A Letter from A Grateful Lady:

      I knew my annual check-up with my OB/Gyn was coming up soon, and I was having quite a debate with myself. Since I started inducing for lactation three months ago, should I tell my doctor about this? A huge part of me did NOT want to do that... okay, the largest part of me did not want to do that! He will think I'm nuts. I was really leaning towards not saying anything at all, because with not having produced any milk at all yet, I did not think that he would find anything odd or different about my breasts. My breasts were not tender, swollen, or undergoing any visible changes of any sort, to my awareness. So if I did not tell him, he wouldn't notice anything anyway. So, I decided to just see how the visit went and would decide at that time if anything needed to be said or not.

      As he was going about my examination and asking about things that were new with me, he asked me if I was having any problems with my periods. I found myself sort of blurting out to  him: "No, not since I have started nipple stimulation!"

      Yup, just sort of laid that statement out there, just like that! I must mention that I LOVE my OB/GYN! He is terrific and has the most genteel bedside/patient manner. Once I said it, I was comfortable with talking with him about it. He sort of hesitated, but then just continued the conversation as normal. He didn't bat an(other) eye.

      The subject of adult nursing never was mentioned. I am not comfortable around others with that concept, and it is no one's business but mine and my husband's. I reminded him of how my periods had been making me quite sick for months. He was aware of that from my past visits with him, and we had previously even discussed having uterine ablation surgery. Now, since I started nipple stimulation, I have NOT been sick. I used to get very bad migraine headaches and that led to nausea every month with my period.

      My doctor thought that the result that I was having was great. He said if it seemed to be helping alleviate the symptoms, there is no problem for me to continue with "breast stimulation".

      He felt that he should warn me though, that too much nipple stimulation could possibly lead to lactation. I looked him straight in the eye and told him: "I'm just fine with that... that would be great!"  Well, that did make him do a double take!

      I steered the conversation to my learning that women who want to adopt can breastfeed. He was totally aware of this, and had two patients that currently are doing that. He asked if we were on a waiting list to adopt? I said no, but we are checking out all of our options. It was a good conversation. He was fine with anything, and he wished me success.

      We discussed several things, and I wound up leaving there feeling good about my conversation with my doctor. He did ask for me to keep him updated on how things go with my breast stimulation. It felt great to have his support and also to know that I could talk with him about this in the future if I run into problems of a physical nature.

      So overall, it was a good visit. I am glad I told him what I did. I was very comfortable using my period as an excuse for doing all the nipple stimulation.

A Grateful Lady