@dr.maehughes: Advice I'd give you if you just had a baby and I wasn't afraid of hurting your feelings 👇 1. That 6 week clearance is simply a checkpoint to ensure your stitches are healing and uterus is shrinking. It’s not the finish line of your recovery. 2. It will take at LEAST a full year postpartum (if not more) to actually rebuild your body AND feel like yourself. 3. Diastasis often improves a lot in the first 8 to 12 weeks. You don’t need to panic about the gap. You need to learn how to generate tension across your midline even while working to minimize your gap. 4. Waiting until at least 12 weeks to run isn’t being overly cautious. Even if you feel great, your body still needs time to build the strength and impact tolerance running asks for. 5. Your C-section scar needs intentional massage, mobility and desensitization, not just time, and unfortunately they just don’t teach you this in the hospital. 6. Leaking a year later isn’t just “what happens after kids.” It’s common, but it’s treatable. Pretty please work with a pelvic floor physical therapist!! 7. Holding your stomach or wearing jeans that are too tight might be the reason why your “mom belly” is still present. 8. You cannot expect to build strength and improve the appearance of your core without intentional, progressive loading. Bodyweight exercises are not going to move the needle long term. Save this for the hard days and send it to a mama who needs to hear it. #pelvicfloorpt #postpartumrehab #postpartumrecovery #diastasisrecti #postnatalfitness
