What if the hormonal shifts you are experiencing after birth are not just about recovery, but the first step in your long term health journey? In this episode, we explore the surprising connection between pregnancy, postpartum, and perimenopause, and how understanding your body now can shape your wellness and longevity for years to come. If you have ever felt like your body changed overnight, this conversation will help you make sense of what is really happening beneath the surface.
Guest Speaker
On this episode we talk with Laura Rowan. Laura is an occupational therapist and a pelvic rehab specialist. She is the founder of Essential Pelvic Health, a rehabilitation practice located in Upstate New York specializing in an integrative, whole person approach to pelvic health.
Terminology
We have a menstrual lifespan that starts at puberty. We possibly enter pregnancy and postpartum, and eventually we transition out of our fertility years and into menopause.
- Menstruation: the vaginal bleeding that occurs as part of a woman's monthly cycle
- Pregnancy: carrying a developing baby within the female body, typically lasting about 40 weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period to childbirth
- Postpartum: typically refers to the first 12 weeks after you give birth
- Perimenopause: the transitional period as your body prepares for menopause. It often lasts 4 to 10 years and usually starts in a woman's 40s. Common symptoms include irregular periods, hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, and mood swings.
- Post menopause: begins after no menstrual cycle for 1 year. Your body is now in a steady hormonal state, and this lasts for the rest of your lifespan.
The Hormonal Journey
So what happens to our hormones during all of these stages? How are these time periods more connected than we realize?
When we become pregnant we transition to a new form of estrogen and experience a big surge of hormones. After we deliver a baby our hormones start to shift back. This can look very similar to the perimenopause phase because there is a decrease in our hormone levels during both of these times.
We can use information from our puberty transition or our pregnancy to postpartum transition to help us predict what we might experience as we transition to perimenopause. For example, if we have high blood pressure during pregnancy or postpartum, it is a good indicator that we might deal with it again during perimenopause.
Knowing all of this information about the hormonal connection helps us to be proactive before problems arise. If you notice something like high blood pressure or cardiovascular issues during pregnancy or postpartum, you can deal with it now and have a smoother transition into perimenopause. Even if your symptoms go away after baby comes out does not mean they are gone for good.
Hormonal wisdom means understanding all the areas of your body and life that hormones affect and how you can set yourself up to nurture your body and feel good as you go throughout your life.
What Can I Do With This Info?
Prehab (pre rehabilitation). You do not have to wait until you have a problem to care for your body, you can get help now. The more you can learn about your body when you feel good, the better you can handle when your body feels bad or painful. We can tackle these concerns and issues now so we do not have a bunch of stuff to deal with later on.
Ways you can deal with pain now while pregnant or postpartum:
- Be a detective. Analyze where your body is tense, including the pelvic floor and all around it.
- Practice pressure management and breathing strategies. The diaphragm and pelvic floor are connected.
- Think about injuries before you even get pregnant that might increase when pregnant and the body is under extra strain.
Setting Yourself Up for Long Term Wellness
Look at your behaviors and lifestyle to reduce the risk of developing certain conditions:
- Risk factors for cardiovascular disease include smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, diabetes, and physical inactivity
- Risk factors for gestational diabetes include being overweight or obese, sedentary lifestyle, family history of type 2 diabetes, and age over 25 to 35 years
Regulate your stress and nervous system. Our nervous system, the brainstem specifically, regulates our pelvic space and functions. Stress causes body tension.
Start a hormonal tracking journal. We often do not pay attention to what is going on with our bodies until something hurts or is wrong. Track what your body is doing to understand early signs of when you start getting stressed. Gather data on bladder, bowels, breathing, skin, and more. Laura has a hormone wisdom journal worksheet available for 30 days for free on her website.
Resources
- Essential Pelvic Health on Facebook
- Essential Pelvic Health on Instagram
- Laura Rowan on LinkedIn
- Essential Pelvic Health on YouTube
- Laura's Podcast on Spotify
- Free Resource Library from Essential Pelvic Health
- Meno-Cycle Breakers Membership
This article is a companion to Episode 13 of the Functional Fourth Trimester podcast.