The decision to have this surgery was a long thought out process that I often decided against, and based on a few things I couldn’t change after having my babies. This has been a 2 year process for sure! I’ve seen three doctors in total and thought A LOT about what I wanted to do. I knew I had to have a breast augmentation or a lift, and I have extra skin around my belly button so I wanted to do something about that. Here’s the run down and you can see more on my instagram under “highlights”. I saved my surgery process there.
After I had Finley by vaginal birth at 9lbs I had severe diastesis recti. I would have to literally squat to put him in his crib/take him out. If I made even the slightest wrong movement I would throw my back out. I knew as soon as I was done having kids I would have to have it repaired ASAP. Finley was 3 years old when I had Foster, and my OB-GYN wanted me to have my DR surgery very soon after birth so I could just have one recovery. Now looking back on it, I wish I had not done this. There was really no rush, and I wish I had let my stomach/skin go back to normal after being pregnant and before having the surgery. More on that below. After everything healed from the diastesis recti surgery, my skin around my belly button was funny and saggy and as I started to workout/lose weight postpartum the skin got worse. That’s why I started looking into the tummy tuck idea. I saw three doctors that all said tummy tuck was the way to really get rid of the skin. A FULL TUMMY TUCK. Insert all tear face emojis here. I have a long torso and the problem was in the middle of it! I did look into some lasers, but couldn’t really decide to spend the money on that knowing the skin wasn’t going to just disappear. Now, I’m re-thinking looking back into the lasers. A week before surgery, I decided to NOT get the tummy tuck and just have a breast augmentation. I felt like the tummy tuck was just MAJOR surgery for a MINOR problem at the end of the day. I did not have peace over it and was extremely nervous about healing/scarring/swelling. My doctor told me I could have swelling in the bottom portion of my belly for 6 months to a year. I wasn’t ready for that. I can always do it later, but decided now was not for me.
This is a before anything photo. You can see my stomach skin, and that my breasts are very small and don’t fill out my top.
Right before surgery covid style
Diastesis Recti Surgery
My surgery for my DR after I had Foster was outpatient, and the recovery was horrendous. When I awoke from surgery they pretty much told me I had to get up and get dressed and I.could.not. move. I did know this was going to be the case, but I was unsure how much pain I would be in. During the DR repair they are sewing your abdominal muscles back together, so imagine doing that and then having to get up. No way. They had to get a few nurses in to give me more drugs to get me dressed and leave. It was the worst I’ve ever felt, and I have a very high pain tolerance. (I’m sitting here 48 hours from my breast aug taking only Tylenol). I screamed the entire time I had to walk into the house, and once I finally laid down I had to turn myself and get up by lifting myself with my arms/triceps. I was also pumping at this time and had a newborn. It was rough for a good week, but my stomach was “tired” easily for a few weeks. Overall, I needed the surgery, but I wish I had waited and let me body repair, and then had a plastic surgeon do it. That being said, the Dr that did perform it did it laparoscopically so my scars cannot even be seen. There is something to be said for that. I do also have a small separation still, that maybe I did, or was always there, I’ll never know.
How I hide my saggy skin on IG
What it really looks like
Breast Augmentation
I knew pretty early on I would want to fix my boobs, I never thought they were perky enough, and after nursing/breastfeeing I had nothing on the top portion of the breast. I wanted only an implant to fill that portion out so I could wear bathing suits, strapless dresses, tanks etc. I went with a 210 cc wanting to stay very small to keep my trim, fit look. They are still swollen and high, but I’m happy so far! I’m 1.5 weeks out from surgery and I’ve tried on my same bras and bathing suits and they still fit, just much more filled out which is what I wanted. My Dr went under the breast, in the fold with the incision, and I did not need a lift. I felt like the surgery was very quick and easy. I awoke feeling well, and just came home and slept the afternoon. I did rest that day and stay on top of my pain meds. I took it easy for a good week and feel almost normal now, with the exception that I can’t lift a lot yet or raise my hands above my shoulder height.
Almost 3 weeks after my breast aug
Pain Management
I came home taking Norco which was fine, until the second day it was keeping me up and not letting me sleep. Of course this happened at 1am on Friday night and I couldn’t get a hold of my Dr, but I stopped the Norco. My Dr ended up prescribing me Ultram, but I tried to just take 1000mg Tylenol/ 8 hrs. My pain was probably a 3 on a 1-10 scale, worse on my incision areas when I stood up. I was able to continue with the Tylenol with no problem!
Doctors
This is a list of Drs here in Houston that I visited or that are on my list to visit if I do decide to continue with the abdominoplasty (tummy tuck):
Dr. Christopher Patronella
Dr. Schusterman
Dr. Bonnie Baldwin
Dr. Hsu
Dr. Cain Lindville
Non surgical ideas
Out of the research I’ve done for non-surgical solutions I have found some type of lasers is probably what I will look into. There aren’t a ton of places to go, but the two I have looked into are Beauty Bar here in Houston, and Lemmon Avenue in Dallas. They do some time of laserSkin pen, Halo Profound lasers, Fibroblasting, Plasma pen.