has on the autonomic and parasympathetic nervous systems. This is why one of most well known effects of massage is stress relief. Through balancing the autonomic nervous system, stress can be relieved.

When a person has more than one massage session, it can create a more balanced and relaxed atmosphere for their life. If you are experiencing stress and its many effects upon your body, mobile massage might well be worth considering. Click here to find out more information.