Wednesday, February 20, 2013
10 months POST OP
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Before and After Surgery
It occurred to me, that I had posted about my surgery, and never posted again. inquiring minds actually are kind of interested in the whole process!? sweet! SO I feel I can talk about recovery and follow up with some pictures :)
*WARNING* may be graphic...
My surgery was April 3rd 2012. I am 12 weeks post OP Today! :) YES, if I had the choice to do it all over again, I WOULD!
I have been seeing a trainer for 5 weeks now, and I can say my body is in better shape then it has been in YEARS. I feel fabulous, I think I look pretty dang good, and the best part is, I am motivated to keep it up!!
BEFORE PICTURES:
(Reminder) These pictures were take 5 days before surgery & just one month after I ran 2 half marathons, and was down 20 lbs in 6 months....(I was 157 in these pictures) | I HAD a tattoo...it is gone now :) thank you Doctor! |
| Stretch MARKS!!! ewww |
| Excess skin |
YUCK WOW....I am a little disturbed to put these online...BUT I no longer look like that so it's ok...
During Recovery PHOTOS:
| The white part is my binder, basically a tight corset I had to wear for 6 weeks. the Tubes and plastic bulb are my drainage tubes...ewww wore those for 2 weeks. Those we Definitely the worst part. They were inserted about 18 inches into my abdomen and they came out just about my pubic "area" I had to drain them daily. |
| Drains...Tubes...ewww |
| 3 weeks Post op No more drains!!! Still have stitches around my belly button...and here's the best picture of my scar. |
| Here I am about 6 weeks post op still swelling but you can see my unders cover the scar. |
HERE my belly is TODAY 6/27/12
| Stretchmarks are below my naval now, I have ABS, and NO flabby extra skin around the middle!!! Still work to be done, and still healing...I couldn't be happier though with my results :) |
My results Side BY SIDE....WHOA
Blog?
Oh yeah, I have a blog...and still nothing exciting to say. I read everyone's blog and think "they have a way cool life! and creative things to say" Not me! SO here's just a run down of MY life...currently.
AZ is HOT
My kids are getting BIG- and they talk back now...
McKenzie will be 6, (going on 13) in September, she graduated from Kindergarten in May (WTH!?) She's stubborn, hard headed, but is the BEST big sister, and really a big help and sweetheart.
Brady will be 3 in September, and terrible twos have not gone away, and I am patiently, not patiently waiting for them to pass. Yet, he is the friendliest, and sweetest little boy I could ask for (when he isn't being 2) haha.
Baby K (kaitlyn) turned ONE April 4th, and that girl is the stinking best baby ever. She loves, she laughs and has found her precious little voice. Who knows what she is saying..but it's adorable. She walks, almost runs every where, and she loves our dog.
Shelby, is our new dog. She is a German Shepherd, full of energy but is one dang smart dog puppy and turns one on July 24th.
Jake
just finished his LAST class June 25th, and will be receiving his
bachelors degree any days now!!! YAY!...I unfortunately am STILL in
school. and will be til April 2013...maybe sooner if I crack down and
take more classes at a time...I dont wanna..(insert whiny voice here)
Oh
yes...and then there is my new business venture...I started my own
Massage business! I went to massage school and graduated in 2004, and
worked as a therapist for under 2 years...then had babies and such and
put it on the back burner. I am happy to say I still love it, I think i
still have the touch (no pun intended) and I now own my own business and
rent my own room with some fabulous ladies who are aestheticians. I
work part time, and still get to be a stay at home mom. So you AZ peeps,
come get a massage!
| Our family at Kinz dance competition in May...Brady being 2 |
| Daddy totem pole (Kaitlyn wanting to escape) |
| OH YES we celebrated 7 years of marriage April 1st. Yummy creme Brulee Boat thingy at a WAY overpriced fancy restaurant! |
Mckenzie had a dance competition at Mesa performing arts center which is a BLOCK away from Jake's fire-station! SO him and the guys came to cheer her on! it was AWESOME!!!!
| Daddy and his Crew!!!! |
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Friday, April 6, 2012
April
It is possible that blogging has become a thing I don't love doing much anymore. I would MUCH rather read up on everyone elses lives...until I remember how I don't journal, I haven't scrap booked in forever, and my pictures never get printed, they stay digital forever. SO..blogging is probably the one thing that will keep me linked to my past and things I want to remember with the least amount of effort, time. money, and creativity (which I lack)
| So young and vibrant...4/1/2005 |
| My baby girl and I on her BIRTHday 4/4/11 |
| One year later! |
| 3 days before I delivered HER! |
| Party throwers |
Lastly...for those wondering minds..I then had surgery. I needed a few tummy fixes, a hernia, some things I will leave unnamed lasered off...and some muscle repair. After three pregnancies my belly stretched to it's capacity, and my rectus abdominous muscles no longer held my stomach and guts in like they should, so I opted to have them fixed. This surgery was basically known as a abdominoplasty or "tummy tuck"( along with the hernia and other things). After 9 months of handwork running, exercising, and eating right to lose any and all baby weight and to tone up to see what my body was capable of achieving I then opted for the surgery. Call me vain, call me self centered I don't care. I did it for heath, and comfort, but yes I also did it for image. Think differently? stop reading my blog.
I am currently 4 days post op, and to be honest I feel lousy. I can't lift or hold my children, and walking is a huge burden. I walk like a 90 year old woman with a humpback, and I am sore in every region of my body. At this point in my recovery, I can't decide if I I had the choice to do it all over again would I, I want to say yes, but I it hurts pretty dang bad, and the road to recovery is LONG...But after visiting my surgeon, and seeing my results, I already know I did what is best for me. I had thought of starting a blog dedicated just to my surgery like so many people do, but decided against it. I didn't want to risk hearing any negative feedback or comments, especially when the decision is already made and surgery complete. I would rather not deal with any negativity. I will keep my blog semi-up to date with my recovery, so read back if you are interested :) (I'll post before and after pictures later....)
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
I kneaded this
SO I graduated Massage school in April of 2004, 8 years ago. Because I went to school in Utah, I had to be Nationally certified to get my Arizona license. I was grandfathered in for one year, before the "law" went into place that I needed to take the national exam. So the NCTMB is the National Massage Exam that was available to me at the time. $350 to take the test, then another $220 to get state license after passing the exam. Well...I failed the NCTMB in June 2005, 2 months after Jake and I were married...newly weds with NO MONEY. If you fail, you have to pay again to retest. I was SOOOO mad/upset/embarrassed/and discouraged. I finished my one year as a massage therapist, and then found out I was pregnant with McKenzie December 2005. So I never re-tested.
I worked with Massage Envy as a therapist for a year, and then with their corporate and management for about another year. (I was kind of burned by them) Anyway, with a baby on the way, and NO health insurance, I put off being a massage therapist. I found a job with bank of America, where I was immediately covered with Insurance, and also was able to work part time opposite Jake and still be home with my new baby. SO Now...around August 2007 I am approached by a long time friend who wants to open a Massage business of her own, and wants me to help. So for the next year or so I help start and create "National Massage Club" a Massage business that ultimately failed because the friend was in it with her now EX-husband who was CRAZY. I bounced out of that situation long before it failed though because I knew where it was headed...anyway..during all this time I was still working with Bank of America. I LOVED my job at the bank. I worked there almost 4 years, where I went from teller, to senior teller, to Teller Manager/Asst. Manager. I was pregnant with Brady when I decided to become a stay at home Mom. So we are now in 2009, I give birth to Brady.....I am now a stay at home mom. I start pursing my bachelors in Business management online. 19 months after Brady was born, I give birth to Kaitlyn. So April 2011. I am a stay at home mother, going to school full time, with a husband that now works 3 jobs so that we live comfortably, and can save to buy a house. I decide I REALLY miss doing massage, and that I WILL study my butt off, and take the state license test! No longer the NCTMB, the MbLeX. So 90 days after setting the goal to pass, I DID!!!! I passed my massage EXAM...8 years later!!! So now I can send in my state licensure info and become a LICENSED MASSAGE THERAPIST!!!
It feels so GOOD to be able to use the education I have, and to make some extra money on the side without forfeiting my time as a mom. I am not sure what I want to do as a LMT yet, but I am hoping either something on my own, renting a space with other therapists part time, or finding a Chiropractor. We shall see! But either way It feels GREAT to check it off my bucket list!!!!
It feels so GOOD to be able to use the education I have, and to make some extra money on the side without forfeiting my time as a mom. I am not sure what I want to do as a LMT yet, but I am hoping either something on my own, renting a space with other therapists part time, or finding a Chiropractor. We shall see! But either way It feels GREAT to check it off my bucket list!!!!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Time to bust out my Tiara
My princess half marathon weekend begins tomorrow! I get on my first flight to Florida Friday morning, RUN Sunday and come home Monday! YAYA! Maybe I'll get better time than I did on my Tinkerbell half. I finished before the time limit, and that is what I wanted most, SO I am HAPPY! This time not only do I get one cool medal, I get another for doing the coast to coast challenge! Whoo Hoo 2 blingy medals!
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Daddy
I blog stalk an old colleague of mines wife who recently found out she was pregnant. She posted this sweet sweet link and I couldn't NOT re post it.
With 2 daughters of my own, and the only girl of 4 boys, I couldn't pass this one up!! PRECIOUS!
in case you're too busy, lazy, or stubborn to click it and read it, here are a few teasers:
Love her mom. Treat her mother with respect, honor, and a big heaping spoonful of public displays of affection. When she grows up, the odds are good she’ll fall in love with and marry someone who treats her much like you treated her mother. Good or bad, that’s just the way it is. I’d prefer good.
Always be there. Quality time doesn’t happen without quantity time. Hang out together for no other reason than just to be in each other’s presence. Be genuinely interested in the things that interest her. She needs her dad to be involved in her life at every stage. Don’t just sit idly by while she add years to her… add life to her years.
Buy her a glove and teach her to throw a baseball. Make her proud to throw like a girl… a girl with a wicked slider.
Pray for her. Regularly. Passionately. Continually.
Dance with her. Start when she’s a little girl or even when she’s a baby. Don’t wait ‘til her wedding day.
Take her fishing. She will probably squirm more than the worm on your hook. That’s OK.
Today she’s walking down the driveway to get on the school bus. Tomorrow she’s going off to college. Don’t blink.
Luckily for me, my daddy passed on most these, and my wonderful husband Jake is the best daddy my girls could have asked for!
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