Getting Excited and Nervous - Birmingham, MI

I am a 38 year old mom of 3. Ages 8,9 and 16. I have never had a flat tummy even at my smallest I always had a little pooch I always wore high waisted bathing suit bottoms. I am 5'4 and 170lbs. I run an exercise daily. I have lost 50 pounds in the last year from everywhere but my tummy and breast. I have a hernia that is causing pain upon abdominal exercise so since I need to get that fixed I figured I would take the plunge and have a TT as well. If all goes well I will follow up with a breast reduction and lift hopefully in the next year. Can't wait to share my experience and hear about everyone else's journey!

Starting to really get nervous...Surgery is tomorrow and I have 2 of my 3 kids sick. I am trying to take care of them without getting sick myself and get my house in order. I cant wait for this to be over and start my recovery. Our friend loaned us an electric hospital bed so hopefully it will make gettting up and down and sleeping comfortable for me.

I have poured over everyones stories and bought all the items people suggested. I think i am as ready as I can be. I am sure I have forgotten something but at least my husband took the next week off so he can hopefully help me through the worst. Dont we all just wish we could flash forward to summer with our new bikini bodies!

Good luck to everyone and I will be sure to post pictures of my progress. See you on the flat side :)

Post op day 5. Still needing pain meds every 5 hours. Still pretty sore. Lots of swelling but I can see how I may look this summer and I like it. I have my first post op appointment this afternoon. I'm having a hard time sleeping at night. It's hard to get comfortable. I put some pics from today and you can see the swelling. It still looks good though.

PO day 12 here. Kids have a snow day and hubby back to work so my relaxing day is a distant memory. I do have a 16 year old that I am going to make get up and help. I went to an event for my daughter yesterday. I wore jeans and a fitted shirt I was never able to wear before surgery. I kept getting asked how I lost so much weight!! It was nice. I only stayed about 2 hours as I just needed to lay down after that but it was nice to be out and about with make up on. I still have my drain but have ample enough chest that I was able to hide it in my cleavage!!! Can you imagine! But hey it worked like a charm and wasn't to uncomfortable. Lets hope today can be a relaxing day and I can stay out of swell hell. Severely limiting my sodium is helping I think.

PO day 13. My drain came out today!!! Didn't hurt at all. Just felt weird. My mom took it out ( PS said it was fine as moms a nurse) I am hoping I don't swell up to bad now that it is out. It's an exciting day because I am kicking the narcotics and taking Advil for an discomfort. I'm going to go out to lunch tomorrow and wear my real clothes YAY!

3 weeks PO
I have gotten a horrible cold this week and with it a dreaded cough! I told my mom I'm afraid ill get pneumonia because I'm so afraid to cough and can't clear out my chest.
Other than that I'm feeling good. Tried to run some errands today (mom drove) was out about 2 hours and came home exhausted. Getting ready for my daughters 1st of 2 birthday parties this weekend. I think I have everything set and I have friends to set everything up so hopefully I just will have to stand around and take pictures :) I'm off all meds except Advil. I seem to need that every 6-7 hours. Tummy feels almost like when I was pregnant having contractions. Also I'm still dealing with swell hell but trying not to let that get me down. Going to look into some supplements for that and for muscle repair and nerve healing. I'll let you know what I end up with.

4 weeks PO pics

Just shy of 6 weeks PO. Finally turned a corner this week. I have basically not done anything for ) weeks. 80% I my time has been in bed. I have not driven. I have gotten on the treadmill 3x and had major nerve pain after. That said I have had no problem with my incision. My surgeon was surprised at how well it was healing. It is so thin and flat I am pleased as well. I'm down 12 pounds from PO but I am fearful it's all muscle. I am thrilled with my results and feel like I have a new lease on life. Even though I'm very swollen I am still way smaller than before. My advise is plan on doing NOTHING at all for 6 weeks to get the best results. I am going to slowly ease back into life in the next couple weeks but I won't go back to the gym till April I think.

9 weeks and 1 day! Can't believe the improvement in the last 2 weeks! I have started back running mostly walking with little intervals of running. I'm a little sore but no pain. I am feeling almost normal with the exception of my crazy swelling. I keep thinking maybe I'm not swollen maybe I am just fat from laying around! The scale was down 15 lbs but is slowly creeping up! So I am back to eating right and exercise so I am on track :)

Whew times flies! Feeling fantastic stated back to the gym 2 weeks ago and found yogalates and kickboxing and fitball classes so I have done those and a lot of AB work. Abs are sore but no pain. Wore a bikini for the first time in 10 years last week! I'm really really happy! The swelling comes and goes but is not as bad as it was so I assume it will be a memory soon. All of my clothes are to big and that's a great feeling. I'm just very comfortable in my skin and so very happy I decided to have this done :)

I have to get some pics up. I am so pleased With the surgery. I had a fantastic summer wearing cute bikinis and just love that I can fit in anything I try and without a huge stomach hanging over. My confidence level is very high and I am just all around a much happier person. I could not have asked for better results even my bellybutton is beautiful! I will post pictures soon :)

9 month pictures sorry so dark. I also did one leaning over and a BB close up.

If your in MI you should look at my surgeon I think she's an artist and I am pleased :)