More Questions: stairs & acupuncture

I got the "don't climb stairs postpartum" advice from my homebirth midwife too, and it's probably wise not to seek out 14 flights or use the stairmaster for the first 6 weeks, but I don't think a few here and there will affect you negatively. I just took it easy in the "early days" like how a child climbs stairs -- one foot, one foot joins on the same stair; now they are no problem.

I did about 8 sessions of acupuncture -- more for depression, but who knows, it may have helped unlock healing potentials too. It's not going to pull your organs up overnight, that's for sure, but I think it's still good to do. For me, I didn't want to leave any stones unturned in this first pp year, iykwim.

Best wishes.

I did accupuncture at the beginning for about 8 months (had kept it up for other stuff after the initial POP stuff). I found it was brilliant with the irritable bladder feeling. First time it worked for a few days, then wore off, second session stuck longer, third that was it. No more irritated bladder. Also great with the back pain I was having.
Re the actual POPs, it's so hard to know what helped. She also gave me herbs (which i suddenly remember i had to stop, as even though they were baby safe, his poos changed so she stopped them, but resumed them later...), and I do think it helped--but, i think there's something about whole packages supporting your body to heal. ie I was doing WW, and acc--did acc put my body in a place to heal more? or did it work some one its own? would it all have worked anyway just as well? who knows...

i then did homoepathy, and took Helonius 30. I had a substantial lift when I took that, that then wore off till I took it again (maybe 10 days?). I still take it if i overdo it--maybe don't need to, but helps me feel better at least in my mind.

sorry, i diverted! so accupuncture. Definately helped my symptoms of irritation and backache, relaxed me, dealt with my severe anxiety. Beyond that I can't say for sure...

Can we all participate in an experiment to quell this absurd rumor of postpartum stair climbing? This is the sort of stuff that keeps women huddled in their beds instead of up and pulling into their natural shape.

How about if we cuddle a nine-pound book or sack of flour on our shoulder and slowly and mindfully walk up a steep flight of stairs - all the while strongly pulled into wwposture. It is one of the best exercises because we are pulling against gravity to stretch even more strongly into shape. Belly should be totally relaxed and butt horizontal and at right angles to the rest of the spine. Head is strongly pulled up while shoulders are pulled down, not back.

Don't contract Anything, but think of pushing all your pelvic organs into your rounded lower belly.

Gynecology has colored everything around prolapse and for whatever reason, midwifery could never see through it.

Christine

Sorry for the confusion...really, from an anatomical viewpoint, the horizontal pelvis is at right angle to the vertical abdominal wall. But don't try to curve your lumbar spine to make it more so. If you are strongly pulling up your chest, the lumbar curve will expand on its own.

Use your best judgment. Really, I can't tell you not to take your doctor's advice. I just want all of us to begin exposing Old Gyn Tales - there are many, many regarding prolapse.

I can't comment on stair-stepper exercise. Personally, I find most conventional aerobic programs tough on prolapse.

I think the don't climb stairs comments come from tearing during birth- in this case you would want to keep your legs together for quite some time and rest well to heal the tearing.
I know when I tore it was best to lift my entire body with my arms and bring both legs up at the same time-
I firmly believe in postpartum rest. As a mom 4 times over I trust my body- if I get up and about my bleeding increases- if I stay quiet and nest with my sweet little baby my uterus heals much faster-
I had so much postpartum help this time around and almost no bleeding- compare that to a friend who just had her 4th- no help and had bleeding for over 2 months.
So no stairs for me for at least 2 weeks- and then if I can avoid it- a few more after that!
but then I don't even like to go to the store in those early postpartum days.

Hi All

The Stairmaster appears to duplicate the dimensions of a normal staircase and can be adjusted for any speed of climbing, ie you set the speed to give yourself a real workout, and presumably up the speed when your existing speed and duration becomes too easy.

This is quite different from just going up stairs to get from one level of a building to the next, at a slow and easy pace, rather than using the stair climbing as a means of building up the lower body by giving it progressively more work to do. I think Alemama's comment about keeping your knees together for a few weeks is a good one, if there has been some tearing, or even an episiotomy. If I had bad damage I think I would either use the ramp in public places, or at home go up stairs backwards, on my butt, and down the same way! Christine has shown us how normal uphill walking in WW posture gives our pelvic floor a good workout. However, if there are tears in those muscles, then a good workout is not what is needed postpartum! What is needed is limiting the movement of these muscles for a while, so they can knit together strongly, as normally and quickly as possible after being torn.

Another form of stair climbing exercise is Step aerobics. The step part involves stepping up with one foot, then the other foot, then stopping yourself from propelling yourself forward again, then stepping down again, one foot at a time, or some other sort of variation. Stopping forward propulsion and changing direction involves using all the torso muscles, so it also involves intraabdominal forces being directed in different directions at different times. So I would think that Step aerobics would be potentially more risky for prolapse than just going up and down stairs in your house.

IMO, going up the stairs should not pose too much problem, cos it is like walking up hill. You just move your centre of gravity forwards to keep going forwards, then raise your body weight with your thigh muscles.

IMO, going down stairs forwards without a handrail could be problematic if you don't have strong thigh muscles. You need to be able to bend the supporting leg far enough to get the descending foot onto the lower step without toppling forwards. If your thigh muscles won't support your weight with a deep bend you can only accomplish this by tilting your pelvis off the horizontal and tucking your butt in. This would allow intraabdominal forces to act *straight* down the vagina. Whoops! This may be what the doctor was talking about, but maybe not.

Granolamom, Alemama and other's who have knowledge of human movement, do I have the explanation of this stepping up and down thing right? I may have all this stuff completely out of perspective.

We strengthen our thigh muscles by using them. Christine, when do you think it is safe postpartum time to do the ballet workout, particularly all those pelvic-stabilising and thigh-strengthening plies?

Louise

I have enjoyed the comments on stairs and hope Mamato2boys has found the information helpful.

I can understand where you're coming from, Alemama, and it didn't occur to me that the broad prescription of no stairs probably has a lot to do with episiotomy and tearing.

But really...snuggling with a newborn baby is sheer heaven as is resting for days after the great effort of labor. But is spending weeks in bed really good for anyone with an intact perineum? My feeling on the first few days postpartum is to rest as much as possible. But when you are up - and everyone has to wee - then pull into the posture. Careful stair climbing is only more strengthening. Sitting up crosslegged to nurse some of the time is very healthful as well. I wouldn't want to go to the store either, but I really think walking around - especially outside to get a bit of sunshine should be encouraged from the second day postpartum.

Louise...I think the ballet workout could be well-tolerated by eight to twelve weeks post. We desperately need a postpartum video - two days, two weeks, etc. to tell the story of birth recovery. Next year!

Christine

wow, it's so interesting. I've had both babies in the UK, and am surrounded by moms. We just don't get much advice here! only post partum advice i got was no exercise or sex till your 6 week check, do your kegels (hmmm....), pee in the bath / shower if it hurts, and i think they give you a sheet on basic exercises to get you moving if you are in hospital (but we are talking very very basic). Other than that you just get on with it! No one ever mentioned stairs or any of that.

I actually think the lack of advice is great, as it doesn't create a new mom fear. but, they could use a sheet on WW to go out to all new moms... ;-) would have made a difference to me, after the breastfeeding counsellor had me feeding in a highly reclined position to tackle oversupply. now i just think eeek!

Hey Kiki

I see no problem with being highly reclined so that baby can feed 'uphill' (for what it's worth). If you are going to recline at all you would be better being more reclined rather than less reclined, ie almost horizontal. It is all about where intraabdominal forces act. If you are not trying to do a crunch while you are attaching baby then there will be only small intraabdominal forces acting through the vagina. The main issue will be gravity which will be acting straight down through your sacrum and spine, not through the vagina. Thank goodness this oversupply thing, or overactive milk ejection reflex only happens for a short time.

Cheers

Louise

that position was a lifesaver for me, especially because I had oversupply issues lasting quite a while (we're talking months and months).
even knowing what I do about POP and posture, I happily and confidently bf my youngest in a highly reclined position (probably around a 45 degree angle). I don't believe it did any real damage, and if anything saved me from extra pacing with a miserable baby. that kind of oversupply can lead to lots of air swallowing and that's no good for anybody.

oversupply in my case, wasn't the same thing as overactive milk ejection reflex, though that was definitely part of it.

well I am not promoting weeks in bed with no activity.....but yes, bed as a home base is just wonderful. I don't think early postpartum is the time for strengthening. This most recent time around I took nice short walks outside starting at about 4 days postpartum. Day 2 is rough for me *that is the day I get milk* and day 3? forget about it-we are just nursing and nursing. The sunshine is really helpful for me for mood and good for the baby for vitamin D. I pulled into the posture as well as I could (which by the way was very weird for my body- I just wanted to hold my lower abdomen with both hands when I walked) and walked half a football field or so. But I did not do any dishes, laundry, cooking, or childcare. Sure I loved my bigger kids (stories, snuggling basically all the good stuff) but I didn't get them in and out of the bath or anything like that.
It is actually very important for postpartum health to be active after birth. Postpartum aneurysm is linked to inactivity.
My theory is that babies love movement for a reason- and that reason is because movement is good for mothers! We don't have the automatic baby bouncer, rocker, vibrator deals- just mama- moving up and down and back and forth and side to side (sometimes all at once).
My last 3 labors were not exhausting events- really they were about a 7 hour break in the day to concentrate on having a baby- but I needed the rest to be able to bond with my newest little one and to allow my uterus to heal. If I could pop a baby out and jump right back into my regular life I would never get a chance to fall in love. I would simply be too busy. If I didn't rest well I know my milk production would suffer- I need to have my baby on me- in the "habitat" (got that from Barbara Harper- she calls between the breasts "the habitat) . I need to be able to forget about the dishes, laundry, shopping, cooking, cleaning, meal planning, play dating, field tripping and chldcare that is my life. When I have a new baby I forget what it is to be a wife, daughter, sister, or friend- all I do is be the life source for my baby. Sometime (maybe around 2 weeks) I wake up just a little and venture out to the grocery store or to a movie theatre, maybe have a friend over- but really it is a good 2 months before I even try to do much of anything- and it's a good 6 months before I am back to my busy social self.
I don't know about sitting crosslegged to nurse in the early days- I don't really do it- but then I have never birthed with an intact perineum.
I say use your bleeding as a guide- if activity does not increase bleeding then go for it- if you realize that you have soaked a pad through when you get up and about- then just slow down-
and use your baby as a guide- fussy baby = active mama, quiet content baby = resting mama- it is a beautiful relationship. They can teach us so much.

if only I had enough household/childcare help to forget about laundry, dishing, shopping, mealplanning, etc in the early days! my dh takes about a week off from work and I feel doubly blessed - that he has a job to take off from and that he is local and flexible enough to do so. but then I'm mostly back in charge. I eliminate all extra's (no playdates, no gourmet meals, paper plates are ok, I order my groceries to be delivered, etc) and get into bed when I can but realistically if I get a nap a day I am lucky.

I think you are right though, doing 'nothing but baby' really does create a bond like nothing else. which is one reason I wear my newborns pretty much whenever I am busy with other things. Its good for the baby and its good for me.

sometimes I wish I lived in another time and/or place where I could really slow down in the early pp days.

Thank you all, for your interesting comments with regards to stairs.

I have kind stairs going up to the 2nd floor, and steep stairs going to the basement.

I too have recently tried the one foot, bring up the other foot to get up and down kind stairs, but going down the basement stairs, I sort of walk like a duck, always have.

Have just tried to "cuddle a sack of flower" on my shoulder (although I used a 5.5 lb bag of flour), from both sets of stairs, and yes I was pulled into wwposture in both cases. The kind stairs were better though.

Note: I am post menopausal, and my situation is a result of strenuous work.

Now a matter of retraining myself!

Thank you for this tip Christine!

Oceanblue

I think that a possible problem with stairs is that people sometimes tend to send their weight down through the body and stay down, instead of lifting up out again. I've never had a problem with stairs and I ascribe that to years of doing Alexander Technique and learning how to do stairs without hurting my back. This entails letting the legs do the work while the upper body continues to occupy the same vertical and horizontal space as when standing, that is, your torso doesn't sink down. In other words, remaining in WW posture. Hope that makes sense. If you have the DVD, watch Christine walking up the slope, it's a similar thing, her torso doesn't sink down. Judith