17/03/2022
I thought that breastfeeding was a natural act of motherhood that would come the moment my daughter was born. Far from it, this perception changed when reality hit me hard a few days after giving birth.
The day after giving birth we went to Warkworth with my fiancé to feel more secure and with some experience before going home with our daughter.
My breasts grew and swollen severally “felt like two overripe melons, super shiny and about to explote causing pain that would shoot through my entire body.
The discomfort was unbearable and the milk supply was still a concern.
Day 3 after several attempts, my ni***es began to crack and bleed, accompanied by excruciating pain.
One of the nurses came to our room and tried to express a little milk, I remember that tears fell from the pain but even so, I did not stop thinking about feeding Oriana. Despite her best efforts, she only managed to get a few drops.
To add, my fiancé did not feel well, he came with pain in his back from the day before accompanied by a headache, it was almost impossible not to think that it was Covid, for which he immediately tested positive.
We could notice in the environment that we were no longer welcome (which is understandable). The nurses kindly invited us to leave the clinic. We got home by 8pm, Oriana was hungry, I could see in her eyes that her efforts to get some milk were not working. My heart was broken, I couldn't stop crying. We were isolated, my fiancé was sick and I was with a newborn that I couldn't feed properly. I couldn't shake the feeling of having failed as a mother.
My desperate attempt led me to search for all kinds of solutions on the internet to reduce the inflammation of my breasts and rub them as much as possible until they soften a little.
Day 6, the pain in my breasts persisted, they went from being melons to being balloons and my right breast began to turn red making it impossible to extract any milk.
Day 7 I consulted with my midwife, confirmed that I had Mastitis in the right breast. I immediately started taking penicillin and continued to breastfeed despite how painful it was.
Getting some milk is a big challenge during the first two weeks after giving birth but more than that, Breastfeeding is an art that requires patience, practice and sometimes a lot of pain.