Abdominal separation ! any top tips for labour !?

[Vangough]

I have Diastasis Recti diagnosed at 38 weeks (2nd child) which means my central abdominal muscles are pulling apart. It is very, very painful and completely restricts what movement I can do. I am banned from driving or any kind of lifting/bending by my Physio. I am wearing a tubagrip bandage around my tummy which takes away alot of the pain however it does minimise my movement and restricts my breathing a bit.

The Physio can only really help me once bubba is born...but I want to hear from any Mums who had this diagnosis pre-birth as I see alot of my plans flying out of the window. I now cannot use any of my yoga birth positions and will have to wear a bandage during labour or I will be in too much pain to do anything. I'm customising my 'bandage' to make it smaller and wear it single (rather than double) which although means I will feel some of the tummy pain again, will give me more movement. Sadly my Physio said there is nothing she can do and to 'manage' however I can ! I want a homebirth in a pool and really, really don't want to end up in hospital purely because of this condition.

Does anyone have any previous experience of this? Any top tips??

[chantelle]

i don't think i had anything that serious but i had SPD and my abdominal muscles pulled apart (fairly common, apparently). It really did put a hamper on labour because i couldn't open my legs very wide or get into a "comfortable" position. Baby finally had to come via forceps ...

That's probably not what you want to hear. Just be very careful, because you don't want to make the problem worse than it is with destructive movements in labour. (that you won't feel at the time, with other pains overriding them)

best of luck.

[EDmummy]

Gosh, that sounds awful. Poor you. Sadly, I cannot offer any advice but it might be useful to talk over your concerns with your HV or Doctor if you have not already done so. They may have more information on your birthing options. One thing I would say is that you probably need to manage your expectations now rather than when you are about to give birth. My much wanted first home birth went terribly wrong and I ended up in hospital, I felt such a failure and became very depressed for some time afterwards. The second time around I approached the birth with a much less narrower view so when I again ended up in hospital I was not disappointed and was just thankful that my baby was healthy (after a small stay in ICU).

Good luck.

[Vangough]

Well it is not Diastasis......I did lots of research on the subject and my symptoms did not match accurately enough so I insisted on a 2nd opinion. It is an umbilical hernia. The ante-natal Obs didn't have any real advice for me but agreed with all the research and splinting methods I have searched out on the internet. DIY Ante-natal care it would seem !!! hey ho, so I am looking at wearing a doubled over tuba-grip bandage in a birth pool at home, with my hubby sitting behind me manually splinting my tummy so the hernia doesn't pop out !!! God, I need a sense of humour. Fingers crossed !!