Nursing Your Kids

I wish I could remember where I read this rumor, but at some point early in this pregnancy I read that breasts don’t change as much during a second pregnancy. I was expecting that unlike my first pregnancy, when my breasts went from a perfectly reasonable 32 B to a shocking 38 D, I’d stay on the small side until close to the end.

This bit of information wasn’t something that really consumed me, although I think I may have been slightly disappointed that I wouldn’t have the fabulous cleavage to draw attention away from my belly since I’d also read that women start to show more quickly in second pregnancies.

Yes I started to show much more quickly this pregnancy. I was showing at 10 weeks pretty obviously if I wasn’t wearing a baggy sweater to disguise the baby bump whereas with Sam I didn’t show until 16 weeks and even then I was just barely showing. Here’s a picture of the belly. On the left is me at 16 weeks the first time around. On the right is me at 12 weeks this pregnancy. (please excuse the filthy mirror)

With Sam, my breasts got bigger way before my belly. I needed to buy new bras weeks before I needed maternity clothes. But now, just over 16 weeks pregnant, my breasts have finally caught up to my belly. They are large (yippee for fabulous cleavage!), heavy, and sore. I’m not so fond of the sore. They’re sore pretty much all the time, whether I’m chasing Sam or sitting still. They’re also tingly, like I’m experience let down when I’m actually not. Sam is still nursing sporadically- twice yesterday, once the day before- and the tingly feeling doesn’t actually occur when he nurses. It’s like phantom letdown at random intervals throughout the day.

It’s still painful when Sam nurses, though not nearly as painful as it was during the first trimester. It hurts when he latches and I often have to make him readjust his latch, but it doesn’t hurt through the nursing sessions. It also helps that the sessions have been lasting no more than a few minutes lately. I don’t know that I could take much more. I really thought that pregnancy would be my big incentive to wean. But so far it’s just another minor inconvenience. It’s not nearly as bad as I thought.

Bryan’s wife Sarah is being induced today. Good luck with a smooth delivery!