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