Getting my tummy back! Umbilical hernia repair, diastasis recti repair, and mini-abdominoplasty after having 4 babies

Just had this surgery 12/20/18. Surgery was a breeze, coming off of anesthesia was horrible (nausea, throwing up, cold sweats) then during the night my abdomen began swelling a lot. I called Dr. Lytle (he is AWESOME) and he met us (my 3 kids and husband and I) at his office right away at like 2:30am. Under local anesthesia he had to open the incision, drain the blood and fluid, clean it all out and see it back up. I felt no pain but being awake and aware of what was going on was very difficult for me and I could feel the cleaning instrument between my skin and muscle and the pulling of stitches. Dr. Lytle was very understanding and gentle and had me all fixed up quickly. He put a drain in so I haven’t had any fluid buildup or pressure since. It’s now 5 days later and my pain is very minimal, just having a hard time walking around still. There is some bruising around the incision, and my labia are swollen and purple, but none of it hurts.
My only advice at this point is to opt for a drain during initial surgery so you won’t have to worry about fluid buildup, and if you happen to have a hematoma like I did (rare) you will know right away because the drain will fill up fast from it.
Although it looks pretty gross right now, I’m really excited to see what it looks like once healed! I think it’s going to look great - maybe even better than before I had kids! I recommend Dr. Lytle 100% - he and his staff are all so wonderful and caring and professional. Thanks for reading! I’ll post more post-op pics later...

Still hard to walk around which is the hardest part for me. Stomach feels so tight, back muscles are sore, and I’m sick of having this drain coming out of me. Looks like the scar is going to heal beautifully though! Super anxious to see what my belly button is going to look like...

Just starting to be able to straighten out when standing or laying down stretching. Still not able to do too much before getting worn out. I had my checkup yesterday and did a lot of walking around during the day. I feel a bit sore from that now. Made my kids breakfast this morning and had to rest on the couch after we ate. Checkup went well. Finally got the drain out! Wasn’t bad. They snipped the stitch holding it in, then it slid right out and they stuck some gauze and tape on, done. Dr. Lytle said I’m recovering at a normal rate and it looks like it will heal beautifully. Still some time for swelling and bruising to disappear. Happy with everything and feeling pretty good!