Tammy

Breast Augmentation with Saline Breast Implants – Tammy

I am a 37 year old, married, mother of 4 children. After I got married, 14 years ago and before I started having children, my breast size was a full perky B cup which I was totally happy with since I weighed only 98 pounds.

I breast fed all of my children for a year or so. When I was pregnant, my breast size grew up to a 36D cup and after delivery when my milk would come in, I was definitely a very full 36D cup. I would stay that size the whole time I was nursing.

After our 4th and last child was born and after a year of nursing her and when she weaned my breast size went back down to a B cup. The difference with this last time is that my breast just had no shape at all…they were just there… all shriveled up and didn’t even look like breasts.

I started to wear curves and padded bra’s just to give me some sort of shape in my clothing, but I just hated to take them off when being intimate with my husband. I hated they way they looked and thought they were a turn off… or at least they were to me, so I always keep them covered! Swimsuit shopping was a total joke, since my breasts would just flatten out and there was just nothing there to even try to create any cleavage with!

I had thought about breast augmentation for a long time but just feel like there were better ways to spend our money… house, kids, vacations etc. My husband of course loved me just the way I was but he was so supportive so encouraged me to at least go on a consultation. He said “money isn’t and shouldn’t be an issue if this is what you want. “For years, you have always put everyone else needs/wants before your own.”

Around that same time, my sister-in-law shared that she too had been interested in breast augmentation and a friend of hers referred her to a well known plastic surgeon. After her consultation and setting her surgery date, I was so excited since I’ve never known anyone personally who had this kind of surgery done before. I was able to see, learn and help her with the recovery process.

I’ll never forget seeing her right after surgery and the weeks to follow…thinking how incredible she looked, how tolerable her recovery was and most of all… how beautifully she was transformed in an instant! I remember wanting that for myself, wanting to have beautiful breasts again!

So, I finally sat my husband down and talked to him seriously about having surgery. My Husband is the most sweetest, caring and compassionate person I know and he just completely offered 100% support and about 200% encouragement. I thought it was cute that he was trying to suppress his excitement. Boys and their toys ya know! I already knew that I would use the same plastic surgeon that my sister-in-law did. He did such a beautiful job for her and I wanted him to do that for me! I had called on a Friday to set up a consultation for that next Monday.

My husband and I both went to the consultation with my plastic surgeon (2 hours long). I told my plastic surgeon I just wanted him to “fill em’ back up”. He thought I was a good candidate for over the muscle placement since I had a lot of tissue to start. Also, since I had stretched out to a D cup while breast feeding, he thought that was a good goal for me, that I could obtain it naturally and still be in proportion. He gave me a rough guess-timate of the “400 range” of ccs but would not know for sure until he “got in there” and saw what he had to work with.

We talked about all the different incisions but I choose the crease incision. We knew immediately he was the doctor for me. I asked for the first available surgery date which was a month away. I was a little disappointed since I wanted boobs now, but thought a month would give me plenty of time to get my home, business, kids activities in order…time to prepare. Well the very next day – on Tuesday – I got a call from the plastic surgery office. It was the office nurse and I’ll never forget what she said, she said “Tammy we have a cancellation and I remember you wanting first available… how about this Thursday”.

AHHHHHH!!!

I literally screamed for excitement and said YES, I’ll take it! I don’t really remember the call I made to my husband because I was so excited, elated and then the nervousness and anxiousness hit!

My plastic surgeon has his own accredited surgical suite in his office and I had to be there at 10:00 AM. The night before, I rushed through the house and our home/office like a mad woman getting things in order. Before bed, I was to take a shower using anti-bacterial soap even in my hair, no conditioner, moisturizer… nothing! I then put on my anti-nausea patch, took my Diflucan pill and also started my antibiotics and dove into bed thinking, “I’ve got to get some sleep”.

Since I didn’t have to be there until later in the morning, my husband let me sleep in and he got the kids off to school, but I was “up and at ’em” at 8:00 AM. I again had to take another shower with antibacterial soap. After bathing, I still had some time to kill before time to leave. So I got on the computer and put in “breast implants” in the search engine. I immediately came across Breast Augmentation and Breast Implants Information Web by Nicole and was so excited at all the information, photos and mostly the discussion board that I had wished I would have thought about looking it up long before 2 hours before surgery!

I arrived at the surgical suite and the nurse gave me a little cup with several pills of Valium to relax me. I wasn’t at all nervous but my husband was a nervous wreck! Since I took them on a empty stomach, about 15 minutes later I was getting really groggy! The next thing I knew the plastic surgeon was coming through the door and asked if I was ready. Yes I was… ready to go lay down! They took me back and handed me a gown to change into and told me that the plastic surgery nurse would be in to get my clothes to put into the warmer and then they would take before pictures. Literally… that was the last thing I remember till 8:00 P.M. that night (It was 10:45 in the morning.). I was later told and then saw my pre-op photos of them having to hold me up. It took 2 nurses. Also, they said they took me to the bathroom and had to help me onto table. It was then they gave me my IV, more sedatives and then the local anesthetics that I never even felt.

My husband said I was in surgery for about an 1 1/2 hours, and that he was really anxious waiting. He said his only comfort was the fact that he could hear my heart rate from the monitor, through the door. The surgical staff called him into the recovery room shortly after they got me off the table. I was sitting semi prone in a recliner with a warm blanket over me. They wanted him right there with me so that he could start talking to me to get me coherent. My husband said I just held his hand. And then when it was time to go home he said it was quite a sight: him and the plastic surgery nurse trying to get me dressed. Again, I don’t remember any of this and was told later that the sedatives mess up your short term memory. My husband said that the whole way home that I would come to for a minute, every 5 minutes and repeatedly ask “how many ccs??…how many ccs??” He would tell me and I’d pass back out.

When we got home my husband got quite a kick out of trying to get me into the house since I was “high stepping it” the whole way. I remember waking up hearing my father-in-law’s and mother-in-law’s voices since they came over to check on me and bring my husband and kids some dinner at about 8:00 PM. Hubby got me up and said I had to try to go to the bathroom and he had to help me with everything! Shortly after getting me back into bed, my sister-in-law came over and hand fed me some Jell-O while my husband was making me some soup. He then gave me my Vicodin and antibiotic, and I was then back out for the rest of the night. I do remember complaining about how tight the bandage was and asking my husband to loosen it, and he wouldn’t. It felt like a boa constrictor!

The next morning I was supposed to go back to see the plastic surgeon so he could take off my bandages and I couldn’t wait! That was my biggest complaint as far as pain at that point. When he took off the bandages I looked down and was amazed at the instant result. There was actually something there! I knew I had a long way to go, but I thought they looked nice. My plastic surgeon started me doing the hand exercises which didn’t hurt as much as I expected them to. He told my Husband to take me to the mall and walk instead of going back home and going to bed since the sedatives would start to settle in my muscles making for a harder, longer recovery. I don’t really remember much about the trip to the mall, but I’m sure I wasn’t looking so lovely!

Then the next morning… back to the plastic surgery office to have the stitches taken out. Again, I thought it would hurt, but it didn’t at all! The plastic surgeon put some paper tape over them using some stinky adhesive. He told me I could then take a shower in which Hubby helped mostly just to make sure I didn’t fall.

The next few weeks after that, with several post op appointments, I was doing pretty well! The pain was very tolerable and it was more like just a lot of pressure. The hardest part to get used to was the heaviness of them. I felt like I was carrying around cantaloupes!

3, 6, 9 months post op.. They continued to change and by one year post op my result was complete! What I’m happiest with most about my BA is that I was able to achieve a lot of cleavage, something I’ve never had before, unless engorged with milk. I’m 2 years post op now and all is well. I still go see my plastic surgeon every 3 months (4 times a year) for the rest of my implanted life to make sure everything stays fine!

I’m so glad I did this for myself but am also glad I waited till I was done having children so I would lessen the amount of future surgeries later down the road. I love the way I look and feel. I love the way clothes fit and the fact that I can “down-play” them when needed or dress them up for nights on the town. I don’t feel like I have the “boob job” look but can make them look that way with certain clothing.

One of the most memorable moments that I will always cherish is that on Valentine’s, just 2 weeks after surgery, I went to Victoria’s Secret and bought a sexy, lacy, red night gown. When I came out of the bathroom my husband said. “You look absolutely beautiful, and what’s most beautiful is the smile on your face” I hope my story has helped some!

Tammy in Texas.