I’ll be 60 this year, and the birth of my daughters (who are now mothers themselves) remains the most wonderful and significant thing that has ever happened to me.I went about my pregnancies as if I were in a contest for Best Prepared Mother of a Neonate. For the nine months I carried them, I prayed the novena to St. Gerard, patron saint of childbirth, every day. I read every page of What to Expect While You’re Expecting, and borrowed arms-ful of books from the library.Since this was the pre-Internet era, I wasn’t on Message Boards, chat groups or Facebook Mommies groups, but if they had had those things then, I would’ve been. Instead, I substituted prenatal exercise groups and LaMaze classes…magazine subscriptions and discussion groups…anything I thought I could do to get ready for these landmark events.
I planned to breast feed my babies, but since “breast feeding is completely natural,” I made the mistake of thinking I didn’t need any preparation for it. I might’ve bought a nursing bra or two, but that’s about it. Billions of women had done it before me, so no big deal…right?
Wrong. Really, really wrong.
Turns out I was as unprepared for breast-feeding as I had been prepared for pregnancy and childbirth. I had no idea that the early days of this “completely natural experience” could be so…errrrr…painful? And if a case of mastitis comes out of nowhere and clobbers you– especially when you’re sleep deprived and already uncomfortable– it can be bad news.
But hang in there. If you follow your doctor or midwife’s directions on getting past mastitis, you will. Almost every healthcare practitioner I know prescribes alternating HOT and COLD THERAPY to ease and relieve the discomfort. Once again, Flaxie Packs to the rescue! Pop one in the microwave for a few minutes for comforting warm relief, and keep one in the freezer to ease the soreness and swelling without the drippy mess and aching cold of a conventional icepack.
P.S. Check us out at the Frederick Indoor Sports Center this Saturday, 2/21 from 9-12, The Vitamin Shoppe‘s Health Expo on Saturday, 2/28 from 11-2 or the Hagerstown Birth & Babies Fair on Sunday, 3/8 from 1-5 PM!
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