Knickers and Milk Sippers

Let's get a little personal shall we?

Yes, I am going to talk about all things down below and in between.

Hence the title;

Knickers and Milk Sippers

Full disclosure if you don't want to read about breastfeeding and after birth

STOP NOW

but thanks for coming to see me :)

If you want to know the honest and real truth get a bowl of popcorn, wine, and a blanket;

things are about to get real up in here.

Where to begin with all of this information overload?

Hospital mesh panties

Ice packs

Cracked nipples

Hemorrhoids

Swollen body parts

First the less scary part of it all, swollen body parts, everything is swollen.

Face, hands, feet, stomach, boobs.

Nothing is safe from the every loving swelling that will be right after and the weeks to follow.

This is one thing that not one person that has gone before me mentioned would happen.

When I had Genevieve, yes things were "angry" not unexpected, but why take that out on my feet.

I wore shoes that tied, what I really needed were flip-flops two sizes bigger than what I wore before.

Rings didn't fit for almost six weeks after.

My face thankful returned to its "sunken" state after a week.

However, my chest grew to three times the size from the start of pregnancy.

 
This brings me to the next item on my list.  If you can't stand the word nipple, this talk isn't for you.
There are few things in this world that I can say bother me more than the word "moist," and one of those other words is "engorgement."
I really didn't understand this, until it happened.
Amongst all of your lady bits being swollen you get to have your nipples chewed and sucked until they are cracked and numb.
I became so engorged that I would have to pump or my daughters head would bounce off like a Ping-Pong ball during a tournament.
This continued until recently when I did what they call, regulate.
Yeah, that only took 15 weeks to do.
I was able to pump quite a bit before going back to work, 100 oz.
This is quite a good amount for still breastfeeding and pumping at the same time.
Going back to work full time was more stressful that what I thought it would be.
Not for the fact that I was leaving her, yes that was hard to do, but not what this post is about;
for the fact that I work in a small office and have to take my pump with me to work.
I hated the fact that not only were my breast three times the size that they were, but now I have to pump at work and hope that I can get that half hour in so I don't hurt.
Also, no one told me that if you talk about your child, hear a child cry, relax, or drink more water; that you are going to get a let down (milk comes in) or leak.
I only leaked twice and thankfully that was it.
However, the let downs happened and still happen all the time.
It can be at random times, but when you pump with cracked nipples; it hurts.
The best thing that you can do is get a good nipple cream and just slather all of that buttery-goodness all over.
For me when I get those let downs it's normally every hour and a half and then a half hour until either I feed her or pump.
If neither of these things happen, I become, yes you guessed it; Engorged.
It is painful and could cause damage if ignored.
Since going part time I pump twice a day so my daughter can have food for when I am gone.
I still pump enough to feed her and still freeze some also!

All of those things brings me to my next topic ice packs and mesh panties.
Panties is right up there with the last two words that everyone is so fond of.
However, this needs to be talked about too.
Ice packs are an absolute necessity.
Those first few hours I couldn't get enough of those things.
Numb me up.
(See what I did there, instead of Beam me up...no? ok.)
They will give you, wait for it, Motrin for pain.
Yes you read that correctly.
So when it comes to anything that makes the "angry" bits better, do it.
The mesh panties are something you are going to either love or hate.
I HATE them.
Chrissy Teigen embraced them.
You be your own judge.
I can't stress the word hate enough with them.
They were WAY to big for my size and as much as they tell you they are one size fits all they lie.
When you put the ice pack, tucks, and swollen angry bits in one place, they may fit.
I went and bought the biggest "granny-undies" one could find and went that direction.
This was the best thing that I could have done.
I felt like I was being held together by their higher waist band and didn't feel like my insides were going to fall out like I did with those other underwear.
These are something that I wore for weeks and believe it or not still love them.

Overall, the actual birth was smooth and a pretty surreal experience.
There are days that I still look at her and think "is she really mine?"
Then I sneeze and I'm quickly reminded that yes she is.
The picture is me at two days after having her, I'm swollen, with my granny-undies on with ice packs tucks and a pad, hair pulled up, and that new baby bliss smile on my face.
I can say honestly that I never felt better than in that moment.