Intro

I have two beautiful girls- one is three and the other is one. They are amazing but being pregnant kinda ruined my body! When I was pregnant my belly was HUGE! I know all pregnant women say that but it looked as though my girls were laying straight out- with their feet towards my spine and their arms outstretched over their head! I also put on weight whilst pregnant- about 27kgs with the first and 28kgs with the second- and that was the weight without the baby inside! So I got cracking and lost the weight both times, but even so, my belly looked atrocious!!!

I had 9cm of muscle separation with the first and 10cm separation with the second and despite doing all the exercises that the physios gave me, I was only able to get them to go 1cm closer! :( Normal muscle separation in pregnancy is usually 3cm or less and this can come together relatively easily if the exercises are done. So months and months after giving birth and losing the weight people were still asking if I was pregnant- I looked like a 'normal' pregnant woman! This is because of the way my intestines poked out in between the muscles! I could even see my intestines moving! Eeew! when the abdominal muscles are separated like that it is not very safe as these muscles support the back and assist with heavy lifting.

I also sustained an umbilical hernia which is a hernia in the belly button. This is fairly common and they are often small but can be quite painful at times! I also ended up with a massive 'apron'!!! This is what the hangy bit of skin on the belly is called. It doesn't matter how much exercise a person does or how much weight they lose, an apron does not just go away! It occurs due to the lack of elastin in the skin which tends to be a genetic issue. 

So because of all this I have been looking terrible and finding it difficult to look good in clothes that girls around my age wear. I have been embarrassed to have my husband look at my belly as I feel that if it makes me sick to see myself how much worse would it be for others to see it! This obviously has not been a good thing for my relationship With my husband. 

So it's for all these reasons that I have decided to undergo an abdominoplasty or tummy tuck! It was not a solely vain decision- there was a lot of medical need for it but it will definitely improve my feelings about my appearance! There are all these sayings out there that are said to try and make ladies feel better about their post-baby bodies, such as 'you're a tiger who has earned her stripes' and sayings about how your baby is worth all the stretchmarks etc but these things do not make me feel better at all and chances are that most women if their bellies are as bad as mine would probably feel the same!

I have decided to blog about my abdominoplasty/tummy tuck experience so that other mums who are going through what I have can see what the recovery and results are like and know what to expect! Enjoy the read and feel free to contact me for further info!

For information on the abdominoplasty procedure, here is a link to a segment from the TV show 'The Doctors' http://video.answers.com/what-happens-during-a-tummy-tuck-517031354 this shows you what happens in a tummy tuck.