Mommy Makeover: Stories

Hi everyone! I am patiently waiting for my mommy makeover, scheculed April 5! A little bit about me, I have two great kids, 5 and 4, and a very supportive husband who is behind me 100%! For my mommy makeover I am getting a full tummy tuck, and a breast aug. I chose to have 375 cc, high profile silicone. I am currently a 36 B cup, and weigh about 124.

I am so excited to have this surgery! I have been waiting to have my tummy tuck for the past 3 years, and it is almost here!! I know this is not going to be an easy surgery, but I am definitely looking forward to having a flat tummy, and my husband says "and big boobs!" ;)

A little more about me, I am a figure competitor, so I am super nervous about my scar showing up on stage, but my doctor has made me feel comfortable that he can place it low enough that it won't show. I have given it my all to get rid of my round pooch, I even had a 6 pack on stage, but as soon as I relax my core muscles, it comes right back! It has been annoying to say the least, and I am super excited to not have to flex or suck in my pooch all day long.

I am also very excited to get my boobs done too, even though I laugh and say that I am doing it for my husband. During competition season, my body fat drops so low, that I am lucky to be an A cup. I am not in competition mode now, which is why I am a B, but I don't stay like this all year. I will hopefully be uploading my photos real soon, including some of my competition photos. Thanks for reading and for your support!

Ok, I finally took the "good" or really "bad" before photos! It is so embarrasing to post the photos of me not flexing or sucking in, but here they are just as a reference point. So, let me explain my photos real fast. I took one trying to be what I consider normal. Not sucking in like I do on stage, but not letting my core relax all the way. This is how I try to be all day long. It is hard to think about always keeping your tummy in, but as a lot of us know or do, we just make it work! Then I took the photos of me completely relaxing. This actually hurts a little after a minute as I feel like all my insides are spilling out on top of eachother. My husband kept telling me not to poof out my belly, just to relax, but this is relaxed for me. When I poof my belly, it sticks out more at the top of my rib cage versus spilling out at the bottom. So no, I am not poofing in these photos! It feels so much better keeping my core tight and trying to suck it in rather then relaxing though.
So, as you can see, even though I can get a six pack, I can also look like I am pregnant. :( This is why I am getting the tummy tuck!! I will be so relieved not to be asked how far along I am in the middle of an intense workout, just because I wasn't thinking about sucking in!

40 minutes until showtime, woo hoo! I'm really excited, and happy to have my procedures done... I'm pumped that this morning is finally here. Wish me luck, and I'll be back with updated surgery stories, and updated progress photos. Wish me luck!

Sincerely,

Amy

I'm currently 3 hours post-op, and I feel like a new me! I couldn't be any more pleased with the way my boobies are looking!

So, my day started at 6:00 AM. I showed up at the surgery center where I was immediately taken back, undressed, and given an IV drip. My surgery was scheduled for 7:30 AM. Prior to surgery, I met with the nurses, the anaesthesiologist, and my doctor who did his markings and answered last minute questions. My nerves were calm, and I was excited to get the sugery underway. Shortly after meeting the staff, I was wheeled into the operating room, and I don't remember anything after that. The surgery lasted 6+ hours to complete my breast augmentation and tummy tuck.

I woke up around 2:00 PM, and the nurse told me "you have boobies now". I was so excited to hear this, I had a smile from ear to ear! Immediately, I felt like a new me! I stayed in the recovery room for about 90 minutes. In the recovery room I was visited by my husband, given crackers and Sprite, and a pain pill before heading home. I am happy to say that I have had no nausea, which I was really worried about. No nausea, yeah! I do have 1 drain which isn't collecting very much, I take this as a good sign.

When we got home, I was able to look at my new boobies right away because my doctor doesn't do compression garmets for beast augmentations. I do however have a compression garmet for my tummy, so I haven't seen that incission yet. My husband was told the incission was a little bit wider than anticipated, and that my ab muscles were pulled in approximately 4 to 5 inches. Sounds awesome to me! The tighter the better!

So far I have had next to no pain, just a little bit of muscle soreness. I'm hoping to stay ahead of the pain. I will try to post again tomorrow and let you know how I'm doing!

It's post-op day number two, which has been slightly more difficult than day number one. Yet, it's been easier than I anticipated, and I'm doing well overall. Standing is somewhat difficult, I'm experiencing lower back pain, and I don't have much of an appetiete. Pain in general has been easy to manage. On a scale of 1 to 10, my pain level is about a 4, but can climb to a 5 or 6 right before pain medication time.

My husband drove me to see my surgeon today to get fitted for a compression bra. I should have been given this post-op, but it was an oversight by the recovery room nurse. No big deal, but my breasts feel so much better with my compression bra. I tried to peek at my TT incision, but couldn't get a good look. According to my doctor, it's healing well. Hopefully I'll see it at my followup on Wednesday the 11th,

My husband also picked up the kids from the grandparents today, and brought them back home. I was sooo happy to see them. The kids have been wonderful around me, and my oldest (5 year old Tiffany) likes to hold my hand as I do my laps around the house.

Overall, a good day.

Whew! I am so glad to be home! So much has happened since my last post. I will try to summarize everything that I can remember to hopefully help anyone else out that might have some of the same problems that I had...
I had my surgery on Thursday, everything went great, but I was under for a little longer then expected, 6 hrs my husband told me, when I was only scheduled for 4 hrs. I got home, I was feeling good, and I was trying to stay ahead of the pain. I was taking all my medicine including stool softeners that were recommended. I had a good day of Friday, a little bit of pain, but mostly in my back from not sleeping good and walking like an old lady. Then on Saturday morning it got really bad. I started vomiting at 3 am, and had dry heaves all day. My husband was on the phone with nurses etc. then he talked to my surgeon who sent in a perscription of nasuea medicine. We tried it and it didn't do anything. I started to get real short of breath and I started feeling like I was in and out of conscienceness. He asked if I wanted to go to the ER and I said lets go! So we did, I got in pretty quick, and they gave me morphine, which is the worst thing I have ever had! I was in between a dream and reality, I couldn't talk right, and then I would have a moment of clarity where I would tell my husband I had no idea what I was just saying then slip right back. Then they emitted me into the hospital. The first doctor we had I though was great, she sat on my bed and explained that they needed to give me an NG tube, which is basically a tube that goes from your nose to your belly. They hooked it to a vacuum on the wall, and I started feeling better and better! At about 8 am on Sunday, it wasn't getting anything else, so they clamped it. I felt so much better!! I feel like Sunday was a wasted day though. I wasn't able to eat or drink, and I started getting a headache. So I call the nurse and she brings me some asprin and a 1/4 cup of water. So, like anyone would, I took the pills and drank the water. What the nurse didn't tell me was you can't swallow anything with a stupid tube down your throat!! So it was stuck, I freaked out and she stood there and watched me. I thought I was going to choke, and she told me I just had to wait for them to dissolve. What a horrible lady!!! I was so done with this nursing crew! I did see a doctor on Sunday morning who told me he wanted me to try liquids and see how my body reacted and if everything went well I could get the tube out and move forward to solids. Sounded good to me! Well, they didn't bring me liquids until dinner, then they insisted that I kept the tub in for a while longer. So Monday morning, I got another tray of liquids, and no doctor. I started asking the nurses what the hold up was, and I finally got one to get an answer for me. I had an ilious, which is a bowel obstruction basically. She told me that my bowels were just still in a sleep state, whether by the medicine or the anesthesia, and I wasn't passing anything. Well, I had actually had diarreah for the past day and a half, but the nurses never put that in my file, so the doctor didn't know that I had any progress. I was so angry! So at this point, I was walking around the hospital, trying to make my laps, we make it back to the room, and we notice the tube is starting to slip out about 3 inches. So, I call a nurse, and she try's to stick it back in. This makes me start to gag and vomit and have a panic attack, so she leaves to get some nausea medicine. SHE NEVER CAME BACK!! So, my husband was so fed up he told me just to pull the tube out. I was so worried that they would just put it back in though. After about 5 minutes of him telling me just to do it I pulled it out. What a relief!! I felt so much better, and about 2 hours later, they released me from the hospital. What bastards! I can't tell you how dissappointed I am at their service. I really feel like they should have got the tube out on Sunday and I could have tried eating food there, instead I am at home wondering if I can get off this clear liquid diet yet! Anyway, I got home on Monday about 2 pm, and have been really taking it easy with foods, and lots of stool softeners and laxitives.

Today I really feel good. I am trying not to over do it, because I am really swollen and still draining, but it is hard to just sit on the couch all day! I still haven't had a normal bowel movement since surgery, but lots of diarreah. I peaked at my scar and I'm trying really hard not to be dissapointed and stay positive, but he had to do a T scar, and my belly button is really weird. I am not sure how that is going to turn out, but I trying to remind myself of the positive. He said he brought in my abs about 4-5 inches, which is awesome, and my boobies are amazing! I just wish I could have got a lower scar and a little smaller, but I will do what I can with the scar therapy to help it out.

Hi everyone, I believe this is day 6 or 7, ha, I don't know if I count surgery day as day 1 or not! Anyway, I just went to my doctor for my first real follow up, and I still have to keep my drain in. I am at about 100 cc's and I need to be below 30. Ugh! I was so ready for a shower, but it will just have to wait. He said everything is looking good, and he cleaned my belly button, what a weird feeling that was! I couldn't help but laugh, it was tingly like you funny bone! Very strange. Anyway, my swelling is down a little more today, still haven't had an actual poop, still diarrhea, but I am starting to eat a little bit of solid foods now, just trying really hard not to over do it. My energy is through the roof though. I made my husband go for a walk outside with me, and it felt great. I don't feel the need to relax my muscles as much as I did yesterday. Things are looking up! Hopefully I will be able to take some pictures tonight and post them do you guys can see where I am at. Thanks so much for all your positive comments!

Well, I made it a week! Whew! I am feeling so much better everyday. I feel pretty normal until I sit in a regular hard chair for about half an hour and then I fall apart! I am still a little swollen, but my drain is starting to slow down a lot, so I think I am over the worst part of the swelling. I have an appointment to get it removed on Tuesday!! I am so excited to take a shower! I tried to sleep in the bed last night on two big firm pillows, and made it about half the night before my back started hurting, so I had to go back to sleeping on the super high wedge. I have been off the pain meds since Saturday night, and felling really good without them. I took some pictures today so that you guys could see my T incision. I know my doctor tried really hard to keep my incision small, and he really didn't want to do the T, but the skin was not in good enough shape to keep. He also couldn't pull the skin down as much as he thought he could to get rid of the bad skin. Oh well, I am just going to have to minimize the scar the best that I can! I do have to say that my doctor really did a good job with the incision line, it seems to be really small already, and healing very nicely.

I wrote out a post the other day, but it never uploaded. Huh, that sucks. Anyway, I will try to sum it up. I feel like I turned the corner! It was on Monday, which I believe was about day 11. It is weird how it happens, but I just woke up, and felt like today is different. Don't get me wrong, I felt good before, but I just feel better. My drain really slowed down, I had a ton more energy, I was standing straighter, I even told my husband I was ready to drive again. I feel like I can do more, I don't need to sit and relax my stomach muscles as much as I have been. All in all, I just feel better! We also took some photos, and my husband put them side by side so that I could see how far I've come. All in all I am happy, but I feel like one of my sides got the memo of making a killer waist, but the other side didn't. I just feel a little off, and not symetrical. I am hoping that it is still due to some swelling, but I will just have to wait and see how it turns out. I am very happy that it is flat though!! Yeah!

Day 17, I am feeling really good today. I had a bad day on Thursday, my 2 week mark, but my son had surgery in the morning, and it ran late due to complications in the surgery before hi. Poor guy, he was a trooper, but he was scheduled at 8:50, and they didn't et him in until almost noon! Sitting in regular chairs for that long did me in. I felt like I was hit by a bus the next day, and really couldn't do much. Today however, I am trying to walk out my ilius. I have been out twice today walking, and it keeps getting easier to stand up straighter. I can only hope that increasing my activity will help get my bowels moving. This is really starting to get annoying. I am taking so much laxitive each day, and it is still not moving. Blah! I talked with my surgeon on Wednesday when I got my drain removed, and he said for me to wait one more week and really increase my activity, but if it doesn't do anything on it's own, he will talk about some options with me. My surgeon used to be a trauma doctor, so I trust he knows what he is talking about, and I don't really want to think about the "options"! My husband took some more photos today, and I can tell that I am not flat due to my guts still being full :(, but on the positive note, it still looks a lot better then before! I am also having some swelling in my left breast, with a little bit of pain. I am just thinking that it may be dropping a little bit, and the right already did.

I hit the 3 week mark! Yeah!! I went to my PS for the 3 week visit, and I am having a reaction to the stitches. Great. Just one more thing on the list... So, he removed the remaning stitches, removed the blob of whatever was in my belly button, took off the remaining steri-strips, and my tt scar looks so much better! I am still having a lot of swelling as the day goes on, but I am very flat in the morning which is a great sign! I have also been increasing my walks in the evening, I am up to 3-3.5 miles, which feels great. I almost feel like I could run, but my PS said definitely not before 6 weeks, so I am being patient for a while longer. Does anyone know when we can start wearing normal bras? I am really starting to dislike my "grandma bra"!!