Breast Augmentation: Stories

Hello ladies. Here's my story and I'm so glad to tell it as I am glad to hear your stories as well. I am a 41 year old mother of 3. I had always been satisfied with my breast size, not so happy about a small about of asymmetry but it wasn't bad enough to go under the knife for, in my opinion. I was really happy with my breasts when I was nursing! Just within the last couple of years I have begun to feel the effects of time and gravity on my breasts. I went through a divorce about 3 years ago and lost a good deal of weight rather quickly and don't feel that my breasts handled that sudden drop very well. So for the first time in my life really I started thinking about breast augmentation. I went to a consultation a year ago then talked myself out of it saying that my breasts are fine and that I'm being greedy and besides the operation is expensive and somewhat risky. A year later I still want to improve the look and feel of my breasts so I'm doing it! I had consultations with four surgeons this time around and have settled on one.

My surgery date is March 21, 2012. That is just 16 days from now. I go back and forth between excitement and anxiety, sometimes daily. The final outcome, the end result, seems like it is kind of up to chance in a lot of ways. Theres no way of knowing exactly what my breasts will look like after surgery, exactly what size they will be and what size implant it will take to reach my goal, and if my goal is reasonable for my body, and if I will need to have follow up surgeries. I want to be a 34DD, starting from 34B, is that too big of a jump. Do I increase my risk of complications like bottoming out or having my breasts drop to the sides leaving a gap and no cleavage by going that much bigger? If not, will 450 CC's get me to a DD? That is my current dilemma - size. If anyone could chime in on that I would really appreciate it. :) I feel like I need to speak with my surgeon again but I have already had two consultations with him and have increased the size of the implant twice already. not sure how much more of me he will be willing to tolerate! Lol My stats are - Bra - 34B Ribcage - 29 BWD - 12 Height - 5'5" Weight - 130 Goal - 34DD provided this size increase wouldn't be too risky for me I look forward to your feedback!

Hello. So Sunday I made rice sizers that are similar to the size of the 450 and 475 implants that my doc and I have decided on. I bought a 34DD bra and put tired it on with the sizers. I'm real happy with that size and look.
Today is kind of a big day because I paid for the surgery in full!! I also took my 34DD bra to the doctors office with me and tried it on with the implants in their office. Since we will be using 450 on the left and 475 on the right I decided to try on 400 and 425 implants today because the nurse said that in my size range about 50 CC's is kind of lost to compression of the implant and I thought I might get a better feel for the actual outcome by trying on smaller implants. I am happy with that look and feel so I THINK I'm done stressing out about the size. ;(

It's 5 days till my surgery and I have been keeping my mind off of it by taking a trip to visit relatives. I've been traveling and visiting for 6 days now and it is really helping the time FLY. I needed to get my mind off of it for a while and have some laughs and good meals and relax with family. I have an appointment with my surgeon on monday when I get back home and my surgery will be on that same Wednesday. I'm meeting to talk with him about size one last time. I may want to increase to 500 on the left and 550 on the right but I'm pretty sure 450 and 475 will be good.

This is the morning of the day of surgery. It was originally scheduled for 12:30 today but on Monday they moved it down to 2:30. I think the antibiotics are messing with my stomach as I had nausea off n on all day yesterday. It got real bad last night even tho I was keeping busy and not worrying about the surgery at all. I was worn out and didn't feel like I was going to need a Valium to help me sleep like I had originally thought I would last night. BUT at around bedtime the nausea got so bad that I decided to take a half a Valium just to sleep throught the tummy upset. It worked! I feel a better this morning and am excited knowing that TODAY I will have new and improved boobies. :)
I will update as soon as I feel up to it and I'm setting my mind to that being this evening.

The day after surgery I have felt fine. some soreness but I wouldn't call it pain. I have been sleepier than I would like though but I guess my body needs rest but I am concerned about being too sedentary slowing down my recovery time. I'm just trying to listen to my body right now tho.
I'm going to try to post some pics I took today,

Ok day two post op n feeling really well. Out to eat lunch with my sis today and SO hopin that when my girls drop they don't lose ANY size cuz I'm totally loving their size. How possible is that? I'm kind of a wuss n I'm handling all of this really well. Even Lu an over my read shirt instead of a button up on today.

Just wanna let you all know that my recovery is going really well. I was so nervous about this aspect of the process and it has been a breeze. I sleep when I'm tired and I'm active when i want to be. I've had no pain and I know that may sound odd or unlikely to those who are still waiting for their surgery but it is true. The day after surgery my sister and I went out to eat and ran a couple of errands but mostly I slept. The day after that we did the same with me having only one nap though. I drove my car under her supervision and did well. The second day after my surgery the only meds I had was a a1/2 valium early in the morning and some ibuprofen throughout the day. The recover is much easier than I had anticipated. If anyone has any specific questions for me I will be more than happy to answer them. I would also like to add that I did do some visualizations prior to my surgery. I imagined myself having a speedy recovery and healing really fast and well. I barely have any bruising and that is located to the actual incision sites. You can barely see the bruises around the surgical tape.
My implants are riding quite high and I understand that is normal for this time. I am looking forward to seeing what they look like after dropping. I have been a good girl and have been wearing my strap and bra 24/7 but removing them to shower is such a wonderful treat.

Day 5 post op - This was my fist day back to school and work. It was a long day because I had school/work from 9-4 then rush to pick up my son and take him home. Then take my youngest to the doc for some nasty virus thing she has going on then the grocery store and home to cook dinner and clean up. Sounds like a typical day but it really wore me out. This was the first day that the elastic band/strap velcro boobie pusher down thing began to bother me. I haven't taken any thing stronger than ibuprofen for a couple of days now and have felt fine but today my chest and back felt SO tight and the band/strap HAD to come off for my drive home. I couldn't wait to shower and get in bed. I decided to take a valium and hop in the shower first. While there I though it might be a good idea to soap up and very gently massage my chest muscles. I think this was the best idea I have had in a long long time. I gently massaged while warm water relaxed my back muscles. I could feel the chest muscles and my breasts soften after just a couple minutes of massage. I was amazed at how helpful this was. I'm fairly certain it didn't have much to do with the valium. I just don't think it could go to work THAT quickly. Tomorrow I plan to bring a small bottle of lotion to school with me and if I begin to get sore I will slip off to the bathroom and lotion up and massage that muscle. I won't go all day with that discomfort again. It made me grumpy and that's no fun! :(
Glad I found a relief.