Butt Implant Revision - 420cc

Time flies after you get to the 5 or 6ish week mark. At 6.5 weeks, I went on a vacation to Mexico that involved sitting on the plane for 5 hours. It was a little uncomfortable to sit for so many hours, but I just brought my soft quince alternative down pillow to sit on, and that was a lifesaver. I also got up to walk around a few times and lifted my butt up from the seat to do pressure releases every 15 minutes or so. Everything else about the vacation was easy peasy! I played in the ocean, went kayaking, rode on bumpy golf carts... no issues with anything. Wore bikinis every day and felt super confident from every angle. Incision is very cleanly healed and fading already.
The seroma is no longer an issue. Dr. Stanton drained it 3 times and that was it. Interestingly, the area underneath the seroma on my back thigh stayed a bit sore (almost like a bruised feeling) for a few weeks but I think that's probably normal. It doesn't hurt anymore now.
I had my 2 month post-op with Dr. Stanton last week and everything was great! He said my booty is probably in its mostly-final form now. Might change a teeny bit in the next few months but probably not much. Everything else is looking great and no issues. Phew! I really like Dr. Stanton and have enjoyed chatting with him at all my appointments. He's really honest and kind, and most importantly, he truly is an expert at what he does.
My biggest complaint before the revision is that my butt looked really weird and unnatural when I would squat in a certain way. I felt really self conscious about it, especially when wearing tight leggings. After the revision, that issue is completely gone! I'm sooo happy about that. Booty looks really natural in squat position lol. I think it helps that I have a size that fits my body really well. Like I said before - it's definitely not a gigantic booty. I went down a size AND it looks smaller because it's squished inside my muscle instead of being on top of the muscle. But it's perfect for me and looks really cute and proportional. People don't look at me and immediately think I've had work done, which is another insecurity I had before when my booty was much bigger.
Sitting still feels weird and uncomfortable at times but it gets better every week and doesn't stop me from living life normally. When I sit for too long, my butt starts to hurt but I just have to shift positions. I can work out and do pretty much everything normally again except running and situps which still feel weird. I still sleep with a pillow under my back thighs but I prob don't need to do that anymore. I even felt recovered enough to get more big hip tattoos while laying on my back and my side last week lol (18 hours of tattooing). So happy to be back to normal life!

So happy to be hitting the 5 week mark. I would say around the 4.5 week mark, I started to really feel like I could "live life" again... the main milestone that has changed things for me has been being able to sit again with minimal discomfort. Being able to sit like a normal person means I can go out to eat, hang out with friends, drive myself places, etc... you don't know what you take for granted until you have taken away lol. I started trying to sit down around 3 weeks but it initially felt sooooo weird and uncomfortable. You would think I'd be used to it since I've had butt implants before, but nope. I would try to sit on a pillow (with most of it bunched under my legs so that my butt could get some breathing room) but it just always felt like I was putting too much pressure on my implants and I was super paranoid about my incisions opening if I bent over too much (totally irrational fear; don't be like me). My butt muscle was also still super tight and wasn't used to stretching into sitting position yet. So I took it slow and only sat down for meal time each day until it eventually started feeling better and I could gradually sit for longer and longer.
Around the 4 week mark, I started walking like a mostly normal person. My waddle disappeared and I was able to engage my butt muscles a bit more when walking. Now at 5 weeks, I feel like I have my stride completely back, and I can wear boots with chunky heels again
My flexibility has returned a lot. I can now stretch all the way down to the floor and touch my toes. I can pick things up off the ground. I can squat down to the ground to pick up my dog's poop and stand back up without much struggle. I can easily put on socks and leggings by myself (there's still a bit of "technique" involved but it's pretty easy).
I've been able to sleep on my back through half of the night with this leg elevation pillow (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09876YDT8?), which I now love. Halfway through the night, almost like clockwork, my body will make me up and my lower back will be sore enough that I'll need to get on my tummy again. It's not too bad though and starting tonight, I'm going to sleep on my sides again. I could've started sleeping on my sides at week 3 but I didn't realize that until I re-read the care instructions today. Ooops.
Every part of this recovery - sitting, walking, flexibility, sleeping comfort, etc - has been a gradual process so it helps to just take each thing slow and understand that everything improves over time. Every single day continues to get easier.
Yesterday, Dr. Stanton drained my seroma a third time and I'm pretty sure it's the last time I'll need to get it drained. He only got around 10cc's out, and he said it probably would've re-absorbed on its own back into my body if I hadn't come in. I'm feeling really relieved about that because it was the only minor complication I had to deal with. It honestly wasn't even that bad... but the area where I had fluid buildup is definitely a little more sore and tender than the rest of my butt.
Around the 3.5 week mark, I had a weird thing happen where I bent over to use the toilet, and I felt a stitch break open on the top part of one incision. A couple days later, the same thing happened on the other side, except this time I felt a looot of stitches break open and it traveled up along my incision like dominoes - it kinda felt like a *pop pop pop* sensation. It was a very unsettling feeling. I told Cece about it and she said it wasn't the stitches but it reeeeally felt like it. Then I asked Dr. Stanton about it when I saw him for my seroma draining and he confirmed it was the stitches. It's nothing to worry about, because the dissolving stitches are just weakening so it makes sense that they would break over time. But it's a super weird feeling and I was definitely a bit more paranoid about my incisions after it happened. They've been perfectly fine and healthy this whole time though so there's really nothing to worry about. Still healing super well and basically invisible because of my tattoos. When I wear a thong, you can't see them at all.
Doc says swelling should be 80-90% gone now. But my implants are still in the process of "dropping and fluffing", and when the fluff happens, I will get a tiny bit more projection. Honestly, fluff or no fluff, I'm already super happy with how it looks. I'm not looking for a mega booty anymore; I just want something healthy that fits my frame and flies a bit under the radar (like people just think I'm super lucky or that I work out a lot) and I really feel like I have that now, after this revision. I feel like for me personally, the smaller the implants, the easier it is to see myself living with them permanently. Also, because I know that I'll always be able to feel them a little bit, smaller is better for me. Ultimately, I'm just super grateful to be healing well and walking away with a cute lil bubble butt behind me.
Dr. Stanton is truly the best at what he does. Choose any other doctor, and you might find yourself coming to Dr. Stanton in a few years for a revision... like me lol.

I’ve been having fluid build up on the left side since I got my tubes out. Doc says this is a pretty normal issue when there’s an old pocket that the old implant was removed from (which I only had on my left side). Very easy fix if you’re local… which I thankfully am. I just went into Dr. Stanton’s office this morning and he removed around 60ccs of fluid with a needle. He injected a numbing shot first, so it was painless. After he removed the fluid, he gave me a steroid shot to stop the fluid from further building up. Hopefully I don’t have to come in for this again but we shall see. Doc says it’s nothing to worry about and will resolve over time. Shape looks great otherwise and everything else is healing great. Dr. Stanton and his staff have continued to be incredibly helpful snd supportive through every part of this process!

Also, I figured out the ideal position for sitting on the toilet.. reverse cowgirl, straddling the back of the toilet. Game changer!! Amazing for getting through those morning BMs lol. I had completely forgotten this is how I gotten through my entire first surgery.