32 Year Old CrossFit Athlete Finally Gets Her Tummy Tuck - Fort Lauderdale, FL

12 years ago I had my first child..... And gained 100 pounds during it. After giving birth to a sweet, handsome loving little boy, it took me 2 and a half years to lose the weight. Ironically, I found out I was pregnant just as I reached that pre-pregnancy weight too. With this pregnancy, I gained 50 pounds and it took me 3 years to lose the weight. That was 6 years ago. What I was left with, was a belly button that was a constant, literal frown, and saggy abdominal skin that I couldn't get rid of. My weight loss started with running, and eventual crossed over to CrossFit and Obstacle Course Racing. This gave me more muscle, but only emphasized the saggy, wrinkly skin. I knew I wanted a tummy tuck, but also wanted to try everything in my power to get rid of the look before I went through an expensive and major surgery. 3 Months ago, I finally went in for a consultation with Dr. Chance Kaplan and made the decision to finally go through with the surgery.

Dr. Kaplan was recommended by my doctor in the Army as his wife was also using him for her own tummy tuck. Dr. Kaplan is also a Colonel in the Army Reserves himself and thus I loved the idea of using him and keeping it "in the Army family".

Now that I have had the surgery, I will continue to make updates throughout my recovery.

The first night of sleep was not bad at all! I went to be at around 10:30 and woke up about 6:30 and decided to stay up at that point. It was comfortable and I slept on the couch with pillows behind my back and under my knees. I didn't move at all and I am only taking 1 of the pain pills per 4 hours. It's mostly the stinging at this point that gets me. Being that everything down there is numb, I wonder if that is the nerves growing back already. I went to my first post op appointment today and got to take off the binder! Thank god to because it was so tight I could not breath. I could only take shallow breaths or it hurt. It seemed like the binder was squashing my bladder and stomach as well, so eating was limited to smaller portions and I pee a lot more too. Which in turns means more getting up. This could be a good thing though to promote blood flow. I tore a stitch in the drain on my right side as it's about an inch away from the skin. But Dr. Kaplan OKed it and said since it isn't moving, it's fine. He also said that once the drains put out 25cc or less in a 24 hour period, they can come out. My next appointment is in a week and he is hopeful that is when the drains will come out. Till then, I am to take it easy. He said I should start feeling a lot better after today. I don't feel all that bad other than the stinging so I hope that is what he means! Once I got back from my appointment, I got to take off the binder again to cut it and jumped at the chance to take some photos! Dr. Kaplan said that the binder is to wide for me so I could cut a band off so it's not pushing against my drains and ribs. He also allowed for it to be looser and not so tight so I can breath fine now. I feel a million times better! Now take a look at the photos! I am still swollen in the lower abs, but OMG! My belly button! You can see the old belly button scar right in the middle of the long line. I knew that that would be visible, and I do not really mind. My tattoo is also gone! No more tribal sun. I know the swelling will go down and I will love it even more, but honestly, I want to cry! It's not wrinkly or saggy and I can see my belly button for the first time in 6 years. I can't wait to see the final results and to get the drains out, or even just walk up right. Really, that is the worse part. The walking hunched over. I seriously wish they prescribed a walker! Haha!

Feeling a lot better today and the drains are not leaking so much at the end where they enter my body. However, there is dark red blood that is coming out of the right side one. It is also the one that was outputting the least. My movement is increasing throughout the day as well. I am making it a point to get up every hour and use the bathroom and then either sit up till I cannot and then lay down till I cannot. My appetite is still down which is good since I am not doing much of anything. I would hate for this to result in weight gain because my old appetite was in full swing! Still no coffee or alcohol. Mostly because I am still kinda taking my narcotics every 4 hours. I am down to just half a percocet every 4 hours during the day and a whole one at night. I am subbing in motrin inbetween that for inflammation and back pain. Other than that, I am SOOOOOO bored! I'm going through series after series of TV shows and now that it is the weekend, it's worse because my husband is home working around the house and I can't help. We also have a party on Sunday for the 4th of July so I am hoping that I will be a little more mobile then

I also decided to take my binder off for another peek today. It's been itching like crazy and I wanted a little air in there. So I got some day 3 photos! Obviously I'm still swollen, but It's coming along. You can see the lower abdominal swelling looks like it has gone down a little, but there is a bulge on my left (the right side of the photo) side. I am wondering if that is from the binder. When I put it back on, I tried to sit it so it would squash along that side and smooth that down. Other than that, it's going well!