The ‘belly hang’ after C-section

The ‘belly hang’ after C-section, Reasons and Remedies:

 I know it feels very strange once you get up on your feet, after the anaesthesia effect has gone, and you see a bulge of belly hanging over and you are shocked. ‘Despite the baby has already came out, why my stomach still looks like I am pregnant?’, that is the question that might come to your mind in the first place. If you are in that condition, I hope this article helps you. Read till the end to find my story as well.

Reasons:

There can be the following possible reasons that lead to a hanging belly, or it is termed as the apron belly.

Remaining fat:

Getting pregnant and passing through the whole period of pregnancy comes with a lot of changes in the body. One of those changes is the excess of fat that usually builds up around the belly because of many reasons such as, eating a lot of fats, not being able to move a lot, and just the pregnancy fat so as I call it. This remaining fat layer around the abdomen is one of the causes of a belly hang.

Excess skin:

Most of the times, it is only the stretched skin that just hangs there because it cannot go back to where it was before bearing the stretch of a pregnancy. Women with smaller bodies, huge babies, or multiple babies (twins, triplets etc) have experienced this more often.

Bloating:

 Bloating can normally be caused after eating, but particularly after a c section, I have experienced bloating due to excess gas production, and many times it feels as if something still moves inside the stomach even after the baby has come out. This bloating also causes the tummy to look swollen and increases the volume of your ‘already hanging’ belly.

Diastasis recti:

Diastasis Recti is one of the most common reasons of overhung pouch of belly after C-section or pregnancy. It is a condition where, because of excess stretching of abdominal muscles during the pregnancy, the space between the muscles widens and is therefore seems quite impossible to get back to normal naturally.

Remedies:

Here I can suggest quite a few remedies from my own experience.

Stay active:

Staying active, walking a little every day and doing all the chores by yourself helps you keep the extra fat off of your body, and ultimately helps to get a lean tummy later on. Initially it may seem little exhausting and worthless, but I promise that in a few months or may be a year, depending on your body type, you can certainly lay off that fat from you body. Do not forget the fact, that you have brought a whole new life to the world and it has some after effects which may linger on for a while, but do not lose hope.

Detoxing:

To get rid of bloating, you may want to try some detox anti-bloating recipes that may help cleanse your digestive tract, and remove that bloating. There are many detox recipes that can help you with regards to regular bloating but I would suggest drinking plain water (room temperature), may be two glasses, on your empty stomach everyday if you had a c-section.

Some Core Exercises:

Core exercises can help get the muscle strength back, but it is important that you wait for 6 weeks or at least until your doctor gives you a green signal after the delivery to start any exercises after c-section. Always start with simple exercises so that you do not put to much effort on your abdominal muscles.

Cut down fat retaining food:

It is important that you start avoiding fat-storing foods, if you really want to get rid of that extra layer of fat around your belly. Deep fried and processed foods are one of the common forms of fat storing foods that we consume on daily basis without knowing how much extra weight they can cause us to gain. Eat healthy and a balanced diet.

Abdominoplasty:

As I believe, that a hanging belly after a pregnancy/ c-section is not just about having a bloated stomach or some extra fat, it is so much more than that. Our body goes through a lot of stretching and stress that it leaves us sometimes with irreparable conditions. That is when many women go for a surgical option, that is abdominoplasty. Abdominoplasty is a surgical process where a combination of liposuction, muscle repair and removal of excess skin is performed. This method has helped many women to get back to their normal shape.  And well, I am also saving now for this surgery, high five!!

My little story:

I have had three c-sections in a span of 5 years, so yes, my small 4 ft 11-inch body went through a lot and I was left with a huge belly bulge because of fat, umbilical hernia, diastasis recti and a lot of extra skin. I went to my doctor while being very desperate of getting rid of this mess and he said something that changed my perspective, may be temporarily, but it did. He told me, that this is not a mess, but this tummy has a beautiful history of bringing three beautiful lives to this world, and that I should be proud of my scars and excess skin. So well, for now I have embraced my body as it is, and whenever I look in the mirror, I remind myself of what the doctor had told me and those words still give me comfort. I have come very far in losing about some kgs of fat and water weight, and I tend to go for an abdominoplasty once I’m ready. But for now, I’m cool with who I am and how I look.