POSTED UNDER Mommy Makeover REVIEWS
I Now Recognize the Girl in the Mirror! - Walnut Creek, CA
ORIGINAL POST
I am 33 years old, 150 lbs, 5'9 and have 3 kids...
sweetsoul99August 31, 2015
WORTH IT$17,000
I am 33 years old, 150 lbs, 5'9 and have 3 kids who I've dedicated the past 10 years and probably the rest of my life to (no regrets!). I love being active and seeing how hard I can push myself in the gym. One day I suddenly noticed how amazing my shoulders looked, and wondered why I hadn't noticed it before. I realized it was because my eyes were always drawn to how disfigured I felt with an odd round pooch and a flat chest. Nothing wrong with being small chested, but being a more "sturdy" woman, I felt like unproportional. In my mind I "wasn't that bad looking", but never recognized the girl I saw in the mirror.
I had been saving up for a tummy tuck since my 2nd baby. She was a 9 lb chub and I carried her like a horizontal watermelon. My belly button drooped and it was hard to let my husband touch me I was that self-conscious. And with a serious diastasis (separated ab muscles) it made core work-outs uncomfortable. When I went in for a consultation just to see how much I was looking at, the surgeon pointed out that I had a "good sized" hernia. That pushed us to have the surgery done now instead of a year later like we had planned.
It was pretty stressful finding a surgeon since we didn't have a referral to go off of. But with the help of yelp, realself, and endless phone calls I'm really happy with the surgeon we found. My husband made a great point to not expect "perfect" results, but expect to look "better". This advice has been monumental in my recovery. I'm a perfectionist and it was so easy to nit pick this and that. Obviously i'm not going to look like a super model or even close to what I did before having kids. But now even just 3 weeks out I can look in the mirror and say "wow, I look hot!"
I had been saving up for a tummy tuck since my 2nd baby. She was a 9 lb chub and I carried her like a horizontal watermelon. My belly button drooped and it was hard to let my husband touch me I was that self-conscious. And with a serious diastasis (separated ab muscles) it made core work-outs uncomfortable. When I went in for a consultation just to see how much I was looking at, the surgeon pointed out that I had a "good sized" hernia. That pushed us to have the surgery done now instead of a year later like we had planned.
It was pretty stressful finding a surgeon since we didn't have a referral to go off of. But with the help of yelp, realself, and endless phone calls I'm really happy with the surgeon we found. My husband made a great point to not expect "perfect" results, but expect to look "better". This advice has been monumental in my recovery. I'm a perfectionist and it was so easy to nit pick this and that. Obviously i'm not going to look like a super model or even close to what I did before having kids. But now even just 3 weeks out I can look in the mirror and say "wow, I look hot!"
sweetsoul99's provider
Replies (3)
September 17, 2015
You look great! I cave a consultation with Dr Behmand in a couple of weeks.
October 6, 2015
Congratulations! You look fantastic and I hope you are so pleased with your results. I am 3 wks po and have to stop myself from nit picking as you said. My incision is a bit high but I have to remind myself it is higher than normal because I didn't have a lot of loose skin. Thats a good thing! 99% of the time I have clothes on and in clothes I feel great! 1% of the time I may be in a bikini and if I have to search for cute, higher tops its ok. Thanks for reminding me of this!
UPDATED FROM sweetsoul99
26 days post
Bare Necessities
sweetsoul99August 31, 2015
Here are my "lists"
Necessities of what I actually used:
ELECTRIC RECLINER!! I really wanted to get away with not getting one, but my husband insisted and I am so glad he did. I slept in that thing for 4 weeks, and it just made getting up and down so much easier and less painful. I've also heard a lift chair is great too.
Prescriptions (pain and nausea)
vitamin C
Tylenol
Facial Wipes (b/c that first week I could barely brush my teeth let alone wash my face)
gauze and athletic tape
some long camisoles to put under my binder
a button up pajama shirt (this made getting dressed after the surgery so much easier. you won't be able to lift your arms)
a button up regular shirt for when I needed to get out of the house
a sports bra one size larger for when I needed to wash my surgical bra.
colace
miralax
suppositories
flex straws
gatorade
crackers
protein bars
and lots of water!
that's it. Unfortunately I bought a lot of stuff that I ended up not using. I like to be prepared and was able to return a bunch of what I had bought at target.
What I put in the box next to my bed:
pills
colace
iphone charger
book light
books
flexstraws
chapstick
drinks &snacks
wipes
ear plugs to listen to the audiobook late at night when I couldn't sleep.
Necessities of what I actually used:
ELECTRIC RECLINER!! I really wanted to get away with not getting one, but my husband insisted and I am so glad he did. I slept in that thing for 4 weeks, and it just made getting up and down so much easier and less painful. I've also heard a lift chair is great too.
Prescriptions (pain and nausea)
vitamin C
Tylenol
Facial Wipes (b/c that first week I could barely brush my teeth let alone wash my face)
gauze and athletic tape
some long camisoles to put under my binder
a button up pajama shirt (this made getting dressed after the surgery so much easier. you won't be able to lift your arms)
a button up regular shirt for when I needed to get out of the house
a sports bra one size larger for when I needed to wash my surgical bra.
colace
miralax
suppositories
flex straws
gatorade
crackers
protein bars
and lots of water!
that's it. Unfortunately I bought a lot of stuff that I ended up not using. I like to be prepared and was able to return a bunch of what I had bought at target.
What I put in the box next to my bed:
pills
colace
iphone charger
book light
books
flexstraws
chapstick
drinks &snacks
wipes
ear plugs to listen to the audiobook late at night when I couldn't sleep.
Replies (2)
October 6, 2015
This is awesome! Just what I needed!!! Thank you so much for sharing. I just rented an electric lift recliner too. I only got it for the first two weeks, I have a regular lazy boy I figured I could transition to. Do you think that's ok or do you recommend that I extend the rental for the entire month?
October 15, 2015
You could probably do fine with just 2 weeks. Just pull yourself to the edge of the chair and ease up slowly with your feet as much under you as possible. After 2 weeks I mostly liked to sleep in the recliner because it made it easier to shift a little to the sides (I am not a back sleeper!)
UPDATED FROM sweetsoul99
26 days post
Selecting a surgeon
sweetsoul99August 31, 2015
realself won't let me back log so hopefully it doesn't get confusing putting this out of order.
I just wanted to make a comment on my experience selecting a surgeon. It was hard without a referral so I relied a lot on yelp and realself. I had a hernia so I needed a surgeon that worked with my insurance. That in itself proved difficult. I consulted with 4 surgeons. I could lump them into 2 categories:
conservative: 2 different surgeons wanted to do very modest implants based on measurements they took of my chest area. 1 wanted to do 225, and the other 300. These 2 surgeons wanted to team up with a general surgeon to fix my hernia. They also felt that being under anesthesia that long was risky, so they wanted to split the procedures into 2 surgeries. I really really liked and connected with 1 of these surgeons and his staff, Dr. Liu from Los Gatos. However with 3 small kids doing 2 surgeries and 2 recoveries would have been extremely difficult. Plus he likes to do a lot of post-op appointments, which I believe showed how much he cares about his patients, but it was an hour plus in terrible silicon valley commuter traffic.
Non-conservative: These 2 different surgeons recommended larger implants for me based on my wants and overall body size. They were also willing to fix the hernia themselves and do all of the procedures themselves. I felt that being young (which is a relative word I know), healthy, and in good shape that this wouldn't be too risky given a confident surgeon. Dr. Behmand from Walnut creek was my favorite of the 2 because I liked his before & after pictures. It seems silly to base a decision like this on pictures from a website but I assume that they put their best ones up and you can't expect your results to be any better. (of course ask all surgeons to show you pictures of what they think your results will look like).
I selected Dr. Behmand. He gave me one of the highest quotes, but I've learned in life that you get what you pay for. And when it comes to something as life changing as cosmetic surgery, you don't want to skimp out. I can say that even just 3 weeks post-op the results were definitely worth it.
I just wanted to make a comment on my experience selecting a surgeon. It was hard without a referral so I relied a lot on yelp and realself. I had a hernia so I needed a surgeon that worked with my insurance. That in itself proved difficult. I consulted with 4 surgeons. I could lump them into 2 categories:
conservative: 2 different surgeons wanted to do very modest implants based on measurements they took of my chest area. 1 wanted to do 225, and the other 300. These 2 surgeons wanted to team up with a general surgeon to fix my hernia. They also felt that being under anesthesia that long was risky, so they wanted to split the procedures into 2 surgeries. I really really liked and connected with 1 of these surgeons and his staff, Dr. Liu from Los Gatos. However with 3 small kids doing 2 surgeries and 2 recoveries would have been extremely difficult. Plus he likes to do a lot of post-op appointments, which I believe showed how much he cares about his patients, but it was an hour plus in terrible silicon valley commuter traffic.
Non-conservative: These 2 different surgeons recommended larger implants for me based on my wants and overall body size. They were also willing to fix the hernia themselves and do all of the procedures themselves. I felt that being young (which is a relative word I know), healthy, and in good shape that this wouldn't be too risky given a confident surgeon. Dr. Behmand from Walnut creek was my favorite of the 2 because I liked his before & after pictures. It seems silly to base a decision like this on pictures from a website but I assume that they put their best ones up and you can't expect your results to be any better. (of course ask all surgeons to show you pictures of what they think your results will look like).
I selected Dr. Behmand. He gave me one of the highest quotes, but I've learned in life that you get what you pay for. And when it comes to something as life changing as cosmetic surgery, you don't want to skimp out. I can say that even just 3 weeks post-op the results were definitely worth it.
Hi there and welcome! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. How was the actual procedure? If you have any good recovery tips, please share them!