I can’t believe it’s been FOUR months since I last posted an update, but suffice to say that’s a clear indication of how well things have been going from a recovery perspective! Looking back at my before photos (I’ve posted them at the bottom for a recap!) compared to now is actually pretty mind-blowing to me but I’m most excited about how much stronger and better I feel day to day.
Here’s my nine month update…
Core Strength & Stability
Shortly after the 6 month post-op mark, I started to focus on full core strength again. In the months preceding, I tried to limit my core exercises and avoided “ab” work to allow additional time for my internal stitches to heal.
You might remember, I have permanent stitches in my abdominal muscles as part of my diastasis recti (DR) repair. Smaller gaps wouldn’t have required this additional step, but because my gap was significant, the surgeon recommended the permanent sutures to ensure that my abdominal wall remained together.
It seemed like a no-brainer to me.
That said, I will confess that I don’t have the flexibility and flexion in my stomach that I used to. This isn’t generally a problem, but there are lots of things I actively avoid now (cat/cow pose, cobra, upward dog, back bends, etc.) to make sure I don’t pull at the sutures. I plan to address this at my follow-up in September.
The biggest wins for me have been reduced low back pain, feeling more stable during exercise and carrying my kids, and – a huge win – no longer having pelvic floor weakness!
The Dreaded Scar
Transparently, my scar really sucks and it bums me out a bit. My optimism for its fading has faded much faster than the scar itself. This is totally a me-problem and isn’t the biggest surprise as I am prone to scarring and keloids (which I have developed at the centre of my incision – photos below).
Because I needed the abdominal repair, my scar is T shaped with a vertical incision which allowed Dr. Bendor-Samuel to gain access to the upper abdominals. Fortunately, the entire scar is low enough that it’s hidden almost entirely by almost every pair of bikini bottoms or swimsuits I own!
With the skin removal itself, Dr. Bendor-Samuel actually took a lot of my stretch marks away. You can see where they used to be and where they come to a sudden end in the horizontal scar.
I’m still using silicon strips most of the time. I remove them for showers/baths, swimming, exercise, etc., and occasionally if they’re visible under the outfit I’m wearing (like a bodysuit for example). My favourites have been these:
Frida Mom C-Section Silicon Strips
These have been my absolute favourite. They’re a little short (my scar is significantly longer than your average c-section incision) but the outer edges of my scar faded first, anyway. For me, these strips have stayed on my skin the best and I love that I can rinse and put them in a holder between wears.
These aren’t cheap but they lasted the longest! Around $40 per pack, and I got about 7-8 weeks out of each.
I have a lot of feelings about these. I liked being able to cut the strip to the exact sizing I need, especially with the T-shape but I felt like I needed to cover the strips with additional tape to hold the dang things on. This one is quite thick. Having said that, I feel like the best fading happened for me while I was using these.
They’re by far the most expensive, at about $42 a pop, which lasted me less than a month per sheet.
These were the first strips I used and I liked them! They were the cheapest at roughly $25 per box, so I didn’t care much about throwing them out. I usually cut the last 1/8th of the strip off and then sliced them in half length ways so that a single strip would do the entire T shape of my scar.
My biggest peeve with these, again, was that they didn’t stay on as well as I’d have liked and so I found I went through my “four month supply” in about a month because they adhesion just wasn’t there for me.
I’ve also been using the Vivier V-STAT Advanced Repair Gel ($50 per tube) on my belly button to help ease the scarring around the recreation!
The Itchy Belly Button & Lack of Sensation Below It
When I was pregnant with my kids, I would be in agony with an itchy belly button for months at a time as my skin stretched. No one prepared me for the reality of living with an itchy belly button post-op! It’s not all the time, but it’s regular enough that it sometimes makes me batty. I combat this by using moisturizer in my belly button daily, and occasionally throwing a little hydrocortisone at it.
What’s more bizarre is having no feeling on my stomach from my scar to my belly button. I understand this is common in post-tummy tuck and post-Caesarean (c-section) bodies, and I knew it was probable, but it is SO WEIRD.
The Results Right Now
I’ll confess that I sometimes get a pang of, Man, I thought I’d be happier.
At the end of the day, I *am* happy with the results I’ve had but I think sometimes that my expectations weren’t necessarily as rooted in reality as they might have been. I’ll be speaking with my surgeon about some of the things that I’m not completely thrilled about, like the fact I do still have some loose skin and my scar, but for the most part, I know that the rest is up to me!
I went back to the gym in January 2025 and won a transformation challenge run out of our studio, gaining 3lbs of muscle in 8 weeks! I now weigh about 7lbs more post-op than I did when I went in for surgery, thanks to a lot of heavy lifting. I’m participating in a second transformation challenge this fall, and look forward to lowering my body fat percentage further (it’s down about 6% since January).
The Before Pics
Halifax Tummy Tuck 
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