Seperated muscles

[Rainbow_Mumma]

What does this mean? I'll ask a nurse on next rounds but the last one was feeling contractions And said the muscles in my stomach between the babies had separated and i have no idea what that means!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Catastrophic]

Meaning the muscles that hold your stomach together have separated from each other. Think of holdin your hands with your fingers interlocking, when they move apart they are separating, this is what your muscles are doing.

I'm not sure of the treatment, I think it's a belt to hold everything in, and reduce more damage.

[Rainbow_Mumma]

Just one more thing to add to the list then lol
Thanks MN


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zap]

Morning MrsS. My muscles separated with each pregnancy but the most with my twins. It is basically your abs separating under all that pressure. After bubbas are born the hospital should organize a visit from the physio who will organize some tubi grip for you around $10 from memory! It is basically a huge piece of elastic that will help to hold everything in. They should also show you some exercises to help bring them back together they are similar to pelvic floor exercises. There is no danger to your babies from separation and will be addressed after birth. Dont stress with the exercises they should come back together.

[Rainbow_Mumma]

Thank you Zap


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[HotI]

Ask to see the physio, cos there are some exercises you can do now to help strengthen supporting muscles. Tubigrip can also be worn in pregnancy to help support your abs and your back.

[PumpkinZulu]

This happened to me, the tissue holding the muscles together tore and now they're separated. I went to see a physio and she gave me a compression bandage to wear and a couple of core strengthening exercises to do. I also do hydrotherapy which helps with any pain. She said that it can be quite common, and is easily repaired after birth

[Rainbow_Mumma]

Thanks guys I'll bring it up again when I next get seen by the midwives


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jax]

how is it all going apart from the separated muscles???

[peanutter]

don't stress, love - it's super common. They give you a tube which is like a tight legwarmer which goes from under your boobies to your hips, which helps (the same way a bandage on your arm helps support it).

and they give you some very gentle basic exercises to do a couple of times a day, which help too.

even with all my other problems post birth, etc, I went from a quite big separation ("four fingers" meaning as wide as the width of your index to baby fingers) to no separation in a month or two.

It doesn't hurt, and it's really very common.

They can probably give you some ideas of how to not make it any worse, but don't let it upset you

[~ Mylitta ~]

Don't stress too much about the separated tummy muscles. It's pretty common. Mine were classed as severely separated because you could fit more than 4 fingers between my tummy muscles. During the pregnancy I wasn't meant to do anything that resulted in using tummy muscles like sit ups do. So if I was laying down I had to get up by rolling on my side and using my hands to push up, but I imagine you probably already have to do that anyway The only pain it ever caused me was a sort of burning/tearing sensation up under my ribs (my separation was from my rib cage to my belly button) and at times it felt like the muscles were going to rip from their attachment, but I was assured that that wouldn't happen.

After birth the physio in the hopsital brought round a tubigrip that cost me $15 and it was SOOOOOO worth it. It made me feel much more supported. And you know that icky gurgly feeling you get in your tummy when you walk around after birth? The only that feels like all your internal organs are re-shifting? Well I found the tubigrip helped enormously straight after birth. I think it also helped with my body image because I didn't feel like people were looking at my jelly belly when I was walking through the ward to and from SCN.

The separation can take years to heal though, and apparently sometimes never fully does. It doesn't cause any problems though. Mine never fully healed between DS and DD's pregnancies, and I still have a 1cm gap between them 3 months post-DD's birth which I imagine will be around for a long time. It just looks a bit yucky when you stress the tummy muscles (it bulges a little).

[Heaven]

Yeah, very common. I had 7cm separation. Not sure if it's fixed now but I had the tubi grip to wear and when I went to see the physio at 4wks it was down to 4cms.

[Beautiful Disaster]

Mine was 8cm and when I went to the Physio at 2w pp it was back to normal

[HotI]

It doesn't hurt, and it's really very common.

i had a lot of pain from mine. so for some people it can hurt.

[peanutter]

i had a lot of pain from mine. so for some people it can hurt.

sorry to hear that, kate! mine didn't, and I hadn't heard of it hurting before. I hope it's better now?

[Rainbow_Mumma]

Thanks ladies I dont know how big mine is etc it hasn't been mentioned since very hectic day here (not with me) still waiting on the heart specialist who's 5 hours late!
But when I do get to talk to a midwife I'll see what was reported about it so I have a better understanding


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Early Kids]

Mine separated with DS2 and it wasn't picked up until about 8 months post birth, along with several hernias! I was in agony from it, spent about 3 months in intense physio and a few more months of follow-ups. Everything is looking good now a year on.

[Freya]

Easily repaired is a lie. I had separated muscles with my third baby (my belly would go cone shaped when I lied down) and I did all the exercises and wore the compression belt. 2 years later they are no closer to being repaired than they were then. Ive given up on them ever being back to normal. My GP says that not every woman's muscles reconnect if they separated because of pregnancy, sometimes surgery is the only fix for them. But def try the exercises and compression band.