Diastasis Gonzo

Looking at my blog, I'm realizing that the new background I picked looks an awful lot like the kitchen curtains I sewed at our old house. Obviously I like the pattern but it's a little weird.  To completely change the subject, I wrote a little while back about healing my diastasis recti. This is a little update on that, but without photos because ain't nobody want to see a mummy tummy if they don't have to.

I've been wearing this belly splint almost 24/7 for a couple of weeks now, with breaks to shower (so, like, I've taken it off about 3-4 times? bahaha) and once in awhile just because it fights with a jeans waistband like whoa. No problem when I'm at home in my yoga pants or jeggings, though! Fashion, comfort,  AND they accommodate your abdominal support garment, which is clearly legitimate medical equipment and not a medieval torture vanity device. Win, win, and win.

Anyway, I've gone from just over a two-finger diastasis down to barely a one-finger separation basically just from wearing the splint. It reminds me to engage my core while doing routine housework/toddler lifting/stair climbing ad nauseum, so maybe that's part of the reason. But I've fallen off the core workout bandwagon ever since I had my turn with a nasty stomach bug (my abdominal area was dead to me, people). I do think, though, that wearing the splint while sick helped keep my diastasis from getting worse due to the...muscle strain. Yeah, that.

So when I take off the splint, my tummy looks trimmer at least for a little while. I do still have some core strengthening to do in order to maintain, but there's no doubt that connective tissue is healing up.

By the way, when I say "belly splint", I don't mean anything fancy that I ordered off of diastasisrehab.com. No, this is a back brace wrap thingy I dug out of our hall closet and pulled the hard back support board out of it. It's slightly not the right size and rolls on the sides just a bit when my posture lacks. We are talking fancy times over here, not to mention the weird dirt stain across the front of it that I should probably wash but haven't yet. (What? It's not like I've suddenly become a paragon of cleanliness and possessor of oodles of time for extra housework since three paragraphs ago, people.)

All I'm saying is, if your tummy is like "What do you expect of me after growing and expelling THREE HUMANS IN THREE AND A HALF YEARS??" then maybe a splint/wrap is something you should consider. I actually really like how I feel when I'm wearing it, like my midsection isn't going to roll over and give up when I reach into the crib for the baby. My lower back appreciates it, too. (And just think, on a rough back day, I can put the lumbar support board back into my wrap! Double duty!)

Also, think about that whole "three humans in three and a half years" thing. Maybe instead of avoiding my tummy like an awkward ex, I should be buying it flowers and chocolates and ice cream because that is amazing. Oh wait, that is exactly what I usually do...#partoftheproblem

Oh, and I tagged this under "workout diary" just because I feel like that label is getting a little lonely and gathering dust. Bless. In my defense, I did use the word "workout". Gotta run, the baby is eating paper again!

And Then Pigs Flew

This morning, in celebration of sleeping ALL the way until 5:45 a.m., I went for a run. To be more precise, I went for a walk/jog/run, as it used to be called in high school gym class when we spent the entire period ambulating around the track at whatever pace felt right. At that time, we took very seriously the recommendation to never elevate our heart rates to the point where we could not comfortably hold a conversation.

But about this morning. I felt positively energized at 6 a.m. when I put Isaac back down for his "chill time" (I'm never actually sure if he goes back to sleep, but he doesn't seem to mind spending another hour or so hanging out in his crib). I had exactly an hour before Joel would leave for work. So I donned running apparel, including my new/used New Balance sneaks, and headed out the door. Joel was so impressed that he opened his eyes and uttered three words before I left.

Leaving the house, I started at a brisk walk to warm up. But I just couldn't hold back, and broke into a steady run.

It was the best thirty seconds of my workout.

Then I came to my senses and walked the rest of the way to the park entrance. Mind you, it takes less than a minute to drive from our home to the parking lot. Hey, it was a start. I explored our local park as I alternated walking and running for the next twenty or so minutes. And I confess, I kept it relatively low-key because I can't exactly afford to spend the rest of the day icing my shin splints and wondering when THOSE muscles appeared in my body for the sole purpose of making my life more painful.

In sum, I got some exercise, got my heart rate up, and I didn't even feel like I wanted to die. That, for me, is a successful beginning. Usually I way overdo it the first time and spend the next week recovering and recalling why I don't DO that sort of thing. However. Two pregnancies in rapid succession say that I had better START doing that sort of thing, so I felt it best to set myself up for workout longevity.

That said, if you are ever in the Reamstown area early in the morning, keep a sharp eye and have your cell phone or oxygen tank handy just, you know, in case you spot a walk/jog/runner in need of assistance.