Coming back!

[TahneeCole]

31 years old; two c-sections in two years - I'm more than ready to tone up!!!

[Bigbird1972]

Hi, I know exactly how you feel! I had a C-section 10 weeks ago (baby number 3 but first c-section), and nothing can quite prepare you for it. It is major abdominal surgery and then you still have to look after a new baby! So I really feel for you having to go through 2 c-sections in 2 years.

From a physiotherapist's perspective (and I am guessing you are at least 6 weeks post-partum and are ok to start exercising), we always recommend engaging your pelvic floor/deep abdominals first. The easiest way to start is lying down with your knees bent (or you can actually do this in sitting or standing if the little ones aren't giving you much time): Pull up your pelvic floor (as if you are stopping yourself mid flow when going to the toilet) and gently pull in your tummy (you should be able to continue breathing throughout - if you cannot, it's likely that you are just working the abdominal muscles on the outside). Try to hold this gentle contraction for 10 seconds and repeat 10 times. If you have any separation of your tummy muscles (you can check this when lying down by pressing in to your tummy around your navel as you lift your head up - if there is more than a 2 finger gap then your muscles are still separated), it may be useful to gently push both sides of your stomach together as you are doing the exercises above.

When you put your details into the iPrescribe Exercise app, it will give you a graduated programme of aerobic exercise. This will gradually build your fitness levels back again, and remember you can incorporate the pelvic floor work/deep abdominal activation into your aerobic exercise (so for example you could think about doing some tummy/pelvic floor holds whilst you are doing a walking programme - perhaps hold over 10 steps, then relax over 10 steps etc). The aerobics videos are really quite nice on the app, but please remember to use the timer function, so that you do not overdo things in the early stages. Once you are feeling stronger, your fitness levels have improved and once you are able to engage your abdominals better you will be able to do more strengthening work and higher intensity exercise (the app gives you the option to switch to high intensity exercise once you have reached a certain fitness level) - but given the fact that you have had 2 C-sections in a short space of time, I would recommend that you stick to moderate intensity exercise for at least 3 months before attempting high intensity work. Our website explains the difference between the two:

iprescribeexercise.com/abou...

Hope it goes well, thanks so much for posting and if you need any help please let me know.

Carron