Free I Just Want You to Know by Kate Gosselin

In addition to covering a dinner out, the production company offered to cover our bill when we filmed at Sam’s Club, and they purchased snow boots for the children when we picked out a Christmas tree. This helped us immensely.
    During our first hour special on the Discovery Health Channel, I had shown my ugly “jowls of a dog” belly because I knew, had I been on the other side, I would have been interested in what a belly looked like after having sextuplets. A plastic surgeon and his wife saw the episode and contacted the network to offer me a free tummy tuck. I was standing in my bedroom when I heard the news, and I screamed at the top of my lungs. When I finished screaming, I could not remember the phone number of any of my friends or family—or Jon!—to share the news. I was speechless (which doesn’t happen often).
    What an opportunity! I would say a dream come true, but I hadn’t even dared to have that dream. Lots of logistics and expenses had to be figured out before this was a sure thing—like who was going to help take care of the kids, how I was going to be able to miss work, how I could recover after major surgery with eight small children. An amazing opportunity for sure, but would it become a reality?
    Then the production company stepped in to say that they were interested in making another hour special and would like to film this as part of the show. They offered to assist in the additional logistical and financial concerns. This dream was becoming a reality.
    Just prepping for being away during the surgery was a feat in itself. At the time, I could barely leave the house for work for sixteen hours without major planning. I cooked for two days straight in order to have two weeks of meals during the recovery process after the surgery. Even the decision of who took which kids, which kids got along best together took careful planning. We ended up splittingour kids up between five different homes of friends and family, whom we were so grateful for. But that meant I needed to pack five different suitcases, write fives sets of detailed instructions, and spend a day and a half dropping everyone off. Two days before we left, Jon drove four hours each way to meet my friend Jamie who was taking Cara and Mady. The day before we left, we spent the entire day playing school bus as we dropped off the little kids at four different homes.
    It felt very odd, as we headed to New York for the surgery without any kids. This was the first time Jon and I had traveled anywhere alone without any kids since I was pregnant with Cara and Mady, and we were strangely looking forward to it. On the night before surgery as we were settling into the hotel, it finally occurred to me that I was going to have a major procedure and for the first time I started to get nervous. I had been so busy planning for it that I hadn’t had time to really think about having surgery until that point.
    The surgery itself went well, though there was more repair work done than originally anticipated. The muscles were so stretched apart, my abs were ripped down the middle, and there was a four inch gap. The surgeon sewed the muscles back together, removed 1 – 1/2 pounds of skin, and repaired two hernias.
    Because of all the work that was done, the pain afterward made my C-section pain pale in comparison. My muscles spasmed for a full week.
    A week later, when I finally arrived home from my surgery, I walked into the little kids’ room to find them in their cribs. Alexis didn’t quite recognize me because while away I had also changed the color of my hair. She kept saying, “Hi Mommy. Hi Mommy. Hi Mommy.” She was oh so adorable.
    I had missed them so much! And to say that was an understatement since I had never been away from them that long before.
    Taking so much time to recover from the surgery was tough and took quite a bit of creativity. I wasn’t allowed to lift the kids for two weeks but still had to take care of them. I had put the sides of