37 Years Old, 3 Children, Diastasis Recti, and BA Redo with Silicone - Wichita, KS

I am a mother of three beautiful children, ages 2, 4, and 6. I am so blessed by them and my wonderful husband! I am an athletic build, 5'4" and 125-130 lbs. I wear a size 2 in most clothes. I love to workout, run about 20-25 miles a week and love to do jazzercise and other aerobics classes! I have wanted to get my stomach fixed for the past six years ever since our first child was born! I have long legs and a short torso (I actually have one less vertebra in my spine....sacralization) so with my pregnancies I got very large in the belly and carried very forward. Although I only gained 25-30 pounds each pregnancy I did a lot of damage to my stomach muscles. I had a cesarean with my first child and was able to do a VBAC with the next two! The recovery from my c-section was fairly easy....and recovery from the vaginal births was even easier! My family & God are my life and I love life! I had a diastasis recti after my first pregnancy, and it only got worse with the next two. I do not have a lot of extra skin, but my stomach will not ever be flat no matter how much I workout. I look 3-4 months pregnant if I wear tight fitting clothes. I can hide my stomach with looser fitting clothes, but it bothers me that I always have to try and disguise it! I am also doing an implant exchange from saline to silicone and hoping to go slightly larger. My implants are 15 years old and there is a lot of rippling. I do not have any breast tissue so I am pretty much all implant. I currently have 360 cc filled to 400, moderate profile rounds, and I am a small C cup. Other than the rippling, there is no problems with the implants. I am considering going with high profile implants and my surgeon said 475 was probably as large as I could go. I am hoping to be a D cup. I breast fed all three children for a total of six years and I loved the size of my breasts when I was breastfeeding. I do not need a lift as there is no extra skin or tissue there.

I went to two consultations with two doctors in Wichita. I chose the doctors for the consults based on word of mouth and the pictures of their work. I was surprised at some pictures of other surgeons in town....how uneven and bad some of the tummy tuck scars were. Of the two doctors I went to, the first told me he "thought" he could fix my muscles with a mini and he could take care of my belly button by just cutting away excess skin around it. I did not feel very comfortable with this doc as he was very nervous and unsure. He did however tell me I could go with bigger implants....like 550 but he would use moderate profile. (I like the idea of more projection with a less wide implant like HP)

The second doctor I saw was definitely the doctor for me. He said he would need to do a full TT with MR due to the diastasis going up above my belly button. He said I would be unhappy with the results of just a mini procedure. He was more conservative with the implant exchange saying with my frame he thought I could only go to 475 ccs. However, he did think HP would be a better fit for my frame.

I scheduled with the second doctor and my surgery is set for April 3, 2014. I go next week, March 21st for my pre op appt. At this point I am excited and nervous for the surgery. I feel a bit guilty and wonder if I am doing the right thing! I worry about going under and the risks involved with that. I have so much to lose (my kids and husband) if something were to go wrong. There is a little voice inside that says, your body is not that bad....and after the surgery you will have this huge scar. The bigger voice says in the long run, I really need to get the muscle repaired and I will be happy with the result!

I am excited! I have my pre op appt this Friday March 21st.