43 Year Old Mom of 3

Hi! I'm a 43 year old mother of 3 and just had my "mommy makeover less than 24 hours ago. I had a drainless tummy tuck using exparel with abdominal tightening for diastasis and breast implant revision and mastopexy. Previous implants were done 17 years ago, with saline implants over the muscle, via TUBA. I had very minor capsular contracture and minor noticeable rippling at the time of surgery. I didn't have to have the revision done at the time of tt but decided to, to avoid another surgery. This time I went with silicone gummy bear implants that were placed under the muscle.

I have become a very active person over the last 1.5 years. I lost around 30 pounds last year. I work out 5 + days a week. Minimal cardio and mostly weightlifting (ladies weightlifting is wonderful for losing and maintaining weight loss, much better than straight up cardio). I have grow to LOVE it actually and am in the process of obtaining my Personal Training Certification through the American College of Sports Medicine! I did not have a lot of fat in the abdominal area prior to surgery. I did however, have loose skin and stretch marks that make it look raisiny. Diet and exercise can not fix those things. I decided that I have worked my butt off...literally lol, and wanted to be able to rock a bikini and have plans to enter a bikini fitness competition later this year and early next year. I am so excited!

As far as friends and family are concerned, most that know have been supportive. I have gotten comments like you're skinny, what do you need a tummy tuck for, or everyone has stretch marks. I explain that because of the abdominal separation from my 3 pregnancies, I'll never get that that flat tummy no matter what I do. Those have been the comments made, but it doesn't bother me. Aside from my daughters, who are 18 and 21, I haven't told any of my family as I'm sure their comments would be less than desirable and I'm positive they wouldn't like what I have to say in return, so I decided they need not know. Ultimately, I am doing this to make myself happy and honestly don't really care what anyone else thinks because this is for me. I won't allow them to rain on my parade. The only opinions that really matter are my daughter's and husband. My husband has been incredibly supportive. My oldest daughter is supportive but I can tell she doesn't really think I should be doing it, although she has never said so. My youngest daughter (18) has been so supportive and told me she is happy for me that I am doing this for myself because she knows how much my tummy bothered me. At the end of the day, I am blessed to be able to not only afford to have it done but to have amazing support from my family and friends.

My surgery was yesterday and took about 6.5 hours. I had no trouble waking up after the surgery. I actually don't even really remember it. All night really remember is getting in the car to go home lol! I was in minimal pain from the TT thanks to the exparel. Most of my pain came from the breast augmentation. That said, my pain has been completely manageable. I have been able to go up and down steps fairly well. Thank goodness we have electric recliners as it makes my life so much easier. I easily changed dressings, with assistance from my husband last night. It was pretty gross looking but I can already see a difference in the tummy tuck and that has me beyond excited! I have been sure to take my meds consistently to help with managing the pain as well. My compression garment/girdle is black (highly recommend) and has eye hooks on each side along with a zipper. It was easy to get off (only undid 1 side) and to put back on. It does have the "pee hole" in it, which I have yet to master ???? but I highly recommend. I would also recommend you have at least 2 of the garments.

I am now in my 2nd day post op and I am definitely feeling more pain today. Not sure if it's because the exparel is wearing off or I overdid it yesterday(which I tend to do) or a combination of both. Nevertheless, more discomfort but manageable and not excruciating. I haven't had a bowel movement yet but am taking miralax. Hopefully soon. Definitely don't want to deal with constipation! I have had to cough a few times and that was incredibly painful!

I haven't had much of an appetite but make sure to eat before taking any meds. I have been drinking a ton of water!

With regards to the breast revision, that bothered me more, initially, than the tummy tuck. Today I think they are on an equal playing field. The implants are sitting up high and I can tell the muscle is being stretched near the armpit area. That said, I knew to expect this. My Doctor did a fabulous job in communicating with me and I came home knowing what to expect and wasn't surprised. His nursing staff were nothing short of amazing as well. He did a TT for my nurse (we'll be belly button twins lol) so she was very helpful and did not sugar coat the recovery process. It was nice to have first hand knowledge from someone who has experienced it!

Oh and for pain, I was prescribed dilaudid and norco. Keflex for my antibiotic!

I will try to post additional updates and pics as we go along. I'm including before pics and day 1 post op pics!

I am 13 days post op and doing well! I stopped taking pain meds 5 days post op and have been taking only Tylenol and mostly taking that to help with swelling. I was told I can start light cardio post op and plan to begin that tomorrow. My plan is to try to get in 20 minutes on the treadmilll, walking at around 2.5-3.0 and if that goes well I will just bump up to 30 minutes a day for the next 2 weeks. Also- I'm not sure if I mentioned it in the previous review but I did have a drainless tummy tuck with a short vertical incision as I didn't have enough loose skin above the belly button. I tried on the most revealing g string that i own and almost all of the scar -- both vertical and horizontal are covered! Dr. Says I may possibly have some necrosis starting in the center area where it's dark but that it could be bruising too. It's definitely improved with time so I am crossing my fingers that it's just bruising. I have to admit the appearance of my boobs freaked me out a bit. The implants are up high and squared. Completely different than my original implants that were over the muscle. They are starting to drop. I am anxious to get rid of my "spongebob square boobs" haha!