The Pregosaurus

Also known as Diastasis Recti.

Cornfed, these pics are for you!

Most of you expressed either disgust or shock when I said my stomach muscles had begun to separate.

Or ignorance.  In that you'd never even heard of the phenomenon.

I agree that this is one of those things that they like to keep pregnant women in the dark about.

It's not mentioned anywhere in What to Expect When You're Expecting except as a postpartum symptom...ahem why not mention it when it's happening as well as what to do after it's happened?

And as far as I can tell thebump.com, fitpregnancy.com, and the one million and 7 other pregnancy websites don't mention it either.

When you google it you get some rather disgusting piccies of SEVERE diastasis recti in which the muscles have fully separated and it's just SCARY.

For the record, that's not the norm, that's the exception.

To which I say, WTF?  It happens in roughly 60-70% of pregnancies, and a higher percentage of twin/multiples pregnancies, that's a huge number to just completely ignore the phenomenon all together.

Also women themselves seem to be pretty mum about it.  When I mentioned it most people said they didn't notice it had happened if it had or that they'd never even heard of it.  Very few people spoke up and said it HAD happened to them. 

So, I thought I would show you guys what it looks like.

It doesn't hurt even though it sounds painful.  I mean your muscles are SEPARATING, surely that should be painful!

It's not.

According to my yoga instructor it's very normal to happen even if you don't notice it and as long as the ligaments in between the two muscle groups don't stretch out too far, as in beyond their capacity to stretch, then it really shouldn't be a problem getting things back together after baby.

Here's mine at 27 weeks.

Normal Pregnant Lady Belly

Watch out for the Pregosaurus!

Hahaha!  Oh it cracks me up just looking at it.  

Maybe not to you guys but every time I see it I think of a dinosaur. LOL.  All I'm doing in the pregosaurus picture is lifting myself up with my stomach ie. using my stomach muscles.

And in case anyone is interested the only thing you can really do about it DURING pregnancy is continue to strengthen your transverse abdominal muscles LIGHTLY, nothing strenuous!  There's some yoga moves that are super easy and supposed to be good for the old diastisis recti situation.  One of them is honestly the belly dancer sway, seriously, swaying your hips in a figure eight.  How easy is that?

But generally speaking like all pregnancy symptoms it usually resolves itself after the birth with little effort.

I will obviously update you guys at the end of pregnancy and see how bad it gets and I will also keep everyone posted about how quickly it goes back to normal postpartum!

So, now that you've all seen it, anyone else experiencing this phenomenon I've dubbed The Pregosaurus???

Bumpdate - 25 Weeks

I'm sick.

Again.

I was really hoping that dreadful cold I had at 14 weeks would be the only time I was sick during pregnancy, BUT I GUESS NOT.

I just want to curl up into a little ball with a bottle of NyQuil and sleep until I feel better...they should totally make a Pregnancy NyQuil...

On to the belated bumpdate.

How far along: 25 weeks

Weight Gain: Same +15 lbs, though at the midwife appt on Monday it said 141 lbs (first time she's weighed me), mine says 137, I even double checked it again this morning.  That's a 4 lb discrepancy between scales!  But my beginning weight was done on mine, so we're using mine as the TRUE weight ;-)

What's Up with My Body:  Generally I've felt really good this week.  I went a WHOLE WEEK without constipation.  Heartburn was minimal and I just feel pretty good.  Calm before the storm of the third trimester?

But...

I'm starting to get uncomfortable if I do too much during the day.  If I walk for long distances my feet, hips and lower back start to hurt.

And I've made an interesting discovery this week as I attempted to find something appropriate to wear for a hike...

MY HIPS HAVE WIDENED.

I have all these cargo pants that I only wear when I'm about to participate in an activity in which I might get dirty, such as hiking, and as I went to try them on with my bellaband (I knew they weren't going to fit over the belly!) I discovered the won't really even fit over my hips!  It's strange because my thighs aren't wider, nor is my ass, but the tops of pants REALLY struggle at the top to get over the hips!  My body is REALLY getting ready to give birth!

And...

Possibly the strangest thing to happen in pregnancy that NO ONE TALKS ABOUT (aside from the leaking boobs!)

My stomach muscles have begun to separate!!!

About 2 weeks ago I discovered in the bathtub that if I used my stomach muscles to pull myself up or lower myself down I had this ridge that popped up down the center of my tummy.

IT WAS SO STRANGE.

I felt like a dinosaur with a ridge down their back...except mine was down my tummy. I suspected it may be my stomach muscles separating but I mistakenly thought that meant I MUST BE OUT OF SHAPE and that would have been really embarrassing!  So at my midwife appt on Monday I asked WHAT THE HELL IS THIS DINOSAUR RIDGE DOWN MY STOMACH?  And sure enough she answered that it's my stomach muscles separating AND THAT IT HAPPENS SOONER IN WOMEN WITH TIGHTER ABDOMINAL MUSCLES.  Wait, what?  Really?  I totally thought it was because I was out of shape, turns out it's because tighter muscles don't stretch as much.  So...groovy!  My TIGHT stomach muscles apparently mean I have a dinosaur ridge now if I use my tummy muscles.  I am NOT looking forward to getting those muscles back in shape after baby!

So, WHY DOES NO ONE TALK ABOUT DIASTASIS RECTI (separating abdominal muscles)?  I can't even tell you how many pregnant blogs I read and NO ONE talks about this!  Also, it happens in MOST pregnancies, so really, does no one else find this as fascinating as I do?

Best Moment of the Week: I've started to feel really small bump-wise and like I'm not growing much from week to week anymore, so I was happily surprised at my midwife appt to find out that the bump (and theoretically the baby) are growing on track and we're measuring right at 25 weeks.

Bumpdate: I'm sick remember, my bed isn't made, there are clothes everywhere, I have no make up on, but I put on jeans for you guys...which is more than I've done in the last 2 days...so enjoy.