3 months post-op

Well time sure does fly regardless of what you deal with! I feel good, my scar is finally starting to fade some. It is a good scar, not thick, not bumped up (or keloidal or whatnot) but it's red which I really hope fades! I had tried Mederma, but I only bought one tube. Honestly I didn't use it the recommended 3 times a day because I'd keep forgetting, but I did eventually use it all and figured it doesn't make a big difference. You will scar how you're going to scar. I hear some PS's recommend just plain old cocoa butter lotion, so I went out & bought a think of Palmer's cocoa butter with vitamin E and started using that today.

Also my belly button has looked oddly small to hubby and myself. So going through the message boards at www.makemeheal.com I found posts about stretching. My belly button didn't look like it'd accommodate a marble (which is what lots of ladies do I guess), so I'm going with what another poster had done. Luckily I didn't need to start as small as her with gauze (tampons are cheaper HA). OB tampons and good and applicator free. There are regular, heavy and like super (my guess is they're thicker). So I bought a pack of the regular. To get it in & cut in half length-wise, lube it up with Bag Balm (I'm sure any ointment will do, we have an abundance of this) and twist it in. Luckily the regular is the right size for my belly button right now, I'm hoping it will stretch out the scar some. I get it in there & use paper tape to make sure it stays. Since that area is numb it doesn't feel weird. I remember before surgery anything IN the belly button felt very very odd! So that's a tip for trying to stretch it out.

I finally decided to put on my big girl panties and try some ab work and I can do some which makes me happy. It's very limited though, crunches, side crunches, EASY lower ab stuff, NOTHING combined or that just is no bueno on the muscle repair. So for now I will be happy that I can do some ab work & try to relearn how to use them and be careful. I don't want to hurt anything OR myself!

One full day with the rebounder

This is seriously INSANE! Do you see this? There is almost no swelling! I changed nothing, not what I ate, not how much water I drank. All I did was follow the guidelines of doing the "health bounce" but I did 4 minutes every hour (which really is nothing when you just sit around the house all day, well besides the normal house chores & my workout, but ya know) and this is what it did! Now I'm still slightly swollen, but it's not uncomfortable. I'll take it! And that is only one day! I hear if you do it for a little while your swelling goes totally away. I'm not so positive on that beings how I'm officially in the "swell hell" months, but if I can avoid the worst of it I am GREAT! I'm a happy girl!

On a side note, with the new boobs I've never had without being fat I found you really can't beat UnderArmour Endure and Stability bras, they are freaking WONDERFULLY amazing!

J is happy =)

Swell hell!

I have definitely came into the phase so commonly referred to as "swell hell" on the tummy tuck forums. It's apparently 3-6 months post-op (or longer). I can tell you what, I start the day with a tiny tiny flat belly, by noon I'm already consciously holding it in. By the evening I look 4 months pregnant. I wouldn't take my skin back for it though! BTW this is with eating low sodium, drinking over 1.5 gallons of water a day, and so on.

I've read & researched & have heard many people raving about rebounding and its beneficial effects on the lymphatic system, they also have great health benefits as well. Now I wanted to get a cheap one, but on a thread on the TT boards at makemeheal.com ladies have bought, used, and returned those as they are "hard bounce" and are jarring for tummy-tuckers. So I shelled out the money for a better quality one (I bought a Needak) and am hoping it really does help these upcoming months. It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow. I will update after! I know I'll like doing it anyway because as a kid I LOVED trampolines, this is just more of an excuse to bounce & bounce & bounce haha, call me Tigger! =)

Still here

I've been slowly getting better at workouts. Today was Couch to 5K run 2 miles day which was easy! So SOON, very soon I'll be back in the game. I found an awesome sports bra. I figured with the new chest I need good support, I thought the bra I had been using was good, well this one blew it out of the water! It's UnderArmour Stability (high impact, moisture wicking, nylon mesh vented areas, fabulous). Feels like I don't have anything on, I didn't even notice bounce when I was running, it's so well worth the money! I will not run in anything else from now on :)

TT scar is still really red, not sure when that'll fade, not really caring. A regular bikini covers it so I am good! I'm down 5 lbs since what I weighed morning of surgery, so slowly I am getting there. I'm not happy with butt & thighs currently, but they will shrink (probably more so now that I'm better at running). I'm fighting some cold junk my daughters got, but I'm doing well! I LOVE my results!

Hahahaha

So monthly started this morning, exactly 48 hours after taking stats, so I know I can't trust those stats, phew! Lemme tell ya, the first couple monthlies after getting a TT royally suck all around, but they aren't as bad now, more like before.

Kelly I think I'll need revs at the ends of my incisions, around my sides. There's a dog ear & there's skin pleating/wrinkling, whatever you want to call it. Will see if it stays that way as I get to me happy body fat % though. See DD#2 was transverse. She was literally sideways in me & wrapped around my sides until I was in real labor with her! So that skin is stretched out too & I doubt he took care of that. Now I know there's fat there right now too, I just need to shrink & see if it'll end up needing revs or not. I really don't want to, really, but if it's needed then... yeah...

Hmmm

This past week I've done well on eating good. Workouts have progressed & I'm even doing pull-downs now & some light chest work (feels really REALLY weird to use them now though). Hubby says I'm due for monthly soon (I'm not very regular when they come), so I dunno... I'm down another 0.4 lbs & some shrinkage here and there, mostly my new waistline. I'm at the 3 week point now where I am building up momentum, but also want things to go faster! I really really want to drop more lbs and yeah I'm getting impatient... Wait I've BEEN impatient, it's hard!

This morning (rest day) I got on the tready & ran a whole mile. I knew I could do it, it has been a long time, I just had it in my head that I needed to do it. Probably because the couch to 5K program has you run & walk & that gets annoying lol. So I did that, without the binder & it was good. I could probably do more, but I don't want to hurt ANYTHING, not my foot, leg, butt, muscle repair and so on. So I will try my hardest to keep following the couch to 5k and slowly build up mileage.

Healing wise the BA look good. The TT is good, but I think I might need scar revisions later on depending on how things look as fat shrinks (as it's looking now he will need to do something), I really really don't want to be healing again, but I know it's nothing like the full TT, at least the worst of THAT is over.

So anyway, I'm dying to shrink my butt, thighs, love handles & back fat, meh. Someday, someday...

Progress!

So last week after taking things up some notches I reaped the benefits a lot! I lost 2.8 lbs in ONE week! I didn't think that would happen, I was hoping for ONE pound. I'll take it, but I won't keep hopes up to keep up that fast loss. Most of my inch shrinkage was from waist & love handle/back fat area, so that's good. The butt & thighs did shrink measurably, so I'll take it. It just stinks that they are always slower, stubborn butt!

Anyway, I think I'm doing well with everything. I've considered trying some light chest work, but I'm still nervous, I might do a little this week & yea I'm talking like 5 lb presses to start lol. My muscle repair bugs me a little from time to time, but it's not bad. Eventually the needed scar tissue will be there & things will be normal feeling. I can lay on my stomach now, but it's not comfortable with the boobs though. So I can bend backwards some, yay!

I've been REALLY really bored with my hair lately & DYING to change it up. I just can't settle on it, ever, I don't know why that's just how I am. So I'm going to start getting lighter & Tuesday will be a major highlighting session, like 2.5 hours she said, oy! I never thought of actually going there because it's an old gas station that a woman bought & made a hair shop, but a girl I see around regularly had her hair all done anew (highlights, new cut, looked good) so I asked her where & she told me she went there. So I went in there & she suggested starting with lots of highlights (to lighten it all over, it's too dark to just do whatever). I think when it gets light enough I'll go back to RED, I'm thinking bright red for the heck of it (but that's a ways away probably).

Other thoughts... My self-confidence has been going nuts lately I've noticed. I feel so GREAT because of the boobs! I really didn't think they'd make me feel so different, but really they do! Then you have the whole fact that I can (non-grudgingly) have naked sex now because there's no kangaroo pouch of skin. I look in the mirror, naked, a lot and like it :) It's NICE! Now I just need to get to my former lean self & hubby watch out haha!