34 Year Old, 5'5", 115lbs, Healthy-lifestyle Enthusiast, Mom Upgrading with 400cc Sientra Anatomical Implants. Campbell, CA

This has happened fairly quickly in a sense. I met with my PS for a consultation on Tuesday, went in for my sizing appointment on Thursday, will go in next week for pre-op, and will have surgery on November 26th! But, really, this has been something I have been thinking about for quite some time. I have never been happy about my breast size and have always been self-conscious about that part of my body. I'm happily married with two young children(2 and 4) and I still sometimes resist my husband touching my breasts because in my head I'm thinking, "Oh gosh, they are so small." I casually mentioned it to my husband last year and he, without any hesitation, said that I should do it if I wanted to. Since then, we had talked about it on and off casually. Then, two months ago he said I should really look into it seriously because he thought I should take advantage of his time off during the holidays. Alright! I started my research and quickly and fairly easily found my PS. She has over 25 years of experience and really satisfied all the criteria I was looking for in a PS.

I'm excited and hopeful that everything will turn out the way I want it to. My biggest concern in regards to my procedure is that I chose the right size and that my recovery is not bad. My husband will be home with me for 6 days, but I'll be on my own during the day with my two young children, from that point on. I'm guessing there will be a fair amount of TV watching, hanging out at home, and walks to the park. I hope I don't go crazy! I'm a crossfitter and eat a very healthy(almost completely Paleo) diet and I have no doubt that I will miss working out. I'm very much love working out and preparing healthy meals daily and so not being able to do so for a while will be a challenge.

I have found it very helpful to read other women's experiences and hope that my story will add to that collection in a positive way.

One of the things that I really appreciate about this community is the ability to see other women's photos and measurements/stats before and after their BA. Since selecting a size can be such a challenge and it can cause stress(guilty!) over whether you are going too big or too small, it's really nice to have that all for as a guide or examples of what I may look like.

Like I mentioned in my previous post, right now I've committed to getting 400cc of silicone in my implants and although I wavered in my decision for two days afterward, I think I'm confident in that amount right now. I don't really have much to start with and from what I've read, PS approximate that about 200cc is equivalent to a cup size, that'll set me right in a solid C cup. In my mind, that sounds about where I want to be, but it's all relative with bras and such.

In order to help me and potentially any other lady with similar stats as myself, I want to share my measurements. I just measured at the end of the day, and I just got home from working out.

Chest(including breasts): 33 inches
Chest(right below breasts): 29.5 inches
Waist: 26 inches
Hips: 35.5 inches

Can't wait to measure afterwards! I just tried to load a photo of my wearing the sizers, but of course I'm having issues. I'll try it tomorrow.

On a totally unrelated note; I've started a list of things that I think I'll need or what I have to prepare. The only thing my doctor has told me to get is some comfortable simple bras to wear for after. Her office manager said I'll be wearing them all day and night for the first month. I have my pre-op on Thursday, so I'm sure I'll get more details then. My list so far includes one of those seat-pillow things, bras, long straws(HA!), and frozen meals. I've been cooking my way through Against All Grain: Meals Made Simple, and she has a big selection of crockpot meals. I'm hoping to prep those the weekend before and then stick them in the freezer. I'd love to hear what anyone else recommends I get or do!

On Thursday, November 13th, I went to my pre-op appointment with Dr. Rosenthal, my PS. I left my house with enough time to get there at the appropriate time, unfortunately, I quickly noticed that the traffic; which, I wasn't anticipating at all, would prevent me from doing so. Ugh. Luckily, on my way there I called the office and her office manager, who is just the sweetest, said it was fine and they'd just see me when I got there.

I got in about 15 minutes late and they quickly brought me into the room and handed me a large stack of papers to read through and sign. I had to take my 2 year-old with me to the appointment and made sure to bring snacks and a movie on the iPad for him and that helped keep him happy for most of the appointment. But, whining...why must there always be whining?! I was happy to not feel like he was a nuisance or that I wasn't allowed to bring him. I always am concerned about bringing kids to meetings. My PS went through a lot of the details pertaining to the surgery and the recovery. She was very thorough as always and asked if I had any questions. I've been doing a fair amount of research on it, so I haven't had very many questions that need answering. I did ask about stitches(they will be internally placed), and scar treatments. She went over two common ones, bioCorneum and the silicone strips. Her recommendation was that I go with the bioCorneum because the strips can sometimes be uncomfortable and inconvenient. After our discussion, she quickly examined me and proceeded to take photos of my breasts from different angles. I brought up my concerns over the size and she measured me again. I asked for her opinion and considering my size she suggested that 350cc would be a good fit for me. I'd been teetering, but mostly leaning towards 400cc because of what I looked like with the sizers. When I went in for my sizing appointment, the first size that I tried on and kept coming back to was 350cc. It felt like the right proportions for my body and my husband thought they looked great. The assistant said that when inserted under the muscle you will lose about 10% in projection and that if I wanted to look like that, I needed to go with 400cc. But in my mind, I've been thinking, "Four-hundred, that seems like so much!" Yet, it makes sense to go with that size. Again, back and forth here. It's a hard decision! Well, after hearing my PS make that comment, I told her I wanted to change to 350cc. We finish with things in the examination room and as I'm filling out paperwork in the waiting room, I'm still debating the size in my head. Feeling like I really should try on the sizers again, I go up and ask if I can do so. They very nicely said I could, but that there was a patient waiting in the room they are in and that I would have to wait. A minute later, the assistant lets me know I can just come back on Monday if I like and have a full on sizing appointment again! Yay! They said it wasn't a problem at all and that it's not uncommon for women to come back for more than one sizing. In fact, one of the assistants mentioned that one particular patient had come back for 9 sizing appointment because she couldn’t decide. Lacey, the office manager/assistant was so sweet and even suggested I bring more tops as options to compare the look of the sizers. I mentioned that I’d have to bring both my children in and she said it wasn’t a big deal at all and that if I wanted to, I could even bring in a DVD from home and that they could watch it in the waiting room while I tried the sizers on. That made me feel so relieved and really happy.

After getting my second sizing appointment settled for Monday, I paid the remaining balance for my PS’s work. I will be paying the fees for the medical center and anesthesiologist the morning of my surgery since she does her surgeries at location different from than where her office is and they are paid separately.

Before I left I remembered that Lacey had called me earlier in the week to remind me that I had won a prize for a raffle they had done earlier in the week. Once a year, Dr. Rosenthal’s office holds an evening event with food/drink where she invites all the reps from the companies for the services she provides. She invites new and former clients to come and ask questions, get advice, and socialize. I was lucky enough to have scheduled my consultation right before the event and was able to take advantage of a discount she gives that evening and enter a for a chance to win a variety of gifts. What was such a treat to have won! It was especially great because when I opened it, I realized that I’d been given a bottle of bioCorneum, Arnika Forte(it speeds the healing process), and a concealer palette. I had been planning on buying the first two products and now I didn’t need to!

I asked one of my girlfriends to go with me for support and to get her opinion on size on Monday. Although my husband was helpful during my first sizing appointment, I think he wasn’t afraid to have me go larger. HA! In our conversations about it, he has more than once said, “Go big or go home.” Yeah, so clearly, it’ll be nice to have an honest female friend’s perspective. She’s also interested in having some improvements done to her breasts after having a reduction about 10 years ago. I kinda lured her in by mentioning that she could probably try the sizers on too.

I have been wanting to post pictures of me wearing the sizers from my first appointment, but I think I’ll wait to post them tomorrow after my second sizing. I didn’t mark my pictures to identify what size I was wearing in each and I don’t remember. Perhaps I’ll get some Post-it’s(with the cc written on each) to take each picture with so I remember what sizers are in each picture. At this point, it’s still between 350cc or 400cc since the type of implant I’m going with doesn’t have anything in between. If there was 375cc, I would very easily have gone with that. But the Sientra shaped implants do not come in anything in-between those two options.

I’ll hopefully be able to update tomorrow with my final decision on cc’s and some photos. I’m really excited and can’t believe it’s less than two week away!