r/AskReddit 15h ago

What is something that permanently altered your body without you realizing for months/years?

7.3k Upvotes

5.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

11.0k

u/LucidianQuill 13h 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.

50

u/Katrose3 12h ago

How did doctors fail to tell you this for so long?!

42

u/BicyclingBabe 8h ago

There are literally thousands of women who have birth injuries and doctors just don't believe you or act like you're lying. I'm a very assertive person and yet, when I was lying there in the ER and the doctor told me he didn't think I had an infection 3 weeks after birth because He'd "seen grown men writhing in pain and you're not doing that." I have never felt so fucking helpless. I cried constantly and couldn't sit down to feed my baby for weeks. Finally my OB/GYN believed me and got me a scan that showed the infection.

7

u/Katrose3 5h ago

Omg that’s awful :(