[pitselah]

Hey,

I am 27 years old and am working my way to get down to a healthy weight. One of the reasons I want to do this is that my husband and I would like to start a family soon. I have over 100 pounds to lose, I know I will have excess skin because I have been overweight for so long. I am wondering if it would be better to get down to my goal weight, remove the excess skin and then get pregnant or get pregnant before having excess skin removed?

I guess I just worry that it will be hard to get an ultra sound with a bunch of extra skin everywhere. I don't know though.

What do you guys think would be the best idea? Has anyone experienced either of these situations?

[IanG]

I lost over 100lbs and don't have any extra skin and was severely obese for two decades.

You just don't know what will happen with respect to excess skin.

But you being a mere 27 will help....a lot.

Lose the weight and get pregnant. Or just get pregnant. It's up to you.

But forget skin! It should not figure in your equation.

[shcirerf]

Honestly, it's a crap shoot!

I'm a plain ole white gal, had twins that were over 6#'s each! Stretch marks and loose skin up the wazoo. However I was not overweight at the start.

But then, my aunt had 2 babies, 2 different times, both 9/10 #'s, not a stretch mark one. She was really thin. But, she is half American Indian, half French.

My "girls" went "SOUTH"! My sisters, not a droopy bit! *rolls eyes*

Focus on your health! There is no way to predict, how pregnancy is going to affect you. Until you've been there, done that!

Being pregnant was the strangest time in my life for me, because my body, just did, WHATEVER, and I had no control.

To your original question, medical technology has come a long way, and in that respect, you will most likely be ok. However, the healthier you are, the better the pregnancy will go, and delivery will be easier.

If I were in your shoes, I would get the family complete, work on a healthy lifestyle, and then, consider the skin surgery. I don't see much reason to put the cart before the horse.
Good luck! Enjoy the ride of parent hood! It's awesome! Grandkids are even better! Love all 4 of mine! Totally worth it!

[shcirerf]

Just for the record, that is me and my twins, in my avatar! Love! My 50th Birthday, at a Husker game! No regrets! Would not change a thing! Stretch marks, saggy girls and all!

[kisskiss]

You might have loose skin, you might not. I'm 28, lost the weight fairly slowly and yes I do have loose skin. Not much, but some.

Many plastic surgeons recomend you get loose skin removed/tummy tuck AFTER all your pregnancies because it might undo what they've done...ie stretchmarks and more loose skin.

I followed a couple of blogs, and some have surgery before because it'll be years before they plan on having kids....

[nickilaughs]

I would lose the weight. Get pregnant. Then when your done with babies evaluate for skin removal. Some women's skin recover from weight loss no prob and babies no prob, but there is no way to know until you are in that situation. I have multiple scars on my stomach from childhood surgery. Whenever I lost weight or post childhood, there's a pouch with tons of stretch marks. Every body is different and no way to know for sure. I'd save skin surgery for last.

[seize the day]

I agree with many of the other posters -- lose the weight, have the baby(s) and then assess the skin. I gained over 60 lbs with my son, and now I have a little bit of lose skin on my stomach and some moderately low hanging girls -- and I was not overweight prior to getting pregnant. My friend was overweight and after having her daughter she lost all of her pregnancy weight plus another 50-60 lbs, and she has about the same amount of loose skin etc. as I do (not enough to surgically remove IMO).

Also, I would not recommend a surgery like that prior to getting pregnant. Sometimes healing processes are slow, and you wouldn't want to cause yourself any additional discomfort or complications.