OMG. Have you leant back and seen your belly?

[pippinleaf]

Stretched my back right back today and my belly made the weirdest shape. Like a solid ridge in the middle and belly button popped out. Assume this is uterus. Kind of grossed me out!! I'm 21 weeks.

Have you heard of diastasis recti? I'm 23 weeks pregnant and have had this since before this pregnancy. I'm trying to counteract it by walking straight, holding my core in and practising pelvic floor exercises. I asked for a referral to physio as I was worried about it and had some good advice.
I'm not saying you definitely have this but it does sound like a bit of separation which is totally normal in pregnancy.

I just thought it was funny looking. Is it not normal then?...

About 2/3 of pregnancies result in a separation of the abdominal muscles. (Diastasis recti)

It's normal in pregnancy but very important that you are careful when exercising post birth, as the wrong exercises can cause it to get worse rather than better.

Oh god! I've googled it. It's exactly that. Read awful stuff about how I will always look bloated, need a tummy tuck etc. is there any chance it could just heal??

Yep, mine does that! I noticed it for the first time about 22 weeks (31 now) and it utterly freaked me out . Having shown a couple of friends they had the same thing so I think some amount of "doming" is normal, I asked my MW about it at 28 weeks and she confirmed that what I have is normal and that if my muscles were going to separate, it tended to happen a little later, after 30 weeks. She did say to be careful to avoid / reduce it happening where possible though, there's a good You Tube video by an American physiotherapist about the best way to get in and out of bed, for example and it's the same method the hospital physio demonstrated at my antenatal class last week.

There's a good chance it will go back to normal with the right exercise (and avoiding the wrong exercise - no sit ups!). If you don't see a physio by default after birth then ask for a referral to have it checked over and they will tell you the right sort of exercises to do. I will be seeing one at 6 weeks after the birth. I have also joined the MuTu website and have a set of exercises specifically for this (though I can't really do them at the moment). It's totally geared up to rectifying this problem (but not usually while pregnant) and when you join up you get access to the private FB group where there are a lot of women posting pictures of the improvements they have made following the exercises.

I'm trying to attach a pic of the leaflet I got from my NHS physio.

So what do normal preg bellies look like when you bend backwards? I don't think it can be that weird - can it?

My stomach just looks like it's bloated but a little rounder (haven't got much of a bump - 23weeks)...

When you lean back as far as you can go? How far along are you. If I lean back a bit my tummy stays round, it's literally when I'm stretched back as far as I can go and then it makes like a triangle shape.

Pippinleaf - I has this when I was pregnant.

Dd is now 2 and after being very fat and big tummied for the first 14 months of her life I now have a flatter stomach than pre pregnancy (lots of work at the gym but doable) I am now about to ruin all the hard work as I'm 5 weeks with number 2 and have no doubt it'll happen again!

When I lean back, it's round, if a bit flat (as I have only a tiny bump). I've been checked as this is baby #7 but like my previous PGs my abs aren't separated. I'm 23+2.

I found this: www.aroundtheworldl.com/2013/11/03/funny-pregnant-triangle/ Might help ease your worries, especially if you read some of comments :) xx

Pippinleaf i have this too - a FTM so didn't know what was going on! Had noticed it from about week 22 or so, but it was at my 25 (or could have been 28) week appointment that it was REALLY obvious. There I was lying on the couch and then when I got up, I just used by stomach muscles to pull myself up and my belly looked like it had this dome popping up! MW confirmed it was because the muscles had separated; that it was perfectly normal; and by doing the right type of exercises post birth it should knit back together....really hoping she's right! Am now 32+2 and it now feels a bit painful ...

Those pictures on the website are a little bit like what I had, but they're much more exaggerated. I leant back earlier and the doming is less noticeable now than it was in the early 20 weeks. Show your MW but all my previously pregnant friends who have seen my tummy have said they had similar and they didn't have diastasis recti and my MW has said a certain amount is normal. But, be careful when sitting up in bed, getting off the sofa etc to do so in a way that doesn't put too much pressure on your abdominal muscles X

23 weeks tomorrow. I just looked and I have this, like the link above but less so obvs as my bump is smaller. Odd. But normal apparently.