How Kegel Exercises Can Help Your Spouse to Cope with Incontinence during Pregnancy

Your spouse may suffer from stress incontinence during her pregnancy. This is an embarrassing condition where a small amount of urine may involuntarily leak out; this may happen while she is sneezing or coughing, laughing, or doing anything that is physically demanding.

Causes of stress incontinence include:

• The hormonal changes that your spouse’s body undergoes during pregnancy
  
  
  
• The pressure exerted on her bladder by the uterus as the baby grows inside

Stress incontinence is seen more frequently:

• During the third trimester
  
  
  
• If your spouse is already a mom; the frequency of stress incontinence is less in women who are first-time moms.

Your spouse can reduce the frequency of stress incontinence by doing Kegel exercises. These exercises will:

• Strengthen the muscles around your spouse’s vagina and the urethra
  
  
  
• Reduce frequency of leaks by increasing your spouse’s control over her bladder
  
  
  
• Help prepare her pelvic muscles for delivery
  
  
  
• Speed recovery of her pelvic muscles after childbirth

Here are the steps your spouse should follow when doing Kegel exercises:

1. Identify the muscles she uses to control the flow of urine.
   
   
   
2. Practice slowly contracting these muscles.
   
   
   
3. Learn to keep muscles contracted for about 10 seconds.
   
   
   
4. Repeat this procedure about 50 times daily.

Tip: You can ask her to practice the exercise during your lovemaking sessions. This way you can give her feedback on how her vaginal muscles are getting stronger.