+ OWWWWWWWWWIEEEEEEE! +
(This entry written to the reader, not Ceili)
Ouch ouch ouch. I have some blocked milk ducts, I think. In case anyone's wondering, yes, I'm still pumping. Just as frequently as in the beginning, so I guess I'm going on 7 months of pumping now (wowza!). Well, I have been wondering lately why my supply has been dropping. I know Ceili's eating more solid foods, but I'm still making a pretty big demand with the pump on myself. Well, I figured out that one of the membranes on my pump was torn slightly, and it wasn't sucking like it was supposed to be. I replaced that before my final pumping yesterday and YAY! It was back to how it should be.

Fast forward to 2:30 a.m. The munchkin wakes me up - she has a bit of a cold - and I go in to feed her. I notice that my right breast is tender. At 5:00 when I am awakened yet again, it's VERY tender. After feeding her, I went to get a hot washcloth and curled up on the couch with it, to heat and massage the ducts into opening. I had very little response.

Now it's 9:00 and the right side of my right breast is hard as a ROCK. I don't appear to have a fever, lethargy, or any red streaking which are the symptoms of mastitis. I had this happen once before, when we were in Seattle. I - ahem - drank a little too much and basically passed out asleep before I could pump before bed. By the time I woke up in the morning, I was in agony. It took ALL day pumping to get the clogged ducts free, and it was sore for 2 days.

But I'm wondering if the pump's suction not working correctly combined with Ceili's half-a$$ed nursing because of her clogged nose the last 24 hours - AND combined with Fenugreek (which I have taken, but not a ton of) have resulted in too much milk and nowhere to go.

This sucks. And hurts. A lot!