Day Before Breast Augmentation

How am I feeling at this point? I have gotten this question only a trillion times and I feel that its quite normal for me to feel NERVOUS and EXCITED!  Surprisingly today, I haven't been nervous at all.  I have been so busy all day running errands, trying to get things done I wont get to in a few weeks, getting my eyebrows done (can't go in surgery looking a hot mess), and of course SHOPPING!

The highlight of my day was definitely shopping all day with my friend.  For some reason I felt that I loved how everything looked on me that I tried on today.  That's not a good thing for me because I wanted to buy it all.  I don't know if it's the p90x3 or just my envisioning of how the boobs will make my clothes just pop!

Besides shopping I packed my bag to take to surgery.  I am taking:
pillow (for car ride home)
surgery center paperwork
eyeglasses case
lotion
chapstick
thick socks
wallet
front closure sports bras
medicine

That's about it.  I also made sure to set up my bed with all my pillows for when I am ready to sleep in my bed at night.  I set up my recliner with blankets, pillows, and a table with my gadgets (ipad, kindle, laptop, etc) to have near me when I come home.  I plan to sleep in the recliner at least the first few nights.

I showered with my antibacterial soap and will do so again in the morning. I was told that I can put lotion on my face, arms and legs but not on or near my breasts.  I plan to eat a mini meal at 11:00 pm so that I am not super hungry in the morning considering I am used to eating every few hours, and as soon as I wake up in the mornings.  I have not been able to sleep good the past few nights, so tonight I will take some melatonin.

Tonight I took my "before" pictures as well.  I took them bra less in a few tops and dresses that I wanted to see what the difference would be.  Today I wore the dress pictured below that has a built in bra.  So when trying on clothes I didn't have a bra and could really see the lack of volume and fullness on me.  All day my friend and I talked about how great my boobs will look in these clothes after and pretty much in everything!  I think at this point, now I have her boob obsessed!

Weekend Before Breast Augmentation

RELAX, RELATE, RELEASE, and BREATHE!!!!!!!!!!!

To be honest, I'm not as nervous as I thought I would be at this point.  All weekend I have been super busy trying to get everything in order for my babysitter that will be staying with us all week to care for the kids and dog.  I have also been trying to prepare for post op healing.  I spent my weekend pretty much doing all our laundry so that I won't have it to do post op. I finally was done with laundry Sunday night.  I also cleaned my entire house from top to bottom.  I feel like I wont be able to thoroughly clean my house for awhile, and if you know me, you know that I am a neat freak!  I made sure to go grocery shopping and stocked my house with a lot of fruits and vegetables that would be best for healing, foods for my babysitter that she would like, quick foods and snacks for the kids, and easy foods for me to be able to take with meds such as yogurt.  I also did a little meal prepping and made some foods to have for all of us to eat on, I made a huge salad, and cut up a lot of fruits to easily be able to grab when needed.

Foods that I researched to have on hand to promote healing were clean foods and foods that are high in Vitamin C.  A friend of mine told me to make sure that I have good sources of protein as well.

Avocados
Pineapple
Berries
Mango
Kiwi
Oranges
Apples
Tomatoes
Banana
Spinach
Coconut Water
Pomegranate Juice
Water
Protein Bars
Hummus
Baby Carrots
Lettuce
Boiled Eggs
Oatmeal
Ginger Ale
Grilled Salmon
Grilled Chicken
Grilled Asparagus

I'm sure I left some things out, but you get the idea.  Clean Eating! I want to put clean foods in my body to give it the best chances at healing.

Despite cleaning and doing laundry night and day, I took the kiddos to Walmart to do a little shopping and we had a great dinner together at Qudoba!  I have been trying to get a lot of cuddles in with them because it will be awhile before they can really be near me without me flinching or thinking it will hurt.  

I forgot to mention that I woke up Sunday morning thinking it was Monday.  I was thinking, "OMG I have surgery tomorrow!".  It will be interesting to see how I feel tomorrow.  I am hoping to not be nervous and freaking myself out! I will keep my eyes on the final prize! Tata until tomorrow!

Items for Surgery and Healing

As I mentioned in my previous blog I am boob obsessed! In fact I think I have been obsessed with boobs all my life! You can ask any of my close family members and friends that I constantly ask if they will give me their boobs.  In being obsessed, I have done a ton of research.  I could probably write my own book on this topic.  Anyhoo, I have looked up all the items I think I will need for my surgery and to make things easier and more comfortable for me after surgery.  

Let's start with one thing...or a few things that I won't be needing....a million 34A super padded bras!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with all of these!

Now on to what I will need!

My sisterger made the comment that she is so excited because now I can be like all the Real Housewives of (Insert City) in having my boob job.  To complete the look I just had to get a zip up hoodie outfit to wear to my surgery.  It is only fitting that it comes from Victoria's Secret!

I picked these up 2 weeks ago for just a few bucks at the Commissary.  I started taking them every morning so that they can be in my system good for after surgery.  Vitamin C helps to support the immune system.  I will be taking these maybe a few weeks/months post-op as well.  I want to give my body the best chance of healing greatly!

After my pre-op appt I went to Wal-mart to get a few more items.  I picked up some gel ice packs to help with bruising and swelling post-op.  The antibacterial soap is to clean my body with pre and post op to make sure that my incisions stay clean.  I also got one more front closure sports bra for $9.99.  This one I got in a 34 and it has clamps instead of a zipper.  I will put this bra with the other two for my PS to decide which one will fit the best.  Even if this bra is not put on me after the surgery, I think it will still be very comfortable and helpful in case the zipper bras irritate me.

I found these super cute pj's at Wal-mart as well.  The Mickey Mouse bottoms were $7.99 and the tank top was $3.88.  I am hoping that I will be able to wear a tank top within my week of recovery.  I really wanted to have cute pj's to lounge around the house in!

Yesterday I got this bed table tray from Bed Bath and Beyond for $14.99.  I originally ordered a really nice one that matches my bedroom furniture from Amazon, but it came unassembled and was not like the product I ordered, so I sent it back.  I figured this simple table will do for now.  I just wanted to have something to of course put my laptop (and food on) while I continue to write this blog to document my journey through recovery.

I got a body pillow and cover from Target both for $9.99 each.  I read that at least for the first week I would need to sleep propped up, so I wanted to have as many comfy pillows as possible surrounding me on my bed.

I was instructed to bring my own front closure sports bra to the surgery.  My Mom is a hair stylist at a department store called Belk's, so I asked her to look for the bras there for me.  I saw a lot of videos where girls had a difficult time finding the bras and said that they were easier to find in department stores.  I had looked myself at a few local places but the bras came in cup sizes and I won't know my cup size for awhile.  My Mom picked me up a Large and a Medium bra so that I could take both in and the PS could determine which one will fit.  Both bras were on sale and came up to be $30 total.  I think they were close to $50 regularly a piece.

At this point, I feel that I am well prepared! Now I just want it over with!

Change of Plans and Pre-Op Appt

Yes, once again I had to change the date of my surgery!  This time it was not because of my dog, but because of the Army.  I originally rescheduled my date to March 25, 2014, so that if anything went wrong in the grand scheme of life in general, my husband would be home to help and handle things.  His return date to home changed several times.  Finally he got a return date for right around the time of my surgery.  I did not want to have to worry about homecoming and preparing for surgery.  I also didn't want to be healing right when he would come home.  I decided not to postpone my surgery to April due to us pre-planning family activities and trips that I expected to be healed for.  My only option was to have it earlier.  I was more than happy with this because at that point I was just ready to have the surgery done!  I changed my surgery date to Tuesday March 11, 2014.

Boob Job Humor. Picture from Pinterest

On Monday, March 3, 2014, I went for my pre-op appointment.  I first met with the Patient Advisor (PA) and she went over a lot of paperwork with me.  She explained the procedure again, and all of the do's and don'ts.  My surgery will be at an outpatient surgery center.  She went over in depth the possible risks and complications and how they are handled.  I was able to ask her a lot of questions.  I was really concerned about healing.  I want to do everything to promote the best healing for my body.  She assured me that considering I have had two c-sections, this surgery will be easier to recover from.  That made me feel better considering my husband won't be here to help out.  I have an awesome crew of friends that are going to be helping the kids and I out.

Previously, on the phone, I discussed with the PA that I was thinking about changing my size.  I have watched probably thousands of you tube videos of other girls' journey and a lot of them talked about making sure you chose the right size.  It was common for women to wish they had gone bigger.  I kept thinking about this and decided if I'm paying all this money, and is going to go through with this, I might as well "go big or go home".  I am just kidding! No I do not want to look like a porn star, but I do want to look like a girl with a nice rack!

The PA first had me to get undressed, and my PS (plastic surgeon) came in to see me again.  He measured me again and determined that due to my frame and current breast tissue, that the largest he could fill me is to 375 cc's.  I thought this was perfect because that is exactly what I wanted.  In reality I was only going up 25 cc's from what I originally chose.  Originally I chose 325 cc's but the PS would automatically insert a 350 cc implant because when you go under the muscle you lose volume so you get filled 25 cc's higher than what you chose to achieve the look you want.  So him filling me to 375 cc's would give me the look of the 350 cc's that I had tried on before.  Yes the ones I thought were too big.  I think at that time I was trying to be very modest.  At this point I am boob obsessed and modesty has been thrown out the window!  I tried on the 375 cc's and I felt they looked "ginormous" on me.  I think this is solely because I have never had boobs in my life so anything looks big on me, to me.  I did like how they made me look slimmer and finally proportioned my hips and thighs out.  I have always felt larger than I am due to me being bottom heavy.  Now I feel like my body will be balanced out.  I didn't feel that I looked that bottom heavy anymore.  I loved what I saw!

I was also given my prescriptions at this appointment.  My PS does not usually prescribe an antibiotic, but did so with no problems when I requested it.  I saw that a lot of other girls were prescribed an antibiotic just to ward off any infections, so I asked for the same to be safe than sorry.  Besides the antibiotic I was also prescribed:

Percocet (for pain)
Ambien (for sleeping)
Motrin (for pain, swelling, and bruising)
Zofran (for nausea)

The appointment ended with the PA taking pictures of my old boobs.  My husband asked if I was going to take my own pictures of my old boobs.  No thanks! I do not want pictures of them! I don't want to look at them now!  After my photo shoot, I had to fork over the most money I have ever spent at one time on myself.  I wanted to cringe at the number, but felt good that for once in my life I was doing something for myself!  Go me!

My surgery is a week away and I am of course screaming with excitement, but also a ball of nerves!  After paying for my surgery I now feel like, "OMG I really have to go through with this now!".  "I can't believe I am going to do this!"

Eating Clean

So by now you have probably heard me and a million other healthnuts say all the time that the key to our success is EATING CLEAN!  Well I'm sure your next question is, "What the heck is eating clean?" Does it mean like washing your foods?  Does it mean making sure you are clean when you eat your foods?  Well as usual, I got you covered!

Eating Clean in a nutshell is simply not eating processed foods.  Eating foods in it's most wholesome and natural form.  If it has a ton of ingredients and has to go through a factory to get to your table, then don't eat it.  Now there are a few exceptions we will discuss later.  To break it down for you, think about an apple.  When you look on the label for an apple the ingredient list will only say "apple".  Nothing is added to it.  That's what clean eating is all about.  Now not every single piece of food you put in your mouth will have just one ingredient, but that is the idea.  You can consume food with more than one ingredient as long as you can pronounce it and there isn't a laundry list of ingredients after it.  Also you want to watch out for all those nasty chemicals as well.  So for example, right now as I type this, I am eating some chips.  Arrggggg shock factor!  Yes I am addicted to chips and really try to wean myself off of those Lays Kettle Cooked Salt & Vinegar chips, but guys the struggle is real!  Anyway, I bought some today by a brand called Good Healthy Natural Foods and the ingredients are simply: potatoes, olive oil, and sea salt!  Not an ideal snack for on the regular, but way better than what Lays has to offer.

So why eat clean?  Believe it or not, our bodies are designed to recognize foods in their natural state...not chips.  When we put clean foods in our bodies, our bodies immediately recognize it and get rid of it, as it should.  When we put processed foods in our bodies, our bodies may get rid of some of it, but hold onto the rest to store as fat.

What are the benefits of eating clean? Why eat clean?  I have tried many diets and tricks to lose weight and none of them worked.  Counting calories surely gave me more anxiety than helping me.  I found that eating clean was the only thing that has worked to help me lose weight and to be able to keep it off.  Now I am not a 100% clean eater natzi, but I do try to keep it 90/10 clean.  The benefits I have seen and many others have experienced are listed below:
 1.  More energy
 2.  Clearer skin
 3.  Healthier teeth
 4.  Strong healthy hair and nails
 5.  Natural Detox
 6.  Lean physique
 7.  Increased metabolism
 8.  Good health
 9.  Regularity
10. Stable moods

What are the basics of eating clean?

eatcleandiet.com

That about sums up what eating clean is all about.  I recommend reading more information on it especially some of the books by the Eat Clean Queen, Tosca Reno!  I have read several of her books and some many times over, and have learned everything that I need to know about eating clean.  Her website and books offer a ton of information and tips on eating clean.

Tosca Reno

I don't know about you, but I want to be half this fabulous in my 40's and 50's.

Need a list of foods to eat? Check out this eat clean grocery list below:

I hope this helps you understand what clean eating is all about, and it's not about eating what you want while cleaning your house!  I will say again that I do not eat clean 100% of the time.  Shout out to all of you that can, but I will tend to go a bit cray cray if I tried that.  I have found a healthy balance for myself and my family in eating clean MOST of the time and enjoying indulges in moderation.  Try it out and see what works best for you!