If you follow me on Instagram, I have been sharing a lot about my journey in heaing my rectus diastasis since having my fourth baby. If you aren’t familiar with what this is, it’s the weakening of the linea alba/connective tissue that runs between your “six pack” muscles. This then causes the connecting muscles to separate. This is common in pregnancy.

I was quite petite when I got pregnant with Maxton and since he was 11 pounds, I was left with a four-finger separation. Meaning, there is a four-finger-width separation between my abs. I first learned of this during a Mom and Baby Yoga class I signed up for with Maxton. Someone specializing in healing rectus diastatsis came into our class to educate us on the topic. I hate the worst case in the class, and was told that I should try to heal it before having another baby. Well, I didn’t realize how important this actually was (in my head I am yelling at 26-year-old Helen) and didn’t. After having Everly, my OB noticed it but told me the only way to repair it would be through surgery. Physically, there was no signs of it but I could definitely feel it when checking myself. 

To check for rectus diastasis, you would do the following: Lay flat on your back with your knees bent. Place two to three fingers just above your belly button. Tuck your chin and lift your head off the ground (keep your shoulders on the ground) until you feel your abdominal muscles activate. You will feel the edge of the rectus muscles hug your fingers, at which point you may have to adjust how many fingers you are using. You will then asssess the gap at the belly button, and both three fingers above and below the belly button. 

After having Isla, I didn’t think much about my rectus diastasis, assuming it had just healed itself because it has been almost seven years since my last baby. Fast forward to 2022 when I had Elowyn, and that is when my body decided to physically tell me, I should have been healing it over the course of the last 11 years. Physically I could now see the separation. A visible bulge that protruded around my belly button that was not changing. At my six-week post-partum appointment, my OB told me after having 4 big babies (all ranging between 9 and 11 pounds), I would need a tummy tuck to repair the severity of my rectus diastasis. I was so upset with myself that I did nothing over the course of the last 11 years to heal my body. 

I went home and immediately started researching how to heal severe rectus diastasis. I realized that I started following Nancy Anderson Fit and the Birth Recovery Center shrotly after having Isla but never really looked into the programs they had to offer. At the end of October 2022, I decided to sign up for the Ab Rehab program, to begin healing my diastasis recti.