In mid-August, I underwent a breast lift surgery with augmentation. I am here today to share a little bit about this experience and my journey on how I decided to have this surgery and what steps I took to decide what was the right decision for me.
Any type of plastic surgery is a such a personal decision. It is elective and you have to decide that it is something you really want for you and you alone and you are willing to take on the financial expense and the recovery that these surgeries require. For me, it was a fairly easy decision to make. I knew I really wanted one when I looked in the mirror every day after I got out of the shower, ha! But whether or not I would really go through with it was a different decision. So I will walk you through my process here.
Reason
When I was in college, I had boobs that I loved!! I would say that I have always been somewhere around a size D (maybe more of a C in my younger years) give or take fluctuating weight. But I am 5’9″ and could always carry boobs well. When I was in college, they were nice and perky without being too big. Then let’s get to pregnancies, having babies, breast feeding babies, gaining weight, you know the drill….that is when I really started disliking my boobs. My large boobs started really defying gravity, sagging down to my belly button, looking droopy and just feeling very unflattering. They covered up about half my torso from sagging so low. Every day when I would walk out of our shower, I would look in the mirror, cupping both boobs and holding them up to where they used to be. It was like wow, I really do have a nice waist line. I know it’s just my husband seeing me naked, but I was tired of looking at these saggy things. So finally I decided to do something about it!
Consultation
I called one of our local Plastic Surgeons that came recommended by friends and family and booked a consultation. I figured what could it hurt? I think they are around $100, but if you book your surgery within one year; your $100 goes towards surgery. I knew I had questions and wanted to learn more about what would be the right procedure for me. So I called up and consultation appointments were around 8-9 months out! I called in February and didn’t get an appointment until October 2022.
Honestly, I don’t remember a whole lot of specifics about my consultation appointment except that I went in with a few questions written down on my phone and I sat in a room and spoke to my plastic surgeon about how I was feeling about my boobs and what I was hoping to accomplish to make them better. I didn’t feel rushed and felt like I could ask whatever I wanted, which I appreciated. After we sat and talked, we walked to another room with a nurse and the doctor and I took my shirt off to show my boobs. The doctor took some measurements and then kind of showed me what it would look like if I were to have just a boob lift with nothing else. I remember leaving feeling like that didn’t really seem like it would be worth it. If I just had a lift, I mean yes, they would be lifted; but they just kind of looked okay. Does that make sense at all? Like I didn’t really get the Wow factor. So maybe that meant I needed a little implant to help make them look fuller? But wait, I didn’t really want bigger boobs…this was the hard part.
Another thing we discussed while I was there was that I had been losing weight. I had started taking Mounjaro and I had lost some weight and would probably be losing more. So he did recommend to wait for surgery until I was at a weight that I thought I would stay at and be comfortable at. Obviously as you lose weight, you lose it from your boobs too.
So when I left, I had some things to consider. I was glad that I went and learned a few things, but I knew I wasn’t ready to book surgery just yet. I decided I would get through the holidays and then think about it again in the new year. As the new year approached, I called the surgery scheduler one time in January and they had one surgery availability in February; but I ended up deciding that it was too close to our Spring Break trip we had planned in March. And then from there, basically life was too busy or we had too much travel or it was Summer time and I didn’t want to be out. So that’s what happens, right? There really never is a good time. The basic rules are… no flying for two weeks after (or more), no water for two weeks, no lifting anything over 5lbs for two weeks. That is if all things go as planned!
Schedule Surgery
So it is mid to late Summer 2023 and I have decided I am DEFINITELY ready to have this surgery and I need to pick up the phone and see when they have availability again. It is mid-July when I call and in my head, I am thinking I will look to schedule the surgery in November or maybe late October. We had a trip planned in October, so I thought after that trip may be a good time before the holidays. Well, when I called, they had several different surgery times available in August! I think my eyes went wide open in surprise because in my head, I was not thinking I was ready to do it that soon; but when I looked at dates, it really made a lot of sense. The kids were back in school. Summer was over and I really didn’t have to be back in the water for any reason. And we didn’t have any trips on the books to get in the way! So, right then and there, I just booked it for August 16th and said, I guess I will figure out the rest as I go.
Pre-Op Appointment
Once I booked my surgery date for August 16th, I was given a date to come back to see my doctor for my Pre-Op appointment. At that appointment, I saw the nurse first and began discussing our plan for surgery but then I also went with her to this amazing machine where they took photos of my boobs and put in measurements and this machine generated an incredible computer version of things for me to look at. So we went back into our room and played around with different variations. Matt was with me for this appointment and I will tell you that this is the point where I felt 100 percent confident that I was going to go through with this surgery and that I was super excited about it!
The main thing I was torn about was deciding on a size. We made the decision that I wanted a small implant to help my the top of my boobs look fuller. Now we had to decide what size. They go by CC’s. They told me that basically 170-180 CC’s was approximately one bra cup size. They also said that with my lift, I would basically be going down one bra cup size based on the re-proportioning of my boobs with the lift. So we played with the CC’s numbers on the computer screen and we landed on a size of 200 CC’s.
I was VERY nervous about trying to decide on a size. I did NOT want too big. When I asked my doctor “If I were your wife, what size would you tell her?” because he does this every single day; he said, “If I had a dollar for every time a woman comes back into my office after surgery and says I wish I had gone bigger, I would be a billionaire.” hahaha. Obviously that is an exaggeration, but I thought it was funny. It probably was very true. He said that the woman fall in love with the size of their boobs right after surgery when they are still swollen and they wish they stayed looking like that.
These are the computer generated shots of my boobs. The one on the left was a real photo and then on the right is the computer showing me what the lift and implant would look like.
Day of Surgery
I am still very nervous about the idea of going in for elective surgery. I am very confident that I want this surgery, but still have all the nerves going under anesthesia as I have a husband and kids and family and you just get all the nerves. I guess I say all that to tell you that its just 100 percent normal!!
We were scheduled to be at the surgery center at 5:30am for a 7am surgery. My MIL spent the night so we could sneak out of the house early that morning. Matt drove me to the surgery center and everything moved quick and smoothly. It was nice being the first appointment of the day actually even though it was really early. I loved not being able to think about it too much that morning and just going straight there. We went into the room where they got me set up on IV’s and they brought me the warmest blankets which felt amazing and my anesthesiologist came to introduce herself and she was like your sweet grandma coming to tell you that everything is going to be alright. I loved her. Then the doctor came in and I stand up for him to do his final drawings on my boobs and I told him to make sure everything was perfect!
Somewhere right around 7am, they tell me they are taking me back to the surgery room and I remember her telling me that it was going to look cold and sterile and not to be nervous. I will lay down and I’ll be out before I know it. And she was so right. I layed down on this “bed” if you can call it that and then I remember the anesthesiologist saying she was making me a cocktail and then I was out! It felt like I was asleep for about 10 minutes, but the next thing I remember is waking up in recovery and we were out the door by 11am!
I had told them that I can get nauseous after anesthesia, so they gave me a patch before surgery to help with that. It turns out I still threw up just a tiny bit on the car ride home but we were prepared for it. It wasn’t a big deal. They also sent me home with zofran if I needed it, but I never took it. Once I got home, I wasn’t nauseous anymore.
I slept for the rest of the day when I got home. I did have bad cotton mouth and a little bit of a sore throat which they warned me about from the breathing tube during surgery. Otherwise, I was really in no pain. My girlfriend brought us over dinner that night which was a total lifesaver and I was able to eat. You have to sleep on your back which is a bit of a pain, but I slept pretty good that first night.
Recovery
Recovery really went so much better than I was anticipating. I had heard that the lift surgery was a pretty painful recovery because it is fairly invasive, but I have to say it was really not bad!! I am four weeks out as I write this so I am trying to remember everything that I was feeling right in the beginning (I did jot down a few notes on my phone as I was going through the process), and I remember the big thing was feeling like I had a brick on my chest and wondering when they would feel like they belonged on my body! haha.
It was important to ice every two hours those fist two days home to help with the swelling and otherwise I was ordered to just stay in bed and lay low! You can get up to walk to the bathroom, walk into the kitchen if you need, etc.; but nothing major. I watched shows, played on my computer, read my books, listened to podcasts, whatever I felt like! I had the surgery on Wednesday and made sure I had someone at the house with me on Wednesday and Thursday and then on Friday I had my MIL drive me to my post-op appointment. But after that, I didn’t need anyone hanging out with me. I scheduled help with the kids after school that following week. Someone to bring them home from school and hang out with them a bit or run them to sports, etc; but after about a week or so, I could start to drive again.
By day 5 or 6 of recovery, you are feeling pretty great and ready to move again. I would say the hardest part at that point is not overdoing it. I will say that I really tried to follow the rules and lay low. I enjoyed my quiet time at home and accomplished some things around the house that I have been wanting to do for months, if not years. As Mamas, we don’t get an excuse to just sit and relax!! So take advantage of it… that’s my advice 😉
Post-Op Appointment
My post-op appointment was on Friday (just two days after my surgery) and they just take a look at everything and make sure all looks good. At my appointment, it was the first time I got to see my boobs since surgery because they have mostly been covered up in gauze. I was a little nervous, but also excited. They were a little bruised and definitely still quite swollen, but they looked great! The incisions and stitches were still taped up, but I could see the rest of my boobs. It was pretty cool. This visit was just to see the nurse and I would be back in two weeks to see the doctor! I also now had the okay to take a shower and also still have to wear the compression bra 24/7 with the exception of showering and washing the bra.
Supportive Husband & Family
You know how sometimes us Moms are guilty of thinking the whole family unit is going to fall apart if Mama is not there to hold it all together and keep everything rolling?? Well this is just a reminder that this is so not true and sometimes we really have to let go and give the rest of the family space to step up for them to all really shine! And I say this because I have never just laid in bed before on a school morning and let everyone else in the house just figure out how to eat breakfast, pack lunches, have clothes on their back, make sure they have school notes, water bottles, a ride to school, etc.; but in this case, you have no choice, and guess what?? The whole family SHINED! They may have even done it better without me, ha!! The kids (ages 5,8 and 10) stepped up and starting handling things in the mornings that they usually just let me do because they know I will and Matt just got them all going and took them to school every single morning and it just seemed glorious honestly! So I just wanted this to be a reminder that it is okay if Mommy needs to rest for a week or two weeks or however long you need. I am so thankful for my family and my Mom and MIL that all helped make this possible and ease any guilt I may have had for doing something for me!!
Letting go and letting the village help
This part kind of goes with the above, but I really wanted to give a shout out to my friends for taking care of my family during this time too!! This is something that I think we would all probably feel like is a little unnecessary but let me be the first to tell you that it was AWESOME!!
My SIL (maybe half joking) asked me if I wanted her to set up a meal train for the two week post-surgery when I can’t be cooking, doing dishes, etc around the house. I kind of laughed and then told her, well…maybe!! Just tell our friends as sort of a joke and make it very low pressure; but if anyone wants to do it, sure! It was one less stress for us to have to worry about and honestly, school had started back which also meant all the sports had resumed; so trying to figure out soccer practices and all the other stuff was enough to worry about. I was so THANKFUL to have meals brought to us those first two weeks. Our friends are mostly past the phase of new babies and I joked that our next phase of meal trains are for plastic surgery and sadly, the passing of our parents generation. So, if you have a friend that is undergoing plastic surgery (or any surgery for that matter!); I urge you to go ahead with that meal train and dote on her and her family!
In this same breath, I also think it is okay if you need to ask a friend for that little bit of extra help with the kids too. I knew that if I needed, I could ask a friend to grab my kids from school and drop them off to the house for me or if I needed a teammate to help get them to practice, I could ask. We are all guilty of trying to do it all and I know if the shoe was on the other foot, I would love nothing more than to help a friend out when they needed. I think our biggest problem sometimes as Moms is that we never want to ask for help. It takes a village people and just be so thankful for the village you have and I promise, they are happy to help.
This was the meal train photo!! I died. Meals for the Ta-Ta’s!!!
2 Week Post-Op Appointment
At two weeks, I went back to see my doctor and he checks everything out and removes the tape that is covering your incisions. I was a little anxious to see what it looked like underneath that tape! So once he took all the tape off of the incisions, we could see one little spot underneath my right boob that still had some healing to do and a little spot underneath my nipple on the right boob. I don’t know how to really describe it but basically they were just spots weren’t completely closed up. The doc told me this was very common and it will just take a little extra time to heal. So I was instructed to just put a little anti-bacteria ointment on those spots to keep them from getting infected and give them time to heal. So I was a little bummed that it wasn’t perfect, but I knew I would get there. I got the okay to start back cooking and doing light household things, but still be mindful of my incision.
4 Week Post-Op Appointment
So typically with my doctor, you wouldn’t go back for another appointment until 6 weeks, but since I had that little bit of open wound, he wanted to see me again at 4 weeks post-op. I just went to my appointment and everything went well; but I still had that one spot under my right boob that was still open. He said it still looked good, but it still just take time to heal itself. I was just glad to hear that it will heal itself! I also got the okay to start back walking and light stuff. I can go on the boat if I feel comfortable, jump in the Gulf of Mexico, whatever. And at my 6 week post-op appointment, I will hopefully get the okay to start back playing tennis, pickle ball, etc.
I would say that overall, the hardest part of it all may have been just finding a comfortable way to sleep in the beginning if you are not used to sleeping on your back. I did learn how to prop a pillow next to me and use it as a way to move on my side a little and then as time goes on it gets easier and easier. I found that right around this 4 week mark that all the sudden I felt normal again. I could sleep on my side and I could see how I will be back playing tennis and doing regular things again by 6 weeks.
I am super happy with my decision to have this done and feel like it was 100 percent worth it…the cost and the down time!
Before and After
So I was trying to figure out a way to share a decent before and after with you guys that was real and not from the computer. I didn’t really ever take a good “before photo” for you which I should have thought about. But I remembered this photo from our trip to the Bahamas over Spring Break in March 2023 and how saggy my boobs looked, so I thought this might show you guys the difference. Of course I am embarrassed because its in a swim suit, but if I am going to write this post about a breast lift; I know I better show you the real deal. They are just a little happier and perkier now 🙂
I hope this was helpful! I’m happy to answer any questions in the comments. As always, thank you for being kind and super supportive. I loved chatting with many of you via instagram messages during my recovery time. I know a couple of you have upcoming surgeries and a few more were seriously considering. If I can help, I am happy to. And please also know, when I joke about my saggy boobs; I know my body was beautiful then too! I never want to discount what our bodies go through during childbirth and all the above. I would have been just fine if I had never gotten this done. Just had to add that because I don’t want anyone feeling like this is something they have to get done either because it most certainly isn’t! Its definitely a personal choice.
As always, love your transparency and honesty! They look great!