TOTALLY AGAINST PLASTIC SURGERY - and WHAT A DIFFERENCE! Ridgefield, CT

THANK YOU Dr. SONI!!!!! Thank you, thank you!!! I am a "love your body the way it is, accept the beauty and gifts of motherhood and be comfortable and confident in yourself" kind of woman. Oh-natural. I never in a million years thought I would need plastic surgery (I was realistic about what might happen to my body with pregnancy, though did not realize how severe the impact of pregnancy can be on certain body types). I was a professional ballet dancer for years, tall/slender, and with both pregnancies I gained 40lbs (1st) and 60 lbs (2nd child), yet I was in the gym, at the barre or in yoga every day up until both due dates. This is just how my body carried these children - and gaining a lot of water weight was part of it! (No problem with that.) Unfortunately, I experienced severe recti diastasis and an umbilical hernia with my 2nd child. As a result, at the time of surgery, my abdominals were still 6 inches apart and no longer functioned as they should, as they were off to the sides so all of my organs sort of spilled out the front of me, making me appear 3 months pregnant all the time (even when really sucking in my belly, it made little difference). Also, the extra skin and bulk from the 60 extra lbs just hung :((( and nothing fit well. The weight of this skin and belly stuff spilling out put pressure on my lower back, causing a lot of pain, and this was hindering my dancing and ability to perform again. SO - after three consultations with three different surgeons, all three surgeons told me a tummy tuck was the only way to move my abs back to the center line and to get rid of all of the excess skin/stuff to help relieve the pain happening in my back. I was told to wait until you no longer had to carry your children, so finally FINALLY (with my youngest now 4-yr-old) I went through the operation in Dec. 2015. I am eight weeks out, and OH MY GOODNESS - from a woman who planned to "accept" the scars of childbirth with head held high. . . I am so grateful for my new belly!!! I am just starting to get back to yoga/barre/abdominal work, and my abs are ALIGNED and FUNCTIONAL and POWERFUL, and I have to say, I LOVE MY NEW BELLY. LOVE LOVE LOVE that I can look down and see a beautiful belly and wear t-shirts and leotards/swimwear and not look 3 months pregnant, and soon I will be dancing again and working out fully and enjoying a stronger CORE/CENTER. As an unexpected plus, having breastfed both of my children for 1.5 yrs, I am one of those women whose breasts then shrunk to be smaller than before I was pregnant. WEE! I was not expecting the tummy tuck to also perk and lift my breasts as well. By pulling the skin down under the breasts, they are now defined. Truly amazing! I have a beautiful beautiful belly, and it is really a pleasure. And as a side note (as this should be a side note). . .my husband is really enjoying my new belly too! It is a tough surgery - you MUST HAVE HELP the first 10 days-2 weeks - and I mean HELP (THANK YOU MOM!). But two weeks out, three weeks out. . . it gets better and better every day, and now eight weeks out, I can really see what the final results will look like. BTW - during the umbilical hernia repair, my bellybutton stalk shredded and it just came off, so on the spot, Dr. Sony had to construct a brand new belly button. And it is lovely.