kegel exercises for pregnancy with pictures?

What Is Kegel Exercise?
Kegel exercise is a form of pelvic floor exercise that involves squeezing and relaxing muscles in the pelvic and genital areas. These muscles support the pelvic organs, including the bladder, uterus, small intestine, and rectum. Regular Kegel exercise during pregnancy and after you’ve given birth can help improve and maintain your bladder and bowel control by increasing the strength, endurance, and correct function of these important muscles. Kegels can be beneficial throughout life, and you might want to begin doing them during pregnancy or after your baby is born, when pelvic floor muscles often need to be strengthened.

Benefits of Kegel Exercises for Women

The benefits of doing Kegel exercises — especially during pregnancy and after giving birth — include:

Improved bladder control:
Many women experience leaking urine during pregnancy or after having given birth. The risk increases with a vaginal delivery, as well as with having had a greater number of children. Kegels can help prevent or treat conditions like urinary incontinence — when you feel the strong urge to pee and pass urine before you can get to the bathroom, or stress incontinence, which involves leaking a few drops of urine when you cough, laugh, or sneeze.

Strengthening pelvic organ support:
Vaginal childbirth is one potential cause of pelvic organ prolapse (when the uterus, urethra, and/or bowel sag down into the vagina). This is because pregnancy and vaginal childbirth can weaken the pelvic floor muscles, so they don't provide enough support for the pelvic organs. As part of a treatment plan, your doctor may recommend Kegels.

Reduced risk of fecal incontinence:
This is a condition that causes you to leak stool before you make it to the bathroom. Kegels can help strengthen the rectal muscles to help prevent this.

Tips for Doing Kegel Exercise
To get the most out of doing your Kegels, keep these tips in mind:

1 Don't do Kegels while peeing, as this may prevent your bladder from fully emptying.

2 Don't strain or hold your breath, and keep your abdominal, buttock, and thigh muscles relaxed.

3 Don't overdo it. After starting to do these exercises, it can be normal to feel some soreness around the pelvic area, but if you feel pain, stop and talk to your doctor.

4 Doing these exercises regularly is important. If you find yourself forgetting, there are apps you can download that remind you to do your Kegels and guide you through different training sessions.

5 Some women find contracting the pelvic floor impossible to start with, or they find it tricky to locate the right muscles. Your healthcare provider may recommend biofeedback training, which helps check which muscles are being contracted, or electrical stimulation, which uses painless electric currents to contract the correct muscles.