Healing the core after uterine rupture- A Tummy Team Testimony from the UK

I am a mummy of three little ones, aged 5 ½, 3 and 1.

Around ten weeks after the birth of my first baby boy, I was on holiday lying on a sun lounger laughing at something with my husband when he suddenly said “look at your tummy”. When I checked I found that every time I laughed an “alien like” bulge popped out of my tummy. I was already concerned and self conscious about the size of my stomach, which looked exactly the same as I did when I was pregnant but this worried me even more.

When I got home I arranged to see a doctor who checked my tummy and told me about diastasis, which I had never heard of previously. She referred me to a consultant, who told me that the separation of my stomach muscles that had occurred during pregnancy was significant and had led to an umbilical hernia. Worse, whatever I did to try and repair it was unlikely to work and I would need it to be surgically repaired at some point in the future. 

Even this information did not break my determination to recover my pre baby body (why oh why did I ever moan about it before?!). I had physiotherapy, hired a personal trainer, went on a strict diet and lost all of my pregnancy weight and more.  I ran long distances, swam and did fitness classes and yoga. Whilst these were all helpful things to do in terms of general weight loss and well being, I found that the more weight I lost the more pregnant I looked.

I researched diastasis as much as I could, bought various books and sought advice from different professionals. Despite all my efforts I was unable to close the diastasis in any significant way and resigned myself to surgery when our family was complete. I bought a whole body corset to wear under my clothes but I could only wear it for short amounts of time as it was so uncomfortable. My pre-pregnancy clothes looked ridiculous and I had just a couple of tops that were “passable” and so I wore these all of the time. I was so grateful for my beautiful baby boy, but my self-esteem plummeted.

During my second pregnancy, my back and pelvis gave me quite a bit of discomfort from the start and I wore a support belt from around 14 weeks to the end of my pregnancy. My baby girl was born outside of my womb following a full uterine rupture, which was an extremely traumatic and difficult time for me and my husband. 

Miraculously, she is completely well and we have gone a long way down the road to emotional recovery. However, the diastasis was even worse than before and just looking at my middle reminded me of all that had happened. Again, I lost all of my baby weight and more and exercised hard, this time adding in Pilates, which was great for overall strength. However, despite lots of effort, the diastasis itself only seemed to close very slightly.

My third pregnancy was a surprise to everyone, especially me! The consultants we dealt with had never seen anyone pregnant after a full uterine rupture. In the circumstances, I was concerned about how I would carry but I was fine for most of the pregnancy. I continued Pilates up to 35 weeks and did not require a support belt at all. At 36 weeks, I was diagnosed with late onset gestational diabetes and polyhydramnios (excess amniotic fluid) as a result of the diabetes which partly accounted for my huge tummy. Following the birth of my beautiful baby boy, I was once again determined to lose my pregnancy weight, but still had the diastasis and still felt really low about my tummy. For five years strangers have always congratulated me on my pregnancy when I am not pregnant and family and friends have made horrible comments about it. Despite wanting more children, I tried to plan in my mind when I might practically be able to have the surgery I had been told I needed.

I then quite randomly stumbled across the Tummy Team. I saw a post about diastasis on a blog that I regularly read. The post instantly made me skeptical as I had tried so many things before but I was curious and so I read on and posted in the comments. The blog post talked about Fit2B but a couple of people (including Beth Learn) replied to my comment and mentioned the Tummy Team and so I contacted Kelly and explained my situation. Kelly quickly and empathetically replied and I was drawn to her faith based ethos. I figured that if I did it and it didn’t work I would have lost my money but I could live with that, but if it worked as Kelly claimed it could then I could avoid surgery and that would be priceless. Having had major abdominal surgery three times already, I would do anything not to have it again. 

On starting the program, I was, as I am sure most are, full of enthusiasm. I really enjoyed learning about how the core muscles work and the theory behind the exercises. I was immediately impressed with the way the information is delivered and the way the programme is set out. I have not done an online programme before and without wishing to appear unsociable, I have found that I prefer it to personally attending a course. Maybe it’s the nature of the programme but I feel that I can totally focus on me without being distracted by just being in the presence of others or needing to make conversation (I am easily distracted to be fair!) and no one is watching so I don’t feel self conscious. Additionally, I can record and measure my progress, I feel encouraged by Kelly (and the forum members), it’s completely flexible so no childcare is required and time zone doesn’t matter so being based in the UK is not an issue.

I started to wear my splint and despite my initial reservations about it, I found that wearing it actually makes me feel protected around the middle, whilst also reminding me to engage my transverse. I am now on my second splint with the third on the way. I have accepted that I will have to splint for longer than I had originally thought but having watched the weaning from your splint video, I know that I will only be doing it as long as is necessary.

I went quite quickly from only being able to hold my transverse for a 10 count to being able to hold it for a minute at a time. I tried to do transverse holds and squeeze and releases whenever I could. I drive a long way to my son’s school a couple of times a week and I used the car journey to the maximum. 

At the end of week three I was feeling really encouraged. In just three weeks I had seen significant improvement to the diastasis itself and could definitely feel that my core was stronger. However, by the end of week four, I suddenly felt overwhelmed and doubted whether I would be able to heal my core. Given the progress I had already made, this “low” surprised me and I struggled to be able to pinpoint why I was feeling this way.

It might have been because I tried to go clothes shopping (huge mistake, this is never a fun activity for me anymore) or because I had been really busy studying and preparing for holiday on top of normal life and had not managed to smoothly integrate all of the exercises into my daily life. Whatever the reason, I was really relieved to read that this is a key point in the programme where people suddenly feel overwhelmed for no reason. Knowing that I am normal (in this context at least!), helped me to reflect on my achievements so far and move forward positively.

Also a tremendous help to me during week five, was my Skype session with Kelly. This was excellent and I thoroughly recommend it. Despite me being in the UK, Kelly was able to look at my tummy and we talked about what she saw, she watched me doing transverse holds and checked I was in neutral pelvis. Knowing that I was in the correct position was a relief in itself as I needed to know that I was not labouring in vain. Kelly was also genuinely empathetic and listened to me talking about my difficult births and the way I felt about my middle. She was super encouraging and understood the practicalities of being a mum with little ones and all that that brings. She helped to tailor the program to suit me and my lifestyle, focusing in on the exercises that I needed most. 

I have just completed week 6 of the course. I came to realise quite early on that my core will not be healed by week 8 and that I am on a journey of healing and I keep reminding myself of this. I am feeling positive about the rest of the course and look forward to updating you soon.

To read more about my story, my births or other baby and breastfeeding related issues please see www.tinkmoo.co.uk.

Read part 2 of this testimony here...