Breast Augmentation: Stories

34 years old, 150#, 5'5", going from 36B to full C or small D. Mom of three (6, 3, 1) who nursed all. Breasts are very saggy (to the point my doc wants a BL but I'm not in favor) and I've been running for 20 years (and plan on continuing!) My ultimate goal is to arrive at my "morning milk breasts". I'm a very conservative person and don't want my breasts to enter a room before I do! I'll be getting 371cc in each breast, silicone, under the muscle.

Reading all of the reviews have been helpful. I'm most scared because my doc doesn't want me picking up anything > 10 lb for FOUR WEEKS. That is pretty much impossible since my baby weighs 25 pounds. I may get away with it for a week at the most. Does anyone have advice on that? I mean, I'll do the bare minimum, but at the end of the day need to put him in/out of the car, in a high chair, and in his crib when he sleeps. I'm really worried about this!

Ok, I'm two days out and am really nervous. I think my doc is going with a size that's too big for me (371). I've researched tons of before/after pics of people whose "before" looks like me and had roughly the same size implants put in. I've printed off over 20 pages of these pics and have an appointment with my PS tomorrow morning (day before surgery) to show them to him. I'd rather end up wishing I'd gone a little bigger than a little smaller; either way I will look better than I do now, so I think I'll be happy. I do NOT want them to be bigger than I envision, however, hence my desire for 300/325 silicone implants rather than 371.

Because I have such sagging (nursed 3 kids for a year each), my PS said he wouldn't go < 371cc without me agreeing to a lift. I'm going to talk him down to 325 tomorrow, or I will likely have to delay surgery. I'm just not comfortable with 371 since I'm starting out at a full B as it is. I've run for 20 years and will continue to do so; I also golf and want to be able to continue doing so without much interference. His office swears they've never had anyone return wishing they'd gone smaller, but I find that impossible.

Posting better pics. For some reason my left seems WAY bigger in these, but in person I don't feel they're as "off" as they look in these photos.

Oops - pics were upside down. Fixing that now.

Ok, ladies... I'm home from surgery and recovering nicely! I was so nervous, unsure, and flat out scared going in today. I wasn't sure what I wanted (size wise), and I was very afraid of recovery. So far so good on that, and I don't know why I was so nervous. My surgeon reassured me he'd do whatever I wanted, even if it went against his opinion (we had gone back/forth so many times on size and whether to make one bigger than the other because I was naturally lop sided.)

I ended up going within his recommended range (371-450) and stuck with the 371s. While I still have on my surgical bra and a shirt, I am VERY pleased with the size/shape so far.

I know it's very early in my post-op, but so far it's a cakewalk. I filled all four prescriptions he gave me, but haven't taken any of the narcotic pain meds yet; they just aren't necessary yet. I took 800mg of ibuprofen instead and feel great. My only discomfort at the moment is that it feels like I have heartburn right over my sternum. That's just the muscle being stretched. They gave me instructions on stretching and said it will make a huge difference in the pain if I do or don't do them (basically I just move my arms out laterally to the side. So far, so good!

Ok, so I'm one day in and so far, so good. I haven't needed to take any of my Rx narcotics or nausea medicine, but have taken one muscle relaxer to ease the pressure on my chest. I slept fine last night propped up on two pillows in my bed. I went in for my first post-op this morning and that went very well. I'm moving around, doing my arm exercises (to continue stretching the pec muscle that's so swollen/bruised right now) and feel like my recovery has been very easy thus far. The nurse told me that people who have had children have a lot easier time with recovery, mostly because our breasts remember being stretched out before. The worst thing you can do is stay perfectly still and not continue stretching and moving I guess.

I got really tired around 11am today and took a two hour nap. I'm more sore this afternoon than in the past 24 hours, but perhaps I just didn't feel it yesterday with the anesthesia wearing off. It's still bearable, just uncomfortable. I feel like someone beat my chest up with a baseball bat over and over. Very bruised feeling, but I was able to shower, wash my hair, etc. so I expect my recovery will continue well (all things considered).

Every doctor is different, but mine gave me these guidelines when I asked about the following activities:

Sleeping on side: 3-4 days (when I'm comfortable enough to do it)
Getting in a pool: at least a week mostly due to all the kiddie bacteria in a community pool :)
Walking: as soon as I'm comfortable I can take 20-30 minute walks for exercise
Running: wait 2-3 weeks (when I'm comfortable he says go for it)
Weight training: 4 weeks minimum

I've posted new pics for you all to see. They are definitely sitting high, but I know it takes three months (minimum) for them to settle. I will wear my medical bra and velcro band 24/7 for the next 1-2 weeks, which helps them settle. Honesly, I'll probably wear both for longer than that and only switch them out if I'm wearing clothes you can see them in. Better to be safe than sorry!

I'm really glad I went with the 371s so far. My doc said he needed every cc that was in there to properly fill out my breast tissue, so even though 339s are just one ounce less, he said that extra ounce really helped!

Hi Everyone! I'll be two weeks tomorrow, and things continue to go well. I will tell you that I learned last week (the hard way) that it's not that we CAN'T lift heavy things, it's that we SHOULDN'T. I went back to being "me" last week carrying my 25lb baby around, etc. By Thursday night my stitches were burning so badly I had to take Tylenol in the middle of the night. I went to my PS Friday morning and he said I likely tore the internal sutchers. This also can lead to the "bottoming out" look that we all want to avoid! Ugh. So, I've gone back to letting my husband do all the heavy lifting. As well, I made the mistake of washing all my hardwoods last Thursday when my cleaning lady canceled on me; I think the motion of mopping did the most damage. Who knew we used our pecs so much for that?

Anyway, my advice is: don't over do it, even if you feel fine. Let your wounds heal over time, and enjoy the results when you're really back at 100% 4-6 weeks later.

Hi Everyone! It's been 8 weeks, and I'm fully back to my "normal" life. That happened probably around 5-6 weeks, but I haven't had time to post. I'm running again, working out, lifting things, and vacuuming and mopping (two things that were pretty much impossible the first few weeks out!)

I really love my results. I can wear strapless tanks/dresses without a bra, though I usually choose to wear a bandeau to keep things clean (not a fan of the nipples showing through). I love wearing tank tops with a simple, cotton spaghetti strap cami bra (you know, the cheap Fruit of the Loom ones sold in packs of 3 for like $10).

My breasts are still a little numb, but I can tell the nerves are growing back slowly but surely. My stitches are completely healed; no problems there even though I overdid it the first few weeks and as a result ran into some troubles with healing/burning/itching. I have discovered that the cleavage area of my chest is very oily ever since surgery; no idea why, but I'm guessing my body is reacting to the new foreign objects via overproduction of oils.

All in all, I love them and would do it again. If anything, I'd go a little bigger; maybe up to 400 or even 450cc's. I actually haven't even bought any new bras yet... I fit into all of my "one size bigger" bras that I wore during nursing for the last year. So I guess I'm now a full 36C, but I could probably stand to buy a few 36Ds going forward. I've posted two new pics below.