Beautiful After the Belly

Diastasis Recti, Hernias, C-section and Ab Scarring, Belly Button, Pelvic Floor

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October 6, 2010

WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN WITH MY FIRST THREE PREGNANCIES!

There are many, but as I embark with the pregnancy of #4, some of them are VERY fresh in my mind!
1)      It is possible NOT to have to wear maternity pants.  Is it just me, or does anyone else just not fit RIGHT in maternity pants?  So I buy some baggier pants in a size up and wear them under the bulge.  Other possibilities below!
2)      There are products out there designed for transition stages.  I did not know about THIS one until one of my clients showed me!  There are button expanders:
· ” Button extenders consist of an elastic band with a buttonhole on one end and a button on the other, and work along similar principals as using a hair elastic or rubber band. You can find inexpensive button extenders at fabric or sewing stores, and you can also purchase button extenders designed specifically for pregnancy. Button extenders are only going to hold your pants’ button together, not the zipper, so they must be worn with a long, loose shirt or paired with a belly band for coverage. “

So this may be common knowledge to some, but all I had heard about was doing this same thing with an elastic.  It did not go so well for me!  One I found is Belly Belt – which you can get on target.com, amazon.com and I know Motherhood carries something similar.

3)      There are also BAND EXTENDERS!  I have recently heard several girlfriends mentioning different brands – I got mine for this time around at Target for about $15.  You can also find similar ones online called bella bands – everywhere from amazon to other websites.  My girlfriends have raved because they hold up maternity pants when they are still a little big, hold up prepregnancy pants when a little small – great for those transition periods.  Also great AFTER baby to get yourself back into your normal pants – and to cover up the awkward: 

·  “Band extenders, or belly bands, consist simply of a stretchy fabric band. Surprisingly versatile, they can support and cover unbuttoned pants, hold up too-big maternity pants, and even keep a third trimester belly from pushing down pants. Bands can also serve a dual purpose, giving the appearance of a long layered tank under pre-pregnancy shirts that have become too short. Because bands are often meant to be shown, they come in a wide variety of colors and patterns. However, some women find that bands can slip down or ride up, requiring too-frequent adjustment.”

4) Of course that you can do TRANSVERSE exercises during pregnancy!  So specifically Seated Tuplers are great.  You CAN actually close your diastasis DURING pregnancy.  I have seen it first hand with my pregnant clients.  One took a class with me while she was 7 ½ months pregnant.  The class ended when she was 9 months pregnant and she had TOTALLy closed her 3 fingerwidth (in all 3 areas) diastasis AS HER BELLY GREW!!  How many doctors would not believe THAT is possible – but not only IS IT, it puts the mom to be in SUCH a stronger position for pushing!
5)      Speaking of pushing, My last time around my transverse was so strong it only took one super long and STRONG push!  I had been told luckily before my first baby not to ‘bear down and push” as the nurses will often bark out, but to bring the abdominals BACK to push.  So that helped.  Then STRENGTHING the transverse correctly helped even more!  If you “bear down and push” all the pressure goes into your head – popped blood vessels near the eyes are common – yikes!  Its so important to bring the transverse BACK, RELAX the pelvic floor and NOT feel pressure in the wrong areas. Read “Maternal Fitness” for more in depth info. 
6)      Water births are awesome!  I did the epidural route with the first two – had huge episiotomies, and long recoveries after vaginal births with the first two.  With the 3rd I went natural and did a water birth.  I won’t say it wasn’t painful – it was.  But if I could stand up and walk around it was pretty tolerable.  I gave birth in the birth tub at the hospital and did not tear – it was great.  I literally hopped out of the tub – which was amazing.  I felt great.  ALL I wanted was an icepack.  I felt AWESOME the whole day – totally different than the groggy, frozen and bloated legs I had from being hooked up on drugs and pitocin with the first 2.  So I am sure there will be lots of people who differ – and that’s fine!  But I wish I would have know it was an option with the first two.  I am planning on that route with #4.
7)      Strengthening the pelvic floor between pregnancies is SO important.  If you can’t feel the muscles well, or can’t engage your pelvic floor – consider getting gynoflex – google it.  It is resistance that come in different strengths for your pelvic floor. Other clients of mine have also used Step Free vaginal weights and have liked them.  Both are great if you have trouble with incontinence or if everything is very stretched out (to avoid going into more detail!)
8)      You CAN wear a DiastasisRehab™ splint during pregnancy. I personally find it easiest to wear it during the 1st and 2nd trimesters to minimize splitting in that part of the pregnancy.  I wear the new one at night mostly and I love it!
So I am sure there are more – but those are the ones that come to my mind!  Feel free to chime in – what did you wish you would have know before a prior pregnancy.  SHARE YOUR WISDOM!!!

August 30, 2010

Client with largest diastasis clinically closed in FIVE WEEKS!

So I see women with all sorts of sizes of diastasis.  All affect how the abdominal area looks.  Those with the larger diastasis see a much more pronounced “mommy tummy” look as the organs protrude against the skin and connective tissue, as there are NO MUSCLES to keep those organs in.  It looks strange often times, and unsightly.  In some women it looks “off” or “poochy.” 

I have measured thousands of women.  I did have one class that had several women whose recti were 8 fingerwidths wide of a gap between the recti.  I thought – “”wow we have our work cut out for us in this class!  I, of course, splinted them and taught them exercises, etc.  And they made great progress in the 7 weeks we had.  Those were the largest diastasis recti I have personally measured and worked with…until my last class.

I had quite a large class of 20 women and we only had a short abreviate session for the summer – it was a “6 week course” that spanned 5 weeks from beginning to end.  I had a thin tall girl in my class who was NINE FINGERWIDTHS WIDE of a gap between the recti.    She looked great EXCEPT for an the protrusion of the midsection – the LAST piece of the puzzle for SO  many women!
‘
She came up to me after class as  I fit her for a splint and asked, “Can’t I still do crunches and sit-ups?” She had asked in such a way that I could tell that my forbidding of crunches had really put her out with how she did her normal fitness routine.  I said firmly but nicely, “NO!!  That is why you measure a NINE!  NOOOO Crunches!”  “NEVER???”  She asked.  “NO!  Not unless you want to undo all the work you do in here with me.”  (Please click on side tab of crunches if you are new to this site and can’t imagine why I would be saying this 🙂 )

So this girl had EXCELLENT technique and came every week to the 6 classes.  And on week 6, just 5 calendar weeks later, she had brought her  NINE fingerwidth diastasis to a ONE!!!!!!  While I work with my clients to TOTALLY close everything, this was an amazing EIGHT FINGERWIDTHS CLOSED in 5 WEEKS!  That is by FAR the fastest I have ever had anyone progress.  And yes, she DID work for it, usually doing 7 sets of 100  seated tuplers per day (NOT as  crazy as it sounds – they are very intrinsic.  See article of Fit Pregnancy a couple posts below).

Well that kind of progress is not made without significant WAIST SHRINKAGE!!  She went from a 30 inch waist to a 27 inch waist in those FIVE WEEKS!! 

CONGRATS TO HER PROGRESS!!  I am partially telling this clients story not ONLY because of her amazing results, which are awesome, but also because SO many medical professionals believe surgery is the ONLY FIX for this condition!  That is dangerously misguided information in my opinion.  Why not save people from thousands of dollars, weeks and weeks of recovery time, permanent incision in their body, and a healthy (no pun intended) risk of infection following the surgery.  OUCH!  Any medical professionals that come across this, PLEASE realize that there are so many more avenues for the diastasis recti than surgery!

August 25, 2010

Mother told to clean own room after C section!!

I just could NOT believe this!!  I can’t imagine after a C section – MAJOR SURGERY – that this happened!! Article found HERE.

 Mother told to clean own room after caesarean

Online: http://www.thelocal.se/28512/20100822/
Mother-of-two Elin Andersson has highlighted staffing shortage problems at a maternity ward in Sundsvall in northern Sweden after she was asked to clean out her own hospital room just two days after giving birth by caesarean section.

 

Every time Andersson required medicine she had to call staff to remind them, she told local newspaper Sundsvalls Tidning. The new baby’s father meanwhile was requested to aid in the care of his partner.

Two days after the operation, the recovering mum decided she was ready to go home.

”That was when the midwife said I had one final task to perform. Then she went and got a big white laundry bag and asked me to clean out the room and the bed where I had lain,” she told the newspaper.

Two midwives at the Sundsvall maternity ward admitted that Elin Andersson painted an accurate picture of their workplace.

”She describes precisely those bits that we don’t have time for,” said Gunnel Westerlund.

”Medical safety always comes first and you can’t leave a mother while she’s giving birth. It’s true that we sometimes need to make use of the parents and that doesn’t feel good at all.”

What do you guys think? Me?  I think – YIKES!!

August 22, 2010

ARTICLE IN FIT PREGNANCY – Seated Tuplers, Diastasis, & How to get rid of mommy tummy – POSTPARTUM

Hi All – this is a very recent article in Fit pregnancy about SEATED TUPLERS – WITH PICS!!   To fully view – just click on the big pics and the full page will show. For those of you that have been wanted to see them, I hope that helps!  Visual is always good, especially if you cant do them with someone in person.  You can find the article here.  Let me know if you want me to make it bigger  – or if you have ANY QUESTIONS!!

August 7, 2010

Some shocking things I found out about food!

So my husband got me this book for my birthday I have really enjoyed – called Get the Sugar Out, Revised: 501 Simple Ways to Cut the Sugar Out of Any Diet

and I have really started to consider a couple of things that have NEVER ocurred to me before.

First of all, I did not realize that “OATS” that you buy in the store really differ from one another.  Its true – ROLLED OATS and OAT BRAN are both in the whopping  “80 – 89” category of the Glycemic Index, with pure GLUCOSE (SUGAR) being 100. 

NOW, to keep the LOVE HANDLES OFF, you should stay below 55 ish on the glycemic index to keep lowered insulin levels.  Otherwise that lovely SPARE TIRE keeps on gaining momentum.  I always tell my clients to avoid the five WICKED WHITES:  white flour, white potateos, white rice, white pasta, and WHITE SUGAR – the biggest devil!

Back to Oats – how THIS can be, I don’t know….but Oatmeal cookies are between 70 and 79…LOWER than rolled oats!!  SO, what OATS ARE GOOD?  STEEL CUT OATMEAL!!  Thats right!  Its only between 40 and 49 on the Glycemic Index.  So I look in my pantry and what have I been buying thinking I am SOOO healthy?  ROLLED OATS!!!  I have SEEN steel cut oats, and always wondered why I would buy those as opposed to other oats.  They are harder to find, but you can find the  at (OF COURSE) Trader Joes, and Jewel- Osco/Albertsons in the “healthy” section.

So what is GREATER THAN 100 on the Glycemic Index – meaning spare tire city around the hips?  The things that SHOCKED ME ARE:  Millet (a grain people eat…we actual feed it to our cockatiel), puffed rice, WHITE RICE (a wicked white) French baguette (another wicked white) CORN FLAKES (that one caught me off guard), Maltose (look at those labels – you’ll find this ALOT!), and Rice Crispies (Darn, I just bought 3 boxes today for my kids!)

Things that stand at 100 – the basic CEILING of the glycemic index:  PURE GLUCOSE, of course, but also White bread (wicked white) and THIS ONE IS THE SHOCKER:  WHOLE WHEAT BREAD!  That is all we buy in our house.  I truly have been thinking it should be around 50 or so since its WHOLE WHEAT – not so!!  Its still triggering tons of the FAT STORING HORMONE called insulin!  YIKES!!

THINGS I THOUGHT WHERE PRETTY SAFE, but are between 90 and 99 on the G.I. – fasten your seat belt….Grape Nuts, Carrots (I have heard lots of differentiation on this one though…)Parsnips – very starchy, WHOLE GRAIN Barley, Muesli (think KASHI – they do a lot with Muesli)Shredded Wheat, Apricots, and dum dum dum – CORN CHIPS!  Corn chips seem pretty darn innocent to me…as do most of these items.

So at the very least – I will just say my eyes have been opened..very wide…to things that can contribute to the SPARE TIRE.  The 5 whites at least are easy to remember…not as easy to follow – but they work.  The lowest things on the GI Index ?  20 and below:  Lentils, Fructose, Plums, Peaches, Grapefruit, Raspberries, Cherries, Soybeans, Peanuts. 

WHAT HAS NO Glycemic Index besides meat and cheese? MOST veggies, avocados – a TOTAL staple at our house, and fish.

What shocked you the most?  To check on your favorite foods, go to the  Glycemic Index Website and plug it in.

July 29, 2010

ALL NEW BEFORE AND AFTER PICS & STORY – Diastasis Recti

I am a mid 30’s mother of an almost 2 and just turned 3 year old. Both kids were over 9 pounds, and I gained over 60 pounds, (depsite walking 5 miles a day) with each of them. I developed an umbilical hernia after child no. 1, but thought it was just a cosmetic consequence of pregnancy. My ob/gyn had ok’d me to do crunches during pregnancy no. 1 for as long as I could physically do them. Birth resulted in a c-section, and I lost all of the weight in the first 6 months post-birth and did many many crunches in this time period. I then became pregnant with child no. 2.
I changed ob/gyn for child no. 2 and asked about the diastasis recti at my first pregnancy appointment. She did not catch the hernia, but said that the diastatis recti could only be fixed with surgery. I inquired about stitching it during the second planned c-section, to which she informed me that I then could not hold my baby for several weeks while I healed. I opted against further pursuit of surgery and did not look into a fix until baby no. 2 was 18 months old. I acheived prepregnancy weight rather quickly with both children, but still looked 4-5 months pregnant.
I went to an osteopath who specializes in natural remedies, and he too confirmed that I could only repair my abdominals with surgery, with no mention of the hernia.

A family member of mine saw my belly button when my 2nd child was 18 months old and informed me that I had a hernia and should seek medical attention. I returned to my ob/gyn who confirmed the hernia and suggested I see a general surgeon.


At this point I found Bonnie and the Tupler technique and had already made the decision to try and close the diastasis without surgery. I saw a general surgeon only to confirm that the hernia was not dangerous and there was no immediate need for hernia surgery. The surgeon informed me that the diastasis was only 2 fingers wide, and I really did not even need the surgery. He was shocked that I even knew what a diastasis was. He also said that he could repair the diastatis as well, but that the recovery time would be long. He could repair the hernia, but that there was no immediate need for it as it was not particularly dangerous. I informed him that I was going to attempt to fix it with exercise, to which he responded he had never heard of such a thing. This particular surgeon is not a “cutter” and was supportive of my alternative choice. Further, he said he’d love to see the results, and to come back in six months.

I saw Bonnie just before memorial day, and took before pictures. The surgeon had measured me wrong and the diastasis was MUCH larger than the surgeon had measured.

(After two weeks of Tupler Technique with Bonnie’s instruction (and a bit of a tan):

I’m finding that my biggest problem now is how to get my skin to contract as quickly as my stomach has!

(MY NOTES:  This client was a 5 in the middle, 4 on the bottom, and 3 on the top.  She is now totally closed – in about 6 weeks!   You can see her support in her midsection is much firmer – as the muscles are now holding in the organs very nicely.  You will also notice a big change in the belly button area – its much  more inconspicuous and has gone flat.  From the side views especially, you notice a much more defined waistline, and you will also notice how her waist went in about 3 inches – possibly more since I didn’t measure her during the first session.  GREAT WORK!)

July 26, 2010

A history:

I am a mid 30’s mother of an almost 2 and just turned 3 year old. Both kids were over 9 pounds, and I gained over 60 pounds, (depsite walking 5 miles a day) with each of them. I developed an umbilical hernia after child no. 1, but thought it was just a cosmetic consequence of pregnancy. My ob/gyn had ok’d me to do crunches during pregnancy no. 1 for as long as I could physically do them. Birth resulted in a c-section, and I lost all of the weight in the first 6 months post-birth and did many many crunches in this time period. I then became pregnant with child no. 2.

I changed ob/gyn for child no. 2 and asked about the diastasis recti at my first pregnancy appointment. She did not catch the hernia, but said that the diastatis recti could only be fixed with surgery. I inquired about stitching it during the second planned c-section, to which she informed me that I then could not hold my baby for several weeks while I healed. I opted against further pursuit of surgery and did not look into a fix until baby no. 2 was 18 months old. I acheived prepregnancy weight rather quickly with both children, but still looked 4-5 months pregnant.

I went to an osteopath who specializes in natural remedies, and he too confirmed that I could only repair my abdominals with surgery, with no mention of the hernia.

A family member of mine saw my belly button when my 2nd child was 18 months old and informed me that I had a hernia and should seek medical attention. I returned to my ob/gyn who confirmed the hernia and suggested I see a general surgeon.


At this point I found Bonnie and the Tupler technique and had already made the decision to try and close the diastasis without surgery. I saw a general surgeon only to confirm that the hernia was not dangerous and there was no immediate need for hernia surgery. The surgeon informed me that the diastasis was only 2 fingers wide, and I really did not even need the surgery. He was shocked that I even knew what a diastasis was. He also said that he could repair the diastatis as well, but that the recovery time would be long. He could repair the hernia, but that there was no immediate need for it as it was not particularly dangerous. I informed him that I was going to attempt to fix it with exercise, to which he responded he had never heard of such a thing. This particular surgeon is not a “cutter” and was supportive of my alternative choice. Further, he said he’d love to see the results, and to come back in six months.

I saw Bonnie just before memorial day, and took before pictures. The surgeon had measured me wrong and the diastasis was MUCH larger than the surgeon had measured. 
 

After two weeks of Tupler Technique with Bonnie’s instruction (and a bit of a tan):

July 12, 2010

YET ANOTHER round of closing the diastasis recti- results from this last week!

Yes I know!  Not to bombard the cyber world with JUST this – but I always LOVE telling some great results that I just can’t help myself.  And NO PICS this round – I AM working on it.  Some of my clients do not want to even see themselves in the “BEFORE” pics,  but this next client told me she would take a “mid process” pic .  So pics to come 🙂

CLIENT F:  This cute client is in her mid to upper 20s.  She has 4 young kids below the age of 5.  So without bringing the recti together through SEATED TUPLERS DURING and BETWEEN pregnancies, it left her with a very large diastasis of:
8 on top
7 in the middle
7 on the bottom
Again, these measurements indicated how many fingerwidths between the two halves of the recti.  So when I measure someone with these measurements, I can usually feel the intestines pulsing because there is literally NOTHING holding these women in!  Its just skin and connective tissue holding their organs and innards in!

So, back to the results. This clients of COURSE got a splint to approximate the two halves of the recti, and the first week she did the 5 sets of seated tuplers fairly well, but the 2nd week she fell off the wagon and “didn’t do much and didn’t really wear the splint.”  She wanted one more week to get caught up before I saw her the 2nd time.  So really there were TWO weeks of actual work.  She measured  – again keep in mind this is JUST TWO WEEKS:
4 on top
5 in the middle
5 1/2 on the bottom
This is HUGE improvement.  She literally brought the top part of her diastasis to HALF of what it was in TWO WEEKS OF EFFORT!

DID I MENTION HER WAIST SIZE WENT FROM A SIZE 32 TO A 28 3/4 AS WELL!  YEP – the waist size SHOULD also come in quite a bit as well.  For this client, that was more than ONCE INCH PER WEEK!

I will put two more clients tomorrow in this same post – one postpartum and one pregnant – all FANTASTIC RESULTS!  🙂