Ok - honestly at first I was mortified and totally freaked out. My "butt" was so high and started almost mid way down my back and my butt crack was spread wide open. When I saw it in the mirror I almost cried and was like "what the hell is this?!" I was assured it would drop and that it was swollen. They were right. My butt cheeks have come back together (thank god) and now my "bum" is almost in the right spot. It's super hard which is weird. My hubby loves it lol. I'm finding it odd to wear clothes - pants look great across my now flat tummy but barely fits the butt! I'm exaggerating it in my head I know but I didnt have a butt before so it feels so foreign to me. It's not kardashian at all and when I look in the mirror is a subtle curve outwards - looks quite natural actually - just feels so much bigger to me than it actually is!

It's honestly been the most uncomfortable/painful part - so weird to sit on and lie on and even in the car it feels weird like there's something stuffed between me and the seat lol. It's greatly improved and I can now tolerate it and am getting used to it but I wasn't expecting it at all.

The short answer is YES - now I like it and will probably love it as I continue to heal and get used to it.

Good luck with your new bootie too!

4 days before me! Congrats! A little scary though, right?

As some of you may know, I had LBL with muscle repair and fat transfer to bum on March 9th. I've been lucky with how easy my recovery has been compared to what I was expecting.

As a quick recap - my drain was removed at 2.5 weeks (heavenly day - FREEDOM!) and I've been back to work full time since the start of week 3 but was working part time starting at week 2. This is work outside the home - I didn't count working from home which I was able to do around day 3.

Things are continuing to progress. I still wear my binder and I like it tight! Just feels better - except when I'm sleeping. I need to have it loosed when I sleep or I find I get itchy.

That is my biggest focus right now - the itching! I use Benadryl (1/2 a pill) before bed because it seems that's when it's the worst.

My incision is closed except 2 areas that continue to weep a little on my left side/back. They look closed but I keep gauze and a bit of polysporin on them at all times because they weep a bit. Was told to do this by my PS to avoid scabbing which could impact scarring. It doesn't hurt and I change the gauze twice a day, cleaning with hydrogen peroxide and then applying fresh gauze with a thin coat of polysporin (all this as per my PS). The gauze, once removed, has a small/medium amount of yellowish discharge with a tiny bit of blood. Maybe pea sized amount on the gauze. Not sure how long it will take to close and stop weeping? I'll keep doing this and will reconnect with the PS next week if no improvement.

Still numb, especially around the sides and side butt cheeks. Hopefully that feeling comes back because it feels so weird.

Still avoiding lifting until my PS clears me, likely at my 6 week follow up appointment. Looking forward to resuming yoga!

Walking upright since week 2. Still tight (especially between the hips and groin) and my butt still hurts/feels weird to sit on.

Belly button is an outtie right now - I kinda like it lol but PS said it may just be swollen and might go down.

Swelling hasn't been too bad. There was a day when my legs were swollen but I increased my water and elevated my legs and they were back down the next day.

I shower daily independently but still need help to get my binder on. Boy do I miss my bath!

Sleeping in my bed (not the recliner anymore) and use pillows still along my sides - feels more comfortable.

I do find I get tired easily still and often have a nap after work or during the day on weekends.

Quick Facts:

Surgery date weight: 155lbs

Weight day after surgery: 150lbs (they removed 9lbs of skin/fat)

Current weight: 143lbs

I know when I was pre-op I enjoyed reading other people's experiences and post-op I would search for other posts to see what to expect. Hopefully this will be of some interest or assistance to someone.

Thanks for reading and good luck on your journey!

I waited until I was at my goal weight and that my weight was stable. I figured the surgeons would be able to give me the most accurate opinion and quote during my consults. My surgeon said it it important after the surgery to try and maintain right around the same weight, because a larger gain/loss does affect the results.

When did you remove the Scopolamine patch from behind your ear (if you had one)? For a couple different surgeries, I left it there much longer than the 72 hours it was supposed to work and it made my vision blurry.

The tufts of fat are probably loose skin and yes, I still look like that post-birth-dog a little when I bend all the way over. They can't get rid of all of our lax skin, and honestly, our skin just likes to stretch a bit more. You are also still going to be in the middle of swell hell and nothing looks like what it will when you're a few months out.

As far as sex drive, mine felt strangely supercharged for the first couple of weeks - maybe because we had been given the suggestion to wait 4 weeks a minimum (we did not). It's now back to the normal I was used to post WLS and that's down some from what it was before WLS.