Coping with new breasts

Even the doctor looked a bit surprised when I arrived back in hospital yesterday to get the breast situation checked out. One of the first questions I was asked was if I had breast implants, and earlier that day someone compared me to Katie Price.

When my mum saw me, the first thing she wanted to do was to go out and buy new clothes for me. It turns out my current wardrobe is even more limited than what it was at the end of my pregnancy. The tops I want to wear don’t necessarily fit across the breasts, and I’ve already ripped one maternity dress when trying to squeeze into it.

The nursing bras I had bought before Baby Girl was born don’t fit either. I had followed the text-book advice of buying bras one size bigger than what I wore in late pregnancy. I hadn’t exactly accounted for the breasts close to doubling in size, and we couldn’t go back from hospital on Thursday without stopping at Blossom Mother & Child in Walton Street to pick up two more nursing bras in size XL.

Initially, I didn’t think my engorgement experience was anything to make a fuss about, as I had been warned it would be painful. But the community midwife who came on day 5 after the birth of Baby Girl said I needed to see someone.

Now, I seem to be back at the Kensington Wing at Chelsea and Westminster every day, as they’re monitoring the situation. Yesterday we were even told by one doctor that our little family would have to move back in, so I could stay overnight under observation. It was later decided that I could at least go home and come in for a check-up the next day instead.

I’m not sure what is meant by a 48-hour engorgement process. In my case, it seems to be never-ending.

Tags: Breastfeeding, Engorgement, Kensington Wing