My C-section overhang/apron/shelf

[Happyinthehay]

I had an elective section a month ago after a previous traumatic emcs three years previous. My main reason was wanting to avoid another unsuccessful labour ending in emcs anyway and the associated feelings.. my first labour got to the pushing stage, failed forceps etc. I was very upset for a long time afterwards and the staff were at a loss as to why the baby wouldn't come out.

This time around, the operation and recovery were very smooth BUT I have a disturbing overhang that I never had at all after my first section.
I know it's early days but I can't find any info about how much if at all it's likely to improve. I've lost all the weight I gained almost instantly (no effort, that happened last time too, maybe from being sick in the pregnancy) so while that sounds great, it's left me nervous about my chances of getting rid of the overhang and makes me think there's no weight to lose, this is as good as it gets?
I guess why I have it is just luck of the draw/ the surgeon/ the way I was stitched. I actually put on less weight second time around (but not much either time: 2 stone first pregnancy and 1.5 stone the second time)
Anyone got any idea how much an overhang generally improves if at all / how long it takes?
My research online throws up a lot of posters saying only surgery will help.
I'm probably not up for that. But I can see me feeling quite down about my new tummy, particularly as this was an elective section and not done on medical recommendation. This detail will likely bother me as I will blame myself and see my overhang as my just desserts (I think it's fair to say I have some messed up feelings of personal failure around my births in particular....)
Anyone want to share how they grew to accept their overhang and think more positively about it?
I am not likely to spend much time in a bikini... hardly anyone will ever see my tummy.
As I say, I just feel like the sticking point is me seeing my overhang as the price I'm paying for landing a wonderful un-traumatic birth.....

Mine improved with time but the overhang is still there, it gets smaller when I lose weight so I do think something about the surgery has a weird impact on fat distribution but at only one month out it’s just too soon to tell. I’d suggest waiting at least 6 months before you start to worry and if it stays and it bothers you you can reevaluate your options then.

Thank you, Northwards. I can find pictures of scars but none of side profiles/ overhangs..... except for plastic surgery adverts! I'll see how it looks in a few months.... maybe I'll have got over the shock by then. Naively I wasn't expecting this, I suppose because I didn't have it first time around.
Thks again

I know a lot of people whose "mum tums" were worse after their second pregnancy, without having had c-sections. I think things often don't spring back the same way after being stretched a second time. Obviously the overhang is c-section specific, but it may well be that that you'd have a more protruding tummy anyway after a second pregnancy - and the section has just made it a bit more pronounced.

I can't offer much personal advice. I've always had a pot belly - I'm quite petite, but with a flabby tummy - always have been! My c-section made it a bit more pronounced but weirdly it's made me less bothered about my sticky-out stomach overall. It's where my awesome baby came from. I sort of feel like I've earned that belly now, if that makes sense!

Thanks GeeKay that's where I hope to eventually get to with it all.....a more positive and proud perspective which is very healthy.

I have this, it's funny as I thought it was just me! My DD was breech and extremely high up and so my external scar is much higher than friends and that I expected (is above my knicker line) and it really does cause an overhang of the little tyre I had pre baby anyway. I am normally a size 12 so not teeny but it did always really annoy me as any bikini bottoms or knickers just sat in the scar and made overhang look worse! I am 34 weeks at the mo with no2 have had really bad sickness and haven't put on much weight at all this time but I imagine for some reason overhang is going to be even worse after this one is born (hoping for VBAC).

I try not to think about it too much and may just have to go with high waisted bikinis or swim suits from now on. Ultimately it is what it is I can't change how she was born or the marks she left on my body but I wouldn't change her for the world, and so I just say to myself I shouldn't worry about how she made her entrance into it! She doesn't care what my tummy looks like and my husband loves me for me warts and saggy bits and all, we have done something incredible and although I cringe a little at times on the whole I am proud of my war wounds 😊

Thank you G2C and congratulations on your pregnancy! I hope over time I too see any shelf as just part of the way my baby was born and just the way it was meant to be.
Right now I'm not there yet. I keep wondering if they hadn't changed the date and I'd had a different (better?) surgeon / same doctor as last time would I have escaped the dreaded apron effect and so on.
Hope in time I get more accepting.

My stomach looked pretty much the same after my first but not so much after my second and a lot of my friends are this way. I also had separation of the abdominal muscles with number 2 which didn't help! I have changed my wardrobe a little to slightly more flowing tops!

Thanks Bobby. Were both of yours sections? I'm a baggy top fan anyway so that's good!
How does the separation of muscles manifest itself?

No improvement to report; in fact I have managed to gain 3 or 4 pounds. Guess getting away with eating lots and lots while breastfeeding was a one -off deal!
I look fatter/ more pregnant and more overhang today than the day I had the section. Oh dear.

I had a section 18 months ago and know when I came home and looked at my tummy a week or two later I had a belly that hung down. It was like a huge empty pouch that I could lift up over my scar.

Now I don’t have a hang over. I do have a belly that comes in where my scar is and my tummy will never be flat again. It lays flat to my scar and then my tummy sticks out above it but nothing hangs down any more.

It’ll always be sticky out but it doesn’t hang down now. I do remember I had a flap I could lift!

I will always have mine, the skin is so stretched. I have one of those waist trainers, holds it all in nicely! If I had money I would have a tummy tuck.

Thanks for your replies. My overhang was empty and loose looking when I first posted. Now it's looking like a more stubborn ring of fat hanging down! But as I say, I've been eating a lot and hardly exercising yet at all, not even walking.
Just don't remember it being anything like this first time around.

I would be more worried about your feelings of failure around the births OP both babies are here and healthy by the sounds of it! I was shocked the first time I saw myself after c-section, I was not expecting that! But it goes down, 1 month is maybe a bit too soon - your skin has to go back which takes longer 2nd time round, I would give it at least 6 months.

Congratulations on your new baby!

Thanks, Stroller. You're right, the feelings I have about my births, particularly the first one, are intense and complicated- thankfully I feel much stronger this time around when talking about the birth. I can actually speak without crying. And I don't feel so fixated on the birth. It just reminds me in certain ways of birth #1 even though they were like night and day.
Elcs was the right decision for me, apart from my nerves leading up and going in, it was pretty much perfect.

And I guess like many others I'll get used to my new body if it doesn't improve a lot over the coming months.

sigh well mine is still there and my youngest is now 4.
I've had three decent sized (10lbs+) babies and three caesareans; lost the baby weight and kept it off. So while some of the overhang may be fat, it's mostly skin. Hugely overstretched skin. My stomach is completely wrinkly now and then there's the overhang. I honestly believe that for me, surgery would be the only option as there's just no way I could firm that skin up again.

I’ve got one too. 3 big lumpy kids did it, all born by CS. I look at it though and think “rather a scar there than a busted fanny.”

Laundry well when you put it that way...

Mine never went, I think it must be something to do with the stitches/scar tissue. It looks better when I loose weight but the skin doesn't go. It's early days for you though and it will look better with time. High rise jeans are your friend, I love the ultra high ones from miss Selfridge they really hold it all in.

Ive had one c section and if I put on weight on my tummy it becomes very noticeable, if I lose weight it nearly disappears. But if I put on weight it's the first thing that appears.

I still have mine 5 years later. I don't think it will ever go really but I am about 3 stone heavier than pre kids. I worry that if I lose weight it will just hang more rather than shrink though tbh. I have heard that waist trainers are useful once the scar has healed so I will definitely try one if I have another baby.
It's still very early days op, try not to get too hung up about it!

I’ve had two vaginal deliveries and I have an overhang this time despite weighing less now than I did before the first time I got pregnqnt.

Thanks all. Whenever I Google, I see fitspiration stories from the U.S with people doing intense dieting and training........ the speed at which I scroll past and totally disregard all that is probably going to be the real problem.

My skin is stretched - nothing is going to help with that! I don’t know how some women do it but I have lost weight, I keep reasonably fit and I’m pretty active. Nothing will tighten my skin back up though!