My Postpartum Enemy: Diastasis Recti (Part 3) - FINALLY FIXED

My abs were split apart for about 6 and a half years, starting with pregnancy #1 and getting worse with #2 and #3. I did everything in my power to repair the damage without surgery, but it just wasn’t enough. After more than two years of focused abdominal training, my abs were still split apart by 2.5 to 3 inches. Surgery got me the rest of the way there, and I am now finally…FINALLY…fixed. My muscles are back where they are supposed to be. My umbilical hernia is repaired.

It is quite surreal. I am so utterly thankful.

To read Part 1 of the story, click here.

Here are the official BEFORE photos. These were taken about 4 months before the surgery. So these are after two years of ab workouts, doing exercises that were supposed to repair this condition (diastasis recti). The split used to be way worse, but I did not have the heart to take photos of what I looked like right after baby #3 was born. These are my “as good as I could get it through exercise” photos.

BEFORE: 4 months before surgery

BEFORE: 4 months before surgery

And here are the AFTER photos, taken 5 months after surgery. Still with a little bit of swelling, but that’s normal.

AFTER: 5 months post-op

AFTER: 5 months post-op

Recovery hurt like hell. And I have a high tolerance for pain. I had completely unmedicated deliveries with all three of my babies. But I was very thankful for the pain meds they gave me for this surgery. Holy cow. For three days, I only got out of bed to go to the bathroom, and even that was exhausting. I laughed at something on day #2–just enough to engage my ab muscles–and it hurt so bad I cried. Any little cough was excruciating. After those first three days, each day got a little bit easier. What a difference one week makes!!! It was about a month before I could actually stand up straight again. You can’t put tension on the incision (hip-to-hip) while it’s healing, and the ab muscles are full of stitches. So for a couple weeks I had to walk hunched over, which put a lot of strain on my back, so my back was killing me.

It was TOTALLY worth it. I would even call it life-changing.

All in all, I had at least 200 stitches in me…about 60 or so permanent stitches holding my abs together, another 30 or so dissolvable stitches to bind the skin back to the abs after repairing the muscles, another 90 or so to close the hip-to-hip incision, plus more to fix my belly button. Phew! That’s a lot of stitches!

The surgeon told me that the gap between my ab muscles was “really big….about 2.5 to 3 inches wide.” Wow! I thought that I had been closing the gap with my ab exercises, since I had actually shrunken the pooch somewhat, but now that I know they were still split that far apart, I have a different theory. I had been focusing on exercises to strengthen the transverse abdominis (inner abs), since that’s what my research had pointed me to. The exercises definitely shrunk the poochiness of my torso, and I couldn’t feel the gap as badly as I could previously. But now that I know the gap was still so wide, I’m thinking that those inner abs just got better at holding my guts in so they weren’t pushing outward on that weakened connective tissue and making the gap more pronounced….rather than actually healing the gap. That’s my theory. If you’re in the medical field and can comment on that, please give me your insight!

The surgeon also said my ab muscles were really strong and thick, so that made me feel good :)

To give a little perspective, here are some visuals to illustrate my problem – diastasis recti:

Approximate location of my abs before surgery

My surgeon was Dr. Melinda Haws and I HIGHLY recommend her. She did a fabulous job and was really personable as well. If you’re in the Nashville area and are looking into this kind of surgery. Definitely check her out.

If you have any questions for me, please leave me a comment. I’d be happy to dialogue with you.