Pregnancy & Postpartum Education to Empower Women

Why we need to empower pregnant and postpartum women

Pregnancy and postpartum education is still lacking. In 2024, Women continue to experience and feel a sense of powerlessness within their pregnancy and postpartum journeys. In this article we explore why pregnancy and postpartum education is key. We also look at why this is happening and how we can recalibrate these feelings to those of strength and empowerment for all pregnant and postpartum women.

Education is the key for pregnant and postpartum women

Not being educated about her pregnant and postpartum body is a POWER problem. Let’s go on a journey, a very normal journey experienced by millions of women across the world. We begin by imagining this very common scenario.

A pregnant woman walks into a hospital. Over the past 9 months her body has been changing. She had been measured, poked, prodded. She has been told she is ’normal’. However, many of her questions have been dismissed and she doesn’t know exactly what to expect. She’s read books about her changing body and the body that is growing inside of her but she has been given no guidance about her physical body or how to prepare for the next phase. She has been told the basics and what may happen IF it all goes to plan. So, she hopes for the best outcome but if that doesn’t happen then she’s in the dark. This is because no one has told her anything more AND no one has offered her the best possible way to prepare.

This is normal for a woman who has had a baby

After her birth, she learns that there were things she could have done to make it easier. She learns that her body now behaves in a way that is foreign to her. Apparently, it is all normal yet she feels lost and alone. Experiencing a disconnection to her body and sometimes to her baby too, she has lost her sense of self. Her identity has shifted and it’s all unfamiliar. The things she loved to do before don’t work anymore. She leaks. She feels heavy. Sex isn’t the same. There’s no connection to herself. No climax. But it’s all normal, apparently. She tries to ask for help but she is told once again that ‘it’s normal for a woman who has had a baby.’

This woman, wants to move her body in ways that felt good before but they don’t feel good anymore. Joining a class at the gym she squats, jumps and then leaks. No one at the gym is talking about this so this is the reason she doesn’t go back. With no source of education and no one actively guiding her to learn about her body she once again finds herself alone.

She’s been given ALL the pregnancy and postpartum education about her baby but she, herself, feels like she has been forgotten. But she tells herself it’s okay because she has a healthy baby. And she should be grateful. She is normal.

Postpartum is forever

We meet our woman again, five years later. After being immersed in the depths of early motherhood and pushing her needs aside for too long, she’s now more than ready to try again. So, she joins a gym class. Surely it will be okay now? Feeling a little uncertain she prays it will be different this time. And, she squats, jumps and then leaks. And her hopes coming crashing down, she is devastated. She feels her body is still not her own, it betrays her and refuses to cooperate.

The Professionals are to blame

But the reality it is the system, the medical professionals, the allied health industry, the gyms and the fitness industry that have betrayed her. From the moment she became pregnant to the days, weeks and months after she had her baby, we have let her down. The people she trusted let her down.

It shouldn’t be this way. But for too many women it is. Pregnancy and postpartum education is crucial for women.

The educated path for pregnancy and beyond

• What if her obstetrician talked openly to her about her pelvic floor?
• What if they had referred her to a Pelvic Health Physiotherapist (PHP) during pregnancy?
• What if she had learnt to both contract AND release her pelvic floor?
• What if the above had made her birth process easier?
• What if, even if the birth wasn’t easier, she understood the potential outcomes and was prepared for the future?
• What if, after she had given birth, our medical system referred her back to her PHP?
• What if the gym that she attended understood the special requirements of a postpartum woman?
• What if she was offered a thorough pre-screening process and guided to the right class for her?
• What if all the exercise professionals in that gym were trained in pre and postnatal exercise?
• What if she had been offered alternative exercises?
• What if she had been told that what she was feeling and experiencing was common BUT not normal to live with for the rest of her life?
• What if she had been given the education she deserves from the start?

The empowered path for pregnancy and beyond

• What is she was empowered through education?
• What if she was empowered to move her body in the way that felt right for her?
• What if she was empowered to connect with her partner and initiate sex in a way that feels good for her?
• What if she was empowered to stand up tall and allow herself to be seen?
• What if she was empowered to leave her job and start the business she always dreamed of?
• What if she was empowered to share her story with other women to ensure they were empowered too?
• What if she was empowered to take up the new hobby that she has always wanted to do?
• What if she was empowered to say NO to what she doesn’t want to do and HELL YES to what she does?
• What if she was empowered to dance like no one was watching, to take up space in the world and do ALL of the things that deep down she knows she is capable of?

When a woman understands her body SHE is EMPOWERED.