37 Year Old Mom of 2 - Lincoln, NE

Ever since I had my second (and last child), I was so uhappy with the way my body did NOT go back together. I had lots of loose skin and a wrinkly belly that sagged. Besides the extra weight I gained, the belly made me the most unhappy. After dropping a fair amount of weight, I spoke to a couple of plastic surgeons several years ago who told me that no matter how hard I worked on my belly (crunches and push ups), I would never be able to correct the saggy, wrinkly, loose skin. After years of pondering and summoning up my courage to go under the knife, and being unhappy- I went in and saw another surgeon who I felt very comfortable with. My surgery was done on February 18th. So that makes me 10 days PO today. Despite the blood clot in my right leg that I'm being treated for, I'm recovering nicely. I wasn't sure I'd ever get to feeling better! That first week PO was not too much fun. The pain, not being comfortable, and all of the PAIN! But, I had heard that the first week was the worst and to just hang on. It is true! That first week, around day 7, is when I started to feel better with the incision site and comfort. However yesterday, when I was told I had a blood clot due to my surgery, I felt like I was kicked backwards in my recovery. But, after talking to the several Doctors who I had to deal with, I realized that clots are common and easily treated so long as you catch them early. Today, my spirits are high (even with that stupid pain in my leg!), and I'm able to almost stand up completely straight. Each day I feel stronger and am looking forward to the says ahead when I'm able to get my drain out, stand up straight at 100%, and to be able to resume doing all the things I did pre-op. I go back to work this Monday (13 days PO) and am looking forward to it. I know that it will be a slow trasition, but I also know that 3 days from today I'll be waking taller and much stronger! Good luck to all of you that I've been talking to in this site and you all of you newbies!

Today I'm about 2.5 weeks postop and feel pretty good. My drain comes out today, I'm back to work, I have a pair of pre-op jeans on and they are comfortable, and today I stood up completely straight for the first time. Life is good today. This weekend I hope to post updated pics post op.

Here are a few pics through my recovery. I am very happy with today's (day 18 PO) pic. I finally found the 'Flat Side'. Things at starting to look up :)))))