A mum had a £10k NHS tummy tuck to feel like a "new woman" after giving birth left her with gap in her stomach muscles and looking six months pregnant for four years."

Happiness Adenekan, 37, realised she wasn't losing her baby bump after giving birth to her second child when a nurse mistook her for being pregnant again at her son's check-up.

After a trip to her GP, she was diagnosed with diastasis recti - where the the muscles in the middle of your stomach separate during pregnancy.

A tummy tuck to fix the problem was initially denied and Happiness spent the next four years struggling with extreme back pain and constant comments from people presuming she was expecting - as well as a a fist sized gap in her stomach muscles.

But finally after moving to Surrey Quays, London, Happiness was able to get a tummy tuck on the NHS. Her diastasis recti had also caused a hernia - which was fixed during the operation in July 2025.

The mum-of-three is now recovering after the procedure and feels "amazing". "

Happiness, a content creator and computer science student, said: "I'm so happy."

"They reconstructed my belly button for me."

"It's been amazing."

"I feel like a new woman."

Happiness had a traumatic birth after welcoming her second son, four, in September 2020 and after a check up for him in early 2021 she realised something was wrong.

She said: "I noticed my belly wasn't going down."

"My belly was still looking pregnant in 2021."

"I didn't think anything of it until the lady mentioned it at the hospital."

"The nurse said 'OMG, are you pregnant again?'"

Happiness started googling her symptoms - noticing she had a four finger deep gap in her muscles - and read about diastasis recti.

Her diagnosis was confirmed with a scan in spring 2021 but she was unable to initially get a funding application approved for surgery to fix it.

Happiness said: "I returned to work and everyone was like 'she's pregnant again'."

"Are you pregnant?"

Happiness fell pregnant with her third son, now two, in December 2021 and due to her diastasis recti the baby had too much space to move around.

It meant she had to be monitored closely in hospital for the last two weeks of the pregnancy.

She had to be rushed for an emergency c-section as he was breech and they feared the umbilical cord would have come out first in a natural birth - which would have been life-threatening for both mum and baby.

After the birth of her third son in September 2022, Happiness started to get more pain.

The mum was offered physio twice over the four years but said it made her pain worse so she stopped doing it.

She said: "The pain on my back was severe."

"On my stomach - around my belly button pain was severe."

"Eating was a problem. It would feel like something was twisted in my stomach. Even with water."

After moving house, Happiness when back to the doctors with her issues and a scan revealed she had hernias and her diastasis recti had worsened.

She was originally told it would be an 18 month wait for surgery but was able to go in on July 4, 2024 at Thomas and Guy Hospital, London for her operation.

According to the NHS it can cost from about £5,000 to £10,000 to have an abdominoplasty in the UK.

Happiness is now recovering but is already delighted with the results.

She said: "I can eat."

"My back pain has disappeared."

"I'm recovering really well."

Follow Happiness on TikTok @hapta_mentor