Butterflies and panic attacks...

Yeah, not THOSE kind of butterflies, the real ones, with wings... We took the kids to a new butterfly atrium near us today.  I know that I have issues with flying and jumping bugs but it thought I could handle it, I really did.  Butterflies are so pretty, and I really do like them and obviously I know they can't hurt me.  Now if they are more than 10 feet away or just sitting on something I'm perfectly fine, but if it flies anywhere near me I go all super ninja, jumping and twisting and flailing my arms... Yeah, I'm THAT freaky person who's afraid of the friendly little butterfly.  I mentally prepped for going into the atrium, I knew the butterflies would be everywhere and possibly land on me... But it did not prepare me for the real thing!  They were all flapping around as big as my hand or larger (and NO I'm NOT exaggerating!) zooming past my face and all around.  I tried to be brave and not let the kids see, but every time one came anywhere near me I would jump a little, and hold in my desire to scream and start crying right there.  After a grand total of two minutes I just couldn't deal with it anymore, I was about to break into a full on panic attack right there, so I handed my two year old and my phone with the camera on to my dear sweet husband and said "I'll meet you outside", his response... "I wondered how long you'd last", *sigh*.  So I sat in the cafe and sipped on a Pepsi (bad girl), took some deep calming breaths and waited for my family to join me.  When they did I was happy to see that my fear didn't pass to the kids, they had a great time!  My daughter had a butterfly land on her head which had her on cloud 9, and my husband had a paper kite butterfly land on his foot and then climb the length of his body to sit on his neck (*shudder*), and according to my oldest this was amazing because the lady that works there was really excited and told them that the paper kites NEVER land on people EVER!  Maybe we should play the lottery! Here are a few butterfly photos of the cool things I missed today...

That last one I actually saw because it was a separate room behind glass where they "hatch" the butterflies... That one is an Atlas Moth, I had my oldest put his hand on the glass so it shows the size of the thing, it's huge!!

In other news, just two and a half weeks until my surgery...eep!  Just need to keep making it through the days... Aquarium tomorrow... Luckily I'm only afraid of fish if I'm expected to be in the water with them... So yeah, me? Swim in natural bodies of water?  Nope, not me!  Ugh, I'm such a wimp!

2 1/2 weeks left

Only 2 1/2 weeks left!  I'm really looking forward to my pre-op appointment on Thursday.  I have lots of questions, and I've started making notes when I think of something so I don't forget to ask.  So far I want to know if my doctor recommends Arnica Montana and Bromelain for swelling and bruising post-op, I know a lot of doctors do and I want to do everything I can to help my recovery. Also, does he use a pain pump?  From the research I've done many doctors seem to believe it helps patients recover faster because they are in less pain they move around more...this sounds good to me!  Also, where does he plan to place my implants?  And finally (so far), do I really need to do an MRI every three years with silicone implants?  If I do this is a significant cost added to our lives because its 1-2 thousand dollars since its generally not covered by insurance for implant checks.  So what are his thoughts/recommendations there?? 

My mother in law is currently visiting and I was worried to tell her about my upcoming surgery.  I completely expected her to be upset about us spending so much money.  They have always had money issues, several years ago my husbands name was on their bank account for emergency reasons and when they overdrew their account the money was taken from ours!  Over $5000!!  They've still not paid back most of it, plus other times we've lent them money, they owe us quite a bit actually... So for some reason any time we do something that costs lots of money they freak out. (Insert eye roll here). So I was quite surprised when she was happy and excited for me...although she has threatened to steal my "recovery chair" for herself, after all, it is very comfy.  Now I need to figure out how to tell my grandparents... And no, I'm not telling anyone other than my parents and friends about the breast augmentation party of this surgery, I just don't want to deal with those questions.

As for the bikini I bought last week on vacation, I've found it's really given me quite a confidence boost!  I actually wore it today to a local pool in front of my mil and ex-bil. I felt pretty good about myself and managed not to be completely self-conscious. So there's hope for me yet!!

Submuscular vs subglandular

I've been doing a lot of research around my tummy tuck so I decided to give that a break and start researching breast augmentation.  We have already discussed with my doctor and chosen silicone implants, but after my research I definitely have a big question....submuscular vs subglandular?  Meaning, place the implant under the pectoral muscle or under the breast tissue (above the muscle).  For me, my breasts sag some but not too bad, I'd really just like to add a little of the fullness I've lost from breastfeeding three babies.  I really find that the idea of putting the implant UNDER the muscle kinda freaks me out.  I know that this is the more "popular" style for implants currently but how can they look right?  How can you exercise normally afterward?  I mean really, wouldn't you feel the muscle squishing the implant while doing chest work like push-ups??  I'm a pretty active person and have no intention of not working out just because I got implants!  I want to continues jogging, karate, insanity, asylum, etc... I know the chances of sagging are a little higher with subglandular and there is more risk of capsular contracture (hardening and tightening around the implant) and some say it is harder to get a good mammogram picture done.  I'm not too worried about the mammogram thing, there is no history of breast cancer in my family and I believe a good tech will be able to do her job if she's told about the implants before the squishing begins.  Really, from pictures I even like the look of the subglandular more, to me it's more natural looking and that's what I want.  I just need to discuss it with my doctor at my pre-op appointment in a week and a half...I hope he does subglandular, otherwise I may just re-think having my breasts done, after all they're not THAT bad!

After discussing this with my husband and spending some time looking at before and after photos with him I've discovered something.  It's not the placement of the implant that makes a difference to me but the SIZE.  Both dh and I like when the breasts are filled out but not overly round and definitely not porn star boobs!  I feel better now and I'm looking forward to my pre-op appointment more and trying on the new me!

Bikini, oh-boy!

Well, since we're still in Arizona even though its vacation it's hot and all the kids want to do is swim, which is fine with me.  The first two days I've worn my tankini that I bought last summer.  Problem is I've lost weight since I bought it and its a bit loose in the bottoms and quite loose in the top, if I move wrong my tiny saggy boobs fall out!  Thank goodness I'm not just getting a tummy tuck but breast implants too... Not huge ones of course, I just want to fill out the sagginess.  I got tired of falling out of my suit pretty quickly so I finally sucked it up, went to the local target and found  a decent BIKINI!!  Eep!  This morning I actually wore it to the pool.  It wasn't so bad as long as I stayed in the water deep enough that my stomach was covered. So here it is my bikini before!

Not awful except the baggy saggy tummy... I'm really looking forward to seeing how it looks after my mommy makeover!!

De-stressing and distressing....

First day of vacation was nice.  We got to the resort a little before dinner time so I took the kids to the pool.  I have to say I really dislike my bathing suit.  With all the changes my body has gone through between having three kids and then losing a bunch of weight, a nice fitting bathing suit is hard to find... Right now the bottoms are a bit baggy and the top, well... my tiny saggy boobs keep popping out :( at least it's a tankini so the saggy belly is covered!  

After the pool we came back to our villa to have dinner... I'm realizing that keeping to my calories this week will be harder than I originally thought.  Day one and I already over ate, ugh, but food is sooo yummy!  After I got the kids to bed I had time to relax in the awesome two person whirlpool tub in my room....literally, IN my room!

How cool is that!  But when I got into the tub I realized I haven't taken a bath or sat in water without a bathing suit on since loosing weight and the difference it would make.  Did you know that skin FLOATS!!  Oh-my-goodness.  I look down and my whole stomach is floating this way and that with the whirlpool currents. So gross!! Just another reason I feel good about my tummy tuck decision, no more nasty floating skin! Blech!

Vacation time!

I'm finally getting a week away from home to just relax, although we're only going less than an hour away from home lol.  We will be staying in a resort villa, which means kitchen!  So although I'm on vacation I have no intention of eating out, I will stick to my calories!  I may not be eating quite as healthy...think pb&j, frozen pizza, and skillet dinners, I am after all still on vacation!  But I'm not letting go of my goal to lose or maintain over the next two weeks so I can have my cheesecake on the 30th (yes, I really do like cheesecake that much).  The harder week will be when we get back but have mil, nephew and ex-bil visiting... I know they're going to want to eat out, and mil loves Chinese...I've never been a fan of Chinese, and the salt....oooo I can feel the puffiness now!  Also, today's date is the 14th, that means one month until my surgery...eep!  I have been reading and researching tons about others experiences with abdominoplasty and I think it'll be good that I probably won't have wi-fi on vacation.  Give myself a little mental break too.

5 weeks to go!

Eek!  Only five weeks left until surgery!  It seems so long yet so close.  Next week we will be on a family vacation, the week after my mother-in-law, nephew, and ex-brother-in-law are coming to visit, the next week is my pre-op appointment, the next week all the kids start school, then the next week is my surgery... Holy busy! We also have hair appointments, dentist appointments, school shopping, etc to fit in there somewhere.  Although I'm nervous I'm also feeling pretty good about my choice, I know the recovery is long and hard but I know it'll be worth it.  So far I have my recliner and loose pjs with button down tops to wear after surgery, now I just need to wait for my pre-op appointment to know what else I need.  The folliculitis on my legs is almost gone, which is good because I'm getting hairy!  I can't shave, wax, or go swimming until it goes away...since we're leaving for vacation Sunday it better be gone soon! The healthy eating lessons with the kids are going well, I'm down a total of 6 pounds.  But better than that my oldest has started telling me how good he feels and how he feels great after he exercises with me... After this mornings workout he randomly went and weighed himself (I swear I'm not making this about weight, not asking him to lose weight or anything like that!  I'm just asking him to be healthier) and he cam out so proud of himself, he's down two pounds and he's so happy because he says he's getting healthier and feels nice and light, lol.  I'm just happy that he feels so good about himself.

Busy day, Bumps, etc.

I finally got my new washer and dryer today.  Is it sad that I'm so excited?  Haha I don't really care.  They're so pretty and quiet and they are so much faster than our old dinosaurs, and did I mention quiet?? Aren't they pretty :)

As I've been doing load after load of laundry today trying to catch up I discovered that for some reason my lower legs felt really raw.  Now this morning I had a few red bumps on the area near my ankle where I tested out the sugar wax yesterday. I figured that was just normal irritation but when I looked at them a few hours later the bumps had spread most of the way to the knee and were larger...

Yikes!  I started off with a Benadryl wondering if it was an allergic reaction, but what would it be to?  The sugar wax was just sugar, water, and lemon juice... All things I've never had a problems ingesting. When an hour later there was no improvement I started wondering... Could I have given myself some sort of skin infection/ folliculitis?  It actually reminds me of the rash my youngest had that was folliculitis.  I think I may know exactly what I did wrong.  Sometimes I'm an idiot, and even though my youngest will be 3 next month I still reserve the right to blame it on "mommy brain".  After I tested the sugar wax, which did pull out a few hairs, I was all sticky.  Since I was in the kitchen what did I do?  I grabbed the closest damp thing to wipe off with, the kitchen sink sponge, all nice and bacterial ridden. Like I said, I'm an idiot.  So I coated the area with antibiotic ointment and will continue to do so a few times a day in hopes it goes away... It really, really needs to go away before I go on vacation next week!  I can not go in a pool with infected legs!!  Now I'm wondering if I'll even be able to wax before surgery.  

A little off the subject (my idiot brain also reserves the right to jump from topic to topic like a flea), I have started wondering if my husband is having second thoughts about me getting a tummy tuck.  He's been asking me on a regular basis the past few weeks if this is what I really want.  We've been planning on this since my oldest (9 in August) was a few months old and my doctor said the only way to get rid of the saggy extra skin was to cut it off when I was done having kids.  We specifically put money into Walgreens stock, watched it closely, and sold it at its high point so that we could afford this surgery.  The money is specifically for this, so it's not about the cost (something I'll go over in another post when I know costs of meds and supplies too).  I think he's genuinely worried about me being in pain.  I've been doing lots of reading, which is my way of coping with stress, I over prepare, I am not a fan of not being in control...yes, I'm a control freak.  So, as part of my over preparing I share everything I find out with my husband, and I think it's starting to freak him out.  I guess I'll freak out closer to the surgery, but for right now this blog and my "research" is enough to calm my nerves.  I even made him watch the video of a tummy tuck last night, and he agreed with me that it was pretty cool...although that may not have been the best way to make him feel better hahaha.

Sugar Wax FAIL

Well, as all things recently seem to originate from thoughts on prepping myself for surgery I started thinking again.  I know for a fact I won't be allowed to shower for at least a few days, maybe even a week or more after a shower.  I've given in to the fact that my hair will look awful for a while, super thick naturally curly hair is just not something I can brush and look "ok" or even use dry shampoo on...and my hair is short enough that although I can pull it back its a very stubby tail that would cause headaches being laid upon in my chair *sigh*.  But as a typical mommy of three my showers this week were a bit limited, I haven't shaved my legs all week and I went three days without shaving pits and bikini area.  I realized that this will probably bother me more than nasty hair... Stubbly pits and bikini area...ewww. It makes me itchy and scratchy just thinking about it!  I've never waxed but it figured, hey, why not?  I know it's painful for a bit, but the payoff is being hairless for weeks!  I looked into a local waxing center and the prices were along the lines of $30 per leg, bikini area free, and another $30 for the pits... Adding up to almost $100, yikes!  So of course I started researching natural hair removal and came across sugar waxing.  It sounded great, just heat sugar, water, and lemon juice to make a nice "wax" and viola!  Cheap hairless me!  So I tried making it, I had all the ingredients... And even after cooling it was just too thin, all it did was make things sticky, no hair removal.  So I cooked it longer.  This time it was thicker but again it wouldn't take off any hair!  So I called my husband in to test it on him, maybe my short leg stubble was just too short.  So I picked a spot on his back (no he's not all that hairy, but he does have a few small patches on his back perfect for testing).  The sugar pulled at his hair, pulled out two or three hairs and generally was a thick sticky mess.  Upon more research I discovered that sugar wax making was a very temperamental thing and exceedingly difficult without a candy thermometer to get the temperature just right.  Well, shoot!  I guess me and my candy thermometerless hairy self was not going to get waxed that way!  So I packed the kids into the car and headed to the Walgreens down the street, determined I could still wax myself and save money.  I found several types of home wax kits but the one that caught my eye was the Nads "natural" wax, which was essentially a sugar wax!  Great! And at $14 still way cheaper than a salon!  So I brought it home and started reading the directions where I discovered part of my problem... The hair it took my legs a WEEK to grow was too short to wax.  The hair needs to be 1/8-1/5 inch long to work and my hair was only 1/16... Darn.  Well, at least I still had hubby's back to test it with!  I tried it out on a new patch and... It worked! Really well too, I could re-use the wax several times!  He now has a nice smooth patch on his back, lol.  I guess I'll wait another week before trying my legs (or anywhere else)... But if its to long enough by then I'm shaving!  After all, I'll be going on vacation for a week at that point and I refuse to go to the pool all hairy.  Fingers crossed I grow my hair long enough before then to wax.

Greek Yogurt Soufflé

I really like to cook, especially baking...and when I get stressed I bake, it's how I relax.  First, this morning our disposal stopped working.  I'm pretty sure my husband can fix it, I know there's a reset button somewhere, but I can't find it!  Then I did a load of laundry, but on the second load the machine started making an awful sound, I checked it and its not adding water and not spinning... crap!!  I really hope my husband can fix it because washers and dryers are expensive.  Now I'm stressed about money... I'm already putting tons of money into this surgery, then we bought the fabulous recovery chair which was a definitely not cheap unplanned expense... Can we really afford this too?? Like I said, when I get stressed I bake, but we're doing this whole healthy eating thing, remember?  I can't in good conscience just cook and eat a dozen cookies. Well, I could...no, no I can't... Must be a good example for my kids, darn.  So I made my favorite healthy dessert, breakfast, whatever!  I could eat these all day!  Greek yogurt soufflé, so yummy... And super easy and healthy!

Ingredients-

1cup plain Greek yogurt

3large egg yolks

3 large egg whites

3Tbsp all purpose flour

1/8tsp salt

1tsp vanilla extract (sometimes I do 1/2 vanilla and 1/2 either coconut or almond extract for fun flavors)

1/8tsp cream of tartar

1/4 cup sugar

Directions-

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (regular heat, NOT convection).  Butter six ramekins and lightly coat the insides with sugar, then knock the excess out and place on a cookie sheet.

In a bowl mix together the yogurt, yolks, flour, salt, and extract.  With your stand mixer whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy.  I also recommend putting the mixing bowl in the freezer for about 30 minutes before using it on the egg whites, it helps them whip up faster.  When the egg whites are foamy slowly add the sugar and continue to whip until stiff and it makes soft peaks.

Gently fold the egg whites 1/3 at a time into the other mixture.  Fold gently and try to keep as much volume as possible, this makes the soufflés light and fluffy!  Spoon the mix into the ramekins and place in the oven for 15-18minutes.  DO NOT open the oven to check on them, if you must look use the light and look through the door.  The soufflés should come out puffy and slightly golden, full of light, fluffy cheesecakey goodness.... They are even delicious cold.  Yes they fall soon after coming out of the oven, but they still taste just as amazing!

Nutrition information-  calories 100, fat 2g, carbohydrates 12.3g, protein 7.2g

Happy 4th of July!

In celebration of Independence Day the kids and I decided to make a dessert.  Of course we tried to follow our healthy eating rules, but just fruit and yogurt wouldn't do!  So we made shattered glass jello-o.  My oldest son (8) found the recipe online and asked to try it, so he's actually the one that made it, with a little parental supervision of course!

(Fingers courtesy of my two year old)

To make this go with our healthy living learning we used real jello, not sugar free, because we don't want artificial sweeteners!  And we used fat free condensed milk to lower the calories a little.  Plus we are learning serving size, only one small square with lunch or dinner is necessary.  Here is a link to the recipe 

http://www.foodlibrarian.com/2009/03/broken-glass-jello.html

I was discussing the idea of my needing a recliner for recovery from my surgery with my husband this am and we both realized that we didn't really like the idea of a "used" chair.  It's not that I have a problem with hand-me-down type things in general, but if we bought the chair off Craigslist we know nothing about the previous owners or the chairs history.  All I could think of was the episode of "Big Bang Theory" when Penny gets a chair off the street that seems nice but when Amy sits on it there's something crawling around in it that bites her butt...yikes.  So I tried looking online to try to find something new for cheap and I found a likely candidate at Walmart, until we went and saw it...so incredibly ugly!  Ugh! I was not about to spend $300 on it!  So we broke down and tried going to La-z-Boy, hoping they would have a floor model or something on sale.  After looking around at their chairs I fell in LOVE with one of their recliners... It was leather, and automatic!!  No using my incredibly sore tummy muscles to try to recline the chair into a comfortable position!  But on sale it was $1000, I was sure there was no way my husband would agree to it, it was just too expensive!  And then he sat down on it. His face was priceless... You could tell he loved it.  I still thought that there was no way he'd let me get it, but then he asked if it was what I wanted.  I said yes, but it was so expensive.  His response was that he'd rather spend more money for something nice that we'd keep and use and love than spend a lot of money on something we didn't want to keep and would throw away.  So yay!!  I am getting the best "recovery chair" ever!

Left is the chair floor model, top right is the control (hands again by my two year old), and bottom right is the color...it's hard to see but the light piece is our living room couches color, the red blanket is the same as our couch blankets at home and the chair under it is a chocolate brown.  We go pick it up from the warehouse on Saturday and I can't wait to re-arrange my living room to put it in! This is one step closer to being ready for surgery *gulp*

Making lists already??

I'm not sure if I'm reading too much or just doing a good job getting prepared.  At least all the reading seems to help calm my nerves.... Six weeks to go ACK!! But I've learned there are a few things I will need to help my recovery. First, button down shirts.  Apparently I'll have a hard time lifting my arms over my head to take off a regular shirt for a while and it allows easy access to cleaning out drains (yum :p ). And of course I don't have any button down shirts, and anyway these and some type of stretchy bottoms will need to be big on me because of swelling and also accommodating a binder (think girdle) and the aforementioned drains.  So I've been trying to find something cheap.  I think the best way to go is a type of pajama set, and although I'd love some of the soft satiny ones from Victoria's Secret, $50 each is way too much for something I'll probably never wear again.  Plus, it's summer, in Arizona... So I found some for $10-15 per set at wal-mart, plus they are shorts/short sleeve... It's really hard to stop myself from going out and buying them right now.  Like I said in a previous post, I can be obsessive!  I hate feeling unprepared even though I have a whole six weeks to go!  I also apparently will really need a recliner chair or the ability to prop myself into a recliner position on my bed with pillows.  Problem!!  We don't have a recliner and my headboard on my bed is one of those giant monstrosities with shelves and drawers and a mirror, not exactly my taste but it was free (wedding gift from mil).  But because of the headboard I can't prop myself up with pillows because they slide into all the cubbies... Thank goodness for the Internet again!  I will get myself a lay-z-boy type recliner off of Craigslist, hopefully for less than $100.  And again, so hard not to go out and get it RIGHT NOW!! Then I can't figure out where to put myself.  Should I put the chair in my bedroom or the living room?  No matter what it means moving furniture, whatever.  Bedroom means darker, quieter, out of the way.  Living room means I'll be in the middle of everything so I can see what's going on and ask for help easier and the tv remote actually works.  The strange thing is I'm leaning towards the living room (although it means sleeping there for a few weeks).  Biggest issue here is that my two (almost three) year old still wakes up at night sometimes to pee and he's so quiet, he just shows up at my side of the bed.  It might be silly to worry about but I'm afraid of him either freaking out that I'm not in my bed or finding me in the living room where I can't help him and me being unable to call to my husband or mom to help (my mom will be here for the first week and a half to help).  It's probably silly but he is my biggest worry right now, he loves me to carry him and to sit on MY lap... He's not a big fan of doing things with anyone else, even daddy.  I'm sure it'll work out, but I can't help but think about it.  Have I rambled enough for today? Hahaha, see I'm nervous!  And if you know me in real life you can attest that I don't shut up!

Support group

I just wanted to put a "shout out" to my karate support group!

And of course my kids, my inspiration to be my best and healthiest!

Food and Fitness

I've been reading other blogs and doctor sites and I realized a lot of them mention being put on a specific diet at the two week before surgery point.  Apparently the reasoning is to make sure your body has the right building blocks to heal faster and also avoiding certain foods, supplements and medications that increase bleeding risk (for example, no ibuprofen).  This of course made me wonder what foods are good for healing? And what about exercise? I decided that I should work on my healing building blocks now...six weeks of good eating is better than two, right?

  All my research led me to believe first, that exercise and being in good shape before any surgery helps the muscles regenerate and heal faster.  So, although I'm already in pretty good shape I decided to set up a schedule to make sure I keep up with my workouts.  I used my teambeachbody account and put my workouts in the calendar.  To keep from getting bored I plan to do a different workout "series" each week.  This week is Insanity week, next is Asylum, then Turbofire, then Les Mills combat, then Insanity and Asylum again.  

The next step for me was to get my diet down.  I couldn't find anything truly specific on what to or not to eat which was frustrating, I'm the kind of person who would love it if I could find an exact meal plan of what to eat to prep for surgery!  So I googled "foods that help heal after surgery" and basically found  that I need plenty of lean proteins, because protein helps muscle heal.  I also learned that lots of fruits and veggies contain specific vitamins and minerals that help the healing process such as zinc.  So, I need to eat a good variety of fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins to get my body in order... Got it!  Hahaha, nice and specific right?  I guess my surgeon can tell me at my two week pre-op appointment what food I shouldn't be eating, so until then I'll just go for a healthy variety.  I already avoid artificial sugars like the plague (they give me headaches), so that's something.  No sodas, that's going to be hard... And limiting caffeine to one cup or less a day also hard... I've got 3 kids remember?  And it's summer... I've already told my friends at karate that they can kick me if they see me eating cookies or any junk food (sugar is my HUGE weakness) or drinking soda...I mean business!  

We went grocery shopping as a family Sunday for our new diet.  My husband and I decided that we should do this together as a family, partly because our oldest son is definitely a bit too "squishy", a almost 9year old should NOT weigh over 90lb!  So this has become a teaching exercise, I want my kids to learn what foods are healthy and what makes them different from "sometimes foods" (because I don't want to forbid foods, I want health to be their choice, not forced).  So far it's going great!  And I've lost 2lb, bonus!! Fingers crossed that this all helps!  It certainly can't hurt!

Full tummy tuck video

Maybe I'm a little obsessive... But I just found a video (sped up of course) of essentially the same surgery I will need.  I found it fascinating!  Of course I wouldn't eat while watching it, but it was amazing! Click HERE to see!

My first ever blog post!

I've never done this before, but I thought it would be a good idea to put my experience out there for others who are looking to get a "mommy makeover" done.  I have to admit, I'm not a big plastic surgery person, I did everything that I could to work with my body to avoid surgery.  Yes, I must admit I don't "have to" have this done, I could live just fine with a saggy flap of skin on my stomach that I have to tuck into my pants, but I've worked so hard to improve myself that its just frustrating!  I had my oldest son at 24, I was already a little overweight to begin with and gaining 50+ lbs did not help.  And then he was born "sunny side up", his head got stuck and was helped out with a vacuum, and then his shoulders got stuck... When he came out he was blue and unresponsive.  The doctors got him going again and he was just fine, but I was pretty beat up from the traumatic delivery of my 9lb 12oz baby.  My abdominal muscles never came back together and having two more babies, a 8lb girl and an 8lb 10oz boy didn't really help things.
My youngest will be turning 3 in August and I have worked hard to get to where I am.  I started at about 200lb wearing a 12/14.  I watched my food and ate my fruits, veggies, and whole grains.  I started exercising... First with p90x then I expanded my repotoire to include Turbofire, jogging, Les Mills combat, Insanity, Asylum, and Tae-Kwon-Do classes with my family.  I've lost almost 50pounds, I'm 155 and an easy size 6!! But no matter how in shape I am my baby gut is still there.
So last month we cashed out our Wlgreens stock and decided to go for it, I am getting a mommy makeover!  After lots of research I have scheduled my surgery for August 14 with Dr.Hiatt.  I like him, and his whole office has been amazing... But I'm nervous, and excited, and terrified....

Left is before weight loss, right is after

See my saggy skin?