2015: Pregnancy Journey After Mommy Makeover - Dominican Republic

That I also had.. that upper bulge above the belly button that makes u look like u have two stomachs! So the wheels iny head began spinning. What if maybe I had had this all along?? A hernia since childhood or maybe it occurred after I had my first child? I've heard of both of those things happening even that u can be born with a hernia.. ok but hmm why them did it never hurt nor cause a problem before? Why would it have remained dormant and symptom-less and not become obvious till after my cosmetic sx? I have no answers for that. I have asked before if u can develop a hernia after a TT like maybe if something wasn't sewn effectively or if it came apart at the seams? The answer acRoss the board is pretty much the same... its a rate occurrence.

In my lifetime I have known a few ppl who have shared their hernia experiences with me. One was my aunt and I actually lived that with her. Many years before her hernia she had an appendectomy sx approximately 20 years. When the discovered her hernia it was explained to us that as a result of her appendectomy an area stayed weakened in her abdominal wall and as a result a piece of her instestine seeped out through there and had indeed become strangulated. She had surgery with mesh to repair it and that tint piece of instestine was removed and resectioned. That didn't last too long as she soon had problems and it once again reopened and it caused an infection in her abdominal cavity she's lucky to be here! That caused her to have a subsequent surgery, an emergency surgery that involved pig tissue being attached to her insides and sewn in place for repair since it is the closest thing to human tissue, that has held up 4/5 years now but very recently she has developed a huge lump that can be seen and looks like how it was prior to having any surgeries performed. Hernias from what I see really suck!

One of my cousins and also a childhood friend of mine told me about their hernias which came about during their pregnancies. At birth or shortly after they were repaired and have both been ok since then. But who knows what will happen to them down the road as well.. they have been cautioned against rigorous/strenuous exercise. I like to workout, I'd hate that to be the case with me as I tend to go rough with abdominal exercise that leaves me no hope :-(

So I have learned this. Apparently there are three types of hernia repair sx. Tension repair where they unite the tissues and just reset them, which has a high reoccurence rare unfortunately. Mesh repair which is supposed to hold up well unless ur body rejects it.. and donor tissue as in the case of my aunt where the used pig tissues.. if that happened to me, I'd personally have an issue eating pork again after that! I hope that whatever it is its something fairly simple enough. I just wish I could speed up my appointment with the specialist already as I'm dying to know the verdict... what exactly is wrong with my insides and why? I do remember once at Zumba about 2 months or so after sx. I was trying so hard to keep up and I felt so stiff and hopeless like I just couldn't keep up and I pushed myself extra hard.. I also remember trying to lift myself up and out of bed or the recliner, of course I wanted to accomplish this alone one day something inside me snapped! I literally heard amd felt it loke a rubberband come undone. Be that as it may, it might somehow explain the lump which is right at the site where the doc would have rejoined my muscle separation during muscle repair. But what about the smaller and yet more painful lump of supposed fat right along my incision??

I really need to sort all this out soon, wish me luck ladies. I don't know if being pregnant is a hindrance or a blessed miracle as far as these stupid lumps are concerned. I will go out on a limb and say it's a blessing bcuz maybe I can get this repaired here after giving birth and what's better, with my insurance. Bcuz I don't know what methods are used in DR to combat hernias which is where I would have ended up originally like are they are outdated when compared to USA? I'm just leaving it all in God's hands. Praying for the best possible outcomes!

That I,

Lately I had been experiencing pains in my abdomen along my incision. Ok nothing unusual I figured this was pretty normal for someone who became pregnant following a TT. Other times I just hoped and wondered if everything was ok and if baby had enough space within. Then I noticed that the worst pain I was experiencing wasn't coming from the incision at all but from the area that's on my incision where I supposedly have a hernia or a fat lump..

Also it has officially begun! I have finally been experiencing flutters and actual movement very recently YES movement from baby and not those fake ghost kicks I experienced following my TT! But confirmation from baby that all is progressing well with the pregnancy and baby is growing developmentally on target.. reassurance from my body as well. I figure after 10 pregnancies and 11 livebirths I can effectively distinguish phatom kicks from actual baby kicks.. I'm what u may call somewhat of an expert, lmao! Of course the doc had told me all was proceeding well. But u know it's always at the back of ur mind especially for me after hearing horrible TT PG stories.

Let me explain what I mean by fake kicks.. this may seem strange to some and maybe familiar to others. After my TT procedure but prior to becoming PG I felt sensations that I can only compare to a baby kicking from within. Except that it always occurred in the same exact spot slightly off to the left near where I had experienced the fluid leakage. When I discussed it with my PS she simply said it was nothing to worry about maybe just nerves waking up and doing their thing. But then months later I was still having those episodes and she said well it can be a number of things but without examining u I really can't pinpoint it as TT patients will feel an array of strange sensations and it's not unusual.

So I just figured I couldn't do a thing till I went back to see her. Around that time I also discovered the two lumps/possible hernias. I had pain in my abdomen that i knew wasn't simply part of my recovery since it came after I was back home and feeling better but due to being uninsured I wasn't really able to see a doctor. One night I did make a trip to the ER and the doc there confirmed that it was in fact a hernia but it was so unusual bcuz he may his diagnosis by simply feeling on my abdomen.. no tests, no ultrasound nada! One lump is to my right side along my incision. That he claimed was probably not a hernia but just maybe fat that got trapped underneath the tissues. The other lump is right where my PS would have done the muscle repair and sewn my muscles back together. From what I have learned about hernias, is that they in fact cam be fat or tissue trapped inside u or more commonly a weak or prolapsed area along the abdominal wall where a section of the instestineay be protruding through and the danger is that it may become strangulated. Maybe that's even why I felt kicking sensations? Who knows maybe I got rewired wrong somehow lol. I comforted myself by once again falling back on that option of fixing it when I returned to DR. My doc had told me that when I returned for the next round which would take care of my breat reduction, she would throw in free lipo and my hernia repair. I was of course planning to return soon but that got monkey wrenched upon learning I was expecting since it is now pushed off.

Recently while on sx groups on FB and forums I stumbled across images of women with TT and hernia repairs and guess what? I found one very similar characteristic in common with them that I also