The Contingency Plan

The Curse of the Smooth, Flat Nipple

If you peep into our apartment these days you'll find an interesting surprise.

Sitting on a sofa with a bottle and breast pump, you'll see me, a figure of motherhood, breasts exposed through a black lace maternity bra, in my underwear, drinking Guiness and Coke (it's apparently high in iron and good for breastfeeding) and pumping milk for my baby boy. All I need is a cigarette to complete the scene.

It's been hot and my care factor has been low.

Hugo has been a heavenly baby to care for. He sleeps extremely well, barely cries (only when he's hungry) and has a healthy appetite. Although he's very well mannered, some of this has been accounted to jaundice, which he's still dispelling from his tiny frame. And I wasn't helping as the poor little guy can't latch onto my nipples. This meant he wasn't feeding enough to gain weight and dispell the jaundice. And feeds were taking up to 2.5 hours. We'd both finish them exhausted, frustrated and in tears.

I've always been fond of my breasts, but it's horrible to hear you have a problem with them that's preventing your baby from eating. Lucas even helped me prepare for breastfeeding by sucking on my breasts coming up to the birth. Besides being enjoyable, it helped me get used to the sensation of someone sucking on them for an extended period of time (yes... good excuse).

Anyhow, as Wolfie was loosing weight, his jaundice wasn't improving, and I have an oversupply of milk, I've been expressing milk every 2-3 hours to keep up with his feeds. This has been going on for three days now and I feel like all I do is pump breast milk to feed him. Thankfully a midwife will be visiting me to help me with the issue.

Oh well, time to get the pump out again for now...