Martin S Lacey

I am 30 year old mother to 2 children ages 5 and 7. I am 5' 4" and 130 lbs. In the past 4 years I feel like I have tried it all: from diet and exercise, to lotions, creams, herbal wraps, and even a FlexBelt, that is clinically proven to tone your Abs. My issue is not fat, or lack of muscle, it is just loose skin; for whatever reason, my skin did not shrink back after my pregnancies. Unfortunately there are no magic fixes and my doctor told me there was no way to tighten the skin again naturally. Having this extra skin is something that negatively affects my life every day. I am sooo ready to get rid of this skin and have the sexy body I have worked to hard for. My husband is so supportive- he has been encouraging me to do this for ME. I am such a helper, and people pleaser, that i am really having to take a step back and think about ME for a change. I will update after I have my TT. I have scheduled my surgery for March 28th. I will be having a full tummy Tuck and abdominal muscle repair. No lipo. Doctor said I don't have much fat to take care of- at least my hard work paid off in that area. I have quite a few stretch marks all over my stomach and the PS informed me that they will not be able to completely remove all of them. But I am fine with still having some... as long as I get a smooth flat tummy!Updated on 29 Mar 2012:Surgery was yesterday 3/28. Got a little nervous with all the waiting in pre op. But once my husband could come in and chat with me, that helped a lot. Once things got rolling, the or nurses came in chatted with me a bit, said they were going to give me the medicine... And I was out. Next think I remember I was in recovery room. My husband informed me that the PS told him It all went great, and he was "impressed" with the amount of skin I had. For me that is reassuring. The whole reason I was going through with this anyway. Day 1 PO : I am feeling good. I have been resting comfortably all day. Sleeping on and off. I have tried to get up about every 2 hours to make sure I dont get sore, feels good to stretch my legs. Taking my meds on time has been key. But my drainage is already getting clearer and lessening. :) The PS said to not get my hopes up but I may get them out tomorrow, otherwise they will remove my drains on Monday (PO day 4) And I will get my first peek at my tummy So far I have not had any crazy emotions, I think I have been able to keep my eye on the prize (a finally flat tummy) and I feel like I educated myself well and understand that recovery is going to take a while.Updated on 5 Apr 2012:Day 8 PO I cannot believe how good I feel. I have been off pain pills since day 4, and am handling pain with ibuprofen. I got my drains out on Monday (PO day4) what a relief. I realized lots of the discomfort I was feeling was from the drains, pinching or pulling. So nice to have those gone. That was also my first time seeing my incision, and my new tummy. Everything looks good, very little swelling and no bruising since I did not have lipo. My PS said everything looks great and he wont need to see me again for 2-3 weeks. I still have some tape and glue on my incision, he said to keep that in place as long as possible. Then after that I will start to use scar therapy like silicone strips. Still need to do some research on what is best. I have gone back to work only for a couple for 2-4 hour spans the past 2 days. And feeling good about it, And so far so good. Happy that I have the support structure to be flexible like that. Also my mom flew in to help take care of things, and since I can get around just fine it has been fun to take little outings together and have her tackle some spring cleaning while I rest. :) I just got a date on the calendar to have a girls weekend away with some friends... it will be fun to be able to wear a bikini for the first time ever. I am posting one pic of me 7 days PO not a great shot, I need to take some more... stay tuned. And Happy healing to all you other March TT- ers. All you April ladies keep your spirits up, it's totally worth it!