Baby

Recovery time is very individualized. It depends on what kind of shape you were in before and during pregnancy, in addition to how much effort, effort, time, and planning you are now willing to give to your body. If your abdominals were strong and if you exercised them regularly before and throughout pregnancy, one to two months-at the most, three months-should see you back to normal.

On the other hand, if your abdominals were not strong and you did not exercise them regularly, then it will probably take between six and twelve months of regular exercise to become a better you. [These time frames assume that you are performing abdominal exercises four to six days a week.

What if you took up regular exercise for the first time in your life during pregnancy? This does give you something of a head start. However, the advancing growth of the baby did not allow as adequate workout of the abdominals as if you had also exercised before pregnancy. In this case, the return of strong, firm abdominals should take between three and six months [which is still much faster than someone who neglected to exercise in pregnancy].

If you never put into action your resolve to re-strengthen your abdominal wall, there is no telling how long the process will take. In fact, some women’s abdominals never return to their original shape. The truth is that it takes action on your part to improve your figure. A slack set of abdominals will probably mean you will have a lot of backache and fatigue.

The abdominals do forty percent of the work involved in supporting the trunk of your body as you move through your daily activities. If they are doing only ten percent, the back muscles will pick up the food-or attempt to anyway. The back muscles are responsible for sixty percent of the work of keeping the body upright and helping to lift, move and bend. Increase that workload by ten to thirty percent and the muscles respond by fatiguing faster [”tired back”], and by having painful spasms, especially in the lower back. Sometimes the back muscles become so tight that the angle of the normal pelvic tilt is changed. These tight muscles squeeze or press on the nerves coming off the spine in the lower back area. These nerves, in turn, divide and branch out to each leg. Pain may be felt in the lower back, one or both buttocks, and one or both legs, [upper or full length]. Don’t allow this problem to decrease the joy of those first beautiful months with your new baby.

Other factors to consider is estimating recovery time and how much weight you gained and how much your abdominal wall expanded [partially due to the size of the baby and how you carried the child]. Diet, the amount of rest you are currently getting, and the types of activities you’re involved in must also be considered.

After delivery, the abdominal muscles are always loose and soft. The abdomen looks and feels like gelatin, which can be quite a shock. It is important to check the linea alba between the rectus muscles for separation, called diastasis. The opening between the muscles may be slight or so large that the uterus or abdominal contents can be felt bulging through the opening.

Since there must be a good balance between back and abdominal muscles, a large diastasis will eventually cause backaches [and possibly radiating leg pain] jut from moving through the normal day’s activities of caring for an infant or managing a full-time job at or away from home. If no corrective attempts are made to close the opening, reestablishing muscle balance and strength, there will be little support for a subsequent pregnancy. Posture will be poor and many aches and pains will develop, all from lack of abdominal strength.

Check for diastasis on the third or fourth day after delivery. Until this time the area will feel too slack for you to get an indication of the state of the abdominals. Also, you will have had a few days worth of abdominal exercises to help improve your strength.

To check:

1. Lie on your back, with your bent. Place the fingers of one hand on your abdomen covering your navel [your fingers should point toward your pubic bone]. Apply firm pressure…
2. Inhale deeply. Then exhale slowly and at the same time lift your head and neck slowly. As you lift, you’ll feel each of the rectus muscles tighten and pull toward the center [toward your fingers].
3. Check to see how many fingers will fit in the gap. One or two finger widths are normal and to be expected, this will gradually decrease with exercise. Three or four finger widths will require special attention from you to repair and rebalance the muscles.
   Don’t hesitate to ask for help from a nurse [preferably a registered nurse] or your physician if you have difficulty checking your abdominals.

The following special exercise is very effective for closing a large diastasis. Raising just the head in this exercise ensures that only the rectus muscle will be activated. As they become stronger you will be able to lift your shoulders, thus working the other abdominal muscles, also, it is important to strengthen the rectus muscles first, thus ensuring their stabilization and alignment as the other muscles come into play.

Repeat this special exercise often, at least fifty times a day. To speed progress, do ten each hour you are awake. Remember to use slow, controlled movements, resting whenever you feel the need. The gap should be back to the normal half an inch within a week or so. If you do fewer repetitions than those recommended above, closing the gap will take longer.

Because the other abdominal muscles are attached to the rectus muscles and because the abdominals in general are week and out of balance, avoid the following exercises, which will serve only to increase the diastasis: [1] those rotating the trunk of the body. [”Waist twists”], [2] those twisting the hips, and, [3] those that cause the trunk to bend to the side [”waist or side stretches”].

If you breathe out while raising your head and shoulders, the intra-abdominal pressure will not be increased [as it would be if you held your breath.] Increased intra-abdominal pressure would just increase the diastasis which would defeat the whole purpose of the exercise and just add time to the muscle rehabilitation.

Do not let the abdominal muscles bulge. Tighten your abdomen at any time you strain.