Mommy Makeover: Stories

I have 1.5 year old twins. I carried them 40 weeks and 5 days. They were 7lbs and 7lbs 6 oz. They are the best thing that's ever happened to me but my body is taking it's toll. My abdomen is separated my skin is saggy and my breast are slightly more deflated. My breasts really don't look bad, but I've always wanted larger ones. I thought I would get 350cc implants based on my research online, surprisingly I chose 575cc implants, they seem to fit well on my frame. I weigh what I did before my children and know that I'm not having more so I've decided to get these procedures done. I'm extremely excited and even more nervous. I'm only one week away! FYI I'm 5'5'' and 135lbs.

I had my pre op appointment a couple of days ago. They gave me a soap to wash with the night before and the morning of surgery. I can't drink 3 day prior to surgery and nothing to eat or drink after midnight the day of.

So I am only 5 days away from surgery. I had my last beer today that I will have until then ;). My nights have been filled with thoughts of surgery, recovery, guilt about being away from my girls and about not being able to pick them up for so long after my surgery. Other thoughts are about how much pain? Will I recover fast? And some are of course about how amazing I hope to look!

I have all of my prescriptions in order and organized with notes. I pre-made meals and froze them. I bought benadryl in case I get itch from the medication and picked out all of my comfortable loose clothes that zip/button in the front. I'm attaching a couple of more pictures of me sitting and bending over to give you a better idea of what I look like.

Overall I'm super excited but nervous about how much of a burden I'm going to be on everyone else.

So I had my surgery Friday the 11th. It is now Sunday the 13th! I have to say that as the days got closer to surgery I was having a rough time. For me it was my first surgery and deciding to go in electively went against everything I've been trying to avoid all of these years. I was deathly afraid of dying and it being for selfish reasons. As I was being prepped for surgery much of my excitement disappeared and fear set it. I haven't seen many people mention those feelings but I'm writing them to let you know I truly was scared and all in all it was quick and painless...until you wake up!

I woke up with an oxygen mask which bugged me quite a bit, I was a little out of it and kept trying to take it off. It took me about an hour after surgery to get with the program. One of the first sensations I felt was a tons of sharp pain around my incision and along my sides especially my left side. Everything I read spoke about pressure being uncomfortable but the implants and my upper abdomen haven't bothered me at all, it feels mostly like I got in a really good chest workout.

My Dr used glue on my incisions instead of sutures or steri strips. I'm not sure if this contributes to the burning sensation or not. I had to go back to my Dr at 10am the following morning of the surgery. My scar looked this and low, which I'm really excited about of course there are a lot of marker marks so some things were hard for me to make out. My breast are up so high that they appear more pec like than breasts but they should start to drop soon. They also don't look too big at all which was of slight concern for me.

1st day post op I was able to walk around quite a bit, but in pain and almost at a 90 degree angle, sitting and standing weren't bad unless it was getting up or down onto a soft comfy surface, which is where I wanted to be. Toilets and hard chairs are easier to manage.

2nd day post op (today) I am standing up much better today but with a definite hunch. I thought I was feeling good enough to visit with others today but it ended up being overwhelming with 7 people in my house I ended up getting grumpy and I think sitting in a regular chair like position increased swelling. So now I am back on my recliner with my legs up. I feel much better. I still enjoy getting up to walk around every hour or so.

I'm looking forward to more and more improvements as the day go by and to get this drain out on the 21st! It's already annoying me! Pictures soon to come for the day after surgery!

So I just got done taking my first shower, today is day 3 post op. It felt great but getting back into my garment wasn't much fun and I need to work on being nicer to my hubby who's only there to help. My boobs are up super high and my stomach is completely distorted. Around my belly button is very swollen, and numb. Around my incision is also very swollen and it almost looks like a muffin top. The bruising on my sides is painful and annoying. I can see the potential!! I'm excited for each day of healing.

Today is day 4 of recovery. I'm starting to space out my pain medications farther apart. I felt really god yesterday and we had some friends over, as a result I spent more time standing and sitting without my legs up. I felt it all night!!! So much swelling and pain I am just now feeling back to normal at 9am. So needless to say, I'll be taking it easy today. My girls come home from Grandmas house so today will be the first day my husband will have to take care of all of us! I'll be fending for myself and relaxing as much as I can. I'm so excited to see my daughters but nervous to have them crawling all over me!

I think my breast are starting to migrate down into place and I'm not even going to take a look at my stomach today I'll wait until I shower again tomorrow and I'll post pics! I have a feeling patients is key because this tummy tuck did a number on me! I'm just riding it out and can't wait for the end restults.

4 days down!

Today is day 6 PO. My breast are more sore today than they have been but they still just feel like I had a good chest workout. My stomach still feels swollen and uncomfortable around the incision site. I keep looking at before and after pics and I think the results will be amazing! I did some cooking and tried to help out the hubby as much as I could yesterday and ended up exhausting myself so I am taking it easier today. He bought me an iPad so I'm messing around on that ;). I should be getting my drain out in 4 days which I'm excited about but I'm not in a rush, I want as much swelling to go down as possible before then. I've been showering every other day trying to feel refreshed but staying comfy in pj's. I'm looking forward to healing more each day.

So i don't know if I mentioned some things which are good to know before anyone goes through a tummy tuck. For the first couple days it took me 20 minutes to pee, and it was dribbles at a time. I have a body suite that zips on the sides and goes from under my breast so my calves with a large hole in the crotch to use the restroom. For me it's hard to pee while I wear clothes plus all the trauma your body goes through makes it difficult. Also this is TMI...but the top part of my butt crack was always wet with sweat, water from the shower etc... And with the contraption I am in it has a hard time drying out so keep it dry with powder and I ended up using diaper cream to shed excess water because I developed a slight diaper rash. Haha so unexpected and kinda gross.

Also going number 2 at first was horrible, on day 4 PO is when it happened and I'm still paying the price lol. I took stool softener a and probiotics and I'm eating a ton of fiber which I'm thankful for but my system went from holding everything in to letting it all out and my tummy is still a rumbly mess!

So I'm still retaining a lot of fluid and the sides of my incisions hurt especially where my zippers dig in but it's not horrible and I'm only taking my medications at night or once through the day if I need to.

Things have been going really well. I have felt really, really good since 2 weeks and now I'm at 4 weeks. I have been wanting to workout and be active so it's hard taking it slow. The swelling is starting to go down and my breasts are starting to drop a little but are still very high.