Mommy Makeover: Stories

I'm a mother of 5 boys and am turning 31 in Dec. I'm 5'2 and am abou 123#. I was 18 when I had my first son and my youngest and last child is almost 2. I've considered having a mommy makeover for 2 yrs now. I haven't told anyone other than my husband and a really good friend who was the inspiration for me since she had a tummy tuck done 3 yrs ago. Any type of surgery in my culture is looked upon very negatively even if it's for the health of the patient, so can you imagine what people must think when I volunteerily go in for a cosmetic surgery????

I know this is a tough decision and I love my husband so much for being supportive and yet at the same time, I feel so alone because I can't tell my closest family members. I'm afraid they're going to judge me as someone who is shallow and into my looks because I'm not thinking about all the things that could go wrong and what they could mean to my boys. What they don't know is that that is all I think about but I also know that I need to be happy for myself too so that my boys can see the happiness they've brought into my life.

I'm so grateful to have found this site so that I don't have to feel so alone. I thought my story was unique and have found a community that can relate to my story and will be supportive regardless of my decision so THANK YOU in advance if you happen to read about my journey and comment. Know that you are making a difference in my life as I go through this journey.

What are my personal goals? I have lots of life aspirations but I'll share my mommy makeover goals. After this surgery I want to look down and not see extra skin surrounding my stomach. I want to sit down and not have to worry about rolls showing up. I want to try on clothes and not have to think too much about how it makes my stomach look. I also want to see similar size breasts that I had before breast feeding and losing weight. When I first researched this procedure, the scar freaked me out the most. Over time, I've come to realize that I'd rather see the scar than deal with all the other things I've written above.

Even with all my research and 3 consultations, I feel like I still have many questions. I select a PS who is a woman because I liked her work, personality, and background. My surgery is scheduled on Jan 16, 2013 and I'm super excited but am still so concerned that I'm making a rash decision. I met with my PS once for the initial consult and am feeling uncertain. Is this normal? How many times did you meet with your PS before setting a date? As a result of this, I did schedule another appt with her on 11/9 to ask additional questions. Hit would be great to hear from some of you who've had the surgery done to see how her answers are similar or different or if i should add more questions to my list

Here are my questions: BTW I'm having a BA and Tummy tuck done.

1) I know surgery time is never the same and will vary from PS to PS but my surgery is scheduled to be 3.5 hours long (1hr BA, 2.5 hrs TT) and the fact that it isn't so long freaks me out. My PS has 20 yrs of experience and does more than cosmetic, she also attaches limbs, etc. so does her experience mean that she is quick and efficient (that is what I would like to believe but am not sure)????

2) I'm really nervous about the potential of getting "dog ears". Is this typical for tummy tucks and should I be worried about them? My friend, who I mentioned earlier, had them and is now redoing the procedure because she also lost more weight.

3) I'm not getting lipo done outside of what will be included in the tummy tuck so I'm nervous that my thighs and back will look odd after the procedure if I don't get it done. I didn't ask my PS about lipo in my consult so I'm assuming that's why she didn't point it out but can I just get a BA and TT and still look normal?

Any words of advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!!!

It's been great hearing from everyone. Your comments and encouragement have made me feel more confident about my decision. I have a follow up appt. with my PS on Friday and 2 additional consults next week. I'm excited for my Friday appt. because you gals have given me so much to think about so I feel more prepared with questions than I did in my first consult. Thank you!! I'm excited about the new me in the new year.

It's 4am in MN and I can't sleep so I'm looking through Realslef, lol. This is addicting :)

I've decided to post a question here for help. I've not informed my workplace of my surgery and will need to soon. As a reminder, I'm scheduled for a BA and TT on Jan 16, 2013. I'm sure you all know where this is going. I would like to know if you didn't want work to know what you did, what did you tell your workplace and did your PS help in any way? Here's some background on my situation to help give me the best advice possible.
- I work for a large company and have been on this specific team for 4 yrs
- a typical work day requires lots of walking and standing
- my PS said I should keep it simple and private "having personal woman surgery" but because I lead a team and am close with many individuals, I know someone will ask me what I'm having done because they would be concerned for me.
- I plan to take 3 wks off and hope to be in pretty good shape (80% healed maybe) by the time I return if all goes well. Is this an unrealistic expectation? I know recovery time varies but best case scenerio???
- I plan to ask my PA for a note to restrict the amount of walking and standing required to do my job, is this weird to ask? I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask but also didn't want my PS to look at me weird, lol.

Any advice, thoughts, or comments would be extremely appreciated and helpful for me.
THANK YOU!

10 more weeks to go. My time will come fast and I am looking forward to it.

I had another consult with my PS this past Friday. It's funny how time makes you forget the excitement and fills it with anxiety and doubt. I knew I liked my PS the first time I met her. She was personable and took the time to answer my questions. This time around she made sure that I would feel confident about my decision and didn't make me feel bad for taking up additional time to ask more questions. I left feeling confident again and excited. I hope this feeling stays because I still have 2 months before my surgery. I have another consult on Monday, which I will go to just to confirm my feelings but I feel pretty good. I also know she's not the most cost effective PS but she's a perfectionist and that's what I want. This is just one of those situations that I'd prefer to pay more on than take a risk for a couple thousand dollars. Ann I crazy? I could use a couple thousand with 5 kids and the holidays but this is for me.

In a waiting room waiting for the PS for a consult on BA & TT. I'm excited to see how similar or different this will be to my other consults. I'm hoping it will confirm my decision to go with the other PS. Fingers crossed.

I'm in a dilemma now. I like my original PS and I also like this PS that I met today. I'm really struggling now on which one to go with. Ladies, I'd really appreciate your guidance on this.

PS1 is a woman, 20 yrs experience, works in hospital, has been featured in magazines, cost is ~$15k includes BA, TT, lipo contouring, binder
Cons: didn't provide a lot of info so I had to ask a lot of questions, expensive, doesn't include surgical bra, had one negative review regarding a BA that she did and patient felt it was too big. This PS doesn't believe in sizing until you are on table and she picks for you based on how you've described what you want

PS2 is a man, 20 yrs experience, surgery performed in certified office location, solid reviews on Realself, cost is ~$13k includes BA, TT, ultrasound massages (does this help???), lipo contouring, catheter (he didn't want me getting up to use bathroom frequently on day 1 - is this good or bad????), binder and surgical bra. I also got a 10% discount because I found him on Realself.
Cons: had a negative review in 2009 on BA. Patient said it took 3x surgery to correct BA. Surgery is in clinic office (this kinda freaks me out so any insight in this would help), he wore a suit and it felt like a sales pitch (am I making this out to be more than it is???)

Open questions:
1) anyone go with a PS that had a bad review? I'm trying to be optimistic by telling myself it was a long time ago and they are most likely better now than before. Am I fooling myself?
2) PS1 inserts her tubes from the ends of the incision and PS2 does it from the pubic area. Does it matter where? I kinda don't want additional scarring if possible. Thoughts???

After long discussions with my DH and input from a couple of you, I think I'm going to go with PS2. I'm still open for input and will see one more PS after Thanksgiving just to throw another one in this to see if this helps confirm my decision. I will keep both surgeries on calendar for 1/16/13 until I know for sure in Dec. There's no fee to schedule or cancel so I'm going to continue to validate my decision.

With all this confusion on which PS should I pick, I forgot to mention that in my sizing part of my appt, the nurse and I landed on 339 ccs. I actually thought it wasn't big enough but that's because I'm afraid I'm going to be one of those women who regret not going up. I thought it looked ok but the sports bra they had me use was really funky looking and couldn't show what I could look like without making my breasts look lopsided. I also don't want to be too big and have it look like I'm spilling over in every outfit or I cant button up a shirt because of them.

Like I said, PS1 doesn't practice sizing at all so I didn't get a perspective. If we talk cup sizes, I think I'd like to be a full C or small D. My breasts have been deflated since I was 18 so I don't really know what a full C would look like on someone my size. One of my other consults, we agreed on 350 ccs.

What do you ladies think? Remember, I'm 5'2 and I weigh about 123# now.

It is becoming a reality for me. I said it out loud today at work to my manager so I could take the time off. It's funny how talking about it with you ladies, going to consultations, and my husband didn't make it feel real until I actually had to start to make preparations for it. OMG, I am sooo excited to see the new me.

Btw, I saw some fall photos of myself with my kids and I could see the rolls from my shirt sitting next to them. I was very disappointed when I saw those family photos. Makes me more eager to get this done. Hope everyone has a great holiday this week and happy recovery for anyone still in the healing process.

And the count down begins. 8 weeks to go officially starting tomorrow. Yeah!!

Thanksgiving was hard because I'm trying my best to lose additional weight before my surgery. I've got to stay focused. Black Friday was difficult too because I wanted to buy clothes but didn't want to waste money on things that I wasn't sure would fit after surgery.

I font eat vitamins/supplements so here's a question for anyone who can help:
What is the best vitamin(s) to take before and/or after the surgery? What has helped the recovery process in your journey?

I picked up some One A Day Women's multivitamins but wasn't sure if there was something better or addition to it that I should buy.

Thanks!!

I didn't go to my last consult, which was scheduled yesterday. I am confident that I will be happy with PS2 because of the research I've done and thanks to Monica and Amy!! I also went ahead and cancelled my other surgery appt with PS1. At this point, I've stopped looking because it feels right. Now I need to focus on preparing for my surgery.

Also, I love my workplace. I found out today that I could take 2 weeks off as sick pay and 1 week of vacation so I don't have to use up too much vacation time. This is fantastic news.

Lastly, I'm feeling more confident about going with 339-350cc. I will leave it up to my PS to decide what will make me happy and natural looking based on photos I've researched and will share with him at my next appt or PreOp appt.

Thanks ladies! I'm still working on trying to lose more weight but I'm good with where I'm at too.

Ok, so I posted my update in the comments area instead of here (common mistake from what I've seen), Lol. Here's the post again but in the right place:

Work is simply crazy. I'm also trying to wrap things up in preparation for my time off. I'm not posting as much but am still excited and reading lots of recovery stories. I sent an email to my PS with questions based on what I'm learning on RS. His staff is awesome. I'm going to schedule another consult to have him confirm that I have enough skin to avoid a vertical scar. I also want my DH to meet him and get his perspective. I also measured my stomach to capture that number so I can compare later. Managing my weight has been the most difficult. I am really pushing myself to TRY to get to 120 by my surgery date but I'm not confident it will happen. There's just no time at all to workout these days because of work. We'll see. Enjoy the holidays and have a happy new year if I don't post again until 2013.

5 weeks to go!!

This is what feared scheduling surgery during the main winter months of MN, I had a cold. I'm pretty sick with extreme coughing. The bright side is that it's still early enough for me to recover before my surgery. I just hope that I don't spread it to my kids because I'm the only one sick right now.

3 weeks and 3 days left to go. I cannot believe it! I'm starting to question my decision now. Is it the right thing to do? I'm spending so much money on this... What if something goes wrong? Ahhhhh. I know this will pass but this waiting sucks. I wish I could've been like one of the women who decided today they were going to have the surgery and then did the surgery a week later. I have another appt scheduled with my PS on Friday. I need to go back in to determine if I have enough skin laxity to avoid a vertical scar. I wouldn't mind it so much if the scar would disappear over the years. All the PSs I've seen have all mentioned that because I'm Aslan, the scars will heal dark so I'm trying to minimize the # of scars I get from this procedure. I'm keeping my fingers crossed but ever since it was brought to my attention, I've seen so many women with similar bodies to mine currently end up with a vertical scar from their old BB. My DH is also going with me this time so I'm excited to hear what he thinks.

Merry Christmas all!!!!! I hope everyone is either healing well & enjoying their new flat stomached or waiting patiently for their turn and celebrating Christmas with hope in store for their big day.

As I prepare for my big day, can someone help me figure put what size I should buy for my granny panties? Same size now, one size larger or what?

Made my payment today. It's officially 2 weeks today. I'm soooo excited. My last appt went well. I confirmed what I'm going with (339ccs) but it will be adjust slightly on the day of surgery to make them more symmetrical. My DH liked my PS so I was happy with that and my PS confirmed that I should have enough skin to avoid a vertical scar while maintaining a low scar, yay!!! What I'm most nervous about now is my PreOp exam on Monday and getting everything ready at work to take this time off. From a surgery perspective, I'm nervous about going under and waking up and my results (same thing everyone is worried about).

Happy New Year to all!!

RS Post

Exactly one week to go. I cannot believe how fast time flew by. Its funny because it hasn't really hit me yet that I'm having surgery next week because I'm so stressed out from work. There's so much to do still and so much going on while I'm out that I'm nervous about taking the time off. At the moment, I'm actually really excited to finally getting some sleep after surgery. I know that sounds lame, but I've been working so hard through the holidays and to prepare for my surgery so it will be a good break. I've also been having a tough time getting to sleep. I think it's because I have so much going on that my body can't seem to relax. I know I will need to be at a different pace after surgery so I'll have to force myself to relax.

On a different note, I had my PreOp this past Monday and am all set to go. I gained some weight from the holidays that I wasn't able to take off yet but I'm hoping to do that before surgery. I hope I wont be in too much pain PO days 1-3 and I hope I've done a good job preparing myself with supplies, mentally and physically. The only thing left to do is pick up my prescriptions.

Omg, its today. I'm so ready but am sooo nervous!!!! Of course it had to snow. Looking forward to March. Pray for me. Thanks all. Will post again when I can.

I'm alive and flat. Pain is tolerable. PO follow up tomorrow. Will post again soon.

I'm not exactly sure how to count PO days so I'm considering today as PO day 2 sibce I got out of surgery at 12 yesterday and its past 24hrs. Not sure how the breasts look yet and not sure how I feel about my TT. Time will tell. Thanks all!

PO day 2: word of the day = itchy. I itch everywhere. Urghhh.

Holy sh*t, I was drinking water and it went down the wrong side. This resulted in me choking on the water, coughing like crazy and man did I feel like I was going to split into two with the pain that came with this. Here I was thinking that this was going well and then this happens. Now my stomach feels like its burning and I'm afraid to drink again. Worst feeling ever. Never would I want to go through that again. Geez.

PO follow up went well. We've been having trouble with the cg so the nurse showed us how to do it tighter. My next appt is Ties and I may get one drain taken out. I hope so but they haven't caused me too much inconvenience. They jus make me feel like an alien more or less.

Not sure what to think of my results yet. I feel good for 3 days PO. Ive been walking pretty straight since yesterday and haven't really needed my pain meds. Like running, I've decided to look forward to milestones to help motivate me. My first milestone will happen when the drains get removed. I'm hoping that takes place at my Tues. follow up since I've been draining pretty low. It will be bitter sweet because I know swell hell comes with drains being removed.

This is still my own little secret so the sooner I can get back to normal, the easier it will be for me not to stress that someone is going to visit and see me like this. I've also been eating a lot. I'm not sure where this appetite is coming from since most people lost theirs. This makes me worried because I'm not able to work out. I can't wait to see my results better once my drains are out. In the mean time, I'm sleeping a lot and watching a lot of QVC, lol.

Can't believe its been 1 week! I got one drain taken out this past Tues and will get my second drain out tomorrow, yay!!!!!! I know this is going to sound weird but I've not tried on any under clothes. I've spent the last week in my husband's clothes (button up short and shorts) because I'm so paranoid about the incision and drains. This means that I don't know if my incision is low enough to be covered so I've been a bit stressed about it. That's the first thing I plan to do when I get home from my appt.

On another note, I'm a little disappointed in my PS's customer service. I've not been told anything proactively about my surgery. I've had to keep asking the nurse and she doesn't give details and makes me feel like I'm in her way. My PS came into the room, looked over my file and said everything looked good. He asked if I had questions but I was in pain from the nurse ripping the tape off my incisions and taking my stitches out so I said no. I know, it's my fault for not asking for more details so I plan to ask tomorrow. I just feel like it would be courteous of them to proactively share what took place on surgery. Things like, how many ccs were put into my breasts, did I have a MR, by how much, how much skin was taken off, how much lipo was done, what can I expect next week or in 2 weeks, etc.

Am I expecting too much?!?! Minor worries compared to healing. My incision looks very lumpy but that could be from swelling. I wish my PS would look at it and tell me not to worry instead of me guessing based on what I've read here. I'm concerned that I will have a dog ear on my right side. I know it's too soon but it looks worse than my right side. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it is swelling.

Thanks all for your support!!

Thank you for letting me vent. On a positive note, my DH loves my new breasts. In also happy with how flat my stomach looks and healing has been going better than expected (knock on wood). The worst part has been the lipo done on my back. It's still bruised and ugly looking but I'm excited to see how it turns out once it heals more. I'm also interested to see if I will have more of a waist. Right now it doesn't but I'm attributing it to swelling. Again something I wish my PS would share with ms (where did he lipo?).

My left breast and arm is sore too. It's the side that he was going to put a larger implant in because it was more deflated than my right side. I don't know if that's why it's sore or if I over used it even though I'm right handed. It could be both, who knows.

Thanks for listening/reading!! Good luck to those who have upcoming surgeries.

9 DPO, last drain removed yesterday and I took a nice hot shower this morning, yay!!!! Feeling good, outside of swelling, and excited for my next milestone: transition from CG to Spanx. I'm really looking forward to this because my CG bites into my hips and pushes up against my incisions (which hurts like crap). It's also too long so it either cuts off my blood flow to my legs or it rises up to my breasts. I'd say that I hate my CG and its been the biggest pain for me throughout my recovery time thus far.

I tried on my low cut underwear and it covers my incision, yes! I am praying that the remainder of my recovery remains uneventful and cannot wait for Summer.

It's interesting how different each PS is regarding care for their incisions. I never had steri strips. My incision was covered with some sort of tape and some have nothing on their incisions at all. My PS typically puts the drains in the pubic area with 2 separate holes but I requested that he put it through the incision to avoid additional scars. He did this and I don't regret the decision at all. I'm glad I asked him to do that.

Follow up on my PS's post op care: not great. I went in to remove my 2nd drain and they were behind schedule. I've had 3 appts so far and they were running late at all these appts. My appt was at 4, they took me in at 4:15 and I didn't get out until almost five. All I had done was the removal of the drain. I wanted to ask my PS questions about my surgery as I mentioned in my last post but he came in 5 mins to 5 and was flustered because he was running behind. I had asked him about when I could wear spanx and he quickly said we'll talk about it next week. I asked about how I'll know my drain sites are closed and he answered again that we'll discuss that next week so I figured at this point he wanted to go and didn't ask anything more. I hope I have more courage next week to stand up for myself instead of feeling like I'm in their way and not asking. Also, I had the same nurse at the beginning of my appt and then got a different nurse at the end and the second nurse was fantastic. She was so nice and caring. She was patient and took her time helping me back into my CG and I felt so at ease with her. I wonder how we get assigned nurses and whether or not its worth asking for a different nurse at this point in time. Who knows?

That's all folks. I'll post again next week. Enjoy your weekend!!

2 weeks PO today, wow. This journey has been interesting. Thanks to all of you ladies, my expectations were set realistically and I feel prepared. I swell after a long day, my shape is different from morning to evening, my scar is slightly pleated, I'm super slow and my breasts are dripping at different rates but I don't find myself disappointed, angry, or upset because I've read this in your journeys. I'm just trying to be patient. My DH is fantastic. With 5 boys, he's done all the cooking, cleaning and more and I've been in our room for 2 weeks on the recliner resting and healing. I've not had this much sleep since I had my 12 yr old son.

I found out at my follow up yesterday that I did have a muscle repair and 2 liters of lipo from back to hips. My aftercare expectations has been the only disappointment so far. Yesterday when I went in, my PS came in took 2 mins to look me over and said "things look good, I'll see you in 2 weeks". I had to stop him before he left to answer my questions about my surgery and when can I start wearing shape wear, what about a wireless bra, when can I start doing light cardio, scar treatment?!?! Again, why wouldn't my PS share these things with me proactively with his patients do they know what to expect? Why must I ask and if I didn't ask, would he ever share this? Just me venting. I guess, if this is the worst part of my journey, I'm ok with it. I have RS to thank for all the information and specific details all the ladies on here share so I'll continue to rely on you guys and then confirm with my PS.

I'm back to work next week, working from home on Mon & Tues. I'm nervous because there's a lot of walking that I must do so we'll see how I survive this. I still get tired fairly quick, I walk slow and start to hunch over mid-day so wish me luck. Additionally, I need a shape wear to hold me together. I have a spanx from before but it's soo tight I don't know how to get into it. I struggled getting into it even before this surgery. I'm paranoid about trying it on and hurting myself or my incision/stitches. How did you gals do it? I'm in awe.

Had my first ultrasonic massage today. It felt wierd and a bit tender. I fidnt really notice a difference but we'll see in 6 weeks since I'll be doing it once a week for the next 6 wks. Its suppose to help with the swellibg and the healing process.

So far I'm satisfied with where I'm at. The pleating on my scar is less visible now except at the ends on each side. I Hope it continues to get more flat with no pleating at all soon. My scar is super thin and doesn't bother me at all really. I'd rather see the scar than the rolls and wrinkley excess skin. It's what I expected so even if it doesn't get lighter, I'm ok with it because it'll be covered and I don't plan to get into stripping so I'm happy. No new photos because I've been extra swollen this week due to mother nature and am not feeling up to it - maybe next week.

I'll be starting light cardio this weekend but am not looking forward to the swelling that comes with exercise. I'm excited to start because I'm sure I've gained weight eating and laying around for 2 weeks.

I'm almost 3 weeks PO and am starting to think about scar treatment. My PS doesn't provide anything and simply states that I should just use vitamin E oil. My scar is not as flat I'd like it to be (I know it's too soon) but I'd like to use some silicone strips to help. What have you ladies used and was it worth it? Worth it meaning, made your scar more flat, less visible and maybe made it thinner? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

PO 3Wks - tomorrow

I had my first ultrasonic massage last Thursday. It felt weird and a bit uncomfortable. It's suppose to help with the swelling but I still feel pretty swollen most days even though it doesn't really make me uncomfortable. The part that does bother me about the swelling is how it makes me look. I feel and look fat when I'm swollen but I know with time it will get better. As long as its not making me feel like I'm going to blow up, I can be patient with this.

My drain holes have been a bit of a nuisance because they're taking forever to close up. Remember that I requested to have my drains come out of my incision instead of through separate sites in my pubic areas. I still don't regret this decision because this eliminated 2 additional scars and once it heals, it will be part of the scar that I couldn't prevent when doing a TT. One of the holes is pretty much closed but the other is slowly closing (which you'll see in my photo).

I have to give my PS great credit for my scar. It looks amazing at almost 3 weeks. There's still some pleating and rippling but this will only get better with time.

On Sat, I did my first fast walking on my treadmill for 45 mins in my binder. The highest I could go was 2.7 but I'm excited to be doing light cardio.

I'm back to work tomorrow so wish me luck in my spanx and hopefully not too much swelling. Happy healing all! I'm looking forward to my next milestone: scar treatment. Yay!!

3.5 weeks PO // POD 25

Pain level: Feeling food. Sometimes I feel like my sides are burning and I still itch but I'm walking straighter and faster every day. Still have pain at the ends of my incision by my hip bone.

Life Situation: I'm sleeping in my own bed now but still cannot get myself out of bed myself (not really painful but more paranoid about using too much ab muscles and arms to get up so my DH helps me up). I'm back at work and swell like crazy by mid-afternoon. This will be my 2nd week at work and I'm sure it will be better.

I spent most of yesterday with family and friends and was paranoid the whole time that someone would notice how different my body was. This was all in my head though and no one really noticed so in relieved.

Exercise: I'm only fast walking on the treadmill at the speed of 3.2 fir now. It takes me about 20 mins to complete a mile. I know this will get better with time.

Results: I'm in between on my results, hence, not sure.

The Good: As you can see in my photos, my scar is healing well. There's still pleating and rippling at the ends of my incision so I'm hoping to start scar treatment soon. I'm going to ask my PS if I can use silicone strips. My BB looks good. It's so circular that I wonder if it looks too fake. Thoughts?

I love my breasts. They haven't completely dropped and fluffed but they are looking good. My PS put more ccs in my left breast because it was more deflated and I can tell its bigger than my right breast but they're never going to be completely symmetrical so I'm ok with it.

The Bad (more like concerns that I hope resolves itself since its too early - maybe)? Please share your thoughts on these because its bothering me.

1) my tummy is flatter than before and I know I'm still swelling so its not as flat as it can be. However, my issue is more with my waist. I feel and look like the right side is more defined than my left side and my left side feels like there's more fat there. Wearing my bikini bottom or my underwear, I can grab and see a roll of fat from my left side. My right side is similar but not as bad. My DH keeps saying its swelling but it concerns me when I can grab a roll.

4wks PO / 29 DPO

Had a follow up appt today. The appts get shorter and shorter with my PS quickly looking and everyone says "you look great" but I'm still not sure how I feel. I'm ok with my results. Could it be worse, yes; but could it be better, yes too. I paid a lot for this and went through a lot of pain and disruption in my life that I wish I could say that I love my results versus I'm ok with it. I always considered my expectations reasonable but were they too high this time? I shared my concerns with my PS and he says its still too early to tell. I hope they'd the case.

My swelling is down a lot but my right side of my waist still has way more definition than my left side. Should I be happy with just having a waist? I feel like my stomach is flabby and not tight like week 1&2. Is that because I need to do ab exercises or should it have stayed flat all the way through the healing process?

My wonderful milestone today was being able to get into my skinny jeans, yay! I was able to put on jeans last week but wasn't sure if I should push it and try on my skinny jeans. I'm healing well and am increasing my cardio workouts. I ordered Oleeva Silicone sheets and received it today. I'm not able to use it yet because I still have one opening from my drain that is still healing. It's close so I hope to use the sheets in one to two weeks. Wish me luck.

Happy Healing & Happy Valentine's Day!!

When I asked my PS the other day about returning to underwire bras, he didn't provide any guidance and simply said "when you feel its right," really? oh well. So I decided to go shopping for a bra today just to see what my size might be. I got a 38D which I was excited about because I wanted to be a full C or small D and I think once everything settles, I will be right around that.

My shopping experience was interesting. The clothes for wonderfully but I had to buy larger sizes to accommodate my larger breasts (I didn't realize how much of an impact larger breasts could make so I'm glad I didn't go any bigger). I also realized that this body doesn't feel like me anymore. It's going to take time to get used to it. I'm still self conscience about my look except it's not because of my tummy anymore. Now I have larger breasts that I don't want to call too much attention to and hips that I didn't have before making me feel like they're too wide now. Don't get me wrong, I like what I'm seeing so far and have great self confidence, I just need to get used to this new me especially since I didn't tell anyone about this surgery. In the end, I bought 1 bra and a tankini swim suit (will need to work up the courage to wear a bikini in public). I'll continue to wear my old clothes until this summer just so I don't call too much attention to myself.