I’m bringin sexy back, yeah!

So I have two little ladies, 2, and 4! And they have inspired me to live!
To Give a bit of back story- I was sexually abused by a family member and his friends for years of my childhood. I have complete memories of these men calling me cute and little, and I Think that really had an impact on when and why I started to gain weight. To follow that up in adulthood,I was in a relationship That i didn’t think I would be making it out alive from. I had to figure out how to safely make an exit and get my girls in a happy healthy home! So grateful to say we have lived happily for the last year and a half without him. After two babies, and the abuse I think food was my safe place. I was using it as a crutch. Since leaving him I have lost 65 pounds and been working on my mental health and getting happy and whole again. My girls and I are happy as can be, and I’ve come to a place where I realized that I no longer needed this weight to keep me safe. After losing a good amount, I had some hanging skin that annoys me because I’m a total fashionista as well! I wanna be cute and prance around in cute summer clothes and dresses!
Here’s the kicker. I don’t want a tummy tuck. With the babies and being a single mom, I don’t have the luxury of down time and I really don’t want that scar. Plus- I think thick women are super hot and I wasn’t looking for a rock hard silhouette or perfection. Merely want a big improvement, and better curves!
After tons of research here and online and one terrible consultation that was done out of convenience (I took my girlfriend to Chicago to get a lip lift so I figured while I was waiting) I found a doctor that I was absolutely interested in, who seemed to TRULY care about about what I wanted instead of what he wanted for me. I went to my consultation.
I went interested in renuvion skin tightening and tickle lipo! Basically a makeshift tummy tuck.

Pre apologizing for the wrong order of days ahead, i had no clue what I was doing here and just jumped right on pretending to be a pro.
So! About a week before my procedure I prepared myself by getting my affairs in order- I Figured out where my two kids were gonna be and who could care for them during my hardest times after surgery, did laundry and made sure my most comfy stuff was in reach, bought extra towels in case I was a leaky disaster, bought some cute slip on comfy shoes(one of my Best purchases-you won’t wanna bend over), neosporen, bandaids, medical tape, pads, and a extra cozy zip up hoodie. My sister ordered me some bromelain and arnica for bruising and swelling post procedure. I went grocery shopping and made sure I had tons of water, fruit, veggies and healthy snacks.

My surgery was scheduled for 9 am on Monday the 18th. I picked up my prescriptions on Friday since they’re closed sat/sun and dr. Z wanted me to start my antibiotic on Sunday before my procedure. I opted for anti anxiety meds before had since I’m a spazz in regular life already. I took one antianxiety pill before I left the house and they instructed me to take the other when I arrived. They definitely helped. I felt less bothered by the fact that I was about to be awake for both lipo and renuvion. I wasn’t sure if I should eat or not before hand and honestly I think my nerves wouldn’t let me and I was afraid of having to poop during lipo and feeling like a weirdo lol. (Which didn’t happen) but I’m kinda poopy when I’m nervous so it was a real life concern. Speaking of poop, do yourself a favor and buy stool softeners and start taking them the day of your procedure. You can thank me later!
So! The day of surgery I woke up and took a shower. I wore comfy loose fitting clothes. Drawstring pants a tank and a zip up hoodie- slip on shoes. My doctor told me no lotion. I made sure I shaved my legs and my V Knowing I wouldn’t want to be bending over for the next week. I ate Half of a protein bar and had already been drinking extra water so that my procedure recovery went smooth. I also followed the precautionary measures of not using ibuprofen products the Couple weeks beforehand.
I was more excited than nervous to go in. I was just ready to get the hard part over, and move on to recovering and enjoying my results! The women at dr. Z’s office were incredibly sweet an also excited for me so I was looking forward to seeing everyone and starting my journey. I always had a a good feeling about it and Dr. Z made me feel confident that he could help me achieve the results I wanted.
I arrived about 10 minutes early. I signed my release forms and what not, paid, and they got me rollin right away! I put on the paper panties and bra- which I already told them they need bigger ones for thickem ladies like us, so hopefully when some of yo go they’ll be more comfortable. LOL. I popped my other antianxiety and I waited for DR. Z to mark me up! I then laid on the table where he cleaned off my skin thoroughly and started to give me some numbing shots where he would be making incisions. Shots in your belly and trunk area are not nearly as bad as your arm mouth or boot cheek, FYI, so don’t stress! He then inserted a small cannula and began filling my entire belly back and sides oh liquid anesthesia. I think he used about 5 bags. And it feels WEIRDDDDDD. It stretches you out me makes you look and feel incredibly heavy like you’re wearing a sand filled inner tube. If you end up watching my videos you can see how much bigger I look while he’s doing my procedure because of this.
After this step he began doing the tickle lipo. Some parts were completely painless and I was almost falling asleep and some parts were painful. Dr.Z was continuously talking to me about my comfort level and would give me more anesthesia if anything felt uncomfortable. When it did hurt I reminded myself how bomb it would be later. and yes, it did tickle sometimes. Dr. Z had this way of pinching the skin to feel the underlying fat and sometimes that hurt more than the lipo, if that tells you anything!
After the lipo was finished it was time to do my renuvion skin tightening. He had open a few of my incisions more since that cannula device was larger but I couldn’t really feel it so I didn’t mind. He went in with this and inserted helium under my skin and then some high frequency heat into the cloud of helium -it will tighten the skin and stimulate collagen so I can get a tighter end result. He did this several times in different areas of my lower abdomen and my lower and mid back. The lose skin from weight loss has an opportunity to tighten now which is what I needed. Again, I wanted my best results without a tummy tuck. This want exactly painless. Personally I Think it was because of the blunt end of the device being inserted into my incisions and under my skin but Dr.Z actually told me that the company who makes that machine was I process of changing the shape of that and by the time you go it will be different and tapered so it should feel more comfortable! Yay you! At this point I was probably at about hour 5 of my procedure. Dr. Z was extremely thorough and I appreciated it so much. He took his time and it felt like he was really sculpting me to the best of his abilities and understood what I was going for.
When he was done he glued and taped a couple of my later incisions, cleaned me up, took photos and his assistant helped me put my garment on with pads for leaking. Any anesthesia that was inside me was either going to leak out of the open incisions or my body would naturally get rid of. He gave me after care instructions, and explained what would happen along my journey and set me up to see him in a week. I actually made a video for them after my procedure- but I felt a lot better than I looked. Also- I forgot to tell you one weird detail. In between my lipo and renuvion we took a little break and I walked to pee. Leaked all over on the way but no big deal, and then I had a total mini sob session. I don’t exactly know why! I think my nerves, the drugs, and just the weird experience of seeing 8 lbs of you make an exit in some random bag. I was definitely not sad but a little weepy. I had actually read a couple other girls who said the same thing so I think it’s more common than we talk about, and worth mentioning to you. After all, this was a big deal for me. A year of really making lifestyle changes in every way imaginable and than this icing on the cake to my 65 lb. weight loss. Take that mama belly away, I’ll keep the rest ????
My friend drove me to her house so that I could rest and recover more easily with help for the first day or two and not freak my kids out if I felt horrible. Which at first it wasn’t so bad. I slept a lot the first day, setting alarms for my pain meds so I didn’t feel the pain so much. I was waking up every 45 mins to pee. I think I peed the majority of my anesthesia bc I didn’t actually leak much but I peed A TON. like nine months pregnant kinda peeing. I guess I preferred that so I didn’t have to mess with my garment and wounds as much! Overall same day post op was long!