I've been doing really well trying to be more active. The weather has been so nice that we've been walking almost daily. We live at the top of a hill, so it's quite the workout pushing nearly 50 lb up this hill. I've been doing yoga again and finally found someone to borrow a VCR from so I can do pilates again (though that proved to be pointless as it turns out all the VHSs were thrown out a while back without my knowledge).
I took this class called Physiofit for moms back when Leni was just a couple of months old. It's run by a physiotherapist who specializes in new moms to help repair their diastasis recti - abdominal separation. Almost all women develop a diastasis after pregnancy and it significantly weakens your abdominal muscles. I started out with a separation of 4 fingerbreadths and at the end of the session I was at 2, which is a good improvement. The one thing that is very important to note if you have diastasis is YOU SHOULD NOT DO SITUPS. Situps can make your diastasis worse, which, in turn, will make your mummy tummy worse instead of making it go away. Physiofit teaches you how to isolate and contract your deep core muscles to help repair your abdominal wall.
After I had Gemma, my belly went back to pretty well normal; I used an abdominal binder and that seemed to really help. This time, my belly really looks like a bagel (LOL) and the binder wasn't as effective. I am going to sign up for level 2 of physiofit and hopefully that will help to reduce the diastasis even further. Not that I ever had a "nice" stomach, but it was definitely nicer than it is now!
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