I have decided to share more on my journey with DR and my healing process in an effort to be a resource to other mothers who have been through the same thing. I am not an expert in the field neither do I work in healthcare but what I share are things I have tried myself and found helpful in closing the abdominal separation. I hope my journey inspires your and I hope you find the information I share helpful. Remember, you are strong, you are resilient, and you are beautiful. All the best mama’s we’re all in this together.

So, what exactly is Diastasis Recti?

I am not going to try to define this in my own words, because like I said I am not an expert in this area so I will start off this post with the technical definition from expert sites which I will reference here.

The Mayo Clinic defines this condition as:

“Diastasis recti is common in women who are over 35, deliver a high birth weight baby, or have multiple pregnancies. It's usually most noticeable right after delivery. It also occurs in middle-aged and older men with abdominal obesity. There may be a bulge in the middle of the belly. It might be noticeable only when the abdominal muscles are tense, such as during coughing.

Health Line defines this condition and outlines the causes as:

“Diastasis recti is the partial or complete separation of the rectus abdominis, or “six-pack” muscles, which meet at the midline of your stomach. Diastasis recti is very common during and following pregnancy. This is because the uterus stretches the muscles in the abdomen to accommodate your growing baby. One study found that up to 60 percent Source of women may experience diastasis recti during pregnancy or postpartum.”

What are the causes?

Excessive inner-abdominal pressure causes diastasis recti. During pregnancy, your abdominal muscles and connective tissues are stretched out from your expanding uterus. They’re helped along by the pregnancy hormones relaxing and estrogen. Pushing during delivery can also lead to diastasis recti. Experiencing some abdominal separation during and following pregnancy is expected.

In the past, body mass index (BMI), weight gain during pregnancy, the weight of the baby, and maternal age were considered risk factors. But a 2015 study trusted Source found no connection between these factors and pregnant women being more or less likely to experience the condition.

Newborn babies are sometimes born with diastasis recti, especially if they’re premature. That’s because their abdominal muscles aren’t fully developed and connected. The condition usually corrects itself with time.

Diastasis Recti comes with some unwelcome symptoms too.

Healthline.com outlines a couple of symptoms:

The most common symptom of diastasis recti is a pooch or bulge in your stomach, especially when you strain or contract your abdominal muscles. Additional symptoms include:

• lower back pain

• poor posture

• constipation

• bloating

• Jeopardized trunk stability and mobility

• back pain

• pelvic pain

• damage to your posture

• pelvic floor dysfunction

• hernia, in extreme cases

Other common symptoms are:

• Heaviness or strain of the pelvic floor

• Leaking in underwear

• Pee when you sneeze

   

MY EXPERIENCE:

I will close out this section with an old wife’s tale I have heard since I was a child until I had my children and I also believed it in part. This was “if you take epidural you will have back pain.” My belief in this statement in my adult years was further backed by the testimonies of a lot of new mothers around me within my community, those who took epidural spoke of how this came with a lifelong back pain problem. This made me nervous about taking it but alas when that pain hit during labor, I took the epidural on my first child and I had no back pain, so I did the same on my second child.

I did not experience DR on my first child so when I started to see the symptoms on my second child and learned more about what was happening to my body and why my stomach still had a noticeable bulge even though I was 5 pounds below my pre-pregnancy weight. It was then I discovered that one of the side effects of DR was back pain. So there goes the theory of back pain associated with epidurals. I am not a medical professional so I can’t speak to if there is any medical correlation between the epidural and back pain but what I came to find was that most women who had back pain within my circle of family and friends also had Diastasis Recti.

I know sometimes after reading all of the above from professional sites you might not fully understand it all and you are still wondering ‘is this something I should be worried about?” So here are some questions you can ask from my experience…..if the answer is YES to one or all of these questions then you should self-test for DR.

-Have you lost the significant baby weight, but your stomach still has a bulge?

-Do you experience occasional/consistent back pain since childbirth?

-Have you tried crunches and ab workouts since childbirth and yet your belly is still bulging?

-Since childbirth, when you lay down do you feel like your belly is sinking in?

-Does it feel like there is a hole in the center of your stomach since childbirth?

-Do you feel your abdominals and pelvic floor are weak and you can’t seem to strengthen them since childbirth?

-Do people ask you if you are expecting another child because you have a visible pooch?