Tummy Tuck: Stories

Hey ladies, I am a mother of two, a 3 year old girl and 15 month baby boy. I always knew I was going to need a tummy tuck once I had children, even in my thin days when I was 125lbs (Iam 5'7"), I was never able to use a two piece bathing suit because I always had a sad looking belly button. For some reason I have always had a fat buldge above my belly button. Once I had my children obviouly my skin stretched but it never went back to normal. I have that hanging lower belly, which I call it the front butt, I have no waist. Had my first consultation in Sep 2011 and contemplated the idea of spending so much money on ME, but after 3 months I knew my body was not going to go back to the way it was, because I never had a flat tummy, so why not invest on my body, after all I will live with my body forever. My husband is being super supportive, so I have scheduled my TT with Lipo and a BBL for Feb 3. I am super excited, nervous of course, I am afraid of the unknown, because I have never been under or had any type of surgery. But I am total faith in my doctor and I am so ready to do this. I am preparing myself mentally for what's to come.

1/31/2012 - Friday can't come fast enough for me, I just want to be on the other side. Had my pre-op today, med picked up, everything is paid for so no looking back!!

1 DPO...Had surgery yesterday 2/3/12, went in at 6:15 am, got into my gown and met with the anesthesiologist, let me tell you she was wonderful. She reassured me that my PS was wonderful, that I was in good hands, she was so gentle and WONDERFUL. I then met with my PS, he marked me all over, asked me if I had more questions for him, he asked what my expectations were and then he walked me in to OR. The anesthesiologist laid me down, got my IV started and next thing I know I was being woken up by then nurse. Got home around 3 p.m. and I felt pretty good. I ate some chicken soup, took 2 Vicodins and took a nice nap. Woke up around 7 to use the restroom, I have to recommend a toilet raiser, it has helped so much. I also recommend cough drops because even coughing a bit hurt like hell. I slept ok, I have to say my pain level was a 3 on a level of 1-10, but I was really soar, so if being soar is painful to some of you ladies then you will be in some pain, for me it was just an uncomfortable. Very thankful that I worked out till the last day, because you do alot of your arm and quad muscles to hold yourself up and move from side to side. Then again I also got a BBL,so I can't be sitting directly on my butt. Had my pos-op this morning and everything looks great, draining very little, incition looks great, very thin. I am a bit more soar tonight, I have been eating alot of home made chicken soup with veggies, and drinking pineapple juice. Keeping up with my meds and drinking arnica and bromelain for the swelling. Taking 1 vicodin every 6-8 hr and I think by tomorrow I will start taking tylenol. Ladies don't be nervous, it's not a piece a cake but it's not as bad I we though. Good luck to my next week Tummy tuckers!!! Will post pictures on Monday.

14days Pos Op (2WEEKS!!) Hey ladies, so I made it, I still can't believe it's been two weeks. I feel awesome, today I finally got my second drain out, and it feels soooo good. Over all I can say this experience has been wonderful, I am not sure if it's because I have a high pain tolerance (which I don't think I do), or I just had a great doctor. The first four days are the worst but for my experiece, I think its just very uncomfortable, not painful but very uncomfortable. Ladies stay on top of your medication and listen to your body. The itchiness of the binder and the not being able to sleep comfortable are worst than the pain. Some things I couldnt live without these last two weeks:
Toiler raiser (I RECOMMEND..it's crazy how much we use our ab muscles, so not having to sit all the way down on the toile was great)
Crackers (take some with you to the surgery center, and have some with you at all times, helps with the nausea)
Cough drops (YES it hurst like hell when you sneeze or cough)
water bottle (it helped me keep track of how much water I was drinking)
Anti Nausea pills (see if your doctor can percribe a few of these, I would have died if I had to throw up, and I felt like that the first day when I ate something, so I just poped a little pill before I ate and I was fine)
Gauze or maxi pads (to put by the drains, and by the lipo holes...those little holes also release fluids)
crock pot (I would thrown in veggies, some chicken drumsticks, some water with a few herbs and "little" salt and make my own chicken and veggies soup)
Stool softerner and Fiber powder
Coconut Water (Yup, this is better than gatorade, this water has electrolites and it help avoid dehydration)
Overall, I am very happy with my healing process, I feel wonderful, yes I am swollen too, but it sure beats the front butt I had. It's a slow recovery and if you are like me, that once you feel a bit better you go back to your normal routine (kids, househould, etc) slow down, listen to your body. Happy healing to all my TT ladies, and for all of all of you who are still trying to make the decision, I say do it, do it for you because you deserve to invest in yourself, you will feel so happy you did, I know I do!!!

3 Weeks Post Op, feeling great and walking straight. I am not 100% back to normal, once in awhile I feel some burning and some pulling. I still havent lifted my 16 month old, he has gotten use to getting on mommies lap when I sit down. Also it still hurts when I cough or sneeze, or laugh. I still cant watch any TV comedy shows, because my incision starts to sting when I laugh. I do have the swelling that everyone has and it does suck especially at night, as you can see in my side picture you can tell alot of my evening swelling is towards the bottom, but I guess I shouldn't complain. I am still very happy with the results. I notice when I drink my 10 cups of water a day the swelling is less. I started walking about 1 mile a day and so far so good. I do wake up sore I figure its still the lipo. I am trying to watch what I eat but sometimes I get a bit comfortable and have that slice of pizza but this week I ate alot cleaner, more veggies and fruit.

Question for you ladies who already had a TT...what scar treament are you using and recommend?? Right now I am still putting Neosporin every night on my incision and BB. Once again I am so happy I did this and don't regret it at all.

Hey ladies, feeling better and better every day. I am now able to lift my 28lb toddler out of the crib without any type of pain. I still can't carry him and walk with him for a long period of time, I get a pulling feeling after like 10 minutes or so. I returned to work last week and did ok, I did find myself a bit hunched over by the end of the day. BB is still healing nicely and the scar if starting to fade. I started to put silicone strips this morning, so hopefully that will help the scar face away, using ScarAway, but I think at my 6week Post Op I will buy the silicone strips my PS has in his office. Any advice from ladies who are using a scar treatment would help, what do you recommend or what are you using?? Still wearing a spanx CG, and today I might have to buy a new one a smaller size :)...Happy Healing to all my February TT and good luck to all the March TT...YOU WONT REGRET IT!!! (will post 4 weeks pic soon)

7 weeks Post Op Today. I am feeling wonderful, I still get swelling by the end of the day but I've noticed that it happends when I eat high sodium foods and don't drink alot of water through out the day. My doctor said it was ok to stop wearing Spanx but to be honest I feel comfortable wearing it, so Iam keeping it on for a few more weeks. He did say to wear Spanx during excersise for the next 4 months for support while running. Started using the the ScarAway Silicone Strips and it has flatten out the scar but I am still working on the redness of it (the pic shows it reder than it really is).

In regards to my BBL - I took awhile to review because it takes a few weeks for all the swelling to go down and really see the final results. In my case the results seem to get better every day. It's been 7 weeks and I love it. The doc put in 720cc on each side. I would have wanted a little more because you really don't know how much volume you will keep, but I also didnt want a huge butt. Recovery was a bit difficult(uncomfortable) because you have to be on your sides ALL the time. It didnt really hurt, your butt just feels sore and hard for about the first 3 weeks, but now it's nice and soft. My clothes over all looks great but now I have to buy jeans that are made for curvy woman to go with my curves. Which I don't mind :) DOn't hesitate to ask me questions about both procedures, I know I didn't have anyone to ask until I found this board.

Sorry for the bad pics of my butt, I will put a better pic of my BBL result soon.