It was sometime in October of 2017, and the twins were about 6 months old.

We were giving them a bath in a small bathtub on the bathroom counter, and after 10 minutes of standing, I had to sit down.

This was a frequent occurrence, where after a few minutes of walking, standing, or holding the twins, I would need to sit or lay down because of the discomfort I was feeling in my pelvic area.

I could not understand why six months after the twins’ birth I was still having trouble standing and walking; all I knew was that at this point, it had nothing to do with the C-section.

I went to see a chiropractor/rehab specialist recommended by my dear neighbor and sister in the Lord, and this guy changed my life.

He first asked me questions about my pregnancy, delivery, and how big the twins were when they were born. Then he asked me to describe the discomfort I was feeling, and I told him that it felt like something was pulling or dragging me downward from my pelvic area.

He then did a thorough examination, having me perform specific movements so he could see where I had any restrictions if any. Then he positioned me to sit on a foam roller and asked if it duplicated the discomfort I was feeling at home; it did not.

After a few more physical tests and compressing my abdomen in different areas, my rehab specialist concluded the following:

“You have diastasis recti.”

Huh? Dia what? What in the world was that?

So apparently, having twins in my belly stretched me more than my abdominal muscles could handle, so they split. Yup. Right down the middle. FOUR CENTIMETERS APART. And because my core was compromised, I could not do regular day-to-day motions because my core was not strong enough to make those motions happen without my other muscles in the hip area overworking themselves. Hence the weird downward pulling feeling; hence all the discomfort.

Yup. That’s me on the right.

So I had 2 options: 1) see my rehab specialist regularly to try to move my abdominal muscles back together naturally, and 2) surgery as a last resort.

SURGERY AGAIN?! AFTER I JUST HAD A C-SECTION?! HECK. TO. THE. NO.

So here I was, 6 months postpartum, trying to keep 2 babies alive, dealing with some form of postpartum depression, recovering from a C-section, and now needing physical therapy to work towards fixing the 4-centimeter gap in my belly. Yay.

In February of 2018, I began to go to physical therapy 3 times a week, and the first thing my physical therapist had to do was tape my belly in the direction of where my muscles needed to go. This was to help aid in the exercises that I needed to do in order to get better, but that I found challenging to perform due to my core being split.

It has been 1 year, 4 months, and 12 days since the twins were born. My 4-centimeter gap is now at 1-1.5 centimeters, and I still go twice a week to see my physical therapist to continue to work on bringing my abdominal muscles back together while strengthening my entire body at the same time.

I think I was as prepared as I could have been for having babies and recovering from a C-section, but I don’t think anything could have prepared me for getting my body split in half and still not being completely intact almost 1.5 years later.