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'I’m really proud of the decision I made to return to my natural body': Why this mom had her breast implants removed

Blogger opens up about reclaiming her body through removing her breast implants<em> (Photo via Instagram)</em>
Blogger opens up about reclaiming her body through removing her breast implants (Photo via Instagram)

When social media influencer Emily Nolan was in her 20s, she got breast implants to impress her then-boyfriend. Now, eight years later, she’s opening up about getting the implants removed and reclaiming her body.

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Two years ago I had a breast #explant, which means I had my breast implants removed. I had them removed because a narcissistic boyfriend in my early and impressionable 20s told me, “real women have boobs.” I carried the weight of his worthless opinion of my body around for eight years on my chest. It was heavy. When I opted for the breast explanation procedure, I knew it came with risks. First, the risk that my blood clotting factor (Factor V Leiden) would appear during or after surgery and….it could be fatal. I hedged my risk by seeing a hematologist and getting expert opinions that put me on blood thinning injections. The doctors advised me that the procedure would not be so dangerous with the injections. I was willing to take this risk to get MY body back. To return to Emily. The second risk I faced was having damage during the removal (and scraping) to my breasts that would prevent me from being able to breast feed. For the curious women who are considering getting an #explant possibly before baby…I am able to breast feed. In fact, I’m a milk factory. Milk dripping across the wood floor and waking up to a trail of ants. Wetting the bed with breast milk and blaming it on Oliver peeing through his diaper…until I look at my PJs. 🤦🏻‍♀️ I’m really grateful that I made the brave decision to return to my body, and I’m fortunate that I didn’t have any dangerous hiccups along the way. If you’re considering a #breastexplant, it can be a dangerous procedure but the end result was so worth it (to me). I can run in one sport bra without my shoulders killing me. I can feed my child with ease. And most importantly, I can radically accept myself for who I am and what I look like in my natural Earth Suit. Very infrequently do I look back on life (I wish that was my personality!) but when I do, I’m really proud of the decision I made to return to my natural body. I’m beautiful, just the way I am. #beprettybrave 📸 @christinacraddockphotography

A post shared by Emily Nolan (@iamemilynolan) on Oct 17, 2018 at 2:53pm PDT

Two years ago I had a breast #explant, which means I had my breast implants removed. I had them removed because a narcissistic boyfriend in my early and impressionable 20s told me ‘real women have boobs’,” she wrote.

“I carried the weight of his worthless opinion of my body around for eight years on my chest. It was heavy.”

Knowing blood clotting was a risk with having her breast implants removed, Nolan was most concerned with another associated risk: damage that wouldn’t allow her future son to breastfeed.

The second risk I faced was having damage during the removal (and scraping) to my breasts that would prevent me from being able to breastfeed. For the curious women who are considering getting an #explant possibly before baby, I am able to breast feed. In fact, I’m a milk factory,” she wrote.

I’m really grateful that I made the brave decision to return to my body, and I’m fortunate that I didn’t have any dangerous hiccups along the way,” she continued.

“If you’re considering a #breastexplant, it can be a dangerous procedure but the end result was so worth it (to me). I can run in one sport bra without my shoulders killing me. I can feed my child with ease. And most importantly, I can radically accept myself for who I am and what I look like in my natural Earth Suit.”

View this post on Instagram

It niggles me to see before and after postpartum photos when women share that their body is not where they want it to be “yet.” Its not so much about the photo than it is about the language. I do understand we are each on our own journey with body image and we all have triggers and things that haunt us. For example, when I lost a lot of weight (and ended up losing my period, which I never publicly shared until I knew it wasn’t healthy) I shared my weight loss all over social media with thoughts that “I could be better. My body could still improve.” I shared these thoughts because I was proud that I had worked my butt off for my thin body while marathon training and under-eating (I developed an energy deficiency called Red-S), and my thinness made me feel validated. I fit in to our culture’s idea of beauty. I certainly fit into modern clothing companies’ sizes when they only sell size 0-8 (hello, @intermix!), and that also made me also feel beautiful, strangely. Hindsight being 20/20, I see where I could have done better. For myself and for all of the women and girls that I “influence” and that read my blog. I could have used those social media and blog posts about my weight loss journey and instead, focused on my incredible hero’s journey of reclaiming my natural body after my breast #explant surgery. There’s definitely a back story to why I lost so much weight (I was afraid I’d die during my explant procedure if I was slightly overweight, thanks to a hematologist I saw who scared me into thinking that way). THOUGHT CONTINUED ON FOLLOWING IG POST… 📸@christinacraddockphotography

A post shared by Emily Nolan (@iamemilynolan) on Oct 23, 2018 at 11:15am PDT

Body positivity is a common topic on the Florida mom’s Instagram page. She frequently touches on self love, and criticizes social media’s affinity for comparing women’s bodies to Instagram models.

“When I lost a lot of weight (and ended up losing my period, which I never publicly shared until I knew it wasn’t healthy) I shared my weight loss all over social media,” she wrote.

“I was proud that I had worked my butt off for my thin body while marathon training and under-eating (I developed an energy deficiency called Red-S), and my thinness made me feel validated… Hindsight being 20/20, I see where I could have done better. For myself and for all of the women and girls that I ‘influence’ and that read my blog. I could have used those social media and blog posts about my weight loss journey and instead, focused on my incredible hero’s journey of reclaiming my natural body after my breast #explant surgery.”

“I’m really proud of the decision I made to return to my natural body. I’m beautiful, just the way I am.”

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