Pregnancy is a powerful journey—one that transforms your body, mind, and daily life. As your due date approaches, preparing for labor goes beyond packing a hospital bag or writing a birth plan. It’s also about equipping your body—especially your pelvic floor, breathing, and musculoskeletal system—for the incredible work of childbirth.

In this blog, we’ll explore evidence-based strategies to help you physically prepare for labor, including breathwork, mobility exercises, pelvic floor training, and positioning tips—so you can meet birth feeling strong, supported, and ready.

To assist you in preparing without feeling overwhelmed, we’re concentrating on three crucial areas that can significantly impact your body's performance during labor.

1. Hip and pelvic mobility: which plays a crucial role in helping baby find the best position for birth and allows you to progress to the next stages of labor.

2. How to connect with your pelvic floor: specifically, learning how to recognize when you’re contracting, relaxing, or lengthening these muscles. This awareness is essential for both pushing effectively and preventing unnecessary tension.

3. The powerful connection between your breath and your pelvic floor: how mastering this link can help regulate your nervous system, improve oxygen flow, and support a smoother, more coordinated birth experience.

Hip and Pelvic Mobility

During labor, your pelvis plays an essential and dynamic role in guiding your baby into—and eventually out of—the birth canal. In the early stages of labor, the top of the pelvis (the inlet) needs to open to allow the baby to descend and engage. As labor progresses and pushing begins, the focus shifts to the bottom of the pelvis (the outlet), which must open to allow the baby to pass through the vaginal canal. For these transitions to happen smoothly, your pelvis and hips need to move freely. Tightness or restricted mobility in the hips, pelvic joints, or the muscles that attach around them—like the glutes, hip flexors, and deep rotators—can limit how well the pelvis can open and adapt during labor. That’s why working on hip and pelvic mobility during pregnancy isn’t just about comfort—it’s a foundational part of preparing your body for a more efficient and supported birth.

Mobility Exercises to Support Pelvic Opening During Labor

To help your pelvis move the way it needs to during labor, it’s important to focus on releasing and lengthening specific muscles that can limit mobility. Here's how you can support both the pelvic inlet and pelvic outlet through targeted exercises:

1. Supporting the Pelvic Inlet (Early Labor)

When baby is trying to engage in the pelvis, we want to ensure the top of the pelvis has room to open. Tightness in the QL (quadratus lumborum), hip flexors, and lumbar paraspinals can restrict this opening.

• 90/90 Hip Flexor Stretch: Helps lengthen tight hip flexors that can tilt the pelvis and restrict inlet space.

• Child’s Pose with Side Reach: Targets the QL and side body to gently open the upper pelvis.

• Cat-Cow Stretch: Mobilizes the lumbar spine and gently loosens the paraspinal muscles, promoting better pelvic movement.

2. Supporting the Pelvic Outlet (Pushing Stage)

As labor progresses, the baby moves lower and needs space at the bottom of the pelvis. Tight hamstrings, internal and external hip rotators, and the pelvic floor can prevent the outlet from widening effectively.

• Deep Supported Squat (Malasana or Birth Ball Squat): Opens the pelvic outlet while relaxing the pelvic floor.

• Figure-4 Stretch: Targets external rotators (like the piriformis) that can restrict space in the lower pelvis.

• Seated Forward Fold with Bent Knees: Gently lengthens hamstrings without straining the lower back.

• Pelvic Floor Lengthening with Breath: Focus on slow diaphragmatic breathing while visualizing the pelvic floor softening and releasing downward.

How to connect with your pelvic floor

Understanding how to connect with your pelvic floor—specifically, knowing the difference between contracting and lengthening—can have a major impact on how labor progresses and how your body recovers afterward. During the pushing stage of labor, the pelvic floor must lengthen and yield to allow the baby to move down and out through the vaginal canal. If the pelvic floor is unknowingly held in a contracted or tense state, it can slow labor, create resistance against the baby’s descent, and increase the risk of perineal tearing. Many people are surprised to learn that they may be habitually tightening their pelvic floor without realizing it—especially in response to stress, pain, or the effort of pushing. By practicing pelvic floor awareness during pregnancy, you can build the ability to consciously release and soften these muscles, helping the body move more efficiently through labor and reducing trauma to the perineum.

To truly understand what your pelvic floor is doing—especially the difference between a contraction (lifting and tightening) and lengthening (releasing and spreading)—it can be incredibly helpful to have a pelvic floor physical therapist perform an internal assessment. This allows you to receive real-time feedback on how your muscles are functioning and whether you're engaging or releasing them correctly. If you're pregnant, you'll need clearance from your OB or midwife before an internal exam, but even just one session can provide invaluable insight. At home, you can begin developing awareness by sitting on a rolled-up towel like a saddle, which gives you gentle feedback from the pelvic floor. As you contract, can you feel your pelvic floor lift up and away from the towel? As you lengthen, can you feel your sit bones gently spread and your pelvic floor soften downward? These subtle but powerful sensations can help train your nervous system to release tension—an essential skill for progressing through the later stages of labor with less resistance and a reduced risk of tearing.

The powerful connection between your breath and your pelvic floor

One of the most powerful—and often overlooked—tools during labor is your breath. Your diaphragm, the primary muscle responsible for breathing, works in close coordination with your pelvic floor. As you inhale, your diaphragm moves downward, and your pelvic floor typically lengthens and expands to match this movement. As you exhale, the diaphragm rises, and the pelvic floor tends to gently contract. Understanding this natural rhythm is crucial during labor, especially during contractions, when managing pressure effectively can help your baby move down through the birth canal. We encourage birthing individuals to exhale during contractions, which helps direct pressure downward and supports the baby’s progress. However, it’s also important to train the pelvic floor to remain relaxed during the exhale, rather than reflexively tightening. If the pelvic floor contracts too much with each exhale, it can create tension and resistance, working against the baby’s descent. Practicing coordinated breath and pelvic floor relaxation during pregnancy helps prepare your body to surrender and yield when it matters most.

Breath Techniques to Support Pelvic Floor Relaxation

There are a few simple and effective ways to start training your breath to support pelvic floor relaxation, especially during exhalation. One method is to practice a 360-degree diaphragmatic breath—inhaling deeply so that your rib cage, belly, and sides all gently expand. Then, as you exhale, try to keep your abdominal wall softly expanded, rather than pulling it in or tightening. This helps keep the pelvic floor from reflexively contracting. Another technique is to hum during the exhale. Humming naturally slows the breath and creates a gentle vibration that promotes a soothing release in the pelvic floor. You can also practice short, soft huffs of air, like you’re blowing out a row of small birthday candles. This mimics the type of exhalation you might use during the pushing stage of labor and encourages coordination between your breath and pelvic floor. These simple breath practices can be done daily to help your body learn how to stay relaxed, responsive, and supportive during labor.

Preparing your body for labor is one of the most empowering steps you can take during pregnancy. By focusing on mobility, pelvic floor awareness, and breath, you're not just preparing for birth—you're building a deeper connection with your body and creating space for a more confident, supported experience. Every body and every birth is different, and you don’t have to navigate this journey alone. If you have questions or want personalized guidance, we’re here to help. Reach out to us anytime to learn more about how mobile pelvic floor physical therapy can support you during pregnancy, labor, and beyond. Your body is doing something incredible—let’s make sure it has the tools it needs to thrive.