During pregnancy your body experiences a huge number of physiological changes that can impact your emotional, physical, and psychological health and wellbeing. Every bodily system is affected as you progress through pregnancy.

During the first trimester, your baby grows faster than at any other time. The surge in progesterone and oestrogen can leave you feeling tired, anxious, and emotional, you may also develop morning sickness, heart burn and an increased need to wee.

As your pregnancy advances into the 2nd and 3rd trimester you may experience symptoms such as cramping, indigestion, heartburn, constipation, headaches, itching, fatigue, high blood pressure, oedema, carpal tunnel syndrome, insomnia, respiratory problems/shortness of breath, back and pelvic pain. The bitter-sweet pain and discomfort will all be worth it when, after 9 months, life’s most precious gift arrives.

Preparing For A Baby – Maternity Fertility

Preparing for a baby is a very exciting time, however, planning for this wonderful, yet immense change in your life, as well as coping with the symptoms, can be overwhelming too.

Reflexology is an excellent therapy that can help you to manage, prevent, relieve, or alleviate some of the common symptoms experienced during pregnancy. Maternity reflexology uses a variety of reflexology techniques designed for the different stages of pregnancy which aim to optimise your physical and emotional health.

This should not be underestimated, it is so important that you have time to be able to relax, calm your mind and talk through how you are feeling about having a baby.

Improve Your General Sense Of Well-Being

Reflexology helps to aid relaxation, promote sleep, improve mood, relieve tension, and improve your general sense of well-being. Stress is a common occurrence in many people’s lives, but, for many reasons, it can be particularly prevalent during pregnancy.

Reflexology during pregnancy is a safe, preventative, and supportive therapy that can be extremely effective in helping you manage some of the symptoms associated with pregnancy and those that may follow postnatally. It’s a very relaxing treatment and, by working on the nervous system, it helps settle the body into a calm and relaxed parasympathetic state. Being in a parasympathetic state reduces our cortisol levels which encourages rest, healing, and natural processes in the body to occur.

Many women are choosing to have reflexology throughout their pregnancy and postnatally as it can offer so many benefits, least of all, time, space, and support for you to focus purely on yourself and your growing baby. It can help prepare you, both physically and emotionally, for the birth of your baby and help to maintain a balance as your body transitions through the different stages of pregnancy and into the fourth trimester.

Maternity Through All Three Trimesters

Maternity reflexology is aimed specifically at women during pre-conception, pregnancy, labour and the postnatal period. It can help support you to conceive naturally, through all three trimesters, during labour and post-partum. It is safe to receive reflexology throughout all three trimesters.

After 37 weeks, certain reflexes related to the induction of labour can be stimulated to ensure that they are prepared for when the body begins the birth process. During labour, reflexology can help with the common concerns associated with childbirth such as regulating contractions, reducing pain, backache, helping with urination/bowel movement, releasing retained placenta, normalising breathing and as a therapy for reassurance and comfort. Reflexology can also help to restore balance and boost recovery in the post-natal period by helping with aching joints, C-section aftercare, forceps delivery, epidural anaesthesia, perineal pain, backache, fatigue, breast engorgement, mastitis, and lactation, post-natal blues or depression.

The benefits of maternity reflexology have been well researched. Recent studies have shown that women who have reflexology during pregnancy have significantly reduced pain during labour, experience a shorter first stage of labour, have reduced pain and stress levels when experiencing lower back or pelvic girdle pain and a shorter second stage of labour, experience less anxiety during labour and have improved sleep postnatally. There is an abundance of anecdotal evidence highlighting the benefits of reflexology during pregnancy and the post-natal period. There is much room for further research in this area.