7 Months Postpartum and Diastasis Recti

Happy Friday!

Before I go into my 7 months postpartum update, I’m excited to be guest posting on Jessie’s blog today while she and her husband are on vacation! My post is about simple and healthy breakfast ideas that can be made in under 10 minutes, perfect for those hectic weekday mornings getting the kids ready for school! Check it out here!!

Anyhow, I can’t believe another month has come and gone and my little girl is already 7 months old!

Remember last month I had hit a plateau and I didn’t lose any weight? Well, I’m happy to report that the scale has finally moved! I lost two pounds!! I have been doing my best to not focus on the darn number on the scale, but it’s been so hard! I purposely didn’t weigh myself for the past couple of weeks since we were in Disneyland last week and I didn’t eat as healthy as I usually do. I knew I needed to give my body a week to adjust. Since getting back from vacation, I have worked hard all week to push myself even harder in all of my wods, so I was beyond ecstatic to see the number on the scale this morning!!

But, in addition to the number on the scale, I also hit a turning point or WAKE-UP CALL a couple of weeks ago that prompted me to change a few things. When I took Keenan to get his haircut at our local hair/nail place in town, the cute, little Vietnamese owner asked if I was pregnant again because of my “mommy pooch!” Granted, I had just finished my usual afternoon shake, as well as draining my 20 oz. water cup since it was so hot out, so my belly was a little full and distended (and I was wearing a fitted workout T with shorts since we had walked there). BUT, who says that?? Either way, it certainly shocked and embarrassed me to say the least! I consider myself a pretty fit person and I’m not where I was pre-pregnancy, but I’m getting there (slowly, but surely). Ever since I had Mirella, I have been struggling to lose my little “pooch,” but it’s just not budging. I had thought when I lose these last few pounds, my tummy would shrink back to where it was, but it hasn’t. I use my core all the time in CrossFit, but nothing has been helping.

I had mild diastasis recti (separation of your abdominal muscles) when I was pregnant with Keenan, but after a couple of months of staying away from traditional ab work, my abs came back together, closing most of the gap. I still had about a half of a finger gap, but my doctor said it was normal and it should be fine. When I started doing CrossFit when Keenan was a year old, my abs continued to improve and I had my strong, flat tummy back.

When I became pregnant with Mirella, I knew I would probably have diastasis recti again, as most women who have it with their first pregnancy have a higher likelihood of having it again. But, for some reason, I didn’t even think about my diastasis after I had her. My midwife didn’t mention it and I just forgot about the diastasis until that awkward moment in our local nail/hair place a couple of weeks ago! Immediately when we got home from Keenan’s haircut, I tested my tummy for diastasis by laying on my back, lifting my head and using my fingers to check for the gap above and below my belly button. Sure enough, my gap is two fingers wide. I researched how to correct diastasis, especially after several months postpartum and came across the Tupler Technique developed by Julie Tupler, an RN and Fitness Trainer. So, I purchased her book, The Mummy Tummy, as well as an ab splint that arrived yesterday.

I started wearing the splint and incorporating Tupler’s exercises into my workout routine (adding them to my stretching at the end of my wods) today, so we’ll see how things go. The splint is supposed to bring your ab muscles closer together to make it easier to strengthen them to ultimately close the gap (much like wearing a cast if you fractured a bone). The splint is not very comfortable (as to be expected), but I’m willing to give it a try, as well as doing the various exercises. Also, I want to say that I’m not JUST doing this because of what our local nail/hair place owner asked me, but because diastasis can actually cause a lot of problems down the road if not corrected, such as lower back pain, your abdominal organs protruding out and no longer protected by your abs, as well as putting yourself at risk for developing a hernia. So, my journey to correct my diastasis is not just for cosmetic reasons to lose my “mommy pooch,” but to help my body and not develop any other serious issues down the road.

Tupler says it should take 4-6 weeks before you notice a difference in the gap and until it closes, you have to wear the splint. Once the gap closes, you no longer have to wear the splint, but you do have to continue the exercises. I will post more about diastasis recti next week, but I wanted to at least include this in my update.

So, here are my stats (sorry, I didn’t take a picture, but I’ll post a picture of my tummy with more info on diastasis next week!)…

Current weight: 124

6 Months Postpartum: 126

Final pregnancy weight: 156

Pre-pregnancy: 118

That’s it for now. Have a good weekend!

Questions:

If you have been pregnant before, did you have diastasis recti? If so, how did you correct it?

Have you worn an ab splint or tummy binder after any of your pregnancies to get your tummy back to where it was pre-pregnancy?

Have you struggled to lose your “mommy pooch?”