We often wonder how celebrities manage to look so perfect even after having babies.
Well, at least one celebrity has been brave enough to share her postpartum struggles. Recently, new mummy Janet Hsieh posted about her breastfeeding woes.
And now, she shares something even more personal. She shows us what her postpartum belly looks like, in a way no celebrity has ever done before!
Diastasis Recti: Janet Hsieh reveals her struggles with the condition
Do you remember what Janet Hsieh looked like, before her pregnancy?
Doesn't she look FAB? Before opening up about having Diastasis Recti, Janet Hsieh writes on Facebook, "This was my body pre-baby. Not bad, right?"
"You can tell from my super duper happy face that I thought so too. I wasn’t a workout-aholic, but I think an active lifestyle and eating pretty healthily in general was helpful in keeping me fit."
Well things have of course, changed after the arrival of her little bundle of joy, Egan, "Now, one month postpartum, when I look down at my body or in a mirror, I wince first, then I automatically subconsciously suck in my stomach, then, I wonder if I’ll EVER get back to my pre-baby body, and finally, I moan about it to George Young."
She writes, "Considering what your body goes through during a pregnancy (how much the skin stretches, how your organs are moved around and kicked and punched by your baby), well, there’s bound to be some battle scars."
And this is where she gets really personal and brave, "A lot of people wonder what a post-pregnancy (especially the stomach area) looks like. Well, in all honesty, it ain’t pretty."
"This is what my post-baby stomach looks like."
"Who hoo! I can do the wave with my stomach flubber/excess skin. Have I made you sea sick? Or just sick in general?"
"I told you it wasn’t pretty."
It requires guts to share a video like this and kudos to Janet Hsieh for showing what a mummy belly really looks like.
She goes on to reveal her struggles with Diastasis Recti, "Did you know that your stomach muscles actually SEPARATE when you’re pregnant? Unfortunately, that’s also the reason why you tend to have a bigger stomach after you deliver your baby."
"Your abs have literally been stretched apart. It’s called diastasis recti (yeah. what?!) and it’s the separation of your ab muscles."
""Diastasis" means separation. "Recti" refers to your ab muscles called the "rectus abdominis.""
We love that Janet is so real and down-to-earth, and loves sharing what she has learnt, "You should know that it’s perfectly normal, and your abs will eventually come back to its normal place. Usually."
She also gives some tips to deal with Diastasis Recti, "There are exercises you can do to help speed up the process (but be careful not to overdo it!) and you can also try binding.
"I tried binding for the first time a couple days ago - it literally feels like your organs and stomach muscles are being squished back into place and held together from the outside."
"Well, it’s super tight, so attempting to go to the bathroom, or pick something up off the floor, isn’t the easiest thing to do, BUT: your organs feel fabulous."
Mummy Goals? Most mums would be familiar with this one, "I would be lying if I said I was completely OK with how my body looks now. Currently, my first goal is to try and fit into my old pair of jeans again."
"Not these mommy jeans that I’ve been wearing for the past 10 months. And by “fit” I mean “actually fit into the jeans without causing the waist button to pop off and hurt someone.”
"I’m currently just about able to squeeze into my normal jeans again…except now, there’s this HUGE muffin top that spills over the sides. Sigh."
We feel you, Janet. Been there done that. If it makes you feel any better, many of us mums still don't fit into those pre-pregnancy jeans! :p
Her final words of advice?
"It’s going to be a long road ahead to get our pre-baby bodies back, but don’t despair, and don’t give yourself too much pressure either. After all, it took us 10 months to get that pregnancy body; it will take some time to go back to “normal.”"
"I sometimes like to remind myself that: that loose piece of skin around your belly that you hate so much was your baby’s first home, so maybe we can take a little bit of time saying goodbye to it…but not TOO much time."
Thumbs up to that! :)
Also READ: What you should know about Diastasis Recti!