Okay... FIRST, if you don't want to see bare belly... look no further! These pictures freaked Jared out so I had to put that disclosure in there!!
When I was about 7 months pregnant with Maclain I was getting up in the middle of the night to go potty. As I've done my whole life, I simply used my tummy muscles to raise out of bed before my feet hit the floor! BUT, this time, something went WAY different. It was not painful, but a very very weird feeling!! It felt as though some one had unzipped something in my belly from bottom to top... that's truly how it felt! It was as if my tummy was held tightly in by something that was closed with a zipper, and someone had "unzipped" it! There was no true pain involved, just a very weird feeling!! I asked my Dr. about it to make sure that was okay (the next day of course... not in the middle of the night), and he said it was simply "diastasis recti"... a separation of the muscles! It was nothing to fear pregnancy wise, but down the road could lead to back problems (with the lack of muscle control in the tummy), and I'd never have a six pack again! Granted... at this point, I was about 6 years past the last six pack I ever displayed on my body, but it was a little disheartening to find out that real sit-ups were no longer really an option!! He said when I was finished having babies I might consider surgically having it put back together!
SO... instead of having muscles that stretch across my belly at all times, I will always have a little gap between the left and right main muscles that run the length of my belly. When I'm not pregnant, I only really notice the lack of tummy muscle control, but can't visually notice it. HOWEVER... when I'm pregnant (as I first noticed with Maclain), the bigger my tummy grows, the bigger the gap is between the left and right muscle! Standing up right or laying flat (and not using any real tummy muscles), my belly is about as round as can be while pregnant! BUT, when I'm going from reclining back, or laying down, and trying to use my stomach muscles to raise up, you see the very obvious gap!
I should have taken pictures before now... it was quite neat looking when the gap was only about 2 in. apart. BUT, it seems to be growing every single day so before my muscles rest completely on my left and right sides and my belly is just "round"... HERE is what happens when your muscles separate!!!!
Don't worry... the muscles themselves did not tear... just the lining stuff that used to connect them! AND... ignore the chicken pox and surgery scares, and the connect the dot moles! You can even see the brown "pregnancy line" starting to appear too!
Alright... this is my "normal" HUGE round belly in complete resting position. Notice the "roundness"!!!! You can't really see where my muscles are, but if you were to feel, you'd feel the "softness" in the middle of my belly, and the firmness where the muscles start! You can ALMOST see a flattening right in the center that runs across 2-3 inches, but you have to look close.
THIS is the result of "diastasis recti"! Notice the tell tell "bulge" in the middle when I try to raise my head up off the pillow!
