9 Months PO after scar revision New Pics. FTT,LIPO, BA- Birmingham, AL

Hi everyone let me just get started with a little history. I am 29 years old I am a single mother of three boys ages 8,6, and soon to be 3. All delivered by c-section. They were not big babies but I was much bigger at the beginning of my pregnancies than I am now. My starting weight and ending weight with my pregnancies was:

1st- 185 and 197
2nd- 183 and 199
3rd- 165 and 195

So my weight has fluctuated greatly throughout the last 6 years. After baby #3 I was miserable with myself and my appearance and decided to do something about it. I started at the gym and the weight began to slowly shed. Over a years time I had lost 50 pounds and feeling great. I went from a size 16 to an 8. I have managed to keep it off for a year now and it is time for me to reward myself with a "tune up" lol. I am 5'8" and keep my weight between 145-150.

I also want to add that I am recently divorced which in itself has taken a huge toll on me but it has also made me a stronger woman. My ex was virbally abusive and I believe wanted me to stay bigger because he thought no one else would be attracted to me and then when I lost the weight he became angry which just led to problem after problem and I finally got strong enough to get out. I know there are so many woman out there who are in the same situation I was in for 12 years and you may feel like there is no way out and I can't crawl out of it for you but I can surely tell you that the sun is shinning on this side honey :-) I love myself now and I am beautiful and I can do whatever I put my mind to and I know that now.

Anyway thats pretty much my life in a nutshell. I go next month for my consult with Dr.H who I have heard and read is the best in his field. This will be my 3rd consult and I just wasn't very comfortable with the past two PS so hopefully this will be the one. I am going for a Mini TT because being a single mom I dont have the time to heal from a full and my main problem is the loose skim at the bottom and my bad c-section scar. I dont mind the stretch marks because to be honest ladies thats not the only place they hang out...Lol. My BA will be 475cc gel implants which should bring me from a glorious A cup to a D cup which I am the most excited about. I am also getting a small amount of lipo on my belly pooch, my flanks and a larger amount on my saddle bags :-/ These have cursed me since I was about 15 and they love me so much they won't go away. My measurement right now are:

Chest- 34
top of belly- 29
bottom of belly- 34 1/2
hips- 42 1/2

I am going to try and post some pics as soon as I can. I appreciate all of you ladies and info that you can find on this website is awesome. Thank you all for sharing your story and I am glad to be in the waiting now with some of you. Hope everyone has a blessed day.

So I finally scheduled my consultation with my third plastic surgeon. I have heard so many great things about him and I am hoping he is the one. The bad thing about it is that his office is 3 hours from where I live but he is suppose to be one of the best so fingers crossed this is my last stop. The secretary that I spoke with yesterday tried to confirm my original amount and she came up with $7500 and I came up with $8600 so hopefully that will be a great surprise. I am getting so excited but scared.

Well I forgot to post that my consultation is December 2nd. I have to drive 3 hours to the doctors office so I am hoping it is going to be worth it. I have starting attempting to lose a little weight. I would love to be down to 140 for my surgery but will pretty much be happy with any loss. I have been in a relationship with my boyfriend for 15 months now and managed to put on 10lbs...Lol...What can I say when I am happy I love me some food :-) I though if I posted my weight it would give me more motivation to lose it. So...I started my diet on October 30 and I weighed in at 156lbs...YIKES! Weighed in today at 153. So I am making some progress, we will see how the next month plays out with the holidays coming up. I am finding myself getting very anxious about my upcoming consult. Hoping more than anything that i am actually going to be able to afford this. $8000 is pushing my limit so fingers crossed it will happen. I also forgot to put that I am going for a mini without muscle repair simply because I don't want to have a drain and I dont have enough down time or help to recover from something like that. I have full custody of my kids so they are with me pretty much all the time and I dont have 2 weeks to recover. My boyfriend is taking off work for three days to handle the bulk and then my mom is gonna help out during the day with my 2 year old after he goes back to work. I think this is the best choice for me and I hope the surgeon will say the same.

Oh I also did the rice test to check for the size I may want and I am really liking the 500cc. Which was 2 1/4 cups of rice. The last surgeon said 475 would be perfect because I have a larger rib cage and broad shoulders and I am thinking he may be right. I have always liked the look of larger breasts and if I am paying for them I want to get my moneys worth...hehe

Well I guess thats all for now. Hope everyone is having a great healing process
.....impatiently waiting, MINDY LOU

Ok well I have my consult on Dec 2nd. I am anxious and nervous. Just trying to make sure I have all the questions I need and hoping the price is right. I have to travel 3 hours so hoping for a safe travel. I will let you all know how it goes once I have more info. I have to put 10% down to set my surgery date and I have that ready in hand so all fingers crossed friday I will schedule my date. Good luck ladies. Oh and I wanted to add I am now down to 150.5 as of this morning. Goal is still 145 for surgery so I am slowly getting there :-)

We made it back safely from our trip. It took longer than I anticipated but a good drive. The consult went better than expected. Dr. H did say though that in his opinion a mini tt would not give me the result I am looking for but he offered to give me a full for only $1000 dollars more so I am officially changing my surgery to a Full TT, 550cc Silicone high profile implants, lipo of the flanks, outer thighs and possibly inner thighs. The other 2 ps I had seen before both said I wouldn't have enough skin for a full and would need a upside down T shaped scar which I absolutely didn't want but Dr.H has assured me he has been doing this for 20 years and he can definetely achieve my goals and some. I had told him I wanted to lose 5 to 10 lbs before surgery so we are going to see how the inner thigh looks on day of surgery. I am so excited I had a hard time falling asleep dreaming of how I am going to look. I am sure many of you ladies have done the same. I already paid my 10% and scheduled for FEB 16, 2012. The countdown begins.

Added a few new pics. A better one of my outer thigh that is getting lipo and I am considering calling the doc to add inner thigh lipo. What do you think? I so can't wait to be rid of these saddlebags that have haunted me for so long. I find myself becoming addicted to this website and constantly googling images of tt and BA. Maybe crazy but I am sure I am not the only one. So excited right now.

So today I have managed to go through 57 pages of tummy tuck forums. Some of the transformations are really remarkable. It just makes me even more excited. Added a few new pics of me sitting and bent over. I called the PS office yesterday with a question about scar placement and she told me everyone has a natural fold at the bottom of your belly. She told me to stand in the mirror and bend over and the follow the very last fold from hip to hip and that is an approximate placement. Mine seems to be pretty low. I think mostly because of my c-section scars so I have high hopes for a low scar. She also told me we are probably going to have a better outcome going with a moderate plus implant instead of high profile because I have a wide chest and the HP will make them look more fake while the MP are wider and will fill in the space nicely with a more natural look. I feel so much better today after talking to her yesterday. His staff are very friendly and always willing to answer any questions I have. She was on the phone with me for like 15 minutes. Poor girl :-) Impatiently waiting....Mindy Lou

Ok so the holidays are finally over and everyone is back to work and back to school. I have managed to gain weight and am now at a miserable 161 this morning. So I am starting my workouts again and will update weekly on my progress. My original goal for surgery was to be at 145 but we will see how this goes. I am somewhat disapointed in myself for gaining but I have confidence in myself that I can get it back off. I am getting so excited as I am getting closer. 5 weeks and 3 days to go .... Mindy Lou

Well today marks 4 weeks until my surgery. I am losing some weight slowing. I am 157 today. Down from 161. I have so many thoughts and emotions it is kind of consuming my days. One moment I am super excited and very much in disbelief that this is actually finally going to happen and then it switches over to fear and guilt. My BF constantly keeps reminding me that I deserve this and how happy it is going to make me and improve my overall life. He is so very supportive of this whole process. I have my pre op on February 2nd. Since I am an out of town patient I will be doing mine over the phone and doing my blood work local and faxing it to there office. They gave me some instructions on supplements and diet pre op amd post op....

1000mg Vitamin C- 3days prior and 1 week after
25,000 IU Vitamin A- for 7 days after surgery
Bromelain- 3 days prior and 14 days after
Arnica Montana- immediately after and 14 days
Take a multivitamin for 2 weeks prior to surgery without Vit E and no fish oil.

They also told me to buy a Large and a X Large sports bra because of swelling. She said he will want me to wear nothing but sports bras for the first 4 weeks :-/ They supply the first compression garment which is stage 1 and she said I will wear that one for about 3 weeks. I also stressed my concern with blood clots and she told me they will send me back to the hotel room with the machine that pumps your legs every 5 minutes to set my mind at ease. I thought that was really awesome and does make me feel alot better. So far Doctor Hedden and his staff have made me feel like I am there only patient. Couldn't ask for better service :-)

21 DAYS TO GO!!! I am so excited. Started my multivitamin today minus Vit E. Ordered my Arnica Montana and Bromelain. I ordered Arnica Montana gel also to rub on the lipo areas. I have read so many great reviews about the product helping greatly with swelling and bruising and I figured I have nothing to lose trying it. I also ordered anti embolism stocking for my peace of mind mostly. I have a 4 hours drive home 4 dpo with making stops every hour to move around will be more like 5. Not looking forward to that at all. I am also stocking up on protein shakes. I am going to begin drinking two a day the week before and then the week after because I read a high protein intake really helps your body heal faster. I have my pre op on February 2nd. They will be calling for all of my info and then I get my blood work done close to home and send it to them to make things easier. Well overall ladies I feel great today about my decision to have this done for me. Everyday is different but today I am good :-) Forgot to mention I am still 157 lbs which I am not happy about but not stressing. I have suddenly had a huge urge to clean and upgrade my house. I began painting last week and completely redid my bedroom and repainting my living room. Maybe it is some kind of nesting. Not sure, but the house needed it so no hard feelings there. Well I will check back in next week. I am stalking several of you ladies and you are all looking fabulous. 3 weeks to go....Mindy Lou

Just got back from doing my pre op blood work. Had to take my little man with me and he held my hand and kept saying "everythings gonna be okay mommy" :-) such a sweet little man. They said I would have the results in 3 days and then I fax them to the Doc. I did my over the phone pre op yesterday and they confirmed everything and told me they were mailing my surgery paperwork and they would call the day before surgery to give me a exact surgery time. Its getting to be real now. 1 week and 6 days to go.

7 DAYS TO GO!!! I am nervous and scared and anxious and everything in between. I am trying right now to get my house in order to leave it for 5 days and make sure I have everything I will need in the hotel room. I am also bringing my recliner from home...hehe. I just want to be comfortable and lying in that hotel bed doesn't sound at all like a good time. My BF has already scheduled his vacation and will be with me for a solid 6 to take care of my every need. He is absolutely awesome and has supported me every step of the way and I am just so very lucky to have such a great support system at home. I also live on the same road as my Mom and Dad and my Brother and Sis in Law so I will have plenty extra help if I need it. I am starting to feel really sad about not being with my babies for 5 nights :-( I have never been away from them for longer that two nights at a time and that is only so that they can visit there Dad. I guess at this point I can pretty much find anything to feel guilty about. I guess we all go through this time of guilt and worry. Besides the sad points I am so ready to get this over with and start my life again. Oh I have also stopped drinking red bull, which I was totally addicted to, and now am dealing with major headaches from the withdrawal of caffiene. Hopefully it will only be another day or two and they will be gone. I haven't weighed myself since my last update because I feel I haven't lost any and I dont want to be stressing about a few pounds on top of everything else. Oh my BF is also going to take new and better before pics (since I have gained 6lbs since my first ones) and I am going to be posting those and taking down a few I have on here now. Well I guess thats all for today. Happy Healing Ladies and dont forget to spare a prayer for me....Mindy Lou

3 DAYS TO GO!!! I am desperately trying to get last minute things together and make sure I have packed everything. On top of making sure I have everything we need in Alabama I also have to prepare my kids things to stay with my mom while I am gone. That in itself is a job. I started taking my bromelain and arnica today as the doctor said and started drinking protein shakes. He said I needed to be on a high protein diet to help with healing so I got shakes, bars, and gatorade with protein. I am getting so excited now. This time really has flown by and I hope my recovery does too. Can't wait for the new improved me :-)

TOMORROW IS MY BIG DAY!!! I am so super excited right now and kind of in a state of disbelief that this is actually happening tomorrow. I went to the bank yesterday and withdrew my remaining $8600 in cash. I am an out of town patient so they allow you to pay cash morning of surgery. I felt totally uncomfortable carrying that much money even if I was just driving home. I think I am all packed and all I have left to do is sweep and mop these floors one last and I will be good to go. Not looking forward to the 4 plus hours drive tonight. I dont imagine we will be there any sooner than around 9:30 tonight. I am waiting to hear from the Doc today on an exact time of surgery. All the prayers you can spare for me I greatly appreciate. I am gonna be posting those new pics tonight once we get settled in the room. Thank all of you ladies for the caring support that you have provided for me. I dont know that I would have been able to go through this without this site. Thank you...MIndy Lou

Hi ladies I can't believe today is my day. I have to be there for 9 and my surgery is for 10:30. Hopefully I will be out and back at the hotel for around 5. We drove straight here lastnight after my BF got off work and arrived at 9:15. It took about 4 hours and 20 minutes and it felt like 10. I am so excited this morning and right now feel myself having anxiety over the IV. Crazy I know but I know that comes first and I hate them. I took new pics lastnight and I will try to post them tonight and hopefully I will get to peek before they wrap me all up. Well I will see you ladies on the healing side. Thank you all for you support, thoughts an prayers...Mindy Lou

Ok ladies I made it out okay. I went back at 10 and came out around 3:15. I have to say that I am surprised at home minimal the pain is in my tummy. Most of my pain is coming from my boobies and the outer thighs. Still having some nausea and just dozing off here and there but other than that I am feeling really good. I go tomorrow at 10 for my follow up and should be able to snap a new pic. My boobies are all the way up to my colar bone and really hard. I know they will drop eventually though so I am not stressin. I will update again tomorrow.

2 DPO today. I would have updated earlier but the hotels internet has been out all day yesterday. I am doing really good so far. The first night I had a hard time sleeping. Just felt like I was dozing off and waking back up within the hour all night. The day of surgery my breast were most of the pain and I really hardly had any pain in my stomach. I needed help getting up and down and just laid around all day. Yesterday was a sore day. I had my PO appt and when I walked from the parking lot they took me back to the room immediately and once I sat down I almost passed out and then had to fan me with papers and get me some gatorade. After I felt better she took the bandages off and I was able to see my belly for the first time. I was a bit surprised at how much swelling my love handles have. I guess I expected them to be perfectly small from the lipo but they were swollen instead. After standing in the mirror looking at myself I felt faint again and had to sit down. She assured me that it was completely normal to feel that way once all of the compression was gone. My belly button looks weird to me but I know its only the first day. She said they removed 175 cc of fat from each flank and 200 cc from each outer thigh. They also ended up putting in 550 cc high profile gel instead of moderate plus because of the diameter of the implant was too large for my pocket. As far as the pain today. I would say that in comparison for me the pain im my belly feels very much like the pain from my c sections. Only bothering me when I get up, which I am now able to do on my own. My lipo on my outer thighs feels like someone has punched me a thousand time but it is not a constant pain only when I am touching it. My breast feel somewhat sore under whee the incision is but other than that they feel as if they are ingorged. I am very pleasantly surprised at how easy it has been so far. I would have to say to all of the ladies waiting on there surgery add squats to your daily routine because you will need your legs to be strong to make things easier. Also add that I have been on a high protein diet eating about 50 grams of protein a day and drinking lots of gatorade and water. I know I may be rambling but I am trying to recall the last two days. Oh I have only taken my muscle relaxer twice and am starting to spread out my pain meds closer to 6 hours instead of 4. I am going to add the pics we took in the office yesterday. Tell me what you think ladies. Happy healing everyone. I am about to go take my first shower...Yay

3 DPO and feeling great. I took my first shower lastnight which is a bit of a pain bc I had a bag tied around my neck holding my drain but my BF is a trooper and he helped me every step of the way. I do get a uneasy feeling when I take the binder off. Almost like my body is telling me I need to sit down. I am getting up and have taken a couple walks around the hotel. I can get up and down by myself and overall feeling pretty darn good. I went almost all night last night without any pain meds and have only taken tylenol today. I would say so far this journey has been so much easier than I expected. By the way I am so in love with my new boobies. I have always been small chested so to actually see myself with breast is awesome. We found out we have to stay until Tuesday to have my drains removed which is a bummer but okay. I had to make arrangements for my kids back at home because they are out of school all next week for Mardi Gras. I took some stool softeners yesterday and was able to have a BM today which was no big deal. So far everything is great. My BF keeps telling me he can't believe how good I am doing and how great I look which is keeping my spirits up. Its hard sitting in this hotel room looking at these walls for 4 days straight but I am just reminding myself I need this recovery time and I am trying to enjoy it. I would have to say that I would do this a million times over and I am only 3 days out. I had so much guilt going into this because I didn't want to spend that much money on myself but you know what...I am worth it and I deserve it. So far I am loving the new me...Mindy Lou

4 DPO. Tod

4 DPO. Today was pretty uneventful. Getting up and down alot faster than before. Boobs are still very high but beginning to soften a bit. I have been in this hotel room for 4 days and was starting to get cabin fever so I road to starbucks with my BF and then we walked in TJ Maxx for like 5 minutes to get me some panties because I didn't pack enough for some reason. Walking for a limited time is not painfull but you get a very tight feeling down the center of your belly and my breast start feeling harder. I came back to the room and took a muscle relaxer and a nice nap and still feeling great. Haven't emptied my drain since 9 lastnight and it only has about 25 cc in it right now. My appt is in the morning to get the drain out and we are finally headed home. I would like to say I have seen alot of ladies saying how much they hated there drain and how horrible it was. Well I never took my binder off and i had the entire tube pushed into my binder and pinned it to my bra and haven't thought about it since. It doesn't pull or leak or anything. Guess maybe I was lucky in that area. Trying to think of everything I want to ask my PS before we leave. After today all updates with him will be through phone call and emails. I have to come back in 3 months to be seen in the office which is fine with me. So not looking forward to the drive tomorrow but I can't wait to see my babies. I miss them so much. I am going to shower again tonight and may post a new pic so you can see what a differnce a few days makes in the breast. I find that as they are dropping and starting to stick out further and looking larger in the bra. I had heard they get larger as the settle but didn't realize it was gonna happen this fast. Oh lastnight I decided I was gonna be fine and only took tylenol PM instead of pain meds before bed....BAD IDEA. I woke up at 4 am with my incision hurting and my breast felt like bolders on my chest. I took a pain med and within 15 minutes was sound asleep again. I will keep with the pain meds at night for a few more nights but during the day I am fine with tylenol. Still walking hunched over but its not that bad. My back only hurts when I try to bend down to pick something up, other than that no back pain. My lipo areas are itchy. It feels so good to lightly scratch on top on my binder. I assume the difference in the sensation I have had on my outer thighs the last couple days could be some swelling going down. Well ladies thats all I can think of right now. So far this has been a easy journey and nothing what I mentally prepared for. I hope everyone has as easy a time as I have. Happy healing ladies...Mindy Lou

OK well I had my appt this morning and doc removed my drain. Its a weird burning feeling but nothing bad. He said I had a very large gap between my muscles he had to repair and took a little more lipo from my flanks thatn expected, which I am not complaining about one bit. He told me I have alot of swelling and to not expect to see real results for about a month to 6 weeks. Gave me instructions for the next month. I asked about the excessive amount of swelling I have on both sides above my insicion and he told me that once he was in there he did lipo there to give me the sexy hip bones I wanted. I love that freebie. The ride home seemed quick. I had a really hard time sleeping lastnight so I pretty much slept all but about 45 minutes of the trip. When I got home I was stiff and now took a muscle relaxer to help. Which means I have to take benadryl too because it makes me itch like a mad woman. Still wouldn't call any of it pain but if I had to rank the procedures by pain. I would say the breast bothered me the most then the itchy bruised lipo areas and then the tummy. I read so many reviews about how horrible the pain was gonna be so I had totally mentally prepared to be miserable but I would say I am pleasantly surprised. I do keep getting muscle spasms in my breast which is a weird feeling and then my nipples get hard. Sorry if that TMI but just thought it was odd. Well all I can say is I am so glad to be home. I will post new pics 7 dpo and then every week after to see the difference. Thank you ladies so much for the encouragement and the compliments.

7 DPO. Lets start with yesterday it was my first day home alone with all three of my boys. We live near New Orleans so my kids are out of school all week for Mardi Gras. Anyways my 8 year old was a huge help. I told them that mommy had a surgery on my scar on my belly where they were born from. Seemed the easiest way to tell them without showing them since they have all seen my c section scar before. I had more muscle spasms yesterday and was just all around uncomfortable. I also seemed to be more hunched over yesterday. But since I have gotten home I have not had to take but one pain pill in the morning and none at night. Every morning I do wake up uncomfortable mostly in the breast. They feel tight and hard but settle down during the day. On to today. Lastnight I attempted to sleep in my bed with like 5 of my couch pillows and a body pillow propping me up. I woke at around 3 am in total discomfort couldn't seem to find a spot where something wasn't bothering me so I had to resort back to the dreaded recliner where I was able to fall back to sleep and luckily my kids slept in this morning so I slept until almost 9. Thats unheard of around here but I am thankful. I woke up and took a pain pill because I am stiff and sore and my lipo feels bruised right when I get up. I take that one and I am good for the day. Tomorrow I am going to try to take Tylenol instead and see if that works just as well. So far today I feel the best I have felt. I feel I am standing straighter and all around walking better. I took a shower lastnight and still have a good bit of swelling above my incision so I took maxi pads and put them inside my first binder to add more compression there to see if it will help those areas go down quicker. Had read that on someone elses post. I have not had any bouts of depression so far or any sadness at all. I feel great about my decision and I just have to keep reminding myself that this is a process. I hope everyone is healing well and I will keep you girls posted with new pics and updates. Happy healing everyone.

Posted two new photos from 8 dpo. Still pretty sore everywhere and not able to sleep in my bed just yet but overall doing good. I can lay down completely flat with no pain in my stomach but after a few hours my breast have alot of preasure and are really uncomfortable. Called doc today about the redness around my belly button and he said its normal because I still have my sutures in. Was going to post a pic of my outer thigh lipo, but don't see any change yet. How long does it usually take to start seeing a difference? I had smart lipo and he removed 200 cc from each side. This week seemed to go really quick so hopefully next week will to and I will start feeling more back to normal.

Ok so I made it to 11 DPO. Lets see I went to a bday party with my kids 2 days ago and about an hour and a half into it I was filling stiff and tired. I seem to easily tire after short spurts of energy. As far as pain I am no longer taking any pain meds and once a day taking aleve but mostly for the inflamation. I am very surprised at how low my appetite is. I can eat very little when I do eat and feel completely over full and bloated. Doc says this will pass once I am not so bound up. Still wearing two compression garments. The lipo one has legs and zips on both sides and is not bothersome at all but this white stretchy one on my tummy I could really do without. It constantly moves up and down and is wrinkly under clothes. I did wear my jeans at 8 dpo and they fit with both binders on so that was exciting. I was so scared too. My BF was laughing at me standing there staring at them like this was the biggest decision of my life...haha. I was just so scared I was gonna be bigger and get all worked up about it. Oh I go today and get my stitches out my BB. Nervous about that as well. I hate people poking at me. My surgical tape is starting to come loose and is getting closer and closer to seeing my incisions..Yay! I am so ready to take a bath. I am not a shower person and I am day dreaming about soaking for a hour in a nice hot tub. sorry I am being so random just trying to fill it all in...Oh here is something not alot of woman talk about...sex...Well I asked my doc before surgery and he said let your body tell you when and just start out slow. Well at 8 dpo we were all alone since my boys went to visit there Dad and I had lounged around all day and was feeling really good so we decided to give it a try. Sorry if TMI. So we took it slow and the good ole fashion position and it was all good. Thought that might be helpful to some of you ladies who are curious because I know I was. Anyways I drove today for the first time to take my boys to school and am dealing with my 3 year old who has a stomach virus today :-( Oh forgot to mention lastnight was my very first night sleeping all night in my bed and I was able to carefully sleep on my side most of the night. It is not exactly the most comfortable but I did sleep the majority of the night. I do remember waking every time I had to move but not to the point of being awake, just aware. Well I guess thats as random as I can be at the moment..lol. Hope all this makes sense. Hope everyone is healing great and I will keep you girls posted and new pics as soon as things start to change....Mindy Lou

Well ladies I am 2 weeks po today. Lastnight was my best night of sleep since the surgery. I am able to sleep on both sides but am finding myself more comfortable right now laying on my back. I am usually a side sleeper though but these boobies feel squished and uncomfortable when I try. My tape is almost off of my breast incision. I keep laying it back across it even though it is only stuck by maybe half a inch of tape. Security I guess. The incision line is awesome though. I will post pics as soon as I can. For some reason the site isn't allowing me to post any pics. Anyone else having this problem? I would say I feel about 85% myself. Able to do everything I could before even bending over and picking up tons of toys off the floor. I can feel my incision more now though than before. Not pain just noticing it now. My swelling is subsiding some from above my incision line and I have noticed a difference in my right outer thigh but not so much yet on my left. I wonder if it has something to do with me laying on my right side more at night? I am continueing to do my massage on my flanks and breast. My breast are settling a little more everyday. My right is moving faster than my left. They are still hard and dont move with me at all. Doc said don't expect normal movements from breast for 6 weeks so I am not worried just massaging like he said. BM and appetite are normal. I did weight myself yesterday and day of surgery I was 159 now I am 160. I am hoping that is still from some fluid and from reading a million posts it seems the ladies have a good weight drop between week 3 and 4. Me and my BF are planning our first date night this weekend since surgery. He bought me a new dress to wear and I think he may be more excited than me to see me in it...hehe. Well I hope everyone is healing well and as soon as I can get my 2 week PO phots up I will....Mindy Lou

18 DPO. I want to add some new pictures but I can't. I contacted support and they are trying to fix the problem. Anyway I am doing fine. Swelling about mid day and evening. One thing that is becoming aggravating is continuing gas and gas pains and I am getting frequent heart burn which I have only ever had during pregnancies. I am pretty sore where my muscle repair is. Just feels like inside bruises. I had a muscle repair of about 2 1/2 inches so I expected it to be worse but my breast are still the one thing bothering me. I am starting to get sharp sudden pain on the outer sides of only my left breast which is still sitting higher than the right. Every week they are getting softer and I am noticing changes in appearance. The only thing I can say to ladies that are soon to have this surgery or just had it. Constantly remind yourself that this is a long process. You will not see sudden results but with patient will be a huge reward in the end. I felt I had a kinda sad day yesterday just feeling cooped up for so long but after a sweet talk with my wonderful BF it was all ok. My tape finally came off of my breast incisions and were nice and pink and closed so I now have silicone strips on them. I bought Scar Away from walgreens after reading lots of reviews on the products they seemed to stick for the longest period of time without washing. I have had these on since Friday night and they are still stuck. My belly incision is still completely covered with tape though so I haven't seen it yet and I am really anxious to see how it looks. I had to call PS yesterday because I thought my BB was infected so I sent him a pic to his cell and he wrote right back and said it was not infected but I was having some skin separation and to apply neosporin 3 times a day until healed. Hopefully it wont make the scar darker or worse. I am not to concerned though because the incision for the BB is completely inside and shouldn't show at all. Right now I am just going day to day and everyday is getting better. I love the new shape of my body even with all the swelling. All of my jeans are big in the waist and legs and my shirts are tight. Some uncomfortably so. I wanted larger breast but not for everyone to enjoy...Lol. Well I hope all of you ladies are healing great and as soon as I can get some new pics up I will.

3 Weeks PO today. I would say that I woke up at 18 dpo and felt like a new person. My energy is back to pre surgery and I can do everything I was doing before. I can even walk and carry my 3 year old without feeling any pulling in my tummy. When I lift him I get a slight pull under my arms but thats about it. I didn't weigh myself for this update I am going to wait until my 1 month mark and I am also going to take my new messurements. I have a major urge to want to just have a great long stretch but my body wont allow it. I can not arch my back or even push my butt out at all. My muscles are so tight. It doesn't hurt it just feels like there is no elasticity to do it. I told my BF the best way I could explain the feeling is to put a long piece of duct tape all the way down the middle of your belly while in a bent over position, and then try to straighten out. Its a pulling feeling. My hips dont seem to have changed but just slightly since last week. My swelling has been better the last two days and I am standing completely upright now. No more bent over in the evenings but I am more swollen when I eat salty foods. Me and Bf ate Chinese food this weekend and I blew up that night. He said look how cute your puffy belly is...lol..If he would have said something like that before surgery I would have been so mad but now I just laughed. I feel so much more confidence in myself and I actually feel comfortable naked which is a brand new thing for me. My BF is not complaining one bit. Everytime I am changing he goes in my closet and grabs things for me to try on so I believe he loves the results. As far as my breast. My left is starting to drop now and when they are falling I am getting pinching, pressure feelings that seems to be coming from under the implants. They only last a few seconds but when laying on my side at night the left side is so uncomfortable I have to roll over. Besides the left breast being bothersome I am sleeping all night with no problem. One thing I wasn't expecting is the extreme sensitivity in my nipples. So much so that I thought I was going to have to put bandaids over them. It is slowly going away but now it kind of feels like tender skin. My tape is coming off of my tummy incision on both ends. On the left side the very edge of it looks like gathered skin and it still has black marker on it. Not happy about the way it looks right now but I know it will smooth out. I seem to be healing better on my right side on all incisions than my left. Has anyone else had this happen? I am still taking a multi vitamin along with extra vit A and C. Going to add a few pictures from today but everything pretty much looks the same. I hope everyone is healing well and I love reading all of your updates and hearing your incouraging words. Thank you all so much.

1 month PO today. I have had a horrible week that included a sinus infection followed by a migraine that was so bad I was hugging the toilet all day yesterday and had to keep my eyes covered because the light was killing me. I hardly ever get a headache so for me to have a migraine is miserable. Today I am feeling better though. I would say I am back to my normal self. The only restrictions I feel I still have are I can't lay on my stomach or arch my back and I still easily tire when I am bending down alot to pick up things around the house. Besides that I feel fine. My breast still sometimes get uncomfortable when I lay on one side too long at night and the left is still sitting higher than the right. I have two scabby spots on my left breast and end of tummy incision that I am keeping covered and applying neosporin 3 times a day. They are healing nicely. I did weigh myself this morning and the day of surgery I was 159 and today I am 154. Yay!! I also took my measurements the day before surgery and today and the differnce was...
Breasts + 3"
smallest part of belly - 1"
Largest part of belly - 2 1/2"
Hips - 1 1/2"
Thighs - 1"
Overall I am not super happy with the amount of lipo on my outer thighs but in person I do look smaller. My shape is completely different than before. I find myself not stressing over my weigh because I really wouldn't care if I weighed 200 as long as my shape was good. My BF says he is glad they didn't take more lipo because he loves my hips but I think atleast another 100cc would not have hurt. We will see what happens over the next month and hopefully getting back in the gym I will see more results. As far as swelling I would have to say I believe its not that bad. I have so many ladies with major swelling and I would say that my belly in the middle was only ever swollen the week PO but not since. My swelling is coming in my sides and the sides of my incision. Looks weird at night when I am sitting down looking at it. I love to wake up and see the flat belly though. It makes it worth it knowing that possibly 6 months from now I will look like that all dIay. I would say that I have never regretted this decision. I love my new body and they way I feel in it. I feel like a woman, a sexy woman and I have never felt that before and my BF is loving this confidence on me. He says he thinks I am finally starting to see the beauty in me that he has always seen :-) I have a great man. It helps so much to have such a supportive person behind you cheering you on and keeping your spirits up. I feel like my energy level is back to normal which I need because I coach little league boys baseball and we are starting practice next week for the upcoming season. I am the only woman coach of little league boys in our town and I can surely keep up with the men and I love it. At the beginning of every season I get those looks like, Whats this girl doing coaching? but I shut them up real quick when they see how good I am ;-) I was asked last year why I dont coach girls and I said The lord didn't bless me with a girl, he blessed me with 3 boys and I can do everything they need me to do. I have actually been outside 3 times in the last week to practice with the two of them and its easy to throw the ball underhand to them but overhand is still pulling in my breast and my upper abs. Well thats all I can think of for now. I will update again at 6 weeks po. Until then to all of you ladies waiting for your day or having any kind of doubt all I can tell you is this is life changing and you will not regret it. There are several ups and downs but as long as you can push through you will be great.

OK ladies so I was super excited that I have had no major swelling so far and then this weekend hit. I have a coaches day on Saturday and was at the ball park for 5 hours which included sitting for a brief period on aluminum bleacher which are never comfy and painting a fence around the bbq area for the concession. After that we had a quick change at home and then went and grabbed a bite to eat ( which were crawfish and shrimp) and went to town for a bit. Oh I forgot to mention I did not wear my CG all day this day because its like 90 degrees here and I had to wear shorts. When we got home around 9 ish I looked like a blow fish. It was miserable and I felt super bloated ontop of feeling like I had done a hard workout. That night I slept with my spanx on and my white wrap around cg the ps gave me after surgery. I only wore that one for 2 weeks and have been wearing spanx since. Anywho I needed the extra pressure so I wore it. Sunday morning I woke up still swollen and went to church then after went straight back to town to pick up my sons bday cake and then were at the park for his bday from 1-5. Needless to say I was wore slap out. Lastnight I decided to bite the bullet and take my very first bath. I was amazing! I miss that relaxing time. I ate way too much yesterday and drank coke which I haven't done in forever and woke up twice lastnight with heartburn and still have it lingering around today... Ugh!! Oh and I am still puffy today :-/ Kinda fill full and just blah. Maybe I spoke too soon on the whole swelling thing. Hopefully it will get better in the next day or two.

List Pros & Cons, Advice you can offer others

List Pros & Cons, Advice you can offer others

6 weeks PO. I can't believe how fast that time has gone. The last two weeks have been great. I am more active on the weekends so usually on Sunday night and most of Monday I get swollen and somewhat uncomfortable. As of 2 nights ago I have slept without my CG. I feel like I am swelling less during the day now that I have stopped wearing it so much. I always put it on in the evenings though or when I am being more active because you will swell. I have been using scar away silicone sheets non stop since 4 weeks po and using scar guard liquid silicone for my BB and I can see an improvement already in the redness. My left breast has finally started dropping and looking more even now. I went and got sized last week because the 36 D bra that I bought was getting really snug. Almost like I had to lift my breast into the cups for it to fit correctly. Anyway they measured me now at 36DD. I bought a strapless and for the first time ever in my life....IT FITS. I have always had to tug constantly on strapless bras to keep my itty bitties in there. Not now they are perfectly high and perky and dont really need support. They just kinda sit there nicely and the bra pretty much just covers them. They are starting to move with me now which is awesome because they look more like realy breasts. I see a slight difference in my outer thighs but I have a feeling I am looking at the end result until I can lose these last 7lbs. The only time I ever feel a pulling sensation in my belly is when I stretch too far. For some reason I am obviously stretching in my sleep and it has woke me up a few times. I feel the pulling in my lower abdomin but I still have very little feeling from my belly button to the incision. Oh and the days I have been swelling, I have started swelling a Little in my pubic area which is totally weird. Hopefullly that wont last very long. Overall I think this journey has been better than I though it was going to be. I feel like I totally planned for doom and was just pleasantly surprised at how quickly the bad parts went away. I can honestly say without feeling weird that I look beautiful and I feel beautiful. I have never been able to say that out loud because I honestly didn't believe it to be true and someone else saying it was embarrassing and I felt like they were wrong. Now I am learning to take a compliment with a smile because I feel great about me and where I am in my life right now. God is so good and I am truely blessed. I wish all of you ladies in waiting the best of luck and I pray for your safe surgery and quick recovery. This surgery will change your life and the way you live it.

Well hello ladies. I am now 2 months Po and back to the normal swing of things. I am still swelling every evening sometimes it is just puffy without being uncomfortable but during days of alot of activity it can be. Feels really tight and bloated. I posted a pic of the area I am swelling in. Also when I swell bad my BB goes completely flat. Looks like when I was pregnant and I dont like it at all. The next morning though I am flat again and it is tucked back in. I still have no feeling on my skin from my BB down. I am a little worried about a puckering I have on the last 2 or 3 inches on the left side of my incision but I have a follow up in two weeks so I am gonna ask. My BB has gotten to this redish purple stage and when I am hot it is more red and noticeable. Overall the BB incision is thicker than the TT because of the skin seperation I had but I think once it is faded it will be ok. In my pictures you can see I am now tanning but only laying out at home. My incision is always covered with tape and my swimsuit and I put sunblock on my BB and lay a quarter ontop of it and it covers perfectly.

My left breast is still falling. They look more like a set now though. I read once someone said they aren't suppose to be twins...just sisters :-) My incisions healed good. They are also turning a purple color. I am still using silicone sheets and paper tape. When I change to the tape I put scar guard liquid on there and then the tape ontop and dont remove it for 4 days at a time. I seems to really be making a difference I can see. I also wanted to add that my breast did get bigger as they dropped. I know some people say they got smaller and some say bigger. Luckily I got bigger. I honestly think I could have gone 650cc and it would have looked good. But I am super happy with the shape and size.

As far as the lipo. I think overall I am happy with the change. I still wish it would have been a little more but my wonderful boyfriend says it is perfect. He is kind of a butt/hip guy so he didn't want me to have the lipo at all but now he says he thinks if they took anymore off it would have taken some of my womanness away...Lol. He always says he loves the way curvy woman look and needless to say he is super happy. Always making wonderful comments and really makes me feel great about myself. I hope you all have such a loving supportive man standing beside you. I would say besides the swelling I have zero pain. Oh I forgot to mention I started exercising again. Walking/slow jogging 3 miles per day and I am not swelling anymore than normal. That was my main worry. I am also coaching baseball and I pitch so twice a week I am getting a hour and a half extra workout. When walking and baseball practice I wear my CG and my Curves belly band to help prevent super swelling. I am hoping I can get down to 150 by May 26th when I stand in my brothers wedding. I am lucky to have his soon to be wife, who lives next door, pushing me to stick with it everyday. Well I guess that is it for now. I will update again after my follow up appt on the 27th. I wish everyone the best of luck. Those in waiting and those who are healing.

So I have not worn a bikini in public in a very long time. Not because I couldn't I guess, but because I didn't have enough confindence to believe I looked good in it. Well I am going to try to overcome this fear and do it this year. I got this one from Dillards. It was $112 bucks....WHAT?! but I felt the best in this one so my wonderful man says you can't put money on that :-) Hope everyone is doing well.

Well it has been a super long day. We left our house at 8:30 this morning and are just walking in the door at 8pm. That drive is killer but I did get some answers I was looking for today. He said that my left breast is not going to drop anymore and I am pretty much looking at my end result as far as that goes. He said my rib cage slants more on my right side which made the implant go somewhat lower than the other. It is nothing super noticeable but I can see it bc I look more than anyone I guess. As far as the TT scar I will need revision of about two inches on my left side. The skin is gathered with a dog ear. Other than that area the rest of the incision looks great. I also talked to him about not being super excited about the amount of lipo on my outer thighs and he agreed it wasn't enough to get my desired results so when I go back in 3 months for my revision he is going to do Meso-lipo injections in that area and above my incision on each side if I am still swelling there. Overall he thinks I healed great and are right where I need to be. I feel so much better knowing he is going to fix the TT scar right there in his office. I didn't want to be put to sleep again or go through the pain of the smart lipo again. He also mentioned to me to look for a local dermotologist to price Endomology (probably spelled wrong) he says it helps greatly with swelling and can help to remove cellulite on my bootie which would be awesome. Overall I am very happy with Dr. Hedden and his work and really glad that he is offering to fix the things that I am not happy with, without charging me. I thought I was atleast gonna have to pay for something for the revision but his office garantees satisfaction and work with you until they get it.

Well I am really pooped from the trip so I will update again soon with some new pics. Happy healing everyone.

Posted a picture of my incision where the dog ear and gathering is. It was hard to get a pic that showed how it sticks out but you can see the gather. Not too bad but I do want it fixed. Hopefully 3 months will smooth it out more. Also pretty swollen from lots of yard work this weekend.

Well life is normal and moving quickly these days. I love my results and have never regretted having this procedure. Even with all the pain and long recovery it was worth all the pain, suffering, and money. I am very anxious to get back to my ps and have this dog ear taken care of bc it is bothering me probably more than ti should. When I am in the tub the end of the incision kinda floats up to a point and I find myself very self consious about it. But any panties I have cover it easily so it can only be seen when I am naked. I think it is more noticable because of my crappy tan line I have right now because I didn't want to tan my scar. I haven't had tan lines in years so it is weird for me. I usually go to tanning beds but trying to aviod them this year. I am tanning my BB scar and it is way less noticable now. I know you are not suppose to but that scar is already somewhat thicker and stands out more. Oh I had to have a mole removed on my breast which is what that red circle is on my breast in the picture. They had to biopsy it and I go back on Wednesday for the results but I am believing it is going to be fine. As far as my breast you can see a huge difference in there shape and size just from my 6 week pics. They look way more natural now than they ever have and I love them. If I would have gone any bigger it would have been really difficult to find a bra because my DD bras just fit in the cups. Almost over flowing but not so much that it looks too small. I have been excersizing now and then and I am down to 152lbs. I stand in my brothers wedding in two weeks and have been trying to get to 150 and I am going to do it. Well I guess thats it for now I hope everyone is doing great and I will post a pic periodic pics and updates in the next 3 months.

I always think of things I wanted to say after I post...LOL. Forgot to mention I am still swelling almost everyday but the swelling in way less in size than it was last month. Also I am still numb from my BB down to incision and when I swell it feels tight there but not uncomfortable any more. I am also still sleeping in a sports bra everynight but no longer sleep in a CG unless I am swollen alot that night or I am going somewhere early the next morning because it really does make you look super skinny when you wake up. Last thing is I am still getting little sudden pains in my left breast. They are random and far between but still happening. Ok I think thats it ladies ;-)

Well it has been a long time since I have been here. After about 7 months is when I noticed a difference in how much I was swelling though I was still swelling every evening. I am almost 9 months out now and I no longer swell at night or at all for that matter unless I exercise alot in one day. I have gotten back in the excersice routine and am proud to say I am now back to 149lbs. Last post I showed pictures of my dog ear and went back on Nov 5th for a simple removal and revision but once I got there Dr.H thought I would not get optimal results unless he went in and did some extra lipo around the incision area and I happily agreed. The problem was I had already eaten that morning no knowing I was having anything done so I could not be put to sleep :-/ Not even twilight sleep. I was given Demeral and Phenergan in two seperate shots. One in my arm and one in my hip and then lidocain shots at the revision spot and the lipo incision then they used the canula to inject the rest of the lidocain inside my stomach. This is the same method used to do smart lipo under local. Let me tell you this.....I have never been in so much pain in my life. It truely was almost unbearable to me and I would never ever choose to do that again. With the pain in the past I will say the lipo made a HUGE difference in the way the incision looks and there are no more pooches over my hip bones as before. My dog ear revision is still covered with tape and that will be there for about 3 weeks and I will post pics once it comes off and the swelling from the new lipo goes away. I can tell you ladies who are in the waiting that I can honestly look at myself in the mirror and be proud. I feel amazing and I get compliments all the time and we all know how good that feels to have someone notice the difference. This is the best decision I have ever made for myself and I am a new woman because of it.

Well it has been a long time since I have been here. After about 7 months is when I noticed a difference in how much I was swelling though I was still swelling every evening. I am almost 9 months out now and I no longer swell at night or at all for that matter unless I exercise alot in one day. I have gotten back in the excersice routine and am proud to say I am now back to 149lbs. Last post I showed pictures of my dog ear and went back on Nov 5th for a simple removal and revision but once I got there Dr.H thought I would not get optimal results unless he went in and did some extra lipo around the incision area and I happily agreed. The problem was I had already eaten that morning no knowing I was having anything done so I could not be put to sleep :-/ Not even twilight sleep. I was given Demeral and Phenergan in two seperate shots. One in my arm and one in my hip and then lidocain shots at the revision spot and the lipo incision then they used the canula to inject the rest of the lidocain inside my stomach. This is the same method used to do smart lipo under local. Let me tell you this.....I have never been in so much pain in my life. It truely was almost unbearable to me and I would never ever choose to do that again. With the pain in the past I will say the lipo made a HUGE difference in the way the incision looks and there are no more pooches over my hip bones as before. My dog ear revision is still covered with tape and that will be there for about 3 weeks and I will post pics once it comes off and the swelling from the new lipo goes away. I can tell you ladies who are in the waiting that I can honestly look at myself in the mirror and be proud. I feel amazing and I get compliments all the time and we all know how good that feels to have someone notice the difference. This is the best decision I have ever made for myself and I am a new woman because of it.