Abs after pregnancy

[Heartbroken]

Hi all, not sure if this is in the right section but here goes.... is it possible to tear or overstretch your stomach muscles during pregnancy? My daughter is now almost 9 and admittedly i never exercised either during pregnancy or after but now after all these years i've taken up a running regime. What i would like to know is, is it possible for your stomach/abs to become so stretched during the 9 months that they never return to normal? i realise they will never fully go back to normal but i have a lot of loose skin on my tum which feels very spongey! Also if there was one wish i could have it would be to regain a tummy button that was round so i was able to show it off!! mine is just squashed! the skin above it kind of just rolls over it - i know people will think well its easy just do loads of sit ups/crunches - if someone said to me they could guarantee that if i did 200 a day for the next 2 months and you will sort out the problem AND regain a round tummy button i would do them! i'm really not sure what i can achieve, has anybody else experienced this problem? is the only soloution a tummy tuck?! help!

[Ethel]

If you have loose skin no amount of exercise will change that, sadly.

Exercise will tone your stomach muscles up, but quite frankly, you may never visibly see the results. The flatter your stomach gets the looser the skin may be. Some people have springy skin that pings back, others don't. It is often genetic.

But my guess is it seems worse to you than it really is. Don't get hung up about it, enjoy your exercises and the extra energy you will gain. You will soon start feeling much better about yourself.

Speak to your GP for his/her advice though. And have a covert look at other ladies in the changing rooms - you will soon realise you are not so bad after all.

Good luck with it all.

[missrandom]

when your pregnant your stomach muscles part in the middle, they dont always go back to how they were, but you should still be able to get a reasonably flat stomach, just takes alot of hard work. Also you wont have a flat stomach if there's fat there, i know that sounds obvious, but your muscles could be as flat as a pancake, but if theres a layer of fat on top you'll not be able to see the toned abs underneath. when excercising you need to work more than just your abs ie your lower back aswell. xx

[sophie_1003]

My mum had this after she'd had my brothers who are twins, she eventually decided to have a tummy tuck (I believe it was on the NHS) This has meant that she did get a flat, no-extra-skin tummy but she also has a scar running down her tummy so she doesn't like wearing e.g. bikinis

[annie0000]

I had a very large bump (and baby!) and was told that I had a split in the muscles of 5 inches - I had another baby 13 months later with another big bump and muscles still split - physio said that it is unlikely that the gap will ever close completely, I can still poke my hand through the middle. Having said that, I probably don't exercise enough so maybe it would repair a bit more - however, i also have loose skin and had two sections, so the extra skin comes to an abrupt stop at the scar

[missrandom]

annie - yet another similarity with our boys!! william was 9 lb 9 oz (maisie 9 lb 4oz)!! what were yours?
sorry heartbroken, i am hijacking yet another thread!!

[annie0000]

Craig was 9lb 13 and Ciar was 9lb 3 ( a week early). Craig was an emergency section after 36 hour labour - he was lying back to back and his head was jammed in the wrong position so only dilated 8 and a half. They had to really tug to get him back out the other way! Ciar was a planned section as he was also back to back and with there only being 13 months between them, they were no sure the scar would withstand labour. The planned section was bliss! Checked into hospital at 7.30 am was back up in the ward by 9.30 and went home two day's later.

Did you have a nightmare as well?

[missrandom]

Hi, wow yours were big ( nice and healthy i think though). u poor thing a 36 hour labour, eurgh. yeah i had a bit of a nightmare, funnily enough i could only dilate to 8 and a half, but had the urge to push and wasnt allowed, so i had to have a spinal block, then ventouse, which failed, then two episiotomy's and forceps, yikes i couldnt sit down properly for ages, i lost nearly 2 pints, but luckily escaped a transfusion, but the worst of was the inducement, i really hated that. 2nd time, i just had gas and air, although was soooo painful, it was much easier, still didnt escape though and got a secon degree tear! what we do hey!

[missrandom]

oh yeah the first labour was 10 hours (considering i was induced, that wasnt bad going). 2nd time i woke at 3.30 am and was pushing by 6.00 am, was still pushing an hour later though, haha!

[annie0000]

Hi Miss Random, yet more coincidence! I also narrowly escaped a transfusion. I still checked out early though! I hated the hospital it was filthy and the staff were so unhelpful. It was better the 2nd time. With Craig, I got up on Monday morning and went to the toilet - I finished peeing, but could still feel water running, my waters had burst nice and conveniently into the loo! I went into early labour before lunch, when into hospital that night, but Craig wasn't born until Wednesday! Tuesday was the 4th of July, so they kept on saying that he would be a independence day baby, alas he stayed in until the 5th - I had an epidural for the last 6 hours (including the surgery) but I had to wait to get into theatre for 4 of those as my baby was having a sleep and there were others in distress who bumped me in the queue. God knows why I ever I ever had a second! I went through loads of different shift of midwifes. That's why the second was such a dream - I was so scared of the same thing happening again, my local midwife fudged my due date so that I would go in for my section early, as they wanted to wait until my due date. I could have kissed her!

[missrandom]

hee hee, williams is the 11th of july!! hell be 7 too!! i also checked out early, as will had had such a hard time they wanted to keep us in, but they let me go in the end, hospital food eurgh!