I struggled on what to call this post, but I figured it is best to call it what it is……Diastasis Recti. I am a mother of two adorable children and these two darlings were big babies. Yadael was 8 pounds and some ounces and Kolel was 9 pounds and 11 ounces meanwhile I was about 135-140 pounds at the start of each pregnancy and gained about 30 pounds on each pregnancy so you can imagine I carried the majority of the weight facing forward in my belly.

After Yadael, within days my belly was flat, I didn’t have to do any belly wrapping it just went flat on its own, so it was normal I expected the same thing with my pregnancy with Kolel. After he was born at the hospital, I noticed my belly was still a lot larger than it was with Yadael, but I just thought it was because he was a big baby and assumed it would get better within a week or two…..LIES. As the days came around, I got very sick with a terrible stomach ulcer that almost caused stomach bleeding and I had to go back to the hospital within a week after birth. Thank God the ulcer was caught early enough but the recovery process took a couple of months. As I started to feel better, I used the belly wrap the hospital provided and it helped flatten my belly a bit, but I could not understand why there was a gaping hole in the middle of my tummy every time I laid down. I also could not understand why my tummy was dropping down and wrinkly. At this point, I was back to my pre-baby weight but somehow my stomach had not returned back to shape.

In true Shile fashion, I started doing crunches and ab exercises for another month but still no results. So, when I went for a doctor’s visit a few months later but I asked my doctor why my stomach was the way it was and if it was going to return back to “normal” she passively responded as she logged in her final notes on the computer “it’s just DR.” I asked, “what is that?” with a puzzled look on my face, the doctor responded without looking in my direction “Diastasis Recti.” That was the moment.

I will share a few more blog posts about this and my journey towards healing. I have tried many different things, and some have worked, and some haven’t, but I have started a new program and I am feeling very optimistic. I hope as I share, this will empower and encourage someone else out there going through the same. DR is something many mothers have but have resigned to living with because everyone says it’s just a mom pooch. I wish there was more awareness about this, I wish someone told me about it early so I could start treating it the right way. I can’t count how many mothers I have spoken to after childbirth that say they have never heard anything about it and some I have helped realize they have DR. I can’t tell you the sense of relief they all had knowing that they weren’t crazy when they thought something was off. I will also share some pictures and videos on IG as well as I go along. I am not sure how often I will post about DR, but I hope you find this series of the DR. posts very helpful.