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Choosing To Live A Healthier Life


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Choosing To Live A Healthier Life

A few years ago, I realized that I needed to get healthy for my kids. I weighed around three hundred pounds, and it was really difficult for me to get around comfortably. I was even having problems with things like sleeping and driving, which is why I shifted my focus to a healthier lifestyle. I started eating right and exercising daily, and I quickly realized that my life was improving day after day. One day, after losing about a hundred pounds, I realized that I could run faster than I had ever been able to before. This blog is all about choosing to live a healthier life and doing it with style.

Should You Have a Tummy Tuck if You're Having More Kids?

If you're like many women, being pregnant and giving birth left you with sagging skin on your stomach that remains unchanged even if you're successful in getting back to your pre-pregnancy weight. You may be considering a tummy tuck to remove this skin and help you feel more comfortable wearing swimsuits or fitted shirts again. However, if you're not sure you're done having children, is a tummy tuck a good idea? How can this procedure impact subsequent pregnancies? Read on to learn more about some situations in which having a tummy tuck before you're done having children can be the right choice, as well as when you're better off waiting a few years. 

When can having a tummy tuck in the midst of your childbearing years make sense?

Today's tummy tuck procedures are much less invasive than those that took place even a decade ago, with surgeons able to use tiny scopes with cameras and scalpels attached to trim away excess skin without leaving noticeable scars. In some cases, your surgeon will also help reshape your navel if it's become distended or misshapen following pregnancy or even reattach abdominal muscles that separated during pregnancy and never quite returned to their original location. None of these procedures—even the reattachment of abdominal muscles—should affect your ability to conceive or carry subsequent pregnancies. However, in some cases, carrying another child to term could essentially undo any progress made by your surgery, leaving you in the same shape you were before you ever scheduled your initial tummy tuck.

There are a few situations in which having a tummy tuck before you're finished having children can be a good idea. If you had already lost a substantial amount of weight (and developed saggy excess skin) prior to becoming pregnant for the first time, it's likely that most of the skin, fat, and tissue being removed during a tummy tuck was never due to having children. Even if you get pregnant again, it's unlikely that you'll stretch your skin out enough to undo your previous surgery and require correction.

If your children were born through cesarean section, your surgeon should be able to remove the excess skin and tissue beginning at your c-section scar, which should all but render your tummy tuck scar invisible. Because it's likely any subsequent children will also be born by c-section, your obstetrician will reopen the incision when your child is born and may even be able to trim away any excess tissue created by your pregnancy before sewing you back up. 

When should you postpone your tummy tuck until you're certain you're done having children? 

For those who are especially short or small-framed and tend to have their abdominal muscles separate during pregnancy, postponing a tummy tuck until you've finished your final pregnancy may be the best course of action. Having these muscles repaired can be more painful than simply having extra skin and tissue removed, and if it's likely these muscles will separate during any subsequent pregnancies, undergoing a tummy tuck now rather than later may be a waste of time. 

You may also want to put off a tummy tuck if you have any medical conditions that make general anesthesia potentially risky, like sleep apnea, a heart murmur, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD) or other conditions that could stop your heart or impact your ability to breathe while under the influence of anesthesia drugs. You'll want to undergo a thorough physical from your primary care physician before scheduling your tummy tuck to ensure you're in good enough shape to go under the knife with a minimal risk of complications. For more insight on your options, contact services like Renaissance Center For Facial & Body Sculpting.