I'm a 33 year old, heathy eating and athletic mommy to a wonderful (almost) 2 year old son. I have been a runner since I was in high school and used to enjoy, but never fully appreciated, a very toned stomach.
I went through a really rough time getting pregnant with my son. I dealt with several miscarriages and had to undergo two D&Cs and (non-IVF) fertility treatments to eventually conceive him. I had to quit running My troubles didn't stop at getting pregnant, either. Unfortunately, I developed gestational diabetes, pregnancy induced hypothyroidism, and gained over 50 lbs. I also had a large 9 lb. 2 oz. baby that was "all out front". After almost 40 hours in labor I was forced to have an emergency c-section. During the c-section, the doctors could not get my uterus to contract and I kept bleeding. By the time that they finally got me stitched back up, I had lost so much blood that I required two blood transfusions. It was a very traumatic experience for me. It almost goes without saying that all of that did a number on my core.
Following the birth of my son, I didn't waste time trying to get back in shape. Before I even left the hospital I had lost about 20 lbs of water and straight baby weight. I started to lose the rest of the weight by walking with my baby in the stroller. I was quite lucky that it was spring and the weather was so nice! I progressed from walking, back to running slowly, and I finally lost all of the weight. There was one problem though, I still had a belly that made me look like I was pregnant. I didn't know what I was doing wrong. How could I have lost all of the weight, but still have this terrible tummy?
I asked all of my friends and they told me to start doing crunches and planks and to be patient. I had just had a baby after all, they proclaimed. I tried to listen to them, but something in the back of my mind told me that what I was experiencing wasn't the norm. Then I remembered my doctor mentioning an "ab separation" at my 6 week postpartum checkup. I hadn't really been paying much attention at that appointment because, well, I had just endured a very traumatizing birth experience, followed by weeks of learning how to take care of a new baby. I had not been thinking about abs at that appointment. I took to Dr. Google to find out about this "ab separation", or diastasis recti, and I came to find out that I had it. Really bad.
The prognosis looked, well, not so great. I called the doctor and begged him to write me a prescription for physical therapy. He did so, but admitted that he thought it would not do me much good. He told me that my best option would be surgery. I decided to take my chances with the PT.
The physical therapy helped me a lot. I had a great physical therapist who specialized in core stabilization before, during and after pregnancy. When I first got to her I had more than a 3.5 finger separation. I completed physical therapy for about three months and the results were great. I got down to a 2 finger separation and was feeling more confident so I signed up for a half marathon. Then I signed up for CrossFit. Then I signed up for the NYC Marathon. Fast forward to now and I am back to where I started, or worse. In the process of getting into great shape all over, I neglected my core for months and months and now I am back to square one.
I could go back to physical therapy, although my ego would really take a hit when I would see the look on my physical therapist's face. I have purchase the MuTu System 12 Week Focus Program, but it is still sitting on the shelf. I decided that I just need to be accountable. What a better way to do that then to chronicle it through a blog for others (who may be dealing with the same thing) to follow. Most of the time you Google "diastasis recti" or "ab separation" you get a bunch of for profit sites with a bunch of pop-up spam ads. Not here. Not ever. I have a full-time job (two, if you count my son) so this is just going to be for me, and for you, too. Here we go!
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