Mommy Makeover: Stories

I am the mother of 2 kids ages 4 and 2. After my daughter was born, I was diagnosed with severe hypothyroid. I already struggled with my weight as a child/young adult...winning the weight battle at 23 when I lost 25 pounds and was 150 pounds. Once my thyroid stopped working, it became IMPOSSIBLE to lose weight. I was 165 when I became pregnant with my son. I went up to 183 and 6 months after I had him, I was still 175! I work out and eat ok, not great, but ok. I have a large flap of stretch mark covered skin across my abdomen and also have very asymetrical breasts. One is a 38FF/FFF and one is a D!!! I am hoping to have them reduced to a C. Also, if I go through insurance, the doctor has said he will have to take out 1000 grams and I will be left with a B or a small C and I am not sure if that is too small for my body frame. I am pretty athletic and want to be able to work out and fit into cute athletic tops, but I am worried my breasts will look too small for my larger body frame. I currently wear a size 10/12 on the bottom and XL on the top (due to breast size). I'll add photo's soon!

I am 6 weeks away! Researching and getting everything ready.....the waiting is killing me! One change to my surgery is that I asked the dr. to do lipo at my bra line. I have a weird pocket of fat on both sides and he is going to smooth it out for me. I am very excited!!!

30 day countdown!!! I've purchased a walker, toilet seat riser and am slowly getting through the list of items to have courtesy of this website. I have child care lined up for 2 weeks for my two young kids. I ordered a lipoinabox garment for my recovery.

I am getting sooo nervous!!!

I sure hope I can handle the pain!!!

I added lipo of my back to my surgery. I haven't told my husband yet...I'm nervous to tell him.

Ok so I have milk of m, paper tape, stool softener, the special soap to use before the surgery, extra pillows, toilet riser, walker, bags of peas and ice packs. Did I forget anything????

I am nervous about this surgery. I hope he can make me small enough.i want to be a full c. Should I bring a bra into the surgery so he can see what the max cup size I want to be is?

I am trying to decide if I should do back lipo or inner thigh. Can only afford one and both areas are in bad shape.....

I'm doing inner thigh lipo! Hope I am making the right decision!!!

Omg!!!! I paid for my surgery!!! I decided not to do thigh lipo but AM going to lipo next to my breasts and in that area where u have a small amount of "back fat". I'm happy to almost before with this. The wait is agony!!!

Omg I am so nervous. Have had the most upset stomach all day!!!!! Freaking out!!!!

2 more days!!! My 4 year old took about 30 pictures of me today. I really wanted to see what I looked like before the surgery and I was a little shocked by how bad they are. I can not wait!!!!! Nerves are settling a little and I feel more prepared. Picking up odds and ends and medicines today. Totally feel like I am about to give birth to a mommy makeover....nesting like crazy!!! Bought some furniture yesterday...though hubby was going to faint when he saw it ...i am on a spending freeze....Whoops,,,

I'm freaking out!!! So nervous for a bad outcome and for the pain.,,,l

Surgery is tmrw. I'm feeling oddly calm. Praying for the best!!

Looks amazing!!! Went to around a full cup. Have stomach pain but pain pump and medicine are helping. I'm home restIng now and thankful its over :)

I have 2 drains on top. None in the bottom. Had a lot I bleeding from the bigger breast. I stould up for bathroom and blood gushed everywhere. Ok with bleeding now...it slowed down a lot. Am on a lidocaine pump and norco. Doing well with pain. It's not unbearable like I thought it would be.i don't have a compression garment. Odd?? My dr. doesn't use them. Drains putting out a lot, but will hopefully come out dring my post op appt in 6 days.also, I get to shower after 24 hrs!!!!! So happy :)

I meant two drains on the bottom and none on the top :)

Even though I am extremely swollen still...I am in very little pain. I'm actually shocked by how little pain I have had. The lidocaine Pump def made a big difference for me.

my stomach is very oddly swollen. And is pulling to one side. But it feels amaing to be sitting up and not have my stomach laying on my thighs :)

Anyone else super itchy? I took Benadryl....any other suggestions?

I has chills and a temp....hope it's nothing serious!!!!

I has chills and a temp....hope it's nothing serious!!!!

I made it through a low grade fever and chills and a temp and am feeling much better.
My stomach is pulling to the right a little and is uncomfortable. I'm shocked at how little pain I am in. I get "zingers" when I try to adjust how I am seated and they really hurt. I also get intense muscle cramps in my stomach from standing to long, even if I am hunched over. But aside from that, my breasts don't hurt AT ALL. it's a little nuts.

Because I have had such large breasts my entire adult life, my perspective on what normal breasts should look like is skewed. I think my new breasts look sooo small. But infact, they are a D according to The Gap bra I had on hand for after my surgery.

I'm healing well and am really surprised how easy this surgery was. I wish I had done it many years ago. Don't get me wrong, I'm not moving quickly or doing much...my mom, husband and friends are managing my kids 24 hours a day and I'm sitting in my recliner sleeping or resting. Also, showers are hard because I shake when I get cold and then all of my muscles tighten and it is super painful.

I'm also worried about my belly button. Doesn't seem to be centered, but I'll worry more once all the swelling goes down.....

Also, I have eaten an extremely healthy diet of mostly egg whites, fruit/veggies and vitamin water since saturday morning with very small amounts of carbs and fat. I weighed myself today and am 173 down from 181! I have very little swelling except for in my stomach :-)

Wow i felt horrible all night. I apparently didnt rest enough yesterday. I had a temp and awful chills all night. Will talk to my ps in the morning. Ugh.

Im bummbed. I tuink i have a ton of fluid in my stomach. I can feel it when i press on my stomach. Ugh. He's goibg to have to suck it out with a needle i think. Any one had this done?

I think i have three seromas!!! I have a huge amount of fluid next to my belly button. Its pulling my whole stomach over and is horribly painful. Luquid is drippin out of the whole the drain is in and dripping down my stomach :( my drain is only draining 7ccs overnight. The other seromas are next to my breasts, under my arm pits.

Will know more after my dr appt today....

So it wasn't a seroma! My stomach muscles are just very swollen. He said he lipo'd max amount that was safe (around 10lbs) and took 5 lbs of skin off aprox. Soooo thrilled that its ok. Im on schedule to get drains out monday.

My stomach is sooo tender!! And it looks so weird! Its pulling to the right. I sure hope he is right about it being extemely swollen eight now :( ill post new pics tmrw.

I am really worried my belly button is not centered. It seems so far over to the one side. my dr. said it's just because im so swollen still and will even out after a week or two...thoughts?

Also, I've turned a corner...feeling much much better today!!! Hope to be norco free today.

I woke up this morning and the underside of my breast and my bra were covered in red blood. Its not a ton, about an inch and a half diameter spot on my bra. I think the incision split....now what????

I am 9 days post op today. Not really in very much pain. Im taking half of a painkiller 3 times a day to manage the last of my pain. Ive had a relativrly smooth mm. My biggest issue is that my right breast has been bleeding at one of the incision sites for 24 hrs. It was bleeding fairly heavily yesterday and i got really upset. My dr is awesome and i email questions to his nurse. I snapped a pic and emailed it to her askig what i should do. He wrote back in 10 min....is t that awesome? She old me it was very important to keep it dry and clean. Use normal soap and water to clean it several times a day and keep taping fresh gauze to it. So far its working. One f my favorite things about y dr's office was emailing with the coordinaor and nurse while i planned my mm. I just had sooo many questions. They were so good about answering them all and this really helped me trust that the dr would do a great job amd if there was a problem, thu would take care of me.

Other thoughts:
My drains are really tender and i hate them. I cant wait for them o come out tmrw. They really have bugged me this whole experience. I cant imagine having more than 2.

My dr never had me wear a compression garmet. My stomach has been sooo sensitive from my surgery i couldnt even wear underwear or pants. How is everyone wearing a compression garmet?? I think after my drains come out he will have me start wearing spanx, but not sure.

My dr said it was mandatory to take a shower every day. He aaid its importat to wash bacteria off your body every day so that you can minimize infection possibility. He said this is one of the most important things i could do and to make sure i wash te drains off as well.

I really liked these thins about my experience. I would suggest askig your dr if ou can shower with drains and about the cg. Before you commit to him/her as your dr.

Wow. My phone butchered that. Cant believe how many letters are missing!!!

I'm 11 days post op! Feeling really good. Still walking hunched over, but made my family breakfast and dinner and can do light housekeeping. So happy I did this and can't wait till I feel 100% recovered. I am bummed that my scar is high (I knew it would be high from my pre op appts), I tried on bathing suits today and it will be a challenge to hide it.

But even with this in mind, so glad to have a "normal" body. I weighed 173 this morning and am going to start WW this week. It's worked in the past so hopefully I can get down to my ideal of 150 ASAP!

What happens to the clear stiches ? Do they disolve?

My scar is soo thick and bubbly and yucky. I am really sad that it doesn't look better. What should it look like at 2 weeks??

19 days post op! Wow! It has gone fast. My right breast has totally healed up and my tummy tuck is healing nicely. My right breast is having some issues around the nipple, but is slowly SLOWLY healing. Also worried about it turning red on the bottom and being harder than the other breast. I go to my ps tomorrow for a check so will discuss with him. Hopefully nothing serious....

Aside from that, feeling great! Have taken care of my kids without help for about 6 days. Am exhausted at night and have been sleeping fairly well.

Sometimes I look at my stomach and think, what the hell did I do to myself?? The scar is so much bigger than I was thinking it would be. But other times, I look in the mirror and think..I look pretty good! Glad I did it! I guess I will go back and forth forever....

One more thing, the fat/skin right above my tt incision line is making me have a horrible permanent "muffin top"!!! I am going to be so irritated if this is not swelling. Will my plastic surgeon fix this???

Ok, I am starting to get really nervous. My breast really is hurting. I dont know if I should try to get in today or just go to my appt tmrw....thoughts???

Can't believe it's been a month!! Still healing....but getting better every day.

Well I'm 6 weeks post op! Can't believe it! I am down 9 pounds from my pre op weight. I still feel very happy that I did this....but the scar really makes me sad. It's soooo much worse than I thought it would be. I've had a lot of trouble healing and am finally just at the point where half my body isn't covered in band aids and special healing cream. I think once my scar fades, I will be happy. Can't wait to start working out again. My arms and inner thighs still look so terrible, it's funny my stomach looks so good :-) They do not match!