Connie Sheahan praises decision to have her abdomen rebuilt

A Brisbane woman said she tried everything to get rid of her “water bomb” abdomen after two C-sections. Then she found the solution.

Connie Sheahan with her children Elodie and Harry. Picture: Annette Dew..

A Queensland woman says having her abdomen rebuilt after two C-sections was the best gift she has ever given herself.

“I constantly looked bloated and my belly felt like a giant water bomb. On occasions I was asked if I was pregnant. I tried all forms of exercise, and consider myself an active person,

but nothing worked,” Connie Sheahan, 39, from Yeerongpilly said.

Mrs Sheahan is just one of the many Queensland patients of sister doctors who work at the Mater Private Hospital, repairing the bodies of women after breast cancer and pregnancy.

Plastic and reconstructive surgeon Diana Kennedy and anaesthetist Agustina Frankel work together at Mater Private Hospital in South Brisbane focusing on women’s health, with breast cancer reconstruction, breast surgery and abdominal reconstruction topping their adult surgical procedures list.

With five children between them the sisters juggle busy home and work lives to improve the lives of Queensland women.

Dr Diana Kennedy and her sister Agustina Frances in surgery. Picture: Annette Dew.

Dr Kennedy has two children, George (8) and Benedict (5).

“My hope and aim is to do both jobs to the highest standard and the way to do this is through consistency of effort and a willingness to work hard,” Dr Kennedy said.

Dr Kennedy explained her days during the week were busy getting her children organised for school, followed by daily ward rounds and operating at the Mater or Queensland Children’s Hospital, or consulting in her private practice on Wickham Terrace.

She said the surgeries she performs with her sister can have a profoundly positive impact on patients’ lives.

Dr Kennedy also cares for close to 100 pediatric patients needing craniofacial and

reconstructive surgeries every year.

“Women don’t need to suffer back pain or incontinence — reconstructive surgery for this is such an important part of women’s health that Medicare has recognised these operations as reconstructive not cosmetic surgery,” she said.

Dr Frankel has worked in the operating theatre at Mater alongside her sister since 2021.

“Our team values respect, high standards and kindness. We offer these values to each other and to our patients. Anaesthetists are skilled in managing acutely unwell patients and other emergencies. We also relieve pain, by performing pain-relief procedures, like epidurals,” she said.

Connie Sheahan. Picture: Annette Dew.

Dr Frankel has three children, Adelaide (14), Annabelle (12), Addison (10).

Mrs Sheahan said the doctors genuinely understood her journey.

She said that after giving birth to her children, Elodie (3) and Harry (18 months), she was “completely uncomfortable” with her belly.

“I often felt my organs directly under my skin, it was awful. What’s worse is that I had a 12cm separation and two hernias that did not show on the preliminary ultrasound,” she said.

The mum felt that exercise was never going to fix the problem.

“I have not done this for anyone else but myself and it is hands down one of the best gifts I have ever given myself,” she said.

Originally published as Connie Sheahan praises decision to have her abdomen rebuilt