It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a...

...nother rocket belly!
I haven't posted belly pics on this blog in a LONG time. So, I had Keara take these pics today for 2 reasons. One, to document this stage. But two, because I needed to send this picture to my sister to show her the new skirt I made yesterday.

So, there's how I look at 36 weeks. I'm really looking forward to my appointment on Thursday because it'll be the first "exam" and he may also do an ultrasound to determine size. I like knowing these things.

I have a TON of people throughout my pregnancies comment on my belly. "Wow, you're showing early." "You're carrying really low." "That just pops right on out there." "It really looks like just a basketball." "Are you sure you didn't swallow a watermelon?" And then there are the many women who say something akin to "I wish my belly looked like yours...just out there instead of all over." I don't say that to brag, but to preface the following.

I have rocket bellies. I know I have rocket bellies, yet people are astonished by how it looks. And here is why I have rocket bellies. It's not all that worth it. After Keara was born, the natural separation of my abdominal wall didn't heal. I just figured I couldn't get rid of the bread basket no matter how many sit ups I did. I didn't realize it was anything more until I was 6 months pregnant with Taryn and talked to my sister who is a physical therapist.

When I mentioned how I could create an "alien baby" by leaning backwards and watching the center of my abs pop out and how I was hurting so much more than with Keara, she told me about this problem with my abs. She told me I needed to do therapy for it and I must not do sit ups or crunches because that only makes it worse. Well, that's all I had done after Keara was born. Then she told me that it was possible that even with therapy, I would never go back to normal because of the scar tissue that was likely present.

So I learned about it and did physical therapy for it after Taryn was born. Basically, during pregnancy, the abdominal wall naturally separates to allow for the growth of pregnancy. After delivery, most women will either lose the separation completely, or, after 3 weeks, will have a 1-2 finger spread between their abdominal muscles. This eventually heals.

But mine didn't heal. I couldn't do anything about it while pregnant with Taryn, so I had to wait until she was born. Three weeks after she was born, I did the test to see where my separation was. Instead of the normal 1-2 finger spread, I could fit my entire hand, fingers spread between my walls. Not a good thing. I did the exercises for it and after a few weeks, I had gotten it down to 2 fingers. Good. I felt so much better than I had in a long time because I finally had abdominal support again.

I hoped that it would stay when I got pregant this time, but as soon as I got pregnant, it's like my body just decided to lose the strength again. Part of the "joys" of having this ab separation is that I show really early because I have no muscles to hold it in. I carry really low which leads to back and pelvic pain. I have a bulge at the top of my prego belly that actually hurts (I wonder if its the beginning of a hernia). I have no feeling on the middle of my belly, perhaps because of the scar tissue. It is painful and difficult to be pregnant from about 5 months, instead of just at the end because of the strain on my body. And people have a lot of comments because it does look different from most bellies.

A couple of the true joys of it all, though, is that I never look like I've just eaten too much at the beginning of my pregnancies (except at the very beginning when I'm...retaining water, for lack of a better word) because the belly just pops out there. And I also feel the baby move extra early because I have no muscles to prevent feeling.

I'm hoping I can be even better at my exercises after this baby to perhaps at least gain back what I had before rather than regressing every pregnancies.

Anyway, there's your science lesson for today...