am i dealing with another diastasis recti? (AND ANNOUNCING NEXT WEEK'S GIVEAWAY!)

So.  If you've been reading along for a while, you know I've struggled with something called a diastasis recti after having All The Babies.  I was slouching and very weak through my core, and had a large "bulge" in my stomach and a lot of lower back pain.  It turned out that I had a separation between the two vertical lengths of my ab muscles that was about two fingers wide, which was compromising my posture, strength and shape.

Long story short (or, if you'd prefer, long story long), I used a program called Ab Rehab to totally close the gap.  And when I say totally close, I mean totally close.  It took me probably four to five months of doing the exercises daily, but I got there.  My posture improved, and I actually felt strong for the first time in years.  I was able to start running and doing yoga without risking injury, and was really starting to feel at home in my body.

Then I got pregnant again.  Go figure.

I was really curious to see if strengthening my core and healing my diastasis would have any effect on how I felt during pregnancy, and how quickly and fully I'd recover my core strength after delivery.

For the first two trimesters of pregnancy, I dealt with awful morning sickness, so I couldn't muster the energy for the exercises.  Then, I did Ab Rehab for about eight weeks, adapting them so that I wasn't laying flat on my back.  At that point in pregnancy, the separation was about three fingers wide.  But then I got too huge and uncomfortable to keep going, so that was the end of that.

Fast forward to today:  I'm currently four months postpartum, and haven't done any of the exercises since those few weeks during pregnancy.  And here's the really amazing thing:

Down the majority of the length of my abs, my gap is only half a finger wide.  At my belly button it's a bit wider - maybe 3/4ths of a finger wide.  I find this amazing.  After my last pregnancy, the separation was four times this wide.  The results of Ab Rehab have shown significant lasting effects!  I couldn't be happier!

This photo was taken a few weeks ago, and my gap has continued to close quickly since then.  At four months postpartum, I do still have some softness and bulging in my core, which is totally normal, but it makes the progress a little hard to see.  If you look kind of where my boobs start moving down toward my belly, you can see it a little more clearly.  I'll talk next week about other measures I'm hoping to take to help with the roundness in my middle section.

I am going to be starting up the exercises again soon, to close up the little remaining separation and prepare my body to start up running and yoga again soon.  And here's the super fun part this time around: I want you guys to join me, so next week I'll be giving away some of these DVDs for freeeeeeeeeeee so we can all buddy up and do them together - maybe we can even start a Facebook group for accountability and awesome group cheers.  YAS.

Okay, so the details on next week's giveaway!

I told Kelley Suggs, the founder of Lithe Wellness Solutions and the brains behind Ab Rehab, that I'd love to give away an Ab Rehab DVD to one of you, and you know what she did?  She sent me three copies to give away!  Is that not the coolest?!  So starting next Monday on the Facebook page, you'll have the chance to sign up to win.  Don't worry; I'll make sure to post reminders on here throughout the week to head over and sign up!

Wondering if you should enter to win?  Here's a helpful video showing you how to determine whether you're dealing with a diastasis recti:




For the whole story of my journey healing my diastasis recti, check out these past posts, listed in order:

the battle of the belly bulge... my diastasis recti.

healing my diastasis recti: a progress report.

diastasis recti: Q & A with someone who knows more than I do.

my diastasis recti: the final verdict on Ab Rehab.

using Ab Rehab during pregnancy.