48 Yrs, 5 Kids, Excited and Terrified at the Same Time.

I never really got around to adding my before and after pictures. I’m posting one before picture with my stomach totally relaxed lol. I took this at the hotel right before I went in. Also posted a few from shortly after. I had my surgery in February 2018. It’s been 10 months. The recovery was way easier than I expected. I think I had myself worked up to the expectation of terrible pain and being unable to move. My husband was a rockstar the first few days and after that I was mostly back on my feet. I took 2 weeks off of work and went back with no problems. I would say the biggest complaint I’ve had is the swelling. My stomach would feel like a water balloon at the end of the day. At 10 months I’m just now feeling like this isn’t a daily occurrence.
I’m pretty happy with the results. My scar has healed really nicely and is pretty light and smooth. I don’t think I look way different in clothes because I used to wear shapewear all the time to hold everything in. It’s really nice not having that extra layer of clothes especially during summer.
I wouldn’t mind a little fat taken out of the muffin top area. In October I had a trusculpt 3D treatment to the muffin top area and right around my belly button area where there is a fatty bulge that is kind of uneven. Since most drs don’t perform liposuction during a tummy tuck because of interruption of blood supply to tissue, I had thought about going back for lipo later. But my Dr. offered to try the trusculpt 3D. It’s been 8 weeks and i’m unsure of results so far. Reviews say it can take 12 weeks to see full results. I’m scheduled for a repeat treatment in January. The pictures I’ll post more after 1 year. All in all I have no regrets (other than not being more clear about my muffin top fat, so I guess maybe one regret lol) and would do it again in a heartbeat.

Five years after my first consult I finally decided to go for it and booked my tummy tuck with lipo for February 2018. I had went to a consult with a Dr in Portland and another consult in Vancouver with Dr Green. I never ended up going through with it. I felt guilty and superficial spending a bunch of money on myself when I have a family. Five years passed and three of my kids are officially adults so I have two left at home. My youngest is now 10. My sister in law recently got a full mommy makeover. Her results were good and it gave me the courage to go back for another consult. I went for a consult with the Dr she used but I felt like I was going through an assembly line. I was shuttled through 4 different rooms and they basically told me what they would do. They seemed rigid in their plan of minimum 4 weeks off and 4 weeks of someone with me around the clock. There were requirements as far as massages and a hospital stay among other things. They were already building laser scar therapy into the plan for follow up. I said I really am not concerned about the scar. I mean no one wants a big old jagged scar but a thin line across my stomach is preferred over the sagging roll I have now. My goal is not to have a bikini body but to look and feel more streamlined in my everyday clothes. I want to address my hanging gut and have some lipo on my muffin top area. I'm happy with my breast size, they're not perky anymore but I really don't want implants so i'm leaving the breasts alone. A great bra goes a long way but there's no disguise for my shar pei belly. I again went to Dr Green and he said I was a classic example of someone who could benefit from a tummy tuck. I liked this office because I felt like they listened to my concerns and what results I was hoping for. They just seemed more relaxed in their plan and allowed for flexibility as far as how much time I would need off from work. He said plan for 3 weeks off and if I feel OK I could go back after 2 weeks. He said to plan to have someone help me the first week and no driving for 2 weeks. I still have more than 5 weeks to go so the real nerves haven't hit me yet. I'm trying to get everything I'll need together beforehand. I even made laundry instructions for my 17 year old son. I know he should already know how to do this but I'm kind of a laundry control freak. I don't like them mixing colors haha. It's outpatient so I plan on staying 2 nights in Vancouver then coming home as we live a few hours from the clinic. I'm really trying to be realistic with my expectations and not expect miracles. I guess my biggest worry is that my Dr might go light on skin removal with the tuck. I'm hoping to have the skin stretched as tight as possible without being dangerous of course. I'm also worried about dog ears because my roll goes all the way to my sides. I have my pre op on January 30 so I'm trying to write down as many questions I think of over the next 2 weeks because I always forget when I get there. I will eventually post before pictures, I still need to take some ???? not excited about that but I really appreciate all the pictures others post on here so it's only fair. It's been nice to find before pics with people who have similar body type to see realistic results that I could have.