A story behind the struggle
My DR was diagnosed back in 2005 but I think it happened with my second pregnancy in 2002. I had some physio in 2007 which made no difference.
I’ve spent the last 15 years fending off questions about when the baby was due when I’ve mostly not been pregnant since I’ve had a pregnant belly look all that time.
I’ve looked on and off over all those years for someone who could help me. I’ve got part way down the track with some people who said they could and even got as far as initial consultations where people had a feel of my belly and promised to get back to me. They didn’t. However most just said they’d not worked with a DR before and didn’t want to. Others invited me to their class but I found I was just doming because the exercises weren’t modified for me in any way.
I looked into surgery but didn’t want to take 9 months out of my life to recover.
There is lots of information on DR online but much of it is contradictory and it’s really hard to know exactly what is right for me. This is difficult for me as I pride myself in being fully understanding of and in charge of my own health in every other aspect of my life.
Fast forward to 2020 lockdown when someone in one of the MANY DR pages I read mentioned Heidi’s name. She was in the UK (most practitioners seem to be in the USA) so I contacted her and I very quickly realised that she had a TON of knowledge and experience of helping women with a DR.
We had a long initial phone call where Heidi also introduced i may have a prolapse (since has completely helped on better management) was able to cut to the chase and understand my issue. I then immediately booked 6 one to one sessions which took place over a video call over the next three weeks.
I was staggered to find that within just one session I was actually able to feel my belly muscles again (I had honestly just had a void there for nearly two decades) and over the 6 sessions actually became able to use them. I was amazed at Heidi’s ability to see what was going on and modify exercises during the hour long classes even without being in the same room.
I’m still a way off not looking pregnant but I am improved. My belly is still a bit bigger than I’d like but the shape has definitely changed. I have booked a second set of 6 to see this will move things forward and my aim is to understand and strengthen my belly muscles to the extent that I can take a “normal” pilates class and know how to take care of my own muscles. I highly encourage you get in touch with Heidi vandenbroek, Creator of Pilates Bumps Beyond in 2012, and Bodysyncpilates in 2020 during her lock down time . A great start ! Get educated ! Learn hands on or schedule a virtual with Heidi ! Coach on Kami Parenting App
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