35 Years Old- 3 Kids- Ready for a Mommy Makeover

I am a 35 year old mother of 3. I have a 16 year old, 5 year old, and a 3 year old. I had my oldest when I was only 18 years old, so I have been thinking about having a Mommy Makeover for a long time. :)

A little more about my background... I actually wanted to do this 2 years ago, but I was very sick after the birth of my last child. I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (an incurable autoimmune/inflammatory disease that attacks your colon) right after my 22nd birthday and have been sick off and on for over 10 years, but it all really spiraled out of control after I had my last child. After starting a chemo drug to help my disease, I ended up getting even sicker and was hospitalized for two weeks in 08/2014. After that, I was back on high doses of Prednisone, which gave me steroid induced diabetes and osteopenia. I gained almost 35 pounds over the next 6 months and felt awful about myself. I finally went into remission thanks to Humira in 06/2015. I worked hard after that and was able to lose all the weight that I had gained. But after 3 babies, I was still unhappy with my stomach. I had loose skin and stretch marks that could not be fixed with diet and exercise. My husband was deployed for the last 10 months, so I worked hard to save money while he was gone. And when he returned this fall I was finally ready to take the plunge and have a mommy makeover. Obviously, in the back of my mind I had concerns about having such a big surgery and if it will take me out of remission with my disease or if taking the Humira on a weekly basis will affect my recovery, but I went ahead with it and pray every day that it was not a mistake.

I am already 2 weeks post op at this point. I have been reading other peoples stories for the last 6 months and I feel like I should share mine as well in hopes that it might help someone else. I meant to start this before my surgery, but time got away from me. Better late than never I guess. :)

My wish list for my surgery was a tummy tuck, liposuction on my arms (I have ALWAYS hated my arms so much) and inner thighs (no matter how much exercise I do they never seem to get any smaller), and a fat transfer to my breasts to restore some lost volume. I went to 3 consultations. The first was at Westlake Dermatology and Plastic Surgery. The lady I met with was very informative, but I left disappointed. They don't let you meet with the actual surgeon at the consult. I would meet him at the pre-operative visit. Um, no, that did not sit well with me. My second consultation was with Dr. Dustin Reed. He was very personable and I actually liked him a lot. However, he refuses to do any fat transfer to breasts. He felt like there is not enough research on it and that there could be cancer issues in the future. He also wanted me to stop Humira for 4 weeks around my surgery time. Although, perhaps in hindsight this might have been a good idea for my healing from the surgery, this idea really concerned me with the prospect of falling out of remission with my disease. It took SO long to get into remission and my first goal is to make sure that I stay in remission! For my 3rd consultation, I visited with Dr. Kerr at Synergy Plastic Surgery. He was very thorough and explained everything about all of the procedures that I wanted. He answered all of our questions and put my mind at ease about the safety of having a fat transfer to the breasts and about staying on Humira during my surgery/recovery. Of all of my consultations, Dr. Kerr spent the most time talking with us and we felt extremely comfortable with him. So, it ended up being a pretty easy decision. A few days after that consultation, I called and scheduled my surgery for 11/17/16 with Dr. Kerr. I will update this later with my actual surgery experience and how my recovery is going.

My surgery was on 11/17/16. I had a full tummy tuck with muscle repair, liposuction to my inner thighs, knees, and arms and a fat transfer to my breasts. Dr. Kerr also did some lipo on my waist area as part of the tummy tuck. The night before I was super nervous and did not sleep at all.

Everything went smoothly at the surgery center. I arrived and changed into my gown and took a pregnancy test. I had been super stressed leading up to the surgery, so I was already 2 weeks late at that time. I knew I wasn't pregnant, so no worries there, but I was a little freaked out that it would arrive right before the surgery. Luckily that did not happen. :) Then the nurse got me ready and put in my IV. Dr. Kerr came in and marked me up and before I knew it I was in the operating room and ready to go. I do not remember anything after that point. I barely even remember leaving the surgery center.

I was told by all 3 of the surgeons that I consulted with that I might need a vertical scar as well if there was not going to be enough skin to pull all the way down to hide my old belly button. That is the only thing that I actually remember from when I woke up in the surgery center was when they told me he was able to keep me from having that vertical scar. I was so happy about that.

I actually felt alright the first day and I was not terribly uncomfortable. The next day, I had my first post operative visit and got to see everything for the first time. I did have more pain in the following days, but the majority of the pain came from the muscle repair. I could feel it every time I moved. I also experienced a lot of low back pain from being hunched over from the tummy tuck. I am not sure if that is a normal experience as I have had low back issues in the past, so that might have played a role there. I didn't really feel a lot of pain around my tummy tuck incision or from where the fat was transferred to my breasts. I hardly felt any pain in my liposuction areas either. Dr. Kerr did say that I need to massage the areas several times a day and that is pretty much the only time those areas cause me any pain. I was able to take a shower for the first time at 2 days post op and had to have my husband help me. It's amazing how just a few minutes of standing in the shower after a surgery like that can wear you out. My back would just kill me if I stood up for more than just a short time. The most annoying part after surgery was the two drains that I had; one sticking out from each hip. I was happy to get one of them removed at 6 days post op, but he did not feel comfortable removing the other one yet. Unfortunately for me, that meant I had to wait over the entire Thanksgiving holiday weekend to get that second drain removed. I think that was my lowest point. I felt pretty down about not being able to go to my in laws for Thanksgiving or to church on Sunday. We didn't tell anyone about the surgery except my mom, a close friend of mine and my super understanding boss and I felt like I could hide it pretty good if it had not been for the drain. I am sure it was for the best that it stayed in longer, but I told my husband several times that I regretted all of it and I was pretty emotional.

I was happy to get my other drain removed the Monday after Thanksgiving. After that point, I unfortunately started to have some other complications. I will address those in another post so that I don't make this one too long and get off topic. :)

I think the 2 week mark is where I really started to feel better with regards to my back and the muscle repair. I was standing up straighter at one week, but I don't really think I was able to stand up without being slightly hunched over until closer to that 2 week point. I did stop the pain meds at one week and even before that I really only took them at night as that is when I was the most uncomfortable.

Prior to my surgery I read many reviews and made a huge list of all the supplies that I needed. Some I found to be very helpful. Others I ended up not really needing and just returned them after the surgery. The must haves that I would recommend are Bromelain and Arnica Montana (30c sublingual tablets). I started these a few days before surgery and then took them after as well. They help with bruising and inflammation. I really think that they worked and I am not normally someone that buys into herbal remedies. I ended up not having a lot of bruising at all and most of what I had was gone before the 2 week mark, so I was very pleased with that. The other item I really found to be worth it was renting a medical lift recliner. This isn't necessary for everyone, but we didn't have any recliner in our house AND we have a lovely canopy bed in our room, but it is really high off the ground. Being that I am not even quite 5ft 2in tall, I normally have to jump up a little to get into bed, so I knew this would not work for right after surgery. I called around and rented one for a month for $180. I really only needed it for about 2 weeks though as I moved back to my bed at the end of last week. The best thing that I found for massaging my lipo areas other than using my hands is a large paint roller with a handle. They recommended a silcone rolling pin, but I found that awkward to use and much prefer alternating between using my hands and the paint roller. Finally, one thing that I saw others recommend, but I ignored and really wish that I had not was taking a stool softener. I didn't think I needed it and didn't realize the impact that the pain meds could have. Let's just say that I was hurting really bad about 5 days post op. I really wish that my Dr. had put this on the post operative list as maybe I would have taken it more seriously. But trust me, if you are going to be taking the pain meds then you do need it!

Finally, I guess I will post some of my before pictures. I had not looked at them again until last night and it made me sad to look at them. Although it also made me hopeful as I already think I look a lot better. One regret I have is not taking any post operative pictures. I wish I had taken some right after surgery and then maybe a week or two after that so that I could really see my progress. Oh well, I took some today and I will post those along with my before pics.

Opps! Not sure why the pictures did not post with my last post, but here they are!