I say this often, to nearly every family I see: this is an investment for this pregnancy, and for all your others after it.
Not an investment in the sense of a return you’ll cash in someday. An investment in the sense that what you do with your body now doesn’t disappear once this baby arrives. A strong pelvic floor, a body that knows how to move well, a nervous system that has learned to settle, all of that carries forward. It shapes this labor, and it shapes the ones that may come after.
Here is where I’d actually put that investment.
Movement, real movement
Stretching and gentle strength work both matter, and they are not the same thing.
Stretching keeps you supple. Hips, hamstrings, the muscles around your low back that carry more than they used to. A few minutes most days does more than an hour once a week.
Strength and endurance work matter just as much, and this is the part people skip. Labor is a physical event, arguably the most demanding one your body will ever do, and a body with some baseline endurance meets it differently than one that hasn’t moved much all pregnancy. This does not mean training for a marathon. It means walking regularly, carrying groceries without fear, squatting to pick something up rather than avoiding the position entirely. Ordinary strength, kept up on purpose.
Working with your baby’s position
Encouraging good fetal positioning through movement and posture is some of the most practical work you can do in the third trimester.
I am a longtime admirer of Spinning Babies®, the well-known approach to body balancing and positioning developed by Gail Tully, whom I have had the privilege of meeting, and whose workshop I have attended myself. I bring what I have learned into our visits together, and I cannot recommend their website enough for anyone who wants to start exploring on their own: SpinningBabies.com.
Chiropractic care
I am not a chiropractor, and I am not going to pretend to speak with authority on adjustment technique. What I can tell you is what I see: pregnant bodies shift a great deal in a short time, your center of gravity moves, your ligaments soften, and a body under that kind of change often benefits from a professional who is trained to support alignment through it.
If you don’t already have a chiropractor, ask me. I am glad to point you toward someone in Lubbock who works with pregnant women regularly.
Massage therapy
Pregnancy asks a great deal of your muscles and joints as your body shifts week to week. A massage therapist who works with pregnant clients specifically, and knows the positioning and pressure points to avoid, can ease a great deal of the tension that builds up, especially in the low back, hips, and shoulders.
Like chiropractic care, this is worth building into your pregnancy proactively rather than waiting until something aches enough to demand it. If you don’t already have someone, ask me. I am glad to point you toward a therapist in Lubbock who works with pregnant women regularly.
Pelvic floor therapy
Of everything on this list, this is the most underrated, and the one I wish more women sought out before something feels wrong rather than after.
Pelvic floor therapy is not only for postpartum recovery. It can be immensely helpful during pregnancy itself, and pelvic floor dysfunction shows up in more ways than most people expect. A feeling of heaviness. Urine leaking when you laugh or sneeze. But also low back pain, which is often blamed entirely on the pregnancy itself when the pelvic floor is actually part of the picture.
A pelvic floor therapist can help you understand how to engage and release that muscle group correctly, which matters both for labor and for your recovery afterward. This is not a treatment reserved for people with a specific complaint. It is preventive care, the same as anything else on this list, and many women find it changes how their body feels in the last months of pregnancy. And it is not as simple as doing kegels on your own. A pelvic floor that is too tight needs something different than one that is too weak, and most women cannot tell which they have without a proper evaluation. Doing the wrong exercises for your particular pelvic floor can genuinely make things worse rather than better. This is precisely why a trained therapist matters more than a set of exercises pulled from the internet.
Talking to someone
Pregnancy is not only physical, and I don’t think caring for your body can be fully separated from caring for your mind. If you are carrying anxiety, grief, birth trauma from a previous experience, or simply more than you know how to hold alone, a licensed professional counselor is worth having in your corner. This is not a sign that something is wrong with you. It is the same kind of preventive investment as the pelvic floor visit, done before you need it rather than only once you are struggling.
Why this matters beyond this pregnancy
Every one of these things does double duty. They help you now, and they build something that outlasts this particular birth.
A body that has learned to stretch, move, and recover well doesn’t forget that after six weeks postpartum. A pelvic floor that has been cared for holds up better through a second or third pregnancy. A relationship with a counselor, once built, is there the next time you need it. This is why I frame it as an investment rather than a task list. You are not just getting through this pregnancy. You are building the body and the support system that will carry you through however many more you have.
Where to start
If you want help building this kind of preparation into your pregnancy, that conversation is part of every prenatal visit here, not an extra you have to ask for.
The next step is a consultation. We meet face to face, review your health history, talk through what you’re hoping for, and decide together whether this is a good fit for your family.
To schedule, call or text 806-281-7725, visit our contact page, or email maltamidwifery@gmail.com.
