Jenelle Evans Gets Mommy Makeover and Shows Off Before-and-After Photos (Exclusive)

Jenelle Evans is pulling back the curtain on her new look.

The reality TV star, who got her start on 16 and Pregnant at age 17, revealed on Instagram on Dec. 18 that she’d gotten a mommy makeover. Evans, now 34, shared a set of before photos, along with a set of glam shots that show the results of her surgery, which she got at the beginning of December.

Evans turned to Dr. Rachel Mason at La Femme Plastic Surgery in Las Vegas, writing in her Instagram caption that she’d replaced her breast implants and gotten a tummy tuck to address her diastasis recti (separated abs).

Evans tells PEOPLE that she knew the timing was right because she’s “completely” done having kids — she’s mom to Jace, 16, Kaiser, 11, and Ensley, 8 — and wanted to focus on herself and feeling confident in how she looked.

It was also “the right time” for this procedure because she needed to replace her breast implants.

“I had to get my breast redone because they were saline, and saline is only good for 10 years,” she tells PEOPLE, adding that when she met with Dr. Mason, she asked if she was a candidate for fixing her abs as well, to which the doctor told her she would need to get a tummy tuck.

Evans was game for the whole mommy makeover.

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Evans tells PEOPLE that Dr. Mason put her at ease from the moment the two met. The reality star was excited to work with a female plastic surgeon — which she says can be sometimes difficult to find — and also Dr. Mason seemed to just “get” her.

“She was really understanding,” Evans says. “She understood all my ‘mom’ problems, I guess you can say, because she has kids herself.”

Evans’ surgery went all according to plan, she says, and her recovery has as well. Forcing herself to slow down and take it easy while her body heals has been the biggest challenge, she admits. As someone who is very active, she is finding it difficult to not lift things and not be on the go all the time.

She’s even needed help getting in and out of bed because of the trauma to her abs.

“You literally have to have help being pulled up out of bed,” she says. “They encourage walking every few hours, but other than that, you’re doing the hunchwalk and you’re going to be doing the hunchwalk for three to four weeks.”

It’s been hard on her back, Evans admits, but she jokes it’s “toning” those muscles and “burning fat” in the process.

Evans waited a few weeks before sharing her surgery with her millions of social media followers. As with anything related to plastic surgery, the comments have been mixed, but Evans says it was important to be transparent about everything, just like she always is.

“Since I started social media, I’ve just shown the real, raw, true self, true personality and everything into my life, all the organic content,” Evans says. “So I think it’s very important to keep up the organic content for my followers and be as loyal as possible, like I have been, and also show girls that you’re not alone. You’re not the only one dealing with this.”

For Evans, she felt discouraged by people telling her to simply “work out harder” when she was feeling troubled by her “mom pouch” on her lower belly. As she details it, no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t go away — because it was mostly skin from pregnancy.

“I just wanted everyone to know that I’m just as normal as you guys,” she says, adding that she just tries “not to look at the negative comments” people leave on her posts.

Now that she’s nearing a month post-surgery, Evans says she’s starting to feel like she can really see the results she was looking for — especially since she can walk upright more often than not now.

“I think today is the first day that I looked at myself and was like, ‘Wow, I can see more swelling has gone down and I can see definition in my body now,'” she says. “I can see my abs starting to come out and the definition of the curves in the sides of my hips. Everything is just… I feel like I’m transforming.”

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Those closest to her have been supportive of her mommy makeover journey, Evans says, but she’s been careful about how she discusses it all with daughter Ensley. Evans says her 8-year-old quickly took notice of how much pain she was in post-surgery and told her she “never” wants to do such a thing herself.

Evans told her, “I said, ‘You don’t have to, don’t worry, this isn’t something you have to do when you’re older.'”

Find more on Evans’ plastic surgery journey on her YouTube channel, where she says she’s been documenting the whole process.