Mommy Makeover: Stories

Congrats on the weight loss! I'm hypothyroid too. But hey! So is Sofia Vergara! Great job staying motivated. I want to get to 140lb, but I don't prioritize it like I should. 20 years with your husband is an accomplishment. Congrats on that! Can't wait to see your 120lb pics!

Congratulations on your weight loss!! I AM STUCK AT 136/137, but had also fallen off of the workouts last month. My goal is 128. Will you pm about you experience with hydroxycut. Thanks!

I don't feel that comfortable recommending people in our area because I didn't use any of them. As far as results go, the best I've seen on here for TTs are from Dr. Adam Tattelbaum in Maryland. If I were only getting a TT, I'd fly there. For boobs, I went the right place for me. But it's not convenient, I know, to fly out of state, and to fly back for revisions. On the other hand, it sure is nice to be away from all home distractions! I have a friend who got a BR with Dr. Lauren Greenberg in Palo Alto and was very pleased, but no TT. I haven't seen any South Bay doctors with consistently good reviews and results on here, though. At least, not six months ago. A lot can change online in six months! Good luck :)

If you can't do exercises to build an tone your abs and chest muscles there is a wall you hit with improving your appearance with weightloss. Maybe a doctor could recommend some safe exercises you could do. This could also help with the last stubborn pounds. Also, I'm on a low carb/high fat diet and its really working for me. Maybe it would give you the last little boost you're looking for.

Yes, due diligence is very important when researching your doctor. We try very hard to make sure each review that posts on the site is legit, but definitely do dig around, ask questions, ask to see many photos from the doctor of the procedure you're having done.

Good Afternoon! I just wanted to tell you that I really appreciated your comment last week. Congrats on the continued weight loss! :-) I'm from Oregon, so my recommendations will not help. :-) Have a great day!

I checked with the board and I also checked to see if there were any malpractice suits ever filed or settled. Thankfully, my surgeon had ZERO. Checked his license and board certification and everything is as it should be. It's amazing how many people don't check this stuff out and how many PS's out there are NOT board certified. Scary

I was about to get the PS mentioned in the sfweekly article to add to my consult list in may...but after reading the article, clearly I will stay away from her.

You sound to be in good spirits! Congrats on your appointment! Can't wait to hear how everything goes. :-)

You're an awsome person.

So happy to hear the cold war is over and you are back on track. Doesn't that just make your entire world feel so different? I love when things are just running "normal". When are you scheduled for your MM?

Pride. That's just me :-) The rest of the details, and questions that follow will all come out in the wash. Take care, act intentionally, keep smiling and talk soon!... :-)

A wise person I once knew said, if you are happy, your children will be happy. I think that goes a long way. Search your heart, then make the right decision. That said, I feel that my husbands support was/is a very important factor regarding my decision to go forward with the surgery. I don't know how some of these women go through this without the kind of loving support and nurturing that my husband provided. I am an independent woman, with my fair share of pride. However, it's definitely not something I would want or recommend doing with

Man, you have gone through it! First, I'll say that it was reasonable for you to get angry that hubby lied. I would also say that if he _confirmed_ that he'd be early, it was low for him to be late. If he didn't confirm, maybe he didn't want to fight about it then and would rather ask for forgiveness. I can also imagine the drink was work-related, though I don't think that matters so much if he confirmed he'd be home early. You being right, however, only makes the situation more explosive. You are already going to be a stress-bomb, because of all the surrounding issues (and yes, pre PS visits is a huge deal, because you have no professional to ask questions of). Your husband being in the wrong will put him on the defensive before he even walks in. Also, he may have forgotten he was supposed to come home early, since you don't ask it of him so often; or he may have felt pressured since his promotion is rather new. Either way, a verbal confrontation is terrifying for most men, and score-keeping is the worst of the worst. Like you said, it may be time to try brainstorming on your own. But you may also try pre-scheduling time with hubby and putting it on his work calendar when he and you both have time. Scheduling things on the fly that are important to you is not a good way to make sure it gets done. Putting it on the calendar days ahead of time shows its importance. As someone else wrote, counseling may be needed if there are underlying resentments or feelings of inadequacy (like if hubby doesn't want you to advance anymore, I don't know him at all). You won't need him to care for you for six weeks. You could stay in that nice recovery center in Palo Alto(?) for a week and hire a nanny for the kids for two weeks. I find the best way to short-circuit an argument is to to have elaborate sex (and this is before I got the MM). Especially with light bondage or costumes or very risque lingerie. My hubby digs that kind of thing. The more your hubby's favorite it is, the better. Kill him with kindness in the bedroom. Actually, that's pretty much my strategy for everything re my hubby. I'm stay-at-home, so I have more time to tempt him at all hours, but it keeps him in a much better mood than he otherwise tends to be in. And willing to help me! Just a possibility to think about. Also, it can be REALLY HARD to do something nice for someone when you're mad at them, but usually the conversation goes better later because you can calm down and wait a couple of days. I mean, basically, he flaked on an informal brainstorming session that you are smart enough to handle on your own. He didn't go hire a prostitute instead of picking up the kids from school. But everything feels like a catastrophe when you're exploding. If you've been together 20 years, you may as well stick it out, and for me, that's meant letting a lot of things go that I never would have before. Not lying, but that happens less when the consequences of telling the truth are less fraught. Hang in there. I hate to say it, but the stress gets waaaaaaay worse when you approach your op date. And the op has serious hormonal consequences as well, so you will temporarily be a mess post op as well. That's another conversation to have wih the hubby. After sex. xo

Wow, sorry you are going through a rough time. I've been there. I'm on number two and we've been 10 years now, but had a very rough start. Counseling really seemed to help. My husband never liked feeling ganged up on, so keeping score was the worst thing ever. He turns cold after a fight. I mean freezing cold, arctic. Takes a while to come out of it. I usually am the one that starts the conversation back to reality, but I have the big picture in my mind. I have found that as I get older, hormone changes, anxiety levels increase because of it, I am less tolerant. His going out would have bothered me too. Having a MM is so stressful. I've spent the last month not sleeping, thinking and reading about it all day, countless calls to the PS, making lists of questions and concers, etc. driving myself into an anxiety ridden state of being. Hasn't been fun, but the end of all the stress is near, MM in 12 days. It will be very hard to,ask for help, my hubby has no idea how hard this will be, but I want it, I want to have the body I always dreamed of and work my ass off for and don't get. I think it will help my self confidence and ultimately make me a better wife and mother. I don't know what will help your situation, but when I'm in a tough spot like that, I try to look at the big picture, what is the ultimate goal and what do I need to do to get there. You can only control what you do, can never control what they do. I had to lower my expectations a bit or I was always disappointed. Some men are just more attentive than others, it's just reality. Mine isn't very attentive. But we've made it work. It may not look exactly like someone else's marriage or even what I thought it would look like when we started, but I'm happy we are in it. Have you looked into counseling? Not everyone is into that. It helped me. I hope you are able to sort things out and be back on track with your goals. Congratulations on working towards a promotion, that must be very rewarding to have put yourself in a position to be promoted. Kudos. We've all been through bumps, so I think you will find lots of support here. Good luck and take care. And don't go and grab that donut!! You'll feel crappy after! Lol. ((Hugs))

I was reading through all of your questions and was also going to give a detailed response, but I think TwoPlusOne really covered a lot of these details for you. I look forward to following your progress.

I saw you commented on my review, so I thought I'd check yours out :). If you read my review, you likely know all this already, but I'll assume that you didn't cause it's very long :). First, my husband also has hypothyroidism and is on Levothyroxine. If you are properly dosed, there should not be a real effect on your weight. But a lot of doctors underdose their patients. You should look up websites written by hypothyroidism advocacy groups, as opposed to medical websites, and read up on that....As for your questions, I didn't have stretch marks so I'll skip that, but as to the shape of the scar, you CAN discuss that with your PS. The choices you have are mostly limited by the amound of skin you have above your navel. If you have a LOT, they can give you a low, curved scar. If not, you get to choose between a high scar, a low scar with a vertical, or in some cases the W. My W happened because my PS was trying for the lowest scar possible, and he'd forgotten or never understood when I said I didn't want the W. My W ended up really high because I didn't have enough excess skin. So the lesson there is, be REALLY CLEAR AND COMMUNICATIVE with your PS. #3, your bleeding experience is not related to this type of surgery. #4, I chose my PS because I didn't want implants for the reason you said. If you want bigger breasts, though, you have to use an implant. I didn't ever want to have to go back, but I would have had no upper pole fullness with another PS unless I got implants. So I flew to TX! #5, I didn't worry about the risks seriously, because I'm not overweight or in poor health. #6, I honestly have no idea! #7, Yes, I considered gummy bears. I would have gone silicone, but preferred no implant at all since I'm active and a 32D (equivalent to a 34C) is big enough for me. #8, the scar does not move up after the initial period and may move down. The TT is for life if you maintain your weight. If you gain weight, you will gain it in strange places and possible in unattractive ways if you also get lipo. I didn't get lipo, but when I gain weight now, it's all in my back and thighs, whereas before, I kept skinny legs no matter what. #9, all the docs I visited are in part 1 of my review. Don't be afraid to drive an hour. You'll need help anyway, and the time will go quick for you in the car post op. We flew to TX and still had to drive an hour to get home from the hospital. It was fine. As for drainless, some surgeons offer and some don't. Choose based on other criteria, but negotiate your drain placement if you can. I would have refused any PS who insisted on placing drains in the mons pubis, for example, because I always shave. The drains are painless to remove from the TT because you're numb. It's more variable with the BL. Mine were very painful to remove, but by then, you're so used to pain it hardly matters. I don't think the risks are better either way, just your doctor's skill is most important, and not hurting yourself post op. I was away from home 9 days, which includes my children. I needed someone's help for 4 days and used the help for 5. We were at a hotel. I don't know how much a recovery center is, but being away from children and responsibilities for at least a week will help you immensely. I would have preferred two weeks. You might be slow and sick-looking after 2 weeks, still, or you might not. You'd be better off avoiding holiday foods (salt, sugar, tryptophen) after your TT, and within 2 weeks you may still have trouble eating normal quantities. Your previous surgery experience was an emergency situation and uncontrolled. Elective surgery is completely preplanned and controlled. You hardly bleed at all, because they prep you with epinephren beforehand. So don't worry about that. Make sure your PS is board certified, has a great rep, uses either anesthesiologists or nurse anesthetists, and follow all pre- and post-op instructions. As to whether it's vain, I'm of the mind that it is, and that there's nothing wrong with that. Your appearance necessarily affects how others feel about you and how you feel about yourself, anf if you have realistic expectations going in, this surgery can actually make you HAPPIER, which positively affects everyone around you. I don't ever regret it for a second, and I was pretty happy before. But now I love to look in the mirror. It was worth every penny to me and to my husband. My 2 cents.