Calling all moms, especially MoM's!

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parkermegan
parkermegan Posts: 167
in Health and Weight Loss
I am feeling super annoyed with my belly. Some days I feel like I've made huge progress and others I feel like that jiggle will just never leave. I am only 15 weeks postpartum with twins and I know that is early, but I just get discouraged. I would *love* to see some postpartum tummies!! If anyone took pictures throughout the first few months postpartum that would be awesome!!

How long does your belly continue to improve past pregnancy?? Yes, I hear the "it took 9 months stuff" (which isn't true for me, my babies were born at 34.5 weeks), but I don't necessarily think that's true.

Really hoping for some responses!!! :):)
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Replies

  • mollyW2012
    mollyW2012 Posts: 94 Member
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    First, congrats on your twins!!! That's so exciting! I have twins, a boy and a girl, and they are turning 3 this July. It's been a wild ride so far....

    Anyway, in regards to the tummy.... Oh man, I wish mine were better for sure. But, I must say, I haven't given it a huge focus until this past year. The first two years of my twins life (and they have a sister that is two years older) was simply me and my husband trying to survive two newborns and a two year old! Now, though, I am working out more and doing a lot more core exercises. I have to say I still have pounds to go, but I have seen a difference. The skin is still a bit wrinkly, but I don't have a ton of stretch marks and I can feel the muscles underneath. I think for you, my advice is just work at it daily and it will happen! Do some sort of exercise each day, not only for your body, but for your mind (a needed break from infants)! And good luck to you! Congrats again!
  • tripletmom2004
    tripletmom2004 Posts: 168 Member
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  • parkermegan
    parkermegan Posts: 167
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    That's what I worry about. That I will always have a wrinkly patch of skin + my nice c-section scar! GRRR I have a 5 and almost 4 year old too! I work out 1 hour a day 6 days a week right now on average....it's hard with the twins- and I'm nursing them so they don't go very long between feedings! Luckily my husband is very supportive, but the jiggle gets to me! I have to wear a belly binder to work out or else my belly skin jiggles around and drives me crazy!!!
  • karylee44
    karylee44 Posts: 892
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    its been 11 years since i had my twins.. c-section. still cant get the belly flat.. weird ugly skin over the insision.. it is better.. but i don't think that the little skin flap wil go away with out some surgery. :(

    and congrates! the first year is hell.. but it gets better!
  • freerangehuman
    freerangehuman Posts: 19 Member
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    First, congrats on your twins!!! That's so exciting! I have twins, a boy and a girl, and they are turning 3 this July. It's been a wild ride so far....

    Anyway, in regards to the tummy.... Oh man, I wish mine were better for sure. But, I must say, I haven't given it a huge focus until this past year. The first two years of my twins life (and they have a sister that is two years older) was simply me and my husband trying to survive two newborns and a two year old! Now, though, I am working out more and doing a lot more core exercises. I have to say I still have pounds to go, but I have seen a difference. The skin is still a bit wrinkly, but I don't have a ton of stretch marks and I can feel the muscles underneath. I think for you, my advice is just work at it daily and it will happen! Do some sort of exercise each day, not only for your body, but for your mind (a needed break from infants)! And good luck to you! Congrats again!
    My twins are 3 1/2 and I still haven't lost the jiggle around my middle. The first year was strictly survival (I also had a three year old and my twins had sooooo many health problems.) Now that all of my kids are more self-sufficient, I'm working on me. Once I hit my goal weight, I'm going for a tummy tuck. I hope this wasn't discouraging. Keep up the nursing, it uses up 400 calories per day, per baby.
  • Lkoblara
    Lkoblara Posts: 137 Member
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    My "baby" is 3 years old and I still have that crepe paper skin ever so slightly under my belly. I don't have any expectations of ever looking like my pre baby self unless I have a tummy tuck which is never going to happen. I just want to be the healthiest me I can, and if I have that but still have my soft wrinkly spot on my belly oh well! I'd be happy if it disappeared, but I'm not expecting it to.
  • cjcolorado
    cjcolorado Posts: 49 Member
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    Congrats on your twins! My identical boys (who were born at 35w) are turning 6 this weekend. Time flies!
    I noticed that I dropped weight pretty fast due to nursing mine, too, with the exception of the belly 'pooch.' I think that your body hangs on to some of that fat, from a biological standpoint, for quite awhile post-partum to support nursing. That is still really the only bothersome area on me in that it is very, very stubborn! I was lucky in that I didn't get the infamous 'twin skin' and didn't have to deal with a c-section scar; but, my sister-in-law who had a c-section has found that it still seems to pooch out a bit, no matter how thin she gets. If you had diastasis recti (the separation in your abdominal muscles that is common in twin pregnancies), that might also affect your belly jiggle. If you have it, you want to be careful what ab exercises you do, as crunches and similar ones can actually aggravate it.
  • parkermegan
    parkermegan Posts: 167
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    I had a band placed surgically a type of surgically placed cerclage - abdominal cerclage) to keep the babies in at 11 weeks. It was the exact same as a c-section incision (they used the same incision at my delivery). It's permanent so now I have to deliver via c-section no matter what....at least I can keep the babies in though! That's a little OT :)

    I wonder if that is making it even worse....I did have diastasis too, but I think it's better now....It's hard for me to tell when doing the check, but it seems my muscles have closed up to where they should be!


    I wonder why a c-section causes a pooch?!? I got pretty big, but maybe the c-section is the culprit?? I've just never had this issue before and I have this spot of loose skin. After seeing some tummy tuck incisions, it scares me....but I would probably get one at some point if I can't get rid of this skin! I don't want to live the rest of my life with it....the stretch marks are OK....I can live with those!

    This was hours before my water broke, twinkles were 4 lbs and 8 oz and 5 lbs 2 oz :)

    IMG_0276.jpg
  • amymt10
    amymt10 Posts: 271 Member
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    My boys are now 3yrs & 6yrs, I had a csection w/both. My belly pouch went almost completely away after the first one, I worked HARD for that to happen. Now 3yrs after the second one and there is still a lil pouch and lil bit hanging skin over the incision. I'm guessing the 2nd csection did me in. I actually weigh 10lbs less that when I got preggo the first time and and I still have a lil pouch. I'm guessing it wont go away unless I have surgery ... not sure I want to go that route. Thankfully the only stretch marks I have are on my rear ... no one sees those but my hubby lol!
  • Meatsies
    Meatsies Posts: 351 Member
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    Wow, look at all the twin moms up in here! WOOT WOOT! Mine are turning 4 in August. I'm not much help, though, as I gained A TON OF WEIGHT after my twins were born. When I first got pregnant, I weighed in at a comfortable 145. By the time I delivered the twins at 38 weeks, I weighed 220. When I got home from the hospital, I weighed 185. Over the next several years, I got up to 230. OUCH. Now I'm back down to 185 (my home-from-the-hospital-weight). My belly is a FREAKING MESS. I'm pretty sure the only way I will ever have a flat belly...EVER...is to do a little snippy-snippy when I get to goal weight. Not like I'll actually be able to DO that, but...I'm pretty sure my body's too far gone to hope for a flat washboard belly just by dieting/exercise alone. *SOB!*
  • mlewon
    mlewon Posts: 343 Member
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    Okay, so I'm not a mom, but I have one! And I was born a c-section and I know from her point of view (20 years after I've been born) that she's always had a little pooch around the scar and she says it's from muscles getting cut into there that never fully recover. Granted, I'm sure now the surgery is a bit more improved, but I just wanted to tell you what I've heard from my own mom. I'm her only child as well, so she really didn't have too much trouble losing after having me, but she said she'll always have that little bit of skin around the scar from the muscles being damaged. I'm just lucky she looks at me and says "it was all worth it, without my 'Marisa scar' (what she calls her c-section scar; my name lol) I wouldn't have you, and if it was a choice between not having you and not having the little bit of pooch, I'd always choose you." :)
  • inside_lap
    inside_lap Posts: 738 Member
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    Beautiful picture!! Congrats. I'm a mommy of one instead of multiples. I'm afraid I have no photos of my belly but honestly it looks pretty much like it did before the baby (keep in mind my baby is now 21 months). The only major difference I have is the C-section scar (had to have an emergency C-section due to complications :( ) and slightly looser skin (probably only noticible to me bc I know what it use to look like. everyone else thinks I'm crazy). Like I said, mommy of one instead of multiples. I did gain about 30-40% of my body weight during the pregnancy though... Good luck! You can do it!

    EDIT: My c-section scar lays flat and does not pooch. It's pretty much just a straight line scare above my public area. It was pretty angry and red for a long time though...
  • NotAlone82
    NotAlone82 Posts: 32
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    I know there are Moms on here who have made AWESOME belly progress. As for myself, I had surgery to get rid of it. After 4 pregnancies and 3 back to back, my stomach hung down HORRIBLY. After weight loss it just got worse. Everyone is so different. I hope you're the type to bounce back :). I will help to keep bumping this till you can hear from those Moms who've made great progress.
  • LisaR517
    LisaR517 Posts: 80
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    WeightLossCollage.jpg

    I have had 4 kids; ages 8, 7, 5, and 18mos. I also carried 2 more until 3mos, but lost them.
    It's not perfect (never will be!), but I'm pretty happy with the improvement. There IS still some loose skin that I doubt will go away. But I can't see it, for the most part, unless I'm doing a plank or something. ;)
  • parkermegan
    parkermegan Posts: 167
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    WeightLossCollage.jpg

    I have had 4 kids; ages 8, 7, 5, and 18mos. I also carried 2 more until 3mos, but lost them.
    It's not perfect (never will be!), but I'm pretty happy with the improvement.

    your belly looks awesome!!
  • chatipati1
    chatipati1 Posts: 211 Member
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    Nice rule of thumb that gyne told me...It took you 9 months (ok yours was a little shorter) to gain weight..give it 9 months to get back..With my first pregnancy I did just that. But after the 3rd I was more easy about it and shouldn't have been. And my first was a c- section but the next two weren't and the belly did go down after the first.
  • inside_lap
    inside_lap Posts: 738 Member
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    WeightLossCollage.jpg

    I have had 4 kids; ages 8, 7, 5, and 18mos. I also carried 2 more until 3mos, but lost them.
    It's not perfect (never will be!), but I'm pretty happy with the improvement. There IS still some loose skin that I doubt will go away. But I can't see it, for the most part, unless I'm doing a plank or something. ;)

    Looking great!
  • Diary_Queen
    Diary_Queen Posts: 1,314 Member
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    I'm a mom of multiples and i cried for months because my bellybutton was literally 2.75" lower than before I got pregnant. My pants fit weird/wrong all the time and the button on my jeans dug into my poor low slung bellybutton. I thought my tummy would never look normal again. Of course, I was obese when I got pregnant with my twins, so I was huge by the time I delivered (via c-section). I have a mazillion stretch marks. Eh, so be it. I do find however, that my worst problem is regaining core strength and especially lower ab strength. All the 'lower ab' style exercises are either too tough for me to do as a beginner or i have to pivot on my tailbone which hurts even with a pillow for padding.

    Any tips?
  • twinmom01
    twinmom01 Posts: 854 Member
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    Every person is going to be different...

    I was a bit overweight before getting preg with my twins (who are 11 now)- my belly is still smushy, even after a year and half of kickboxing and lifting heavy the past 6 months...I choose to "hide" stuff with clothes...I am very particular about the way things fit - even more so now that I have lost weight and my body has toned up so I am wearing more things that "cling" and are streamlined - by getting pants that fit my proportions it holds my belly in a bit with no "mufin top" or side pooches.

    I know a good MoM friend og mine who is a fitness instructor wound up going the tummy tuck route to get rid of the a strip of skin that was just stretched to much - no amount of exercise was going to fix it.
  • DixiedoesMFP
    DixiedoesMFP Posts: 935 Member
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    I had a C-section, though just one baby and I gained a lot. The first six months or so were awful, and then it was "okay". When I started weight lifting, it has gone down considerably. If you have a diastasis, make sure you are doing ab exercises that pull your tummy in, not push it out, or it can get worse. Good luck!

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