After going back and forth about making a thread and putting myself out there to possibly get criticized, I have decided to go ahead and do it! I know that there are a lot of women on this site that want to get the same procedures done, and I figure it might be a good source of information for them.
I am going to put it ALL out there. The good, the bad, and the ugly. I promise not to hold anything back, and I will be 100% honest with all questions.
I am a 30 y/o mom of 3. All c sections, and all born within 3.5 years. I started out at 125-130 before kids. And I never had huge breasts. I was a Victoria's Secret 34C. But I wore a small in shirts, and a 4 in jeans.
With my first I gained over 70 lbs. I then stuck at 170 when I wasn't pregnant. After my daughter was born, I got a trainer and hit it hard. I lost over 30 lbs from Feb to May. The one thing I didn't plan on was the skin. At first I thought it was still fat hanging around and I couldn't understand why I couldn't lose it. Then I asked my Dr, and he told me that it was actually very little fat, but just damaged skin and it would never shrink back. After talking it over with my husband, we decided I could go for a consult with a plastic surgeon that did my good friend's breast augmentation.
I called to make it, and the soonest they had was for August 16th. I decided to go ahead and start weaning because I knew that I needed to have been not BFing for 3 months prior to surgery.
I got a million papers in the mail to fill out and bring with, along with a book and a bunch of info sheets. The day of the consult I got a folder with even more papers. They brought me back to the room, where they had me watch 2 videos. One on the augmentation, and the other on the tummy tuck. Then they showed me a silicone and saline implant so I could feel the difference. I knew right away I wanted silicone, cause the saline was like holding a baggie of water, I didn't want my boobs to slosh, lol!! And then the surgeon came in. They took a bunch of measurements. Like breast width which is actually important for picking the right size implants. The surgeon was shocked that my breasts held up so well after nursing 3 kids, and said that I didn't need a lift at all. Then he looked at my stomach. He also said that there was little fat, just a lot of damaged skin. He also said that along with the tuck, he did use some lipo to make a better contour of the tuck, so he would be doing some on my love handles too! Yay!! Then they gave me a bra to try on different sized implants. The biggest size they had was 425cc and so I picked them and then the nurse came back in and asked some more questions, like how I wanted them placed in the pocket. Then I met with the surgeon again, and he gave me my price, $12,001 not including prescriptions. Me and DH said that $12K was a reasonable price, so I asked what he had open, and I went down to the scheduler. They were pretty open, so I told them I wanted to talk it over with DH.
That night when the kids were in bed, we discussed how we wanted to pay, and when he could take time off work to help. We had a couple of dates in mind, and the next morning when I called we went with Sept 19th. And my pre op was scheduled for the 5th. I had to have my clinic do some blood work, and then the PS (plastic surgeon) could do the rest of my physical. When I went in, I told him I didn't think the 425cc implants would be big enough, so he said he would have the nurse go over the chart with me. And I also asked how much lipo of the inner thighs would be, since mine have always kinda touched no matter how skinny I was. He came back and said he would charge $500, and for anesthesia and surgery center costs it would be $418. I called my husband and he said to go ahead and do it!! So my new total was $12,953 (adding in the new compression garment to cover my thighs as well). It was hard handing over the card and signing my name to that slip, let me tell ya!! But then the nurse came back in to go over implant sizes with me, and she told me 500cc was the max for my breast width. I tried them on, and they still weren't as big as I would have liked, but if that was my max, what could I do right? But we got everything squared away and I went home.
A few days after the pre op I was still thinking about how I knew I wanted bigger. And I knew people did it, so I emailed my plastic surgeon's office with my concern. I immediately got a call back from the office manager and told her that I wanted to go bigger, that I had taken pictures with the 500cc sizers in and they didn't look big enough and what could I do. She told me to hold, came back and said that she talked to the Dr and he said I could easily do 600cc high profile. So I said lets go for it, and she ordered them!
But some of the things I can expect are that I will be going home with a catheter, and I am to remove it myself. DH actually said he would do it for me if I needed him to, lol. And I will have drains in the incision. I will get them removed when they are collecting less than 50cc from both sides, and the fluid is more clearish. It usually takes from 7-10 days. And I am not allowed to shower until they come out. I have to use spray deodorant for a week cause my implant incision is in the armpit. I have to walk hunched over for a week. And I will be wearing a compression garment day and night for 3 weeks, and during the day for 3 weeks following that.
Here is my "before" (be nice, cause I am bloated from a weekend of eating crappy food and drinking beer at our town festival, lol)
Only 3 days away!!
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