As a singer, I've been trained since early high school in the proper breathing technique. One should always breathe from the diaphragm. Your shoulders should never move up; instead, your belly should move out as you take a deep breath.

So now, of course, I have to do exactly what I've been trained not to do: to take a deep breath, I have to shrug my shoulders and hunch my back to give my lungs the room to expand. My tummy is just too tight for deep breathing yet.

They make you do breathing exercises after surgery. Even after my c-sections, the nurses would come in every few hours and tell me to cough. "Here, hold this pillow against your incision and cough for me. Harder!" Sure, lady, you try to cough when you feel your intestines falling out with each cough! Well, they're even more keen on it after you've had general anesthesia, because you've had the breathing tube in and they want to make extra sure your lungs stay clear. Deep breathing, coughing, all of it. And here I'm afraid even to sneeze, for fear my belly will explode open if I do!