5'8", 155 Lb, Doing 4 Tomorrow Sono Bello

I have my pre-op today, surgery tomorrow. Scared of recovery as I have three kids at home including a toddler, and husband works far from home. Having upper and lower abs, waist, hips and outer thighs done. Really excited but also so nervous! Hoping recovery isn't terrible; they assured me that because my BMI is lower, I'll recover better. I sure hope so! I'll post pics from pre-op.

So I had surgery yesterday. WOW did I worry for nothing. It wasn't a total piece of cake but it was way easier than I thought it would be. Mine was late in the day and of course we are having a blizzard so I was really keyed up by the time I checked in, worrying about how the drive home would be and my kids and the surgery and everything else. I had made dinner in the crock pot and gotten everything ready for nighttime (laid out Jammies, ironed clothes for church the next morning, breakfast options set out) figuring I'd be in excruciating pain. But when we got home I was literally fine. I would have posted here last night but wound up doing laundry and making something different for dinner because chili didn't sound good anymore haha! This morning, I am fine and feel really totally able to do anything I need to. But back to the actual surgery... I checked in, they weighed me and did vitals. Changed into a paper bikini and they gave me half a Xanax and a shot of Demerol. Put an IV in, Doctor wrote all over me and did a bunch of calculations, I took a pregnancy test and then it was time to go! They took me to the operating room, and laid me on a table with lots of drapes and so on, and it was time to numb the first area. I should say that the doctor felt like doing the outer thighs was going to be too much, so we decided to only do my upper and, lower abs, waist and hips. I was disappointed but they'll do my thighs at a later date. So! He did a little injection into my tummy and whatever it is works FAST, and he made a little incision with some little tool. Then he started injecting the solution in a starburst pattern from that little incision. He had to get aggressive in a couple of spots because he said my fat was fibrous, so that was a little unsettling. But it was not painful at all. When he switched to the actual liposuction, I did have some truly painful moments there, especially around my ribs. The nurse said that sometimes the tumescent fluid doesn't hit all the pockets when you've got fibrous fat so that"'s why it hurt there. But for the other 90% of the surgery, I didn't really feel any pain. I liked being able to watch the fat go by in the tube and see it adding up!! They didn't get as much out of me as I would have liked, but they told me that because my BMI is lowish (23) it's just harder to achieve that. My biggest worry is my actual tummy, where I have stretch marks terribly, and my skin is a little loose. The surgeon told me that the laser can't really cause retraction or improvement to that area. So disappointed. But at least they took the "pooch" from my tummy and when I am all healed, hopefully it will be flat under clothes. So anyway, he did all the lipo around my midsection (gonna be so glad not to have those love handles!!!) and then did a real quick treatment with the laser, and then it was done. The nurse taped pads over all the incisions, helped me get into this compression garment, applied a belly binder and that was it! We drove home fine, I didn't leak any fluid anywhere; either in the car or in bed last night. I haven't showered yet and I am a little worried about water hitting those incisions; I can feel each and every one under the compression garment, and I never take showers (only baths) so I'm not really looking forward to that. So here are some quick photos yesterday morning pre-op, and one of the fat they took out.

5'8" 155 pounds, 4 kids and 45 years old. Getting upper and, lower abs, waist, and hips done. Note! "Hips" only includes the area along your side, from your natural waist down to your hip bone.