Tummy Tuck, 130 Pounds, 5’5, 37 Yr Old, Mom of 3

My scabbing is starting to fall away, I have just left it to do its thing.
Maybe some dog ears on the one side? I’ll ask my ps about it when I see him in 4 weeks.

Feel like I’m getting back to normal life aside from lifting anything heavy or vacuuming.

I never realized how often I need to sneeze just out of the blue until now.
I’ve figured out how to avoid it when I feel it coming on - it’s not pretty, just scrunching my nose and moving my face around in hopes the urge passes.

So, I did go into this surgery expecting a new belly button and my stretch marks to be pulled down much further..
When I saw my ps at one week post he explained that he could not pull my old belly button down very far and the skin on my belly has so many stretch marks that having a vertical incision close to a new belly button would not look very nice. The skin would pucker.
So he went with what he thought would look best.
I’m hoping in a few weeks I will like my results, right now I think it’s too early to tell…

The little pouch above my incision is a concern but I’m hoping it’s just swelling.

I find if I avoid looking at my stomach/incision the better off I am or I start overthinking everything.

I’m getting around pretty well, I started driving on day 8 and that has been liberating. I can drive my kids to their summer camps, make dinner and tidy up the dishes if I have to. Other than that I’m doing a lot of reading to pass the time.

The first few days after bandage came off I couldn’t even look at my incision without feeling ill. I don’t stomach blood and wounds very well so that’s not surprising.
When I would take the binder off to shower I’d have to sit for a few minutes before standing as I’d feel light headed. I still don’t feel great without the binder on 24/7, just unsupported and almost like a weight on my stomach like someone is sitting on me.
Today I’m trying a shapewear tube like thing instead of the bulky binder.

I’ve been sleeping on my back, still not comfortable on my side without a bunch of pillows around me. Can’t wait to sleep in any position comfortably and have a big stretch in the morning.

After my first baby 13 years ago my skin on my stomach sagged and was loose. I had a spiderweb of stretch marks in the middle of my belly as well. After my next two pregnancies over the next 5 years my skin still sagged and the stretch marks were worse as they had stretched out into wider scars. I had diastasis - a 4 cm gap in my a muscles as well. So anytime I was bloated I looked newly pregnant. No amount of physio could fully repair that damage.
I am a pretty fit person so this loose skin and muscle separation always bothered me, as I felt like my stomach didn’t match the rest of me.

I waited many years to do the procedure as I did not have support from my husband to do it but he finally came around. I went with the same surgeon I used for my breast implants and was very happy with the results.

Our plan was to fix my diastasis, pull the skin down as much as possible and cut in a new belly button.
I had a full mental breakdown 3 days post op when I took off my binder to have a shower and saw loose skin and what looked like my same belly button. I called the office and asked for the notes to get a confirmation from the nurse - did I get a new belly button?! She said yes..
I had another look today on day 5 and I don’t think I do, I think they messed up. Trying to stay calm and optimistic about it as maybe that was a decision that had to be made during surgery.. but I am wondering why did I do this? I went in there with our plan in mind and expected a different result.. maybe it’s still early days..?
I see the doc on day 8 post op (July 16)