44 Year Old Mother of 3 (Including Twins) on the Road to Recovery!

I'm a 44 year old mother of 3 daughters (including twins). I've been thinking about a Tummy Tuck for the last 7 years, since the twins were born. After one too many people asked when I was "due" - I finally did it on May 14, 2014! I got a tummy tuck, with lipo to flanks and inner thighs. Yesterday was day 11, and I really turned a corner. It was the first day I was out of bed for the majority of the day. I actually went out to dinner with my family! I probably over did it a bit, but it felt good. I think it's important to realize going into this that it is going to be a long road to recovery. I was a little too optimistic, thinking I was going to be all recovered in 2 weeks. I was also told it would be similar to a C-Section. I had 2 of those, and didn't think the recovery was too bad. This is just my experience, but it was WAY worse than a C-Section for me. I think it's a good idea to be prepared for this in case. The first 5 days were the worst. I had 2 drains, which I hated. And, the pain was unbelievable. Make sure to take your pain meds regularly! Also, the doctor wanted me up walking right away 4 or 5 times a day - that was not fun at first. I also felt very depressed - the feeling of what did I do to myself??? Also, right after surgery - your tummy will not look like the after photos you see. Mine was a complete mess - very swollen, bruised - and lumpy. My thighs were huge - bigger than before, and badly bruised. It was hard to see the improvement. You just need to be patient. It's insane the improvement I have seen in the past few days. Yesterday, I was giddy and couldn't stop smiling. I still have a long way to go - which is exciting that it's going to get better! My doctor said to plan on about 3 months to see final results - for my lipo, it takes up to 6 months. It's very important to let yourself heal - let others help you. I didn't do much of anything for the first 10 days. One of the best things I did was to buy one of those high toilet seats - it just sits on the toilet, so easily removed. Got it on Amazon for about $20. Highly recommend this!! I also bought some big lounge pants and tops, in addition to some big cotton undies from Target. It's very hard to get in and out of clothes, so this really helped. And, you aren't going to want to wear your normal underwear - you need to have nice comfy briefs for the drains - plus, there if often leakage from the drains and the incision - so you will be happy to wear stuff you don't care about. Hope these tips are helpful - I'm sure I have more to share if anyone has any specific questions. Bottom line is that it's no picnic, but it's totally worth it. I'm so happy that I finally did it!!

So I'm at Day 18. Doing much better overall - up and around, getting back to normal. I'm now having swelling in my upper belly under my bra line. Really annoying. Anyone else experience this??

Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since the surgery. Doing much better overall but have quite a bit of swelling in my upper stomach. I was worried I might have a Seroma because it felt like a squishy lump. I went to doc today - he stuck a needle in my tummy to check for fluid (that was fun). Got nothing so need to ride it out. There is a small chance I popped an internal suture but that is unlikely. Hope it will go down soon because it's really annoying and painful! He did say that I'm healing nicely. He says I don't need to wear the binder all the time now, but it actually feels better to have it on. I'm able to sleep on my side now which is wonderful! Still can't do tummy but side is much better than back to me! I'm looking forward to feeling better each week. I'm wondering if my clothes size is going to change much - would love to hear any feedback on this. Thanks!!