How do you feel about the delivery? Sometimes we need a little time to land in the experience and some things can feel better with time. But new questions can always pop up.
Remember that you can contact the midwife you had during your pregnancy now too. She can answer questions and, if necessary, refer you should you need to speak with someone who was involved when you gave birth.
Abdominal separation
During pregnancy, the linear abdominal muscles separate to make room for the growing uterus. This is called diastasis recti, separation of the rectus abdominis. Normally, this separation heals about eight to ten weeks after delivery, but for some women, it doesn’t. While this is not harmful, it can affect your everyday life in the form of weak core stability. What determines if it becomes a complication or not is the depth of the separation and whether you can control the deep abdominal muscles or not.
You can test your control with the help of someone trained in this. A physical therapist, naprapath or midwife specializing in this will be able to give you advice and an exercise routine. There are also some who do ultrasounds of the rectus abdominis to diagnose a possible separation. Surgery is occasionally necessary, but only after the body has recovered and healed.
Practicing a type of deep breathing that activates the peritoneum could be a way to gain better control over a diastasis and improve stability throughout the core. This is a deep breathing technique in which you breathe with your abdomen so that it rises on your inhale to create a tightness in the peritoneum that activates it. This stimulates the peritoneum to contract and regain the tonus and location it had before the pregnancy.
Source:
- Janson, P.O. & Landgren, B. (red.) (2010). Gynekologi. (1. uppl.) Lund: Studentlitteratur.
- Kaplan, A. (red.) (2009). Lärobok för barnmorskor. (3., omarb. uppl.) Lund: Studentlitteratur.
- Myles, M.F., Marshall, J.E. & Raynor, M.D. (red.) (2014). Myles textbook for midwives. (16th edition). Edinburgh: Elsevier.
- Savage S. J. (2020). A Fourth Trimetser Action Plan for Wellness. The Journal of Perinatal Education. Apr 1;29(2):103-112. DOI: 10.1891/J-PE-D-18-00034