emily'smommymakeover

This morning I had my initial consultation with Dr. Hynes. I was excited and a little nervous. So many questions . . . Will I even be a candidate for the breast augmentation? Can he do anything with my elephant skin belly? Will it be scary? Will it be painful? How soon can we do it? When will I have time for recovery? Will scarring be an issue? Will he tell me I have to lose weight or that I also need liposuction? Like I said, a little scary.

When my husband, David, and I got to the office, we were greeted by Debbie and Kim who were both very sweet. They really made me feel welcome. After filling out a little paperwork, they set me up in a waiting room with two big picture albums of before and after photos. I had seen a lot of them on Dr. Hynes' website but there were a lot here that I hadn't seen – especially the tummy tuck pictures. I was absolutely astonished at some of the before and after photos. These women looked just like me, some even with more extra skin, and in their after photos they looked terrific. Also, the breast augmentation photos were captioned with the size of the implants (350 cc for example) so when I found pictures I liked I had a better idea of what I might need.

Dr. Hynes arrived and immediately asked me several pre-qualification questions – What kind of medical history and family medical history did I have? Had I had previous surgeries or ever been under anesthesia? Did I have high blood pressure or high cholesterol? Was I a smoker? He was very to the point and I don't think would have proceeded any further had he heard any answers that gave him any concern over my candidacy or safety.

Dr. Hynes then covered the risks. Everyone knows that going under anesthesia is a risk, right? He explained that I had a 1 in 800,000 chance of injury from the anesthesia while my chances of getting hit by lightning are 1 in 700,000. He also talked about the possibility of a lung collapse and how it isn't fatal but it also isn't something you want to happen to you. He talked about the steps they take to protect against hematoma and embolisms. All a little scary, but very very rare. Dr. Hynes does approximately 200 breast augmentation and tummy tuck surgeries every year and has had very very few of these things happen (and no embolisms at all). Overall, I got the feeling that I would be very safe and that if something were to happen, Dr. Hynes would be prepared to take care of me.

Once we got that out of the way, he proceeded to to take some measurements. He measured how much breast tissue I had and the location of my nipples. He explained in a lot of detail how the surgery would take place, and offering me many choices. For example, we discussed the pros and cons of silicone vs saline implants. We talked about how they would be inserted – under the armpit, through a small incision under the nipple or through an incision under the breast. We talked about what size to go with. Dr Hynes said that the goal was to make the breasts look beautiful, that he could make me look like Dolly Parton if that's what I wanted, but he didn't recommend it.

Turns out my breasts are actually different sizes – hard to believe I never noticed before. So we chose to use two different size implants so that we can even them out a bit. We got out the "box o' boobs" (a box of different sizes and shapes of implants), tried on a 400 cc and a 425 cc and put on a tank top. I took a look in the mirror and liked what I saw. I thought I looked great. I asked my husband, and it was clear that he was getting excited too. He asked Dr. Hynes what he thought (always conceding to the expert) and Dr. Hynes agreed that the size was right and that I had the body to pull off the augmentation without it looking overdone.

Now on to the tummy tuck. Dr. Hynes opened up the photo album of before and after photos to an example that was nearly identical to me. He showed me how the tummy tuck would get rid of nearly all the extra skin that had remained after my pregnancies. He said I was NOT a good candidate for liposuction because the key to good liposuction is that the skin will shrink back into place after the fat is removed. Since my skin had not done that, it wouldn't work for liposuction either. He further explained where the incision would take place, and how he would actually connect the skin from above my naval to the skin just below my c-section scar, effectively removing everything in between. Oh my gosh.

When we talked about pain, he brought out an example of the pain pump. He showed me how it worked, explained that it wasn't a narcotic and
assured me that the women who had used it before absolutely loved it. (See my interview with Dr. Hynes' former patient. She called the pain pump "fabulous".) He even admitted that the handful of women who had chosen not to use the pain pump – usually to save some money – had been quoted as saying "big mistake".

We covered a lot in the first visit. Turns out I am officially a good candidate for both the breast augmentation and the tummy tuck. We talked about the risks involved, and the steps Dr. Hynes would take to ensure my safety. We picked out 400 cc and 425 cc silicone breast implants. We went over the details of the tummy tuck. We discussed pain and recovery. I'm comfortable with Dr. Hynes' bedside manner – he's very educated, very professional, clearly has a lot of experience and he's just nice and polite. I like him a lot.

We talked about a possible date for the surgery, but with my husband's travel schedule, we didn't make a commitment yet, as he'll for sure have to be around to take care of me and the kiddos. But it looks like we might be able to do something as soon as August or September. Yeah!

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Here are some pictures of me from this morning. The first two are "just me." The third picture is me with the breast implants in my bra – picking out my size. I know it's kinda hard to see with clothes on, but what do you think?

Comment by Cathy:
WOW! I like the size of implants that you are going for!! And, good for you for getting a tummy tuck. I wanna hear all about it because I'm planning on a reduction, as well as a tummy tuck when I'm done losing weight. Let me know when you're planning on going under the knife.

Comment by Annie:
You go girl! Can't wait to follow the process (since after the twins, i'd love to do the same one day!)

Comment by Bethany:
Good luck! Keep us updated!

Comment by Dana:
You go girl! I love your comment on getting back to you. Go for it you are beautiful both inside and out. I look forward to following your journey. Maybe someday I'll have the money to do the tummy tuck and a lift. Good luck!

Comment by May:
You go for it Emily, I had my breast augmentation 3 years ago, and I love it. If it makes you feel better about yourself, that's all that really counts. Welcome to our club.

Comment by Aimee:
I think that's a great size for you.

Response by Emily:
Thanks! I hear that most women have one complaint after a breast augmentation, and that's that they wish they had gone bigger. I hope that isn't the case.

Comment by Michelle:
Its great to see that someone is taking the time to do something like this. I too am getting ready to go in for a tummy tuck in the next 4 weeks. I would love to here about your experience. I had contemplated a breast lift or augmentation but will likely wait to do this later. I look forward to hearing about your progress. Thanks for sharing and good luck!!