Part 2 of Testimony from mom healing after uterine rupture...

Click here to read Part 1 of this Testimony...

I have now completed the Core Foundations Online Program and as promised, here is an update.

Overall, I have been AMAZED by this program. My attitude when I started was cynical but hopeful: I had read many positive stories but I didn’t think that The Tummy Team could help ME. It would be fair to say that the last eight weeks has been challenging and at times overwhelming but this is far outweighed by the sheer amount I have learned about the core and how it works, the support I have received from The Tummy Team and so many other women I have “met” along the way, and the emotional reconnection I have felt with the middle of my body. 

Around week 3 of the programme I realised that the constant tension I had felt in my lower and upper back was completely gone. Many people have commented that I look really well but can’t pinpoint why and I think that maybe my posture has changed as a result of working on some chronic posture issues. Also (and this may seem like a weird thing to say to anyone who hasn’t experienced birth trauma or an issue with their core) I feel connected to the rest of my body. I have accepted what my body has been through and am working with it rather than against it.

This leads me to perhaps the most exciting result of all…..

my diastasis is healing! Properly and awesomely healing.. I started the programme at 5/6 at the top and am now a 2/3, a 6/7 in the middle and am now a 2/3, and a 3 at the bottom which has now COMPELTELY HEALED.! Such a huge amount of change in such a short amount of time. And as a little extra bonus have also lost 2 inches around the middle. Yipppeeee!

I have also come to realise that completing the program is just the beginning of my journey. I am still wearing a splint, I have a Skype session to book and am now signing up to Fit2B. I have a long way to go to complete healing but I now KNOW that I can fully heal. I look forward to updating you more on my progress soon.

To read more of my story and for information on birth, breastfeeding and family life seewww.tinkmoo.co.uk.

Tummy Team Testimony~ mom of 4 expecting baby #5

After how my fourth labor went, I knew something had to change, but I wasn't sure what.  My first labor was textbook and beautiful.  With my second baby, I carried him so low that during labor, I had to lean backwards into my husband during each contraction.  He would help me lift my uterus so the baby could come back into a better position to be born (because with how he was originally lying, it would be impossible for him to be born).  My third baby was an emergency c-section at 25 weeks.  My fourth baby was also carried low, and he was asynclitic and my most difficult baby yet.

Earlier this year, I found out that our fifth baby was expected.  We were excited and I put labor out of my mind, until someone in a Facebook group I'm on mentioned diastasis recti.  Several in the conversation recommended The Tummy Team, and I exchanged a few messages with one person who had gone through their rehabilitation program, and decided to check it out for myself.  I gave Yolanda a call and gave her my brief history, and after hanging up with her, I discussed it with my husband and decided to do the prenatal program and started it at about 19 weeks pregnant.

I'm in week five now of the six-week program and it has worth every penny.  The videos each week build seamlessly onto the videos and information from the previous weeks.  It seemed at first that I was starting out slowly, and I wondered how those "little" exercises could help me in the long term, but now that I'm nearly done with the program, I'm seeing how important taking the time to have a solid early foundation is.

Each week has handouts which are helpful in keeping track of each day's exercises and in being a reminder for what to do throughout the day.  They also have a picture/text description of that week's exercises, to help be a reminder if you're not in a position to re-watch the videos.

The videos are some serious meat and potatoes.  They are so full of information that I had to watch some of them multiple times.  Kelly is very easy to listen to and has a knack for explaining things in a way that is a perfect mix of scientific terms and everyday language.  She also fully demonstrates each exercise within the videos and encourages the participant to try out that particular exercise right there while they're watching the video.  I found that immensely helpful in getting the information to "stick" so I could practice it throughout the week.

Midway through the program, I also had a Skype session with Kelly which was very helpful.  She was able to give me some additional "in-person" tips after watching me do a couple of the exercises, to help me move forward in the program.

I'm 24 weeks now and I don't look any "more" pregnant now than I did at about 13 weeks.  With my previous pregnancies, I got tired of "sucking it in" as my baby and belly got larger and heavier and I would just "let it all hang out."  Since I was letting my abdominal muscles chronically relax, they got weak over time and then couldn't properly hold my babies up when I needed them to.  I feel stronger and more aligned this time.  It is a lot of hard work, but it will be worth it in the end.  I hope to add a supplment to this review after I have the baby, where I'm able to say it was my easiest labor yet.

~ stay posted, we will share her 2nd half of this testimony when baby is born!