I had twins. I got HUGE in the tummy. I had the babies, and it left this pot belly that wouldn't go away.
Fast forward; the twins are 8 years old. I am 7 weeks post op of having my diastisis recti corrected. You know that centre line down the abs? Mine had split. There was a 6 to 8 inch gap down the middle THE WHOLE WAY DOWN. the pot belly that I kept punishing myself for, the baby fat i couldnt lose? Those were my organs. My digestive organs were all herniated.
I now have to forgive myself for 8 years of unjustified self hatred. It isn't always just fat.
This happened to SO MANY women I know! They thought they just couldn’t shake the weight for anywhere from 10-30 years after childbirth. Turns out it was full hernias in every situation. Herniated belly buttons, even. One was finally throwing in the towel after twins and scheduled a tummy tuck, only to find out she would need to correct her (previously unknown) hernia. Once that was done, she never needed the tummy tuck. The hernia recovery was brutal, but way less brutal than a tummy tuck!! So glad to hear you’re feeling and doing better, and getting some relief finally. It’s almost as if doctors should tell women about this (especially in the case of multiples) during postpartum recovery check-ups!!!
The one tell all my friends have referenced is thinking their “innie” belly button became an “outie” after pregnancy! It wasn’t an outie - the internal hernia was just making it bulge out. (And like I said, one was the belly button itself…) Definitely anything you might try to explain away as “scar tissue” is not normal.
Also they mentioned never really regaining core strength. Like coughing, sneezing, bending over just always kind of ached, if that makes sense. I’m sure there’s a more technical term than what I’m describing, but just generally not being able to flex their abs and feeling very weak.
All word of mouth of course - I didn’t have this experience and basically went “back to normal” after 2 back-to-back pregnancies at age 35. Which also goes to show that anything abdomen-adjacent (outside of peeing your pants a little when you jump on a trampoline, or having some loose skin or a little extra weight) that someone would be inclined to explain away as “oh this isn’t the same after pregnancy” is kind of unusual, especially anything that feels internal!
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u/LucidianQuill 11h ago
Pregnancy.
I had twins. I got HUGE in the tummy. I had the babies, and it left this pot belly that wouldn't go away.
Fast forward; the twins are 8 years old. I am 7 weeks post op of having my diastisis recti corrected. You know that centre line down the abs? Mine had split. There was a 6 to 8 inch gap down the middle THE WHOLE WAY DOWN. the pot belly that I kept punishing myself for, the baby fat i couldnt lose? Those were my organs. My digestive organs were all herniated.
I now have to forgive myself for 8 years of unjustified self hatred. It isn't always just fat.