I am 30, 5’6” 153 lbs and have two kids (ages 4 and 1.5). I had been thinking and talking with my husband about doing breast augmentation ever since I had deflation from my first child and breastfeeding. Then after my second I knew I really wanted to do something because I had lost all upper fullness.After meeting with Dr Augenstein for a virtual consultation I decided to do a c-section scar revision and liposuction of my abdomen and flanks as well as the breast augmentation. I had my procedure today and I was super nervous for several reasons. First, I have an 18 month old and I am stay at home mom so the thought of not being able to pick her up, etc made me anxious about the recovery.Second, I still feel a lot of emotions about the c-section as it was an emergency and the recovery was tough so revisiting that incision and making a new one was a little hard to come to terms with. Dr. Augenstein made me feel very confident in the decision to revise it, make it lower and a little longer so that he could smooth out some of the skin below my belly button and make my abdomen more taut without having to do a tummy tuck (I didn’t have any problems with muscles separation).I work out a good bit, running and weight lifting. I felt like I just couldn’t do anything about the pooch. You couldn’t notice it in jeans but if I wore dresses it seemed like I could be pregnant. I went in for my pre op appointment to try on sizers to see how many cc’s would be appropriate for me. After trying some on and the doctor coming in to measure, he suggested to do maybe 385cc silicone on one side and 415cc on the other. When he mentioned doing the 415cc I got a little anxious over what if that is too big.I went in imagining I would go with maybe 350’s but nothing in the 400 range. The next day I sent an email with some examples from his site that I was looking for and what I wasn’t looking for. I also wrote about my anxiety over having too large of breasts to fit my active lifestyle.His clinic was very helpful in their response and gave me reassurance over the sizes. I felt great after that because I got to air all my thoughts so I wouldn’t feel regret after the surgery. I’ll update with my post op pics and review of recovery.
Updated on 19 Oct 2020:
I am going to update from the past few days post op. I had the operation Friday and the surgery took about 4 hours. I came in from out of town to have it so after I went back to a hotel. Those first few hours post op were a painful blur, its a lot for the body to adjust to! But by that evening I was walking around, went around the hotel parking lot and could stand up pretty straight. The weirdest part was how the chest muscles reacted to the implants because normal things were now undoable for me. Like I couldn’t open my medication bottles, the hotel door, things that I never realized utilized those muscles. Not a big deal, that is why I had someone with me.
As far as pain management, I found that I did not need the hydrocodone. I stuck to the muscle relaxer and gabapentin but keep in mind that I didn’t have a full tummy tuck. The morning after surgery I went in for a follow up with the surgeon. After surgery they put an abdominal binder on me with foam boards and a surgical bra so I had only a glimpse of what they did until the surgeon took it all off to check everything. I was totally amazed by my stomach. I have never seen it so flat. He told me they took out 750 ml total from my abdomen and flanks and about 12 oz of skin from the c section revision. I am so glad that I didn’t talk myself out of doing the revision because I would never have been able to get these results on my own! There is some dimpling in the skin but that is due to internal sutures that will dissolve and even out. As far as the implants, the day of surgery Dr Augenstein told me he brought 3 different sizes and if I was comfortable he would make the decision once in surgery. He ended up choosing 415 cc for both and I am glad that I let him decide because that number would have scared me into a smaller implant on my own. They look just right for my frame. Of course they are sitting high at the moment from the muscles contracting them up but he assured me they will settle down into my natural breast which is totally normal. I can’t wait to see how the results will start to appear in the next weeks. If you have questions please ask! Reading through people’s reviews really helped me so if I can clear anything up I’d love to help.
Updated on 24 Oct 2020:
I went yesterday for a follow up with my surgeon. Everything looks to be healing well. I am still wearing an abdominal binder that was put on me directly after surgery. No more lipo foam underneath. I have the option of wearing a post surgery girdle type garment but it is so much more uncomfortable than the binder so I will only wear that if I have to go among friends because you can’t notice it as much under clothes.
As far as pain, it eases up some every day. Definitely is dependent on how much I did that day. My implants seem to be dropping, the contractions that make you feel engorged like when a milk supply comes in has finally gone away. The incision under my breasts sometimes feels like pins and needles but it’s not unbearable. My husband took our girls to visit his family for the weekend so I would be able to rest some more. I feel like I need to keep taking care of them completely when they are around even though everyone is more than willing to help. So with them gone I felt comfortable taking a sleep aid and I woke up feeling better than I have so far. I think being able to sleep deeply and not constantly turn and consequently tug at all of my incisions was a huge help to my healing process. I will go back to the surgeon at the end of the week for another follow up and will update again then.
Updated on 1 Apr 2022:
I am so thrilled with how everything turned out. Wanted to update with the fully settled result. I am also down 15 pounds in the new pictures from the preop pictures. I have gone back and forth with not sure if I should’ve done a full tummy tuck as I do have loose skin above my belly button but it is something only I really notice and it isn’t noticeable under clothes.