Only Enough Skin for a Mini Tuck: May 6, 2011: Alberta, Canada

Hi to everyone. I am a mom of 3 amazing daughters. The first is turning 19 and she was a c-section birth and then there are my six year old twins (natural birth). My c-section was disastrous and left me with a wide ugly scar, which I had revised a year later, but it didn't heal well in the middle, so I was never happy with how it looked. I have always been fit and after both pregnancies was back to my normal weight of 126 lbs within 5 months but with stretchmarks on both sides. The ones on my butt never bothered me that much (first pregnancy) but the ones I developed this time around have brought me so much negative emotions and made me very self conscious. I have had Fraxel, Thermage and Titan on my abdomen and although I did see some improvement, it wasn't drastic.

I had three consults with different plastic surgeons and decided to go with the third Dr. He made me feel comfortable and I was really impressed with the photos of the tummy tucks he had preformed on previous patients with a similar build to mine. One comment made by all three Dr.'s was that I didn't have enough skin for a full tummy tuck (probably bc of the skin tightening procedures) unless I went with an upside down t-scar. I have stretchmarks above my navel (and tonnes below), so it was very disappointing to hear that they would have to stay. I have opted to have a mini, with muscle tightening but I still have to have a hip to hip incision.

I am booked for May 6th and I am getting very nervous, almost wanting to back out. I keep looking at the pictures on here of the scars and it freaks me out. I am also afraid of the recovery and the drain tubes, that looks so gross. I see others have set up recovery rooms but I just don't have anywhere to do that. I will have to keep sharing the bed with my husband during recovery... any suggestions on what will help to keep me comfortable (and him) in my queen bed would be greatly appreciated as would any words of encouragement.

Does everyone feel this way? I applaud everyone for posting pictures, it is interesting to see the transformation. It would be great to see some one or two year post ops too, which I plan to do.

Pictures to follow soon!

Today was the last workout before my surgery and it was a good one - two more sleeps! I am looking forward to getting this over with and to start my recovery. The anticipation of what I am going to look like is killing me!!

Had my surgery today and I feel great! Very minimal pain so far - hoping tomorrow is the same. The drain is not so bad and the binder feels perfectly supportive. I won't see anything until my first post-op visit on Monday - excited to see what I look like under all this padding :)