I Finally Did It! -South Georgia

I am 31 years old with 3 children and I had a lot of loose skin below my bellybutton from my pregnancies. I workout regularly and eat healthy and I'm not overweight by no means I just can get rid of the extra skin. I even tried cool-sculpting last year after having my 3rd child. It seemed to work and my tummy looked flatter but the skin was still having. I knew I would never get rid of the majority of my stretch marks (tried 6 sessions of laser therapy and nothing!) But I figured if I could atleast get rid of the loose skin that would be one less thing for me to worry about. So I went to my consultation and my dr told me my best option would be a mini TT bc she wouldn't be able to perform a full TT on me. I went home and let that settle in with me for about 6 weeks and I finally decided it was time to go through with it. I called that day and they asked me to come in for a preop that same week and my surgery would be the following week. (Yes that quickly) So I went to my preop and we discussed all of my options. She said she would give me a slightly longer incision to get more stretch marks but not to long bc the ones above my hips she most likely wouldn't be able to get. She also said she would do a little bit of lipo around my belly button area to smooth it out (basically I had cellulite from my pregnancies) I told her I also want to go ahead and get lipo of the flanks while she was at it!

I've posted a few preop photos that I took myself so they arent the best but you get the idea.

I was really nervous/anxious so I tool a sleep aid to get some rest the night before. I woke around 6am, took a shower and got the kids ready for school and my 2 year old to daycare. Hubby dropped my off around 7 and took our youngest son to school and came back but I had already been taken back. I met with the nurse who too my vitals and went through more paperwork and postop instructions and then I met with the anesthesiologist. Both were extremely nice and helped calm my nervousness by talking about unrelated stories etc. I warned the anesthesiologist that I immediately get sick following pain so he assured me he would have that covered. The Dr Moore came in and made her marks and took pics. Then I say and waited more..solo nerve wrecking. They finally came in to take me back to the operating table. They placed me on, securer my legs and hair and covered me with a warmth plastic blanket and asked me if I was feeling sleepy. I replied with a lol, nope not yet and then that's all I remembered until they woke me up already in recovery. Hubby came in and they went over post op instructions with him and placed the compression garment around me and sent me on my way. I don't remember much of the ride home as I was still numb and out of it from the morphine used. Hubby got me home and into bed and he went to pick up our daughter as we had a family friend ex nurse come help with the baby. I stayed in my room most of the day hiding from my daughter to make it easier. I was able to get up every 2 hours and walk around the room and use the restroom all on my own with no problem. Pain was very minimum. My sides and back were still numb from where they did the lipo but as it starter to wear off I became more and more itchy..like annoyingly itchy and that's all that bothered me! So I guess that's good!

That evening I walked around the rest of the house, ate dinner with my family and even loaded the dishwasher. By bedtime I still have minimum pain from my incision but my back was killing me from walking around hunched over. All I have to say I was surprised at how easy day one was....

I'm posting few pics from the first day. You can see much bc I haven't taken my dressing off yet and I'm hunched over along with all the swelling.

I actually woke up feeling refreshed and slept fairly well on my couch with a few pillows to help. Once was able to get comfy due to the awkward compression garment digging into me and being do itchy (I had to take benydrol) I slept well. Once I woke I got up and did some lite housework (extremely light) just to help my feelings I had to take a lortab for the first time bc my back started aching again from slouching over. I did really well today again I stayed in my room while the nanny took care of my daughter and I ate dinner with the family and helped my son with his homework. I ended up getting stuck on the couch bc my 2 year old missed me so much and was irritable the nanny couldn't do anything with her. She gently snuggled up to me and fell fast asleep. I ended up having to sleep in my bed for half the night bc my daughter kept crying for my but I had to sneak out mid night bc she kept rolling around and hitting me in my back which really hurt! So I slept on the couch the rest of the night and that went pretty well. I took a lortab once more just to be on the safe side.