5 Tips to Prepare for Your Mommy Makeover
Your big Mommy Makeover Surgery day is scheduled and rapidly approaching! Congratulations! You did your research and carefully chose a board-certified plastic surgeon. You went to a plastic surgery consultation to prepare for your Mommy Makeover to discuss goals, potential risks and benefits. Of course, you told all of your girlfriends the exciting news! Here are my recommendations, mom to mom, on the 5 best ways to prepare yourself for Mommy Makeover surgery day.
Let me tell you, mom to mom, with my unique perspective as a female plastic surgeon, the 5 best ways to prepare for your Mommy Makeover. Learn what you need to have ready around the house in advance of surgery. Let me give you my travel tips as it relates to surgery. I hope you are visualizing the possible results. It is time to feel proud to be who you are, happy and confident in your own skin.
To be sure, this is what gets me excited to come to work. My team and I help in the transformation of women from all over North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and beyond. They’re looking for the best plastic surgeon to help them feel like the best versions of themselves, and sometimes a Mommy Makeover is the solution. Read on to learn the 5 best ways to prepare for your Mommy Makeover.
Prepare for Your Mommy Makeover Tip #1: Timing is Everything
Let’s sit down and make sure you have planned the best possible date for your Mommy Makeover. How do you ensure this? Make sure you set enough time off after work to recover. Depending on what surgeries we do, this can go between 7-10 days. For those of you who do more strenuous physical work, I may ask you to take more time off. So, make sure you set yourself up for success in your schedule with enough time off.
Your recovery partner will need to be with you full time for at least 4 days. They might be needed longer if you want help with things around the house, like eating pre-prepared meals or going up and down stairs. This can vary from person to person. For those of you who have a really wide diastasis recti that I repair, it may take a little longer to feel independent.
Do you have a big beach trip in mind? How about a wedding, or some other important event in your life? If you want to time your surgery so you look your best in the future, I would plan to have your Mommy Makeover surgery at least 6 months before your trip. This allows adequate time for the early swelling to go down and for your tissues to stabilize in their early healing phase.
As always, if you want honest guidance from a board-certified, experienced plastic surgeon (who also happens to be a mother to two little ones), I’m here to have that conversation. The recovery timeline for different surgeries that make up your Mommy Makeover (like Abdominoplasty and Breast Augmentation, for example) depend on the procedures we perform on you.
Prepare for Your Mommy Makeover Tip #2: Get Your Body Physically Ready
To prepare for your Mommy Makeover and ensure the best possible recovery, your body needs to be in top condition. What does that mean? When you come to your pre-op appointment, make sure your doctor knows about all your medications and medical conditions. This is the visit where we take your before pictures, check your heart rate and blood pressure, and go over your consent and instructions.
Did you start a new medication since your last visit? Has your primary care doctor treated you for something recently? Let her know. She will want to make sure these medications are safe around the time of your Mommy Makeover Surgery. If nothing is changed, great! You are ahead of the game.
Try to be at your peak fitness. Now, don’t overdo it! However, the better health you are in before surgery (from diet, exercise, muscle strength in your legs and arms for example) the faster your recovery will be. I will ask you to get up using your feet to propel you out of the chair so your core can take a break while you are still healing for the first few days. All those squats at home will come in handy!
During the five days before Mommy Makeover surgery, we like to decrease the amount of bacteria that live on your skin with a special body wash you can get at the pharmacy. This wash helps to reduce any chance of infection. You will receive instructions at your preoperative visit on what specifically you should buy and where. This will help you prepare for your Mommy Makeover surgery.
Along with that, we will tell you what over the counter medications to avoid in the weeks leading up to surgery. Aspirin, Fish Oil and BC Goodies Powder are a definite NO GO in the weeks just preceding your surgery. To be certain, ask your board-certified plastic surgeon.
Prepare for your Mommy Makeover Tip #3: All Things at the Homestead
So how do you get your house in order, literally, for Mommy Makeover Surgery? First figure out if your support person is coming to stay at your house or if you will be at their house. The first few days after a Tummy Tuck surgery, you will not be lying completely flat. The best way to arrange your sitting and sleeping space is by imagining yourself bent forward at the hips. When it comes to breast surgery recovery, we recommend you sleep with your back elevated for the first few nights, too.
Some people like to use wedge pillows or a stack of pillows behind their back. Other women prefer to sit and sleep in a recliner the first few nights. Whatever the case, do not go buying extra furniture! Your modified furniture needs are very temporary and frankly we want you getting back to normal, sleeping well and standing up straight as soon as you are able.
So much of what we do as moms is coordinating, or orchestrating, the family schedule. My good friend updated her status once to say her occupation is “CEO and Janitor” of her household. I would add “driver” to that. Many parents drive their kids to school, sports, music, and other extracurricular activities.
To relieve the stress of that around the time immediately after surgery, I recommend that your drivers are planned and sorted well in advance. Try and have the driver be someone different than your support person. You need that person next to you, not functioning as your stand-in for all things Mom.
Prepare for your Mommy Makeover Tip #4: What You Need for the BIG DAY
The big day of your Mommy Makeover is finally here! As you prepare for your Mommy Makeover the night before surgery, as a general rule, we ask that you not eat or drink after midnight. You don’t want to have food in your stomach the next morning when you are going under anesthesia.
However, if you have a surgery time that is after 7am, we may ask you to drink clear liquids until two hours before your scheduled arrival time. Check with us if you are not sure. We want to optimize your hydration while you are asleep.
A Mommy Makeover involves anesthesia to keep you safe and comfortable during the procedure. When you go under general anesthesia, you will need a driver and a responsible adult (over the age of 18) to spend the next 24 hours with you.
At Tannan Plastic Surgery, we like to see you the very next day after surgery to check on you. This visit is an opportunity to answer any non-urgent questions that came up over your first day recovering at home. We examine your surgical sites, remind you when you can shower, and reinforce postoperative instructions like drain stripping and garments. For urgent questions, you should call us and not wait.
Lastly, when it comes to body prep, be sure you cleanse with the antibacterial body wash the morning of surgery. Also, remove any and all piercings and jewelry. If you have embedded piercings, be sure to point them out to your team at the pre-op appointment. That is when we take your before pictures and do surgical teaching and consent.
Don’t worry about purchasing garments in advance. We will put you in a garment during surgery, and chances are you will need a tighter one after swelling subsides. We will help you navigate that process.
Prepare for Your Mommy Makeover Tip #5: Take Time for YOU
You are going to feel all the feels while preparing for your Mommy Makeover. These feelings show up differently for different people. Some moms find themselves doing research, shopping for back-up garments to distract them. Others just try and block their worries from their minds. Whatever the case, it is a spectrum of emotion, different every single day. You may have mixed feelings or be nervous. That is normal!
Chances are you have been dreaming about this day for so long. Probably since you looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize the reflection. Or wistfully looked at spring break pics from many years ago. Have faith in yourself. Trust that you have picked the right surgeon who is the right fit for you. Know that you have clearly stated your goals and your doctor reflected them back to you.
You have more than earned this. You deserve to take a little time to pamper, reflect and show some compassion for yourself. Close your eyes and think about what you would tell your best girlfriend having surgery. Really imagine about how you would cheer her on, tell her she is so ready for this, and she is prepared, and the recovery will be tough at times and definitely worth it.
Now let that love and support wash over you and be your biggest cheerleader. We are here for you, with outstretched arms on the sidelines, ready to carry you into the future best version of you. Savor the love. It is all around you.
Are you Ready for a Mommy Makeover?
So after all the guidance we’ve shared in this post, are you ready to schedule a Mommy Makeover? Only one person can answer this – you!
As you do your research, be sure to check out my blog. For example, I share week-by-week guides for Tummy Tuck recovery and Breast Surgery recovery. We discuss what exercises you may start at what time. I recommend what best post-surgery bra to order.
The blog is full of great intel, but it is not the same as an in-person conversation. Now, to have a proper evaluation of your unique medical history, personal goals and needs, you should see a board-certified plastic surgeon to be sure.
During the consultation, we size you for breast implants or figure out if you need a Breast Lift or Breast Reduction. I go over the pros and cons of saline v silicone gummy bear breast implants. You might have questions about areas we can treat with Liposuction. We also figure out the right time for surgery as we go over your work schedule and support crew.
If you want more information, then a consultation is the best place to start. In the meantime, enjoy my blog. Real people like you inspired the questions that I answer here. I look forward to meeting you, and helping you prepare for your Mommy Makeover!
Are you ready for your Mommy Makeover? Call (919) 797-0996 now to schedule a consultation with Dr. Tannan.
