11 weeks

All of my life I have always had pooch, even in high school when I weighed 110-125. I have never worn a two piece. At age 23 and 26, I had two beautiful babies but they wrecked my tummy with extra skin and terrible stretch marks. With my first child, I had extra fluid and my second child weighed 10 lbs 12 oz and I had extra fluid with her too. I was HUGE! After I had my second baby, I ended up with postpartum depression and got up to 193 lbs. I stayed there for a year, I think, until I saw a picture of myself. EEWWW! So I joined the gym and busted hiney and lost 60 pounds in 18 months. I lost the first 30 pounds in the first 3 months and won a couple of weight loss challenges at my gym. But even with working out like a crazy person and doing tons of ab work, I have nothing to show for it. I've wanted a tummy tuck since I have lost all of this weight and now I'm ready to uncover my true self and see these hidden abs!

I scheduled my surgery for December to give time to save up money and to save up some PTO. I will post some pics when I feel more confident. I am 33 years, I am 5'3" tall and weigh 135 and have kept my weight off for 5 years by exercising and watching what I eat. I would like to lose 10 pounds before surgery. I have plenty of time but my lowest weight since I graduated high school is 128 and that was last year doing P90x and man that was hard!! Good luck ladies and happy healing for all of you who have already joined the flat side or are about to be there!

I'm obsessing so much over this! I'm super excited and trying not to be impatient. Its still 5 months away!
Ugh.
I'm googling tummy tuck everyday! And reading reviews and updates on realself everyday, many times a day.
But I do want to ask your opinions on something. I posted a question on the Q&A but I want to see what you guys thought.

I found my PS through another surgeons office referral. She is super sweet, female, thorough and I feel real good about her. I am usually pretty accurate with my first impression feelings. BUT after my consultation, I did research on her. She just recently opened her practice. She is a new dr so she is not yet a certified PS. She does cosmetic, reconstruction, cranial facial and pediatric surgeries. So she is practicing within her scope. I saw her before and afters and they look good. She explained her technique. She seems to have the more current techniques with pain pumps, scar healing treatments, massages, etc. I even emailed her the next day asking her about her certification process and if she was working on it. I also emailed her other questions. She called me back and spoke with me on the phone for an hour. She is halfway through with her certification process.

My ONLY hesitation is that she is not certified PS. Her experience is minimal compared to the other surgeons. But she is also privy to all the new techniques and research. Which is also another thing she does, she's done quite a few research studies that she has published. And also, with her working with pediatrics, I would assume she does very intricate and detailed work.

What are your thoughts?

I have three more appointments set up. With Dr Danielle LeBlanc, Dr Kelly Kunkel (male) and Dr David Lavine. All three board certified and over 10 years experience. I'd prefer a female but I just spent some time on the phone with Dr Lavine staff and I really like what she had to say plus she is a patient of his too. I'm so excited but I have some major decisions to make.

I feel so alone in this process. I have my dear husband who is 100% supportive of whatever I decide to do. But I'm sure he's tired of hearing about it. But he hasn't said so. I don't have any close friends and my acquaintances aren't really the type to share this with and I know my parents and family will be trying to talk me out of it.

This is depressing me because I realize I don't have friends and I don't know why. My husband is sweet and says its because they are jealous because I'm so beautiful, smart and talented and women can't handle that. Isn't he sweet.... I dont see it....

So all I have is realself and my love of my life....