“Mommy Makeover This Summer - Finally - San Francisco, CA”

Hi!

I am a divorced Mom of five children. I had my first when I was 17 and then in the next 10 years I had 4 more! They were all big, beautiful babies, and I got HUGE each preganancy. (I thought it was fun to be so big!)

Before my 1st baby I was 5'4" and weighed 104lbs. (I was 16 when I got pregnant) I gained 56lbs in the next nine months! Needless to say, it was difficult getting the weight off, but I dieted and did aerobics five nights a week. Got back to 103lbs and could wear a bikini again. (tiny extra skin, but not bad)

My next two came within 13 months of each other and then the next two within 2 1/2 years of each other.
I ended up weighing well over 160. (not pregnant) I nursed all of them and the last two I nursed over a year each!

When I turned 30 I was tired of having to wear elastic waisted pants and oversized shirts! I got a personal trainer for 3 months and went on Jenny Craig. I lost all the weight, and even did a Jenny Craig commercial!

However, my tummy and breasts are extremely gross! Bikini? Ha! Haven't worn one since I was a teen!
I've been wanting a Mommy Makeover for soo long, but have been very scared! However, I am tired of being so grossed out about myself. I want to not be afraid to date a man past three dates because of my secret gross-ness!

I want to be able to wear jeans and not have to hide my skin hanging over the top of them! I need to fill in my empty breasts, so they don't look like deflated balloons without a bra on!

Anway, thanks for reading! Oh, I am now 41 and weigh 120.. I run, do a boot camp class, and dance ballet and jazz.
Will post some pictures when I get a chance. :)

Updated on 10 May 2011:
Well, the more I read about everyone's experiences, the more I wonder why my surgery is scheduled to be so long?

I am having full tummy tuck, breast augmentation, and liposuction on my back. The surgery is estimated at 8 hours.. ahh! So scary!! Anyone else have such a long surgery?
I've never been under before, what is it like to wake up from something like this?

Updated on 22 Jun 2011:
Soo, I went in for my pre-op yesterday. Unfortunately, I got lost in Palo Alto somehow after being stuck in traffic on the freeway and I was a half hour late!!!! I was soo frazzled by the time I got there it was all like a dream - signed my life away on a bunch of papers, payed a ton of money in three seperate checks and went over, briefly, what I my ps will be doing and took some more pics..
I will be going with silicone, 370-390 implants - he will decide during surgery which ones will be best on me within that range.

I got prescriptions as well.
Ambien
Percocet
Zofran
Cephalexin
Singulair -

I also am getting the pain pump since I will be having the muscle repair. Though it seems it doesn't make much of a difference on some of the ladies here..

I will have three drains. One for my tummy and one in each breast. I didn't know I would need drains for a breas augmentation, I thought they were for lifts - oh well! Though, this dr likes to take the drains out at 2-3 days.

I am scared to death, however I am confident in my dr. I will be extremely busy in the next two weeks. I have a dance performances this weekend and then I go to Hawaii to meet my son who will be back from a two month training on a ship.

I am so scared of the pain I will feel and of being under for so long.. I hope I deal with all of it well, as I am a wimp!!!!

I'm already so nervous, I can't sleep - I am scared to hope I will love the outcome!!!!

Well, onto my busy day! Have a great day ladies!

Updated on 25 Jun 2011:
Less than two weeks to go and I am sooo busy!!! This weekend is mine and my daugters dance recital and then I leave for Hawaii for five days to greet my son and come home with him and then in four days after that - surgery!!

I had a horrible dream that I got the surgery and did not have my pain medicines! I was having to go to the pharmacy all bandaged and people staring at me and bumping into my -children climbing on me - yikes! I woke up and still felt like I couldn't move, wow, I must be very scared and too busy to think of it during the day!

I am so crazy to be doing this, I sure hope it's worth it. I hope I look better after and not worse, and I hope for no major complications. My sister got an infection after her c-section and that was horrible.. ugh.. I guess I'm just hoping for the best!

Updated on 2 Jul 2011:
Back from Hawaii at 3am (after a four hour delay in Honolulu!!) I was so busy I really had no time to think about my surgery! (which is a good thing I suppose)
I am hoping that the next time I go to Hawaii, I will be able to feel more confident in myself with my mm!!
I am scared about my surgery and I think that all you ladies who have done it are soo brave!!
I have soo much to do before it comes up - ahh!! hee hee!

Updated on 5 Jul 2011:
Tommorrow is the day - it feels like a dream! I hope all goes well!!!

Updated on 9 Jul 2011:
Hi again!

Well, I've made it this far! It's been rough for me - with a lot of nausea and feeling faint. My dr. takes the draines out at only two days and I felt much better after that!

Still no appetite and I can't take the vicodin anymore since I found out I'm allergic to it! I had really bad shortness of breathe, but I thought it was from the tight binders - nope! So now I need to try and do my best on no vicodin.. At least I can breathe better!

Post op day 2 was the worst for me, I thought I wouldn't make it on the drive back to the dr!!! It was sooo awful -sooo nauseaus and faint and exteme malaise!! He took out the drains and it was better so soon. It did not hurt at all to get the drains out, also my pain pump for my tummy worked so well, I never had pain in my tummy except for the insision site.

Not gone #2 yet, but not really eating yet either. I tried to eat something today and got nauseaus again! :( This would all be so much better without nausea!!!

Also I have this weird numbness and stabbing pain in my right thigh. Doc said it could sometimes happen, so it makes walking that much more difficult..

Well, I will be 4 dalys post op tommorrow - can't wait to eat again!!

Hope everyone else is well..

BTW, my waist is teeny tiny and my breasts look great, even with all the bruising I can tell!

Updated on 11 Jul 2011:
Ok, the swelling has begun. and begun in earnest - only slept for an hour last night because of it - so horrible!

Yesterday was so blah! I took M.O.M. and then had such bad runs that I got painful, very painful hemmerhoids (I don't care about spelling - too tired and swollen..) I had my son go get me some prep H and it really helped! I thanked him for helping me to get it, he said no prob - just no help putting in on - LOL!

I could eat yesterday, but felt dizzy a little after each time..

I am moving around a lot better as my kids have noticed.. Still hurts like heck though!! Only on Extra Strength Tyl. bc of adverse reactions to the pain meds.

I hate this swelling - it pulls on my incisions and hurts! boo hoo!!!

I keep getting a tickle in my throat (the kind that makes your eyes water and need to cough) Oh, forget about coughing - I found having menthol type cough drops nearby a huge help!

Oh, I forgot to mention I got an un-expected side effect to the surgery. I have numbness all the way down the front of my right thigh - to my knee (I had no lipo on my legs) I don't care about that so much as the extremely sharp pain I get when I walk on it!!!! Ugh, it hurts so much and even when I was on the strong pain meds, it hurt worse than anything else. The dr. said sometimes that can happen, it was unfortunate that it happened to me, but he said it WILL go away and I am counting on that!!

Lots of ladies with surgeries today - best of luck to all of you!!

Updated on 12 Jul 2011:
Feeling pretty good again today - oh my - it is soo nice to have my appetite back! I have been eating what I want and actually the swelling has not gotten any worse. I am always wearing my binder.

I had a little oozing from my drain, so the doc ordered cipro for me, just to be on the safe side!

Showering takes a long time. I hate taking off my binders - just because I feel less held in! Especially with my breasts. If it wasn't for alll the horrible bruising from the lipo (and the swelling) I think I would look great.. I will try and get a picture - too bad so much bruising!

I still have that pain in my leg, but I had about an hour and a half of no pain in it yesterday and I thought perhaps a miracle happened! Alas, the pain came back, but this is a great sign that this nerve stuff will indeed get better as the doctor assured me it will.

Now that the rest of my pains are subsiding, I do realize I have the same pain and numbness in my lower back as my leg. So, it is from the lipo. Sometimes I get depressed about this pain, but I try to keep hopeful - especially after my hour and a half yesterday!! :D

Updated on 13 Jul 2011:
Oops! Took a step backwards last night and it was all my fault! :(

What did I do? I ate too much!! Not pleasant, not pleasant at all - painful and still is!!!! It was difficult to me, since I had not eaten well for a week and I was finally really enjoying something! but I paid for it, all night long I was in pain and frustrated that I did it! Oh well, I won't be doing that again!!! ha ha!

One week post op today, yay! - still feeling pains and soreness, but only on tylenol. Not standing up straight yet, but better. Breasts still very tender. Getting up and down is a breeze now. Sleep is still a discomfort as my breathing is still shallow and sometimes I wake up having to take a breath..

Otherwise, happy to be a week post op! :)

Updated on 14 Jul 2011:
I am so bruised! I mean, I am just black and blue everywhere. My underarms, under my breasts, my abdomen, down my back, on the sides of my back, my pubic area - ugh.. I see other's pics and they are not all bruisey like me! :( I have always bruised soo easily and it lasts a long time, so it's no surprise, but still..

Still in a lot of pain and walking slowly and hunched over like a 90 year old. Soo, guess I'm feeling a little down today! Sorry about the rant!!

Updated on 17 Jul 2011:
11 days post-op.. I overdid it today, with not much!! I tried to go for a little walk. I walked outside for only 8 minutes and then I got home and felt like I was going to pass out. :( boo hoo! After being a runner, dancer and taking bikini bootcamp classes - I feel soo discouraged!! I felt so miserable for about a half hour, had my feet up.

I also have a very sharp pain in my right groin when I move sometimes while lying down. This is a stabbing pain that is horrible. Twice I have cried out loud in pain, as it is so bad.. :( I think it's part of the stupid nerve damage. Too bad I have that and the leg pain on top of everything, but I see that getting this is very rare.

Everything looks great though, and I can see that the bruising is going down a little now.. I just need to take it easy for a while!!! :)

Updated on 2 Aug 2011:
Will be four weeks post op tomorrow - yay! It's been a rough journey, as I know it is for many. The pain in my groin is gone now, phew! I am standing up much straighter (though it took me a while!) and I am walking almost 20 minutes now, and feeling good.

The pain in my breasts is almost gone, still just a tad sore. Tummy is feeling a little weird, and some pain if the car goes over bumps etc. I am still on cipro for a small infection in the center of my scar. Scar is super thin, like a red pencil line otherwise..

Yesterday I went to the bank, I wore black yoga pants and a body hugging top. When I walked into the bank it was full of women working there at desks etc, they all stopped and STARED at me as I walked in and went to the teller. Ha ha! Full breasts and a tiny waist doesn't come easy! I just held my head high and smiled a little. GREAT feeling!!!! :D

Updated on 18 Nov 2011:
I am now about 4 months post op. I uploaded a picture of myself taken by my Mom in Hawaii last Sept. My swelling is all gone now, and though I still feel tightness in my belly button area, I feel so great! My leg is better (phew!) and now I can concentrate on toning once again.