After I had my first cesarean section in 2018, I realized just how unhelpful the medical world is. Once you are cleared at six weeks, that’s it, you’re set to work out again, but what does that mean? How do you build your strength back? What is safe to do after a C-section? What if you have diastasis recti and don’t know it? What is diastasis recti? How do you heal your scar? You aren’t given any help or information on how to do any of this.
We need to do better!
I found myself deep-diving into the Instagram and Google world looking for anything that would help and give me a direction because I was confused. I was already caring for a newborn. How was I supposed to care for myself too so I could care for my daughter the way she needed me to? I wanted to get stronger for my family. I didn’t want to be in lasting pain, I wanted to heal properly, and I wanted to be healthy.
Here are some of the social media accounts I found to be helpful at that time (and still follow and implement to this day):
- I forget how I stumbled upon this sister duo (thank you Instagram algorithm!), but they were a light in the dark. Expecting and Empowered was created by physical therapist and personal trainer sisters Krystle and Amy when they began their pregnancy journeys and knew there were other women who needed guidance. Once I found their profile, I dove into their c-section material, watching every video and reading every blog post. Even though I didn’t know them personally, I felt like I had found someone who cared about me, cared about what I had gone through, and wanted to help. They wanted to see me at my best for myself and for my children. Expecting and Empowered now has a C-section Recovery box that you can order; if I could, I would order it for everyone who has a C-section. They also have a lot of information for the prenatal, labor and delivery, and postnatal stages, and it’s not just for women who have gone through C-sections. They even have an app now.
- Nikki Bergen from The Belle Method was another profile I found in the early days. While Nikki hadn’t gone through a C-section when I found her, she was sharing videos on how to properly breathe during pregnancy in order to build a strong core while pregnant. She shares various stretches, information on relieving pelvic pain or back pain, building your core back after birth, stretches for breastfeeding and back pain, and so much more. Since going through her own C-section with her second child, she has added workouts, videos, and other information that helps with recovery and core building.
- After both of my pregnancies, I found I had a little diastasis recti and stumbled upon Andrea, Deliciously Fit & Healthy. She too had twins, which drew me to her even more. Andrea provides home workouts for all aspects of your body, but especially for your core, and she also has nutrition guides. She is fun and energetic, and keeps it real with her kids showing up in some of her older videos. She now has a fitness app too.
- Julie Baird of Our Fit Family Life, provides lots of help and programs for postnatal fitness, building your core, and healing diastasis recti and your pelvic floor.
- Dr. Sarah Reardon of The Vagina Whisperer, is exactly what her profile name suggests. She is a board certified pelvic floor physical therapist who provides tips for your pelvic floor and tips for pregnancy and postpartum. She has a vagina suit she dresses up in for videos — she’s fun! — and her website has programs for everyone with pelvic floor issues as well as some free resources. As you will find over and over again in these accounts, your core and pelvic floor are all connected. Heal both.
- As I started to get stronger and more mobile, I started doing more intense workouts like I did pre-pregnancy. I really like the BODi App or Beachbody on demand because you have access to all their programs. They now have programs for the Bike and Barre Pre & Post Natal.
- I was recently introduced to Nourish Move Love and found she had a 28 Day Diastasis Recti program along with several others available on Youtube.
- Popsugar Fitness is another program of YouTube videos I’ve done in the past. What I like is that most of these workouts are 30 minutes (which is all I have time for most days) and you don’t need to work out for an hour to have good results.
