Diastasis recti

That is my diagnosis. Also known as rectus diastasis. It is sort of creepy that I can tense up my stomach muscles and stick my fingers in the middle, but I guess few people could escape carrying an 11 pound baby with a fluid index of 31 all the way to 41 weeks completely unscathed. This condition is more likely with multiples and multiple births. Emberly is the third birth, so that's one strike. And while she wasn't a twin, she weighed more than the twins born in our ward put together, not to mention my four pound placenta and all that extra fluid. I think she definitely qualifies.

So instead of a six pack, I have two three packs. It sort of feels like a zipper down the center of my body, undone from my rib cage to my belly button, in a sort of Y formation. If it was only cosmetic, I could consider it a badge of honor like stretch marks. I stick out like I'm three months pregnant. Since Michael still thinks I'm sexy (and his opinion counts for a lot :), so I'm not too worried about the appearance.

But the truth is it is killing my back. At least it is mostly when I sleep. Apparantly, your spine relies heavily on your abdomnal muscles to hold it in place. They call it a disruption of the muscular core. I also have a good "baseline." I'm not really sure what that means, but it sounded like a good thing.

I went to a physical medicine doctor today. I believe she's called a physiatrist. She said it would hopefully heal without surgery over time if I got the right exercise, which of course involves physical therapy visits for a while. Haven't quite figured out what to do with the little ones during that. Maybe they'll have night slots or something. Physical therapy was actually like a mini vacation when I worked, because I got to take off in the middle of the day with no worries. Sick time doesn't work the same when you're a mom.