31yrs, No Child, 5.8', 147lbs, BL & BA, Motiva 525cc moderate, Full anchor lift

Beautiful women!
How are you all??
How is everyone going in their recovery or researching journey???
Firstly I wanted to ask if any of you beautiful ladies would please be able to provide any advice and also brands/types of post surgery bras that you wear? as mentioned - I had implants (525cc demi profile) and a FULL lift, I'm really wanting to make sure that my breasts don't sag too much or position themselves too laterally during this process and whilst there's no science to evidence that bra selection plays a part - there is opinions from surgeons to suggest it's importance.
If any of you wise women could pass on any advice I would be forever grateful! also any types of bras in particular that I might be able to find on ebay or Amazon - I seem to recall reading a review about someone making a type of bra which helped to keep the implants in place, I can't recall the exact details though - anyway! any advice or suggestions would be so great!
So! I've made it to the 4 week mark. Officially 1 month post op. What do I have to report and what's new?
- My boobs have been softening up, they just feel like semi hard rocks now instead of fully hard =)
- They are starting to drop and fluff, starting to get a little more inner cleavage, still have more to to go, but i'm happy with them taking their time to drop, with the sagginess of my breasts pre surgery I'm quite happy for them not to drop toooo quickly!
My incisions are healing and looking great, One of the incisions on my right side where the vertical scar meets the inframammory crease is taking a little longer to heal, I sent a photo to my surgeon who responded promptly to put my mind at ease and recommended I just keep it covered with a little bandage and apply some antiobiotic cream to assist in it's healing and that it may take a little longer to heal than the other side. A little bump in the journey but nothing that my body (and mind!) isn't able to heal.
Just another little reminder of the bigger picture lessons in life - expecting perfection will always result in feeling disappointment. Our journeys aren't meant to be perfect. Our bodies aren't meant to be perfect. We aren't meant to be perfect. Because perfection is a myth. To be left in the fairytale books.
Perfection isn't attainable...
BUT
We can improve.
We can progress
We can learn
We can grow
We can learn to love ourselves and accept our beautiful imperfections
These are all wonderful things, improving ourselves (mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally), identifying areas where we are not quite where we want to be and working on those areas.
But blaming ourselves, judging ourselves, personifying with the mistakes we make instead of seeing them for what they really are - (opportunities for growth) or labelling ourselves is a surefire way to feed a cycle that instead of leading to loving and taking care of ourselves, is more than likely to result in us repeating the very same behaviours that we were wanting to work on in the first place.
This week I was challenged on my own belief system of not striving for perfection, but striving for progress, for growth, for self love and for acceptance. It is one thing to have a belief system - it is another thing to actively choose behaviours and thoughts that are in line with your beliefs.
Recognise that there will be challenges the universe sends us to test our will. To test our ability to make changes to the way we respond or the way we react. It will be hard, there will always be an easier option available that we could choose - that easier option meaning = we could give up, throw the towel in, give in to old behaviours or patterns that don't serve us well or decide that it's all "too hard" but I encourage you, me and all of us to NEVER give in. Never accept defeat. Never stop believing in ourselves and to always strive to learn, to love and to live a life not dictated by fear, self limitations or lack of self love.
I share the below in hope of it being a reminder that we all have our challenges, we all have our moments, we all have our days and that is what make us human!
This week my spine issues had me bed ridden. Despite all my efforts to work on this pain over the last year.
This week had me questioning whether I will ever get to a place where I'm able to function 100%, exercise again, and live a life where i'm not plagued with pain. I started questioning myself and ability to heal.
This week the thieves of joy popped their head out of the woods.. I started looking around at those able to function with no pain, to exercise, to do the things I have been unable to do and felt a little disheartened
My self love tank even took a hit when I started to looked in the mirror at my new boobilicious girls and instead of seeing them for what I know they are - a beautiful shaped full and improved breast that is balanced and beautiful - I started self critiquing, "they're smaller than I had wanted", "if only my PS chose one size bigger", "I wanted side round clevage and there is none", thoughts that lacked perspective, rationale, gratitude and the bigger picture.
This week life sent me challenges to really test what I believe in so strongly:
- that perfection doesn't exist - so don't look for it
- that there are NO LIMITS, that the only limits we have are the limits I choose to believe
- that my feelings are not FACTS. They are simply that - just a feeling in a moment in time.
and to never ever give up!!!
We all have challenges, moments, "character building" days - and that is okay - that is normal, that doesn't make us a failure..... it's what we choose to DO with these days that matters most.
And I am choosing the move the only way I know.. FORWARD. To live and act by my belief system instead of just preaching it.
To apply perspective - I may have spine issues - but I'm lucky I have 2 legs and 2 arms
To remind myself my feelings are not fact - i may feel useless - but I am far from useless
To be kind to myself and my body - to show it love and to support it through it's healing process
To never stop believing in myself, that I can reach every goal I set out to achieve.
Onwards and Upwards! We live, we learn, we grow [RS bleep]
Attached are a few pics I've taken in the last couple of days
Sending you all so much love and light on your own journeys! [RS bleep]

Well I'm pretty excited to say I'm at the 3 week mark, but I think it'll be more exciting when I get to the 4 week mark, purely because I much prefer even numbers over odd numbers - Yes I am weird.

Hello to all my lovely ladies! firstly I need to apologise for the delay in responding to the thoughtful, insightful, caring and lovely comments I am so blessed to receive from you - my account seems to be drunk - it's not showing all my notifications, then my updates page is showing profiles that I don't follow and the picture updates don't apply to the user name above it. So I've been missing quite a few comments and I don't like the thought of anyone's comments opinions or experiences they so kindly, bravely and considerately share with me being ignored or discredited. I'm going to go through my profile after this post to check I haven't missed too many comments!

Hopefully my account lays off the vodka in the future...

Secondly, healing is going well, I have been feeling much less stiff in the mornings which has been a huge win. I still find it difficult to reach too far above my head and certain movements give me slight discomfort - but overall - all is going well. Side profile (as you'll see from pics) they are still sitting pretty high and will drop in their own time, from the front - I can see they are starting to drop and appear more natural. Time of the month is playing a part in me feeling a little bla, bloated, energy levels a little low, but all part of the course of being a woman right! =)

Sorry if this is too much info or gross for some of you to read - but it may be helpful to others - the scabs on my incisions are starting to come off, I can still see the dissolvable stitches, scabs and glue in some ares, but there are a couple of little parts where the stitches, scab and glue has come off so I can see just a clean scar and I'm happy with what I can see, they don't appear to be bumpy, or too overly red.

I am applying bio oil two times a day and cicalfate cream (avene brand) which is scar repair cream recommended by my PS at the evenings. I am keeping up with my fluids, trying to keep active where possible in the way of very light intensity walks when my disc pain in back isn't too severe, fuelling my body with the food it needs and trying to get as much sleep as I can although I must admit - I am not getting in enough sleep (feel free to scold me on this one ladies! i know I need to be better with sleep!) I can't wait until I can get back to sleeping on my side. I start my day each day with my berocca and magnesium efferverscent tablets, I love the vitamin C and magnesium for many reasons - but I particularly find it really helpful in aiding bowel movements, i also have a tablespoon of chlorophyll in a glass of water for it's alkalising benefits and also aiding in digestion. My digestive system has never been happier, I was so proud of it for being regular every day after surgery and other than a bloat, it has been wonderful (celebrate each and every little win!). I also take a multi vitamin, D-Mannose vitamin (an awesome TESTED supplement for preventing UTI's which I use to get regularly), Curcumin vitamin (another awesome TESTED vitamin which assists with cellular health and joint pain. I don't believe in taking a whole heap of vitamins and supplements just for the heck of it. I spend a lot of time researching supplements based on scientific tested articles or reviews to ensure that it has some backing via evidence to support the claims. The market is so flooded with gimmicks and outrageous claims - I think it's wise to make educated choices with what we choose to put in our bodies in the way of vitamins/supplements. I was taking bromelain and traumeel post surgery recommended by my PS to assist with the bruising - and i'm not sure whether it was just my body or whether the supplements helped but I really did have minimal bruising.

The scabs, stitches and glue are taking their time to fall off, but I'm also aware that I haven't been really rubbing/scrubbing them too much in the shower out of fear of scrubbing them off before they are ready,
I'm not jumping the gun nor am i stressing over my incisions, just as I've believe throughout this whole process, I believe our bodies are at the most advantage when we are kind to them, when we choose comforting, loving and patient thoughts, when we replace over-analysing or stressing with being patience. Of course along the way we are going to have hiccups, some days we are going to want to sit in front of the mirror and pick ourselves/our breasts apart - and that is okay! as long as we pick ourselves back up, shake ourselves off, acknowledge it for what it was (being human), check in with some healthier coping mechanisms (i.e. instead of negatively analysing ourselves - picking out the strengths, positives and other beauty we encompass) and moving forward. I know at times I can be too hard on myself, I know that I have my moments where I resort to habits that I know aren't conducive to being kind to myself, then I judge myself for having thoughts that aren't helpful, but what do we get from judging ourselves? guilt? we may feel like a failure, we may feel like we are stupid? essentially there is nothing good to come from judging ourselves or negatively labelling ourselves.

Acknowledging where we have responded in a way that may not have been helpful is VERY different to labelling. Acknoledging where we want to be better is a sign that we recognise we are not quite where want to be in our journey, and that is okay, it is also acknowledging where we can change a thought or action and that we can always continue to grow and learn.

Acknowledging areas we want to improve on is a great thing, being kind to ourselves whilst we work on those areas is even greater. Leave the judgements for court and instead replace it with kindness, compassion and love for ourselves.

Today I'm choosing to be kind when I have a thought that may be unhealthy. Today I am choosing to look in the mirror and thank my body for all of it's healing, not judging whether it is healing "too slow" or "not enough", today I am going to avoid any self limiting beliefs that I may have from picked up from past experiences in my life whether that be through the recent years or childhood and today I'm going to give my boobies a extra big grope and thank them for looking their age again (31 instead of 80!)

I know I sound like a broken record - but I can't seem to stop expressing my gratitude to all the support I have on here, as I said in previous post, only my best friend who lives in a different country and time zone knows of my operation (and my partner) so It has been overwhelmingly comforting to have your friendship and words of encouragement whilst I navigate my way through this recovery process.

Thank you so so much!!!

Love to all and love to all your new (or soon to be new) boobies!

Photos attached of week 3, excuse all the cream and oil all over the scars, the cicalfate creme really sticks! They still have some dropping to do, little by little they will get there and in the meantime I will focus on putting all my energy into healing and letting them do their thing in their own time x

[RS bleep]

Today let's all choose to be kind to ourselves. To pick one little thing to do that shows love and compassion to ourselves. Whether that be To look in the mirror and say one good thing about ourselves. Perhaps it is acknowledging a little win from the day. Perhaps it is even thanking our body for our it is healing. Even if consciously we may not completely believe what we are telling ourselves it. I guarantee that if we formed these habits regularly day by day, started replacing the negative self talk with positive talk then we will consciously start to love ourselves for everything we are, all the bumps, all the beauty, all the flaws, all our little quirky habits and behaviours that make us uniquely US!

Our minds are the most powerful creatures when we choose to believe in the power of our thoughts and how those thoughts we have shape our everything, our behaviours, our perceptions, our reality.

It's not hard to tell by my username that I love exercise and invest time into physical exercise, but mental exercise - working on our thoughts is just as important (at times perhaps even if MORE important) than working on our physical body/health.

Sitting here typing to all you lovely ladies with avene cicalfate cream on my breasts and trying to cope a little glimpse of my boobs on the laptop screen... hey at least i'm honest right!?

Currently my incisions look very dark (black'ish) and quite pronounced as they still have the black dissolvable stitches in them making them look dark and also the glue so I'm very gently rubbing oil and creme on them to assist in their healing and aid in the process of stitches dissolving and also the glue which is making the incisions very dry.

I've been applying bio oil twice to my scars throughout the day and cicalfate cream over night. My incisions are still quite dry with glue and dissolvable stitches but I trust that they are going to be just fine with time, patience, rest, positive thoughts, not stressing over them and of course - the right treatment protocol.

I have ordered silicone strips (thank you for all the advice you so kindly shared with me) and will continue with bio oil and cicalfate creme also.

Trying to put creme and oil in the bottom incision is always quite a laugh, I have to bend in all sorts of weird positions, whilst getting random cramps from trying to bend so much to try manoeuvre my hand to rub the creme on the under crease incision without hitting my breast on the side (which is still tender), i'm not quite use to having such full wide breasts, in the old days it would be a matter of lifting up my old saggy boob and rubbing it on, this big full wide breast thing makes it a lot more entertaining. Nothing to lift up anymore now either - thank you Dr Plovier =)

Not much else to report, I'm missing my training, i haven't been able to exercise in 3 months which has been hugely challenging for me as my exercise is my therapy (as discussed in previous message) but finding the silver lining (which was hard to find!!!) in this time away from exercising as I've been able to invest even more time in doing some internal work, working on my thoughts and mentality, this whole breast surgery journey has also been just as much mental as it has been physical and the challenges encountered on this journey has been an awesome instigator of growth for me.

The reality of breast surgery is that we seek a change in our appearance and I don't believe this is "wrong", "unhealthy", "fake" or makes us "shallow", negatively labelling ourselves or others is never healthy or helpful. At the end of the day people are going to judge, people are going to cast their own insecurities onto us, shall we choose to tell others about our surgery - there is the possibility they will pass their judgements onto us (both negative and positive). That is the reality of life, we are human, we have opinions, some helpful, some unhelpful. But one thing is certain, another persons opinion of us is NOT fact, another persons opinion of us is more times than not - their reflection of themselves that they are projecting on to you. We can't control how other people talk to us, but we can control how we choose to react. Believing in ourselves and loving ourselves regardless of what others think is something I aim for every day - I still haven't mastered that art but it's a work in progress! i think this surgery is definitely going to assist in practicing this concept if or when I have others pass judgement on my surgery. And that is okay.

I think it's beautiful when us women strive to be compassionate, uplifting, empathetic, real and authentic and I am so grateful to be part of this empowering community.

To everyone who has commented and provided support and love throughout my journey - I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Only my partner and best friend know of my surgery (personal choice) and it's been a great source of comfort to have the support I Have here.

Leaving you with some updated photos from Day 19 (i think), it is the time of the month so I am feeling a little bloated, a little more stiff in the back, hungry! but HAPPY!

Please let me know how you are all going? what challenges are you finding in the process? how are you overcoming them? would love to hear of all your experiences and keep the updates coming! even though there appears to be some technical glitch with the system at moment where I am missing half of your updates or the update photos aren't matching with the user name - I always love reading them! (when I can see them)

Hugs to you all xxxx

[RS bleep]