Post-pardum stomach question

I have 8 wk old twin boys and thanks to bf'ing am down to my fighting weight . But, my stomach has a noticable pooch above my belly button. Below my belly button, it's actually quite flat. It's very odd looking, almost like the bottom portion was pulled tight (from the c/s incision?) and a weird bloated area above. Anyone have anything like this? I've googled around and I can't find anything. I haven't gotten to my 6 wk appt yet (maybe next week?) but I'm really curiosu.

Thanks!

 

It could be. Your belly will continually go down the first year after birth. HTH .

 

Sounds like maybe some stretched out skin. Very normal when you lose all of your twin weight quickly. I would mention it at your 6 week appt.

 

Ask your doctor to check if you have a diastasis recti, a condition where the abdominal muscles have separted. If you do at only 8 weeks PP, this would be pretty normal anyway. But the severity of it (how far they have separated) would dictate what sort of exercises you should do to help heal it (i.e. crunches would be a no no if you have more than a 2 finger width separation). Pooching above the belly button seems to be one of the indicators for this condition, but it may just be your belly going down, skin going back etc. Be careful with what your doctor recomends though. Mine confirmed my separation and recommended doing lots of crunches to get it back. I read some things that made me question this, so I went to a physical therapist and found crunches were the worst thing I could do and could actually make it worse.

 

Yep, me too. It's diastasis- where the ab muscles separate. I also have twin skin below, but the top pooches out b/c of the separation. The intestines and everything go forward so you still look pregnant. You can do exercises to make it better. Also, it can give you back problems. I was warned about this, but I didn't listen and now I did something to my lower back. So I have a call in to the Dr. so I can get PT.

 

QUOTE(HinSD @ Aug 26 2008, 10:27 PM) [snapback]949159[/snapback]
Yep, me too. It's diastasis- where the ab muscles separate. I also have twin skin below, but the top pooches out b/c of the separation. The intestines and everything go forward so you still look pregnant. You can do exercises to make it better. Also, it can give you back problems. I was warned about this, but I didn't listen and now I did something to my lower back. So I have a call in to the Dr. so I can get PT.


What are the helpful exercises?

 

You pull in and back your ab muscles- it says to start w/ 4 sets of 100 and work up to more (I forget how many). I also try to stand up straight and suck in my ab muscles. But you have to pull them in and back. It has really helped! There are other exercises in the book Lose Your Mummy Tummy but I haven't had time to do them, or actually look at the book But I definitely need PT now that I hurt my lower back. So DO try to get PT b/c I was warned about hurting my back and I did not listen.

 

QUOTE(HinSD @ Aug 27 2008, 10:06 AM) [snapback]949621[/snapback]
You pull in and back your ab muscles- it says to start w/ 4 sets of 100 and work up to more (I forget how many). I also try to stand up straight and suck in my ab muscles. But you have to pull them in and back. It has really helped! There are other exercises in the book Lose Your Mummy Tummy but I haven't had time to do them, or actually look at the book But I definitely need PT now that I hurt my lower back. So DO try to get PT b/c I was warned about hurting my back and I did not listen.


Thanks! I'll give it a try