Tummy Tuck: Stories

I am 34y, 5,2", 108 lbs mother of 2, my son 4 1/2Y delivered him vag. (W/Epidural) my girl 14M delivered her vag. (W/No Epidural) breastfed them both for 8M so needless to say my abdomen and breast are destroyed! My breast is a 32 small B and I would like to end up a C cup (not D) and have my muscles back in place and remove the extra skin. I have a wonderful and supportive hubby and an amazing mother in law that will take care of me as well as my aunts and close friends help on that aspect I am ok as far of the pain....I am no so sure what to expect.....I want to believe that I have a high pain tolerance after having my daughter but I am unsure if it will be on the same level, another concern of mine is the "blues" that everyone talks about.
I am so excited about this site and I am pretty sure that I will be coming to here to spill out how I am feeling....
So for that Thank You!

I went in for my PO on Feb 12, 2013 and took my hubby along for support and to help decide on the size of my BA, my PS filled my husband in on the steps that we looking to take to give me my body back BA and Full TT as well as a hernia repair (this will be done by another Dr.) I know i want to look natural and fill out the volume i lost from my 2 pregnancies so I tried high profile sizer and moderate profile they both looked good but I knew #1-I didn't want it to make it difficult to fit clothing as i am petite and #2-I didn't want the"fake boob" look. Do to my chest size I can choose either profile, i knew i wanted silicone due to the natural feel vs saline implants and after talking with my PS, Nurse and Hubby I picked the moderate profile now the question was "how big" I mean how many cc's, we ended up ordering to different sets of implants 339cc's and 371cc's and we schedule the surgery for Feb 22nd BA and full TT!! OMGosh!
Feb 13th: The next day I couldn't stop thinking about it! Did I choose the right profile??? Will they be big enough?? so I called the my PS office and I asked them if I can come in to do the sizing again they were great about the only thing was that my PS was not going to be there due to a conference but I met with the surgery coordinator/GN who is also a patient of Dr Swartz and she walked me through it again.
Feb 15th: I went to my 2nd implant sizing with a friend of mine to help with the decision after much discussion, trying and retrying I went back to moderate profile and up the cc's my PS he still bringing in 2 sets a 371cc's and a 394cc's!!!!!
Feb 18th: At the hospital's PO I was very frustrated trying to get register, the lady not having any clue why I was getting admitted made me uneasy then they told me that my insurance was only covering $150 of my hernia procedure (i know is not the hospital's fault but that just added to it) and then they told me to go to anesthesia on the 4th floor and kept waiting for someone to open the door but was no one in the office at 2 in the afternoon!!!

Feb 22nd: The day of my surgery is here!! The surgery is to start at 12pm I am felling anxious and excited as the morning goes by I feel more excited than anything by the time my hubby and I make to the hospital at 10 am I can't wait for it to get start it....I did all this prep work to have a bowl movement the morning of the surgery but due to anxiety I was not able to have one ... so I am a bit concerned about after surgery when everything slows down I guess it is what it is at this point.....so both if my doctors are late! (Hernia Dr and my PS), the surgery nurses and anesthesiologist staff are keeping calm, they are all super nice, around 12:20 pm my PS came in to talk with me i showed him some "wish" pictures and he marked me....it is happening! They rolled into the operating room, one of the nurses (Kim) was so nice so I asked her if she can take some pics during my surgery......yes....I said pictures....she agreed if the Dr allowed her, I hoped over the operating table next thing I know the anesthesiologist is giving me some medicine in the IV, I was watching both of the Drs talking about who is going in first and next thing I know I was waking up in recovery.
My PS told my hubby that everything went well, that my hernia was ok and it didn't need to be repair YAY! The surgery took 5 hours as expected, my PS went with the bigger implant (394cc's) he said that after fixing my muscles the extra skin was quite a bit that the incision had to be longer than anticipated :(
I guess I was in the recovery area a while before they brought me to my room because I didn't make it there until 8pm or so, I was in and out sleeping due the meds and anesthesia I guess until the next day.

Feb 23rd: D1 PO I stayed the night at the hospital and oh boy am I glad I did!!! My PS wanted me to walk around right away but I am so out of it from the meds and the aftermath of the anesthesia that my nurse let me sleep through out the night after my surgery I was waking up every hour not in pain I just would wake up for a few minutes and fall asleep again.
In the morning I was not too much in pain more discomfort than anything, the night before they have taking off the caterer from the surgery the next day I was asked to urinate after a while trying and not being successful they told me it was not unusual that my bladder would need retraining after surgery by using a caterer to help me, so after a couple of tries by the nurse they finally help release 700cc's or ml's I don't even know but it was A LOT of urine! Gross I know....sorry! After that I attempted to eat breakfast (soft diet), my mouth was soooooo dry it was not easy, then the nausea started.....oh boy that was awful that went on and off all day long, after luch I was able to urinate on my own....i was so happy! later my PS came to check up on me he reassured me that all went well, took a look at my breast and incision and said he will check in on me tonight when at home because he was discharging me...YAY I get to see my babies and family! My hubby came to picked me up around 2:30pm and then a BAD case of nausea HIT me....it was the worse one! so we stayed until 3:30pm got in the car with my small pillow pushed againg my belly for support, my hubby was very gentle driving home, it wasn't bad at all we made it home around 4pm. I had rented a lift chair (worth the money) my bed is very low and it would have not worked for me I went straight to it. My son, daughter and mother in law were so excite to see me home, my son wanted to stay next to me and watch a movie my bb girl wanted me to hold her.....that by far is the harder part of this not able to do things with them, I am taking Percocet 1 every 4-6 hours as needed for pain and keflex antibiotic twice a day, I don't weight very much so when I was taking the whole Percocet it was making feel very strange...no pain but very strange so I talked to my PS and he suggested to take 1/2 of it and see how I felt, I did and I felt so much better the pain was gone and I was just a bit sleepy not strange feeling if that makes sense. My hubby and family have been amazing. My unt came over to stayed the night with me she helped me going to the bathroom, measure my drains and take my pils she had this procedure before so she know a lot more than hubby so I was glad she did the night was ok I only woke up to go to the bathroom and take my pills sleeping is the most challenging my back and shoulders are killing me!

Feb 24th: D2 Post Op at the comforts of my home with them love from family I am feeling pretty good, discomfort more that any pain it hurts when I get up faster than I should or when I don't roll myself properly I am going to the bathroom with no assistance, I am keeping up with my meds and I am also taking the arnica pills drinking a lot of water and keeping my diet soft, as you know on my previous post I was concern about not having a bowel (hahahaha just realized that i wrote "bowl" movement on my previous post) movement before the surgery and oh my I was right....my PS had me on stool softeners before and after the surgery, it was not easy but thank God I had my first BM today, I am feeling very bloated today I am walking around drinking a lot of water and wearing the compression socks my PS gave me overall and ok day.....actually a great day because I was not in crazy pain.
BTW....I also realized that I spelled my Plastic Surgeon's name incorrectly hahahaha

Feb 25th: D3 Post Op feeling good walking around more and more per my PS as of tomorrow I can try to walk straighter my shoulders and back are in pain, nothing new from the day before I continue with my meds ....Percocet for pain, keflex antibiotic, arnica pills, vitamin D3 and b12 and colace stool softeners again not to much pain more discomfort than anything else.

The days have been prety uneventful so I am fast forwarding to Feb 27th: D5 Post Op I don't think I posted about DRAINS, my PS unlike most PS placed 2 drains on my breast and the standard 2 in the TT during my surgery (p.s I opted for no pain pump as I didn't want to worry about another thing hanging off of me) thankfuly the pain hasn't been that bad....it would of been a waste of money....for me anyways, the drains are place through a tiny incision after the breast incision and the ones for the TT are placed also through 2 tiny cuts below my TT by the puvic area, I have to empty the drains 3 times a day or more often if they fill up and you have to record them as of how many ml's came out of each one and the time everyday and called those numbers into my PS's office he reviews it every day and ones I was under 30 ml's they can be remove and today is the day and also my 1st post op appointment with my Dr!!!! :-) My PS advise me to take my pain pill (1/2 percocet) 1 hour before and bring with me an icepack so I did, he check all the incisions and BB (btw i have never had small BB or an innie for that matter and now i have both YAY!) so he walked me through what he was about do he took the stitches holding the tubes in place, ice the area for a bit then take a deep breath as he was pulling them out I felt them move a little it hurts.....more like burns when the end of the drain come out of your skin so he did that 3 times so I only have one more drain to go on the right side abdomen because this is measuring about 37ml's per day he said more likely it will come out Friday or Monday the latest, I took the Percocet before the visit so the rest of the day wasn't all that bad. I am walking much straighter i have to remember to push my shoulders back as i always had a bad posture now i am consciously trying to correct it. Sleeping at night, I continue to wake a up with a sore neck and/or lover back can't wait to sleep in my own bed next to my hubby.

Lol lower back!.....not lover back....