question about my belly

So my belly's stretching out quite a bit and lately i've been getting little pains near my belly button, especially if i try to use my stomach muscles to sit up to get out of bed. Should I avoid using my abs as much as possible, or is it better to use them more so they're stronger? i'm confused on this and if there's any way to keep my muscles from separating, or is that genetic like stretch marks?

 

Ask your doctor.. its possible your having a big baby .. But i personally (never been pregnant tho) that you would have to avoid using your muscles. if theres a 1800 medical line thats avail to you by all meand call it.

 

actually it's good to tone your abs, just in specific ways so as not to harm bebe...

http://www.amazingpregnancy.com/pregnancy-articles/192.html

 

I think I remember that same feeling, I wouldnt worry about it too much.

 

Ouch! I'm a midwife, and I advise my ladies to roll to their sides to sit up and get out of bed. Your abdominal muscles are stretched, and sitting straight up can tear your rectus abdominus muscles, and they don't grow back together after the birth. This is called diastasis recti, and is often the culprit in post partum "mommy tummy" that no amount of sit-ups and crunches can fix.

The pain your feeling is the muscles seperating, so stop trying to sit straight up, instead, roll to your side and push yourself up with your hands.

To keep your abs toned, simply practice good posture, and try to hold your bump in gently.

 

yikes, thanks this is what i was worried about. i'll definitely take your advice.

 

I will inevitably have stretch marks. My mom has them and last year I lost 40 pounds and got them from that!

I would use my abs lightly. Also drink more water! My midwife told me yesterday that it helps a lot with anything pregnancy related. My nose, cramps.

 

oh i will definitely get stretch marks... actually i'm surprised i haven't gotten them yet, since i even got some during puberty without growing as much.

i've been taking it easy on my abs, and last week i had some pains that felt like stretching, mostly around my belly button but they're gone now, so who knows. I guess I'll find out after I have the baby whether my abs are permanently separated or not.

 

I wanna see your baby bellies, ladies....

and stretch marks are something to be proud of... our bodies are amazing!

 

i'm having camera issues, but i think i can take some webcam pics this week and post them... i'm a little embarassed, so i'll have to prepare and put on makeup and stuff

 

Do you know...my Grandma says that when she had her children in the hospital they would afterwards wrap the mommys belly with gauze; and would keep the lady in the hospital for two weeks re-wrapping and making sure that all her inner stuff was not out of place. Now, they just keep you admitted long enough to have the child and then out you go! Congratulations tho. Love you.

 

I experienced the exact same feeling thing during my pregnancies, moreso with the twins, and you're right, I work out daily, do crunches, reverse crunches, and that little poochy belly won't budge!

I never thought that perhaps it was due to torn muscles, I figured it was an after affect of the emergency c-section for one of my twins (I had the first one vaginally, the other had to be taken by c-section). But my belly has this almost divided thing going on, I'm not sure how to describe it, maybe you know what I mean.

Interesting though.

 

I know exactly what you mean. About 6 weeks PP, I have the mom lay on her back, I place my hand on her belly and have her lift her head to look at her feet. Then I palpate her abdomen, and check for diastasis recti. Some ladies have none, some have a seperation a finger width or two, some have seperation 4-5 finger breadths wide. Unfortunately, the really wide seperations require surgery to fix.

I have my ladies wear support belts or garments during pregnancy, and after birth wear undergarments with good tummy support. A snug pair of spandex bicycle shorts works well, too.

 

EEK! If this does happen to you when does it happen?

 

Are you suggesting, oh midwifing one, that women hold their bellies in throughout their pregnancy, or just while they're trying to get up?

I did lots pregnancy yoga and a lot of the exercises were exactly what I needed to get me through my birth, so I'm just wondering if you're suggesting that women should not keep in shape... because for me my physical workout is what absolutely cured me of my stress, symptoms, fear and gave me the endurance and strength to get through the birth with joy and grace... just wondering

Peace

 

No to all of the above.

Good posture, which means standing straight while gently hodling the bump in (not trying to "suck in your gut") is sufficient.

Doing sit ups is not okay. Sitting straight up will tear the rectus abdominus. Turn to the side to sit and push up with hands.

Excercise is wonderful and necessary to a healthy pregnancy and strong labour. Yoga is especially wonderful, and no good instructor will have pregnant women do sit-ups or inverted positions.

 

I wasn't careful and thought I could do everything I could do before I was pregnant, I ended up with a hernia.

That was really painful and there was nothing they could because I was pregnant. I had my son naturally without complications, the hernia is better, but if I lift or ever do it I'll have sharp pains where my hernia was... I say be careful, make sure you don't over do your limits. Go with your gut feeling on how far you can push yourself and DO NOT DO MORE.

 

I want to get a belly support but I feel like I am not pregnant enough...

I definitely go within my limits of things.

 

eh... was that me that posted that? Apparently I read wrong what you were saying... I am a yoga instructor as well, I suppose I was just taking offense because I thought you were saying something that I do, unfortunately hear from some health professionals, including a midwife I tried while I was pregnant... which goes against what I believe/know to be silly advice to give to pregnant women, and was not at all what you were saying! Thanks for clarifying.

 

it's starting to annoy me that the nurses don't offer me a hand when i'm trying to sit up from them finding the heartbeat or measuring the fundal height... it's getting harder and i can't roll off to the side with the stirrups up, not to mention that "table" is really narrow.... anyway, i haven't been had any pains around my belly button in quite a while... i'm hoping that's good news. amazingly i haven't gotten any stretchmarks yet either... not sure what's going on there but i'm not complaining.

i was also very disappointed to find out today that even if i choose not to do an epidural i am confined to my bed with a fetal heart monitor and IV and can only get up to go to the bathroom... my regular doctor wasn't there, but this is what the nurse practitioner told me... i'm going to talk to my regular doctor next time and see if we can work something out, considering i have had no complications or anything this whole time. i should probably call the hospital to see what the policies are on refusing things. i would like to be able to move around and get intermittent fetal monitoring (i've only read negative things about those causing unnecesary c-sections) and drink water

blah... i know i have the best doctor in the hospital (lowest c-section rate, etc), but next pregnancy i think i will seek a different route. i'm just trying to keep positive for now most important thing is that my baby is healthy, right? right