Long swellling from ribs to tummy button

[Annabel43]

Hello

My twinnies are about to turn three. After pregnancy I lost most of my baby weight and thought I’d be one of the lucky ones and come out of pregnancy with my body still in tact..... nope! Three years down the line I’ve put on some weight which I can deal with. However, my tummy really really protrudes. I have checked for diasastis recti and when I pull up, my muscles only have a 1 - 1.5finger gap. Despite this, when I pull up, I have a long swelling that appears in the centre from my ribs to my tummy button. It’s soft to the touch. If I push on it, I can feel my muscles underneath and there’s no significant gap.

So this swelling (when I pull up) and the general protuding of my tummy.... are they linked? What could it be? What do I do?

It’s a little bit depressing! But of course I know that things could be worse after being lucky enough to carry two beautiful twins!

Any help appreciated

Anyone?

Look up diastasis recti. I have it, exactly as you describe. There are exercises to help reduce the gap, but I can't remember what they are because I'm a bit rubbish at remembering to do them.

Duh, just realised you mentioned diastasis recti. I must stop attempting to multi task and read posts properly. Apologies OP!

I appreciate your response! Thank you. I do think it’s DR but I can feel the gap and it’s really not that big. Have exercise hepled you? I think I’ll go to the docs. Thank you again

I agree it sounds like DR. You really need a women’s health physio. Have a look at ‘my fit family life’ on Instagram

Yep, get yourself a physio referral. They’ll definitely know what’s going on.

Ultimately you’ll get Pilates exercises, so I’d also recommend a Pilates class with an instructor who understands postnatal women/DR.

Could well be a hernia sticking out through the gap. I had one after my third DC but it was symptomless and got a bit lost amongst the rest of my mum tum so I did not even know I had it.

I went for a tummy tuck in the end as I knew there was no way my stomach muscles were ever going back together on their own, The day after the op the surgeon commented that I had had a 20cm hernia which he had stitched back into place as part of the op.