Lawdy Lawdy I"m Turning 40! Birthday Gift to ME! 5'7 135lbs 2 Kids, TT and Lipo

This year in July I'm turning (gulp) 40 :) My girlfriends and I are doing a weekend trip to Vegas! Yippee.. minus the yippee. I've not worn a swim suit in public with out a cover up in 12 years. (after my last son was born). Mind you my three friends are freaking hot in swim suites and EVERY thing they wear. ugh I'm tired of sucking in, covering up and wearing baggy clothes. I'm THAT girl. So.. this is the year, after many many years, I'm allowing my self to spend the $ on my self! I'm kind of nervous!

I love this website, let me say that! The candor and pictures, tips etc I think is what made feel better about making the "heck yes" decision. I have three consults over the next two weeks.. (2 on Monday and then 1 the following week). I'm kind of annoyed at the cost just for the consults but I guess it is what it is. The three places I have: Dr. Marosn at Bellevue Plastic Surgeons, Athenix in Bellevue and Dr. Downey in Seattle.

A few questions I have are..
1. Has anyone been to any of the above and would you recommend them.
2. what's some questions (besides the normal ones) I should ask?
3. I do have stretch marks and a lovely layer of fat I want removed, but was thinking.. if I just get the lipo done, would I be able to get a "mini" TT instead of the normal one?
4. After having done your surgery, would you do it again?

Ok that's all I have for now. I'll post pics later.

After my two consults, sadly the next morinng I had to fly back home as my mom is dying and I spent that time with my family. I'm not back in WA and missed my third consult. However, that being said.. the two I did attend went GREAT!.

I went to Bellevue plastic Surgery, the fee was $75 for the consult but the news I got was different then expected. I originally thought I would need a tummy tuck no questions. However the dr. recommend just lipo in the troubled areas (stomach/upper/lower) and some of the skin would tighten back up a bit. My #1 goal is how I look in clothes. The marks would be a HUGE bonus to go away , but i'm focused on the gut/pooch that area. The down side, his quote was over $10K!!! I about passed OUT! ha.

My second consult was at Athenix Body Sculpting in Bellevue. They were AMAZING, answered every question, talked about stuff I didn't even know I needed to know and gave the same advice as the first place. If I had to pick right now, Anthenix is my #1 choice. The price was $5K.

I decided to go with Athenix and I just paid in full for May 16th. I'm doing the middle/lower abs and the total is $3900. I don't' know if anyone has heard of it, I used CareCredit.. it's basically a line of credit for medical procedures only. (and dental). They have 12 months interest free OR 14% and you have up to 60 months to pay it back. I think my payment is $101 a month. Just Google it, most all office take it. Also, my insurance covers all my lab works and prescriptions, which isn't very much but every little bit counts.

Basically, I have my pre-op next week. (I can update more on that after my apt). I decided to just go with two areas as my upper abs aren't bad. I just look like I'm 5 months pregnant ALL the time.. basically from the bottom of my ribs down. It's horrific! After about 6 months or so, I can then decide if I want to have the "skin" that's left over removed. The benefit of doing this in two phases.. the normal tummy tuck is hip bone to hip bone scaring. The way I've decided.. the scar will only be as wide as the lose skin (if I have any after) but looking at it, shouldn't be no more then a few inches wide. (less then 6). However like I said before my biggest focus is on how I look in clothes. Next steps.. swimsuit ! ha Hey.. one can dream!! :)