Mommy Makeover: Stories

I am a 44 yr old mother of four children (23,20,17&15 months). I am 5'5" and currently weigh 140. All of my life I have weighed between 120-125 UNTIL I turned 41. The month after I turned 41, I started putting on weight. Not just a little weight but 20lbs of weight. I got pregnant with my fourth when I was 42 and gave birth at 43. I had put on 40lbs during my pregnancy. Three weeks after the birth, I weighed 146 and today I weigh 140. After discovering I was pregnant some bloodwork revealed that I had hypothyroidism. I have been taking medicatin to control the thyroid but it has been almost impossible to lose weight. (one of the many side effects) I have always been in good physical conditon and most say that I am still in good condition. (they dont see me naked) I feel that the additional inches around my middle are hindering my quality of life. I find myself living on the sidelines instead of participating as I would have in the past. This was my deciding factor into having the procedures. I also breast feed four children for almost a year each and that has left my breasts non-existent, hence the BA. I have my pre-op appointment this Thursday Jan. 19th and have surgery scheduled for February 6th. I am excited beyond words. My husband is on board and has been pretty supportive of my decision. I think he is starting to realize that he will benefit from my procedures. I will post "before" pictures prior to my surgery date.

Just got back from my pre-op and I just cant believe this is really happening. I'm like a little kid at Christmas!!

Nothing to exciting at the pre-op. I will only have one drain and it comes out in the center, I have only ever seen people with two drains on each hip so that was unexpected. I got my prescriptions and went over the details of the healing process. I added an additional procedure while I was there. He is going to do a little lipo on the inside of my knees. It's not an area that I would go in to have addressed but since I am already there and "under" I figured he should just do it now. I love my PS, he is charging me half of the half rate for the lipo!! (its only a small area and he said it wont take long).

PS and I also went over the details of my BA. I am going with the high profile, silicone (under the muscle) implant. I am going with 400cc and hope that I am happy with it. He wanted to see me go about 350cc's but he tends to be very conservative. My daughter (who has 480CC implants) told me to go big or go home!! I just didnt want to go that BIG!!

Last but not least, it was time to pay the bill. OUCH! 18 days and counting, time to start nesting!!

I got the call from the surgery center this morning and I have to be there Monday at 9:45. Surgery is at about 11:00. Just took the husband grocery shopping so we would have food in the house that he likes. In other words, we have our cupboards stocked with junk food. LOL. I cant believe this is really happening. It's getting pretty real now.

I got on here yesterday and wrote an entire update only to have it all disappear!

Here we go again. Surgery was on Monday 2/6. I arrived at the surgery center at 9:45 and my PS was ahead of schedule so they took me right in the room, got all my medical info and gave me my IV. Before I knew it, it was 10:58, I was laying on the OR table and falling asleep.

The nurse then woke me up and it was 2:40pm. I stayed in the recovery for about an hour and headed home. I was really drugged when I came home and was in a significant amount of pain. I have been spending 95% of my time in the recliner and am feeling much better today. I am not taking the prescription pain meds any more as I have switched over to extra strenght tylenol. I also have a pain pump that is placed in my chest as I also had a BA. I have one drain and it is not that bad. The fanny pack for the pain pump is much more of a pain. Finally this morning my sore throat from the breathing tube is starting to go away. The throat has annoyed me more than anything else. My husband has really been a trooper and has changed my drainage bandages and slept on the cough next to me for the last two nights. My mom is here taking care of my little guy and I dont know what we would have done without her, what a blessing! My appetite is good and I have been getting up and walking around every two hours. I have no idea what my tummy or my chest looks like, havent had the stomach to look at them yet. Will check in later ladies. Have a wonderful day!

Feelig pretty good, I updated my profile with some before pictures. Have been eating well, sleeping in the recliner and walking every couple of hours. I finally got a look at the ladies without a bra on and I think we are going to get along just fine. After the swelling goes down, I think they will be great. My tummy doesnt really hurt much, I am taking two tylenol every six hours and that seems to be doing the trick. Hubby removed the pain pump yesterday so I was happy to be free from that. I did sneeze today and thought I ripped out every stitch of my MR. OUCH!! The stitches from the MR is the only discomfort that I have. They seem to sting and burn when I move. I wish I could speed up the recovery process. I feel fine but cant stand up straight so I am confined to this chair and dying of boredom!! I go back to the PS on Tues 2/14. I was hoping he would remove my drain then but the nurse told me not to count on it. I will check in later.

Tomorrow it will be one week since surgery. I am doing pretty well, my biggest issue is the drain. It is sewn in my groin, pubic area and it is painful in certain positions. I can feel the stitch pulling and it sends a shooting pain up my body.
Gradually I am standing straighter but not pushing it until I reach the 1 week mark. I have a walker and dont know what I would do without it. My back starts killing me after walking around for less than one minute. I have to put my weight on my arms and that releases the pressure off my back.
Overall the first week has not been intolerable. I am bit surprised at the length of the recovery, it can get pretty boring.
The swelling is starting to go down in my boobs. I am starting to get an idea of what they will actually look like although they have not dropped yet. I am off all pain medications and doing well with that. I am sleeping in the recliner and luckily I have a pretty comfortable recliner so I am able to sleep about 8 hours a night.
Check in tomorrow :)

DRAIN IS OUT. I had my first PS appointment today and he removed my drain. I was below 20cc in a 24 hr period so that was acceptable. The drain removal as not as bad as I had anticipated. He cut the stitch and that had started to scab over. It is the pulling of that scab that is painful, not so much the drain. It was over in less than 30 seconds and no big deal. PS said I could not be doing any better. I have to go back in a week just so he can remove the tape from my breasts and check to see that I am not retaining any unwanted fluid. I started wearing spanx today and am suppose to wear them for the next four weeks. He promised me I would be able to stand up straight by 3 weeks. I hope so!! I feel wonderful except for my back when I have to walk any distance. I tried to sleep in bed last night and it felt great to be on my back but after about an hour, I ended up back in the relciner. I will try to post some new pix tomorrow after I take my first REAL shower in 9 days :)

Getting better every day. I am still not standing up straight but it is getting better. My help bailed out on me on Wednesday so my husband and I have been working it out taking care of my little guy. I probably have been pushing myself harder than I should but my little guy was really acting out when I was not able to care for him.
I can honestly say that I love, love, love my new boobies! The swelling has gone down and I am getting a better look at them. I am going to wait till I hit the one month mark and then go bra shopping. I got a gift certificate for VS so I am anxious to use it.

Went to PS today and I dont have to go back for six more weeks. He says I am doing great. I have dinner plans this Friday night and I was really hoping I would be standing up straight by then. I am pretty much back to my normal routine. Today is the first day I drove and had to put my little guy in and out of his car seat. That was not fun. I can still feel some pulling when I lift my arms overhead. Its not painful, just uncomfortable. One thing I have learned over this experience is that I need to let go of the scale. I weighed myself the day of surgery and I was 140.2. I now weigh 142.2. Each of my boobs is over 13 ounces so almost two pounds of this weight gain is boobs and probably the rest is due to swelling. My point here is that I look totally different. I actually weigh more but my total appearance has changed. I have a flat tummy (in the morning) and I have my waist back. I have realized that what the scale says isnt that important. :)

21 days PO today. I went bra shopping yesterday and it was so fun. It was the first time I didnt have to shop in the preteen section. LOL I went to VS and the girls are measuring in at a 34DD. Sounds bigger than they look.
As of today I am 100% back to my normal routine. My stomach is swollen this evening but I dont feel terrible. I dont have any pain but still feel pulling when I move a certain way or lift something. The recovery was a bit longer than I would have liked but still soooo worth it!