Petite Mom of Four Finally Gets Her Mommy Makeover - Raleigh, NC

Although I am petite and tiny, I have had a blubber belly my whole life. I am very lucky to have great genes (thanks mom!) and have always looked much younger than I am. But my beautiful mother also gave me very saggy skin. I could hide it well under my clothes so everyone always assumed I had a " cute little figure". Amazing the lies you can tell with clothes!! I always wished for a tummy tuck but could never bring myself to spend the money on something so "frivolous" for myself. I never thought badly of anyone else doing something to look better, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Weird, I know.

I had breast reduction many (many!) years ago in my early 20's...think Dolly Parton. I hated all the attention my breasts got. The back and shoulder pain was awful and they were ugly and saggy. I never regretted having BR a minute! They were beautiful and perfect for my body size...until after children. (Of course!)

My husband of 25 years has never complained about my saggy, aging body. God bless him! But he is the reason I wanted a Mommy Makeover. I have been unable to enjoy being intimate with him for many years because I could never get my saggy body out of my head. It was all I could think about during sex...and that doesn't help the moment...obviously.

So I finally decided to take the plunge. I had my surgery Jan 9th. I am still deciding if it was worth it. My biggest regret at this point...waiting so long. Even though I'm tiny, I am not in good physical shape. I haven't worked out in years. Don't get me wrong....I am sooo not a couch potato. Most people have a hard time keeping up with me. But I haven't exercised in years. I'm the typical mom who always takes care of everyone else. So I regret not doing it when I was in better shape and for not getting in shape (exercising) before I had it done 2 weeks ago. I should have waited until I was stronger. I thought about it...but I knew if I waited it would never happen. So I dove in head first into a shallow pool.

The recovery has been rough, mainly because I was so weak going into surgery. I can now see how having stronger muscles would definitely have helped!

My dr does a drainless TT. Sounded good to me....drains open up another infection possibility and they sounded pretty yucky from what I read on RS. I have now come to realize that even though the above is true,the drainless procedure seems to cause extreme swelling that lasts much longer. Case in point....I weigh 105 lbs and now have a 32" waist and my abdomen is 34.5". It appears that this could last several months. I am not a happy camper!! I would be more positive except I haven't read about anybody on RS that had a drainless TT that has experienced anything any different. Buyer beware! Please, if you have any other information I would love to hear it!! I need some encouragement right now! Sorry to be do discouraged, but I am definitely having a pity party right now! I haven't told very many people and I definitely can't whine it my husband about this!!

I will write more tomorrow about the actual procedure and also post some pictures. Thanks for letting me vent tonight! :-)

Here are a few before and after.

I am feeling better everyday although I did give in to my fatigue on Sat. I was lucky to be able to rest all day. I was so exhausted and slept most of the day. I felt good on Sunday so obviously it was what my body needed.

Trying something new today. I'm not wearing my cg from Dr. Davis but a camisole by Maiden Form instead. It is quite tight and I feel like I have the same compression as with the cg. We'll see how the swelling is tonight. It makes it much easier to find clothes to wear. So hard to hide that big binder under clothes. I've been wearing knit pants/leggings and a big sweater everyday. Today I was able to wear some jeans and a regular sweater. Not terribly uncomfortable and nobody could tell a thing! Good thing I never wore skin tight jeans!

My waist is still measuring 32" and my abdomen 34.5". Considering my hips are 35" I think one could safely say I have a box figure at the moment! I'm taking a water pill to help with swelling. Can't see that it is doing much. But I'm not very good about watching my salt intake nor at drinking tons of water. I'm afraid to not take it though in case it would be worse without it!

My breasts however are 37" so that's a good thing! :-) So far every top I have tried on has fit. I am so glad!! I told him I wanted to be the same size as my padded bra and he did what I asked! I'm just waiting for the swelling to go down. I'm still sore, especially my left breast close to my sternum. I'm not sure I'm doing the massage exercises correctly. I was on a lot of pain meds when she showed me. I watched a video online (maybe RS, can't remember...pain meds! ) and it was totally different. It appears there is much controversy on the matter. I would be devastated if they got hard.

I'll try to update pictures soon. I don't look much different though. The bruising is better and the redness from the tape irritation is improving. The open part of my incision seems a little better. Hard to tell because it still has steri strips. I go for a check up tomorrow. I'm sure he'll remove them and take a look at it. The steri strips really help with the pain so I'm hoping he will put more on. That and the nerve pain in my thigh have been the worst part. Otherwise it's just the tightness. I'm able to sleep on my side with lots of pillows. I have a memory foam bed and it is heavenly!

Today is a beautiful, sunny, 64 degrees. Tomorrow we are supposed to get snow again! What?!?! This is NC God, and we don't do snow here....please take it to WI where they like it! Everything shuts down and there are always all kinds of accidents because we don't have the necessary snow removal equipment to deal with it. I know everybody up North laughs when they see it on TV, but it is a very serious thing here. We also get lots of ice and with nothing on the roads to remove it, it can be very dangerous. And the grocery store shelves get cleared of milk and bread in a matter of hours! :-0 It won't last long though. It will be over in a day :-) That is a blessing! The kids get to play in it for a day and then it goes away! Yay!