38 Year Old with 3 Kids Several Stretch Marks and a Long Vertical Scar in Need of a Much Needed Tummy Tuck. - Newton, KS

I have been a member of real self for several months and I have used this as a resource to answer so many questions as well as encouragement to make a final decision to have a tummy tuck and liposuction on my flanks. Whenever I would start to chicken out I would read people's stories and it would calm me down and make me realize that I am not alone and so many woman are going through the same thing. I decided that since this site helped me so much that it would only be selfish to not share my story in case it would help somebody not feel alone and help them with their decision . So this is my story. I am 38, I had my first child at 18 and got a log of bad stretch marks and not just the skinny ones but large think ones. I was due estates because I was a late bloomer so I had only really got to enjoy a nice body for a year and a half. The insecurity I had with my body was taking over my confidence and I would only buy large long shirts to make sure that my stomach would never show. When I turned 20 I decided to have tummy tuck. I was so young and had no idea what I was doing, I did no research and just went in to the first doctor I found in the phone book. She. The doctor told me he could get read of my stretch marks with a mini tummy tuck and laser surgery I immediately sigh ed up and had the surgery. Obviously this was stupid for several reasons one I knew I wasn't done having kids yet and two I didn't even see if this guy was board certified which by the results he obviously wasn't. After healing for several months and going through a lot of pain I was devastated to find that not only were all my stretch marks still there but now I had an additional scar like a c section that was very crooked. I decided that I would wait until I was done having kids the. Do a lot of research ha do find the best plastic surgeon out there. When I was 29 I had to have a cyst removed off of my ovary so when I went in to have that procedure the doctor messed up and had to open my up from the top of y rub cage to my pubic bone leaving me with a 10 inch vertical scar down my stomach. This left me with a deformed looking stomach and belly button. Of course this didn't do anything for my self asteem. I was much more insecure and much more cautious of nobody being able to see my stomach. By 33 I was done having kids and started to research for a great plastic surgeon. Every time it was time to make a decision I would chicken out and not set the appointment. Do to the past disappointments and doctor screw ups I was just to scared to try again. For 6 years I would keep interviewing doctors and doing research h on them but would chicken out. Finally I decided it was now or never so after much more background checks and research and with the help of this site I choose Dr. Susan Lovelle and made a surgery date of oct. 6th. I picked her for several reasons. Herbed side manner was amazing, her staff was awesome, she was very highly ranked, she answered all of my questions and never made me feel rushed and so on. I had my surgery on Monday and she was awesome, her surgical team was amazing And they all made me feel so at ease. The hospital she practices In was so nice and several spoke called me the next day to check on me. I will post pics soon!!

Not a pretty view but these are my before pics and 1 after pic.

When I scheduled my surgery date I was so nervous that every time I talked about it I would get butterflies in my stomach and loss my appetite. I decided not to think about it at all so I wouldn't worry longer than I had to. As I was 4 weeks out I changed the way of thinking and decided to start thinking about my surgery as much as possible that way when the day is here I would have thought about it so much that I wouldn't be nervous(or so I hoped), I am happy to say that it worked, I had thought about the surgery and researched everything I needed to prepare for surgery that by the time I was 3 days out I wasn't nervous anymore. It was just a normal part of my day. I had pasted the nervous stage and was just excited to finally get my body back. It also helped that I had a doctor that had great bed side manners and her and her staff were very good and making me feel comfortable. I would highly recommend being prepared and have everything ready before surgery so you only have to worry about recovering. I will provide a list of everything I did to prepare for surgery that I feel was very helpful.