My breasts have begun to leak.
It started a few weeks ago. I woke up one morning and my nipples were moist. A few days later, sizable droplets of liquid squeezed out during my monthly cancer self-exam. The following evening, I found that my bra was considerably dampened. And it has been downhill from there. In another week or two, I will probably forget that my life ever consisted of things like clean, dry bras. All that will be left is the knowledge that my life is now dictated by the presence of yellowish boob juice. It appears that my dysfunctional breasts and I are in this whole pregnancy gig for the long haul. Leaks and squirts and dribbles and all.
© 2009 Helios Media, Inc. Please click here to see this image on Flickr.
There were many, MANY pregnancy symptoms that I was prepared to deal with. I expected, for instance, to spend weeks puking my guts out. This never happened, but DAMN IT, I was ready for it. I also expected strangers to rub my belly (check), childless friends to give me awful advice (check), and constipation the likes of which I had never known (CHECK! CHECK!). Not in a million years, however, did I foresee breast seepage. My boobs are slowly, but surely, turning into faucets. Faucets with no “off” position.
For the most part, I have sincerely delighted in this whole propagation, proliferation, CARRYING ON OF THE HUMAN SPECIES thing. So I don’t feel too bad for admitting that I am not too thrilled about my bosom’s current state of affairs. It’s just, neither BREASTS THE SIZE OF A WALRUS nor SERIOUS BREAKAGE OF THE NIPPLE DAMS was listed in my pregnancy instruction manual, you know?
© 2009 Helios Media, Inc. Please click here to see this image on Flickr.
(31) Comments | Permalink
Filed as Photographs of Sarah Pregnancy Belly pictures Second trimester Boobs
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Hey, you have to be one of the only honest pregnant women I have ever “known.“ No doubt that pregnancy is wonderful but you never hear about things like this. So thank you for that image of your leaky breasts.
Also, if you choose to breast feed I am expecting a full and honest report on that too. Usually women don’t say much about the feeling. Personally, I think I would feel like a cow…Especially with the pump!
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LOL! Well, feel lucky… you will be able to breast feed your child no problem… a lot of mom’s cannot get there milk to come in at all let alone at week 25!
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ha!! All I can say is that I’m glad you’re going through it first so that I’ll know what to expect.
Actually, I just had a lightbulb moment - you should totally write a pregnancy book! And include all the stuff that they don’t tell you in the ones you find now!
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Oh I hear you. I have no leakage yet (Joy!), but how did these things get so big?! I went from a 38C to a current 42DD. And now I read that after birth they go up one more cup size. What IS that even? An E? COME ON!
:)
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THIS IS great though!!! Mine were leaking at like 16 weeks (no lie) and I’m able to pump a LOT of breast milk now, which I hope translates into being able to help Jasper feed well. It’s really annoying, and you feel kind of odd about it, but it’s a really great thing to have happen so early.
AND OH MY GOD, do they get huge after birth. My first few days were ok, and then I woke up with two huge ROCKS on my chest. They told me this doesn’t usually happen if you’re just pumping, so..lucky me.:D
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“lucky me” is sarcastic,I miss my small boobs. But I love these for feeding Jasp.
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Despite the fact that this has made me seriously reconsider my position on children, I have to say that your writing is fantastic! I’m so glad I stopped by… yellowish boob juice and all.
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That, my dear, is exactly why LilyPadz were invented!
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How funny, I distinctly remember my breast leaking also and thinking it was so strange, but I guess squeezing them check for milk didn’t help, lol!
Love the pics!
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Oh the joys of pregnancy.
Wait til you’re further along and you sneeze ;-)
Happy Love Thursday
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Have not experienced leaky boobs yet, thank God. Maybe I shouldn’t be squeezing/massaging to see, though? And I’m up two cup sizes also. 36D. Where did these monsters come from? And they get bigger, joy. I don’t even know what bigger would be like. DD? E? I’ve never had to think about bigger.
I’m with everyone else, LOVE your honesty. Such a breath of fresh air and I wish I had the courage to be so honest! Though trust me, when I feel like a cow from pumping, I WILL be posting about it.
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I never had that problem….hmmm…..I saw you bought Sheye’s actions. Awesome!!! Glad you’re enjoying pregnancy so much :) Before you know it your little one will be WALKING, like mine, sniff sniff.
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Hahaha, it may not have been in the pregnancy manual but now it’s on the internet! Cheers for sharing this, hey. I’m sure many future Moms will google ‘yellowish boob juice’ and be relieved to find out its not just them :)
And those photos are so lovely!! :)
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Okay, I was feeling sorry for you (been there!), and then I saw the beautiful pictures (and I mean bee-you-tee-ful!) of you pregnant and I remembered that I was a beached whale and now I might hate you. But not really.
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WoW! I can’t believe how gorgeous those photos are!!
You still look “cute”, not yet to the “wow, you’re huge” stage.Ohhh…and you’re just beginning with the leakage…it starts coming from other areas very soon….pay close attention to the lady who said ‘just wait til you sneeze’!
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I never had that with my three, just the UNENDING NAUSEA.
Love the photos!
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Oh girl, there are so many ups and downs of pregnancy… but you look amazing!!! I LOVE those photos!!! Good luck with the boob leakage!
:)
~Tabitha~ -
You had me at “seepage”.
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I love how absolutely honest you are about everything. There are so many people who are all “Oh yes, pregnancy is all jelly beans and butterflies” that it’s nice to hear what actually happens, even though it sounds quite awful…sorry. Anways, your pictures are great, you look lovely!
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Someone above already mentioned the lilypadz, but my sister used those with great success too.
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I could not BELIEVE the things that happened to my breasts due to pregnancy and childbirth. Truthfully, all these years later, I’m still kind of in shock.
Dude.
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Mine never leaked during pregnancy, and I was SO UPSET about it. I couldn’t even squeeze anything out of them when I tried! I was sure this meant I wouldn’t be able to breastfeed, and I’d be doomed.
HA. HA. HA.
Not quite.
You’re going to die whenl your milk comes in, and you’re leaking through piles of breast pads and wondering whatever became of your pre-pregnancy boobs. Mine, PS, are stretch-marked almost as bad as my belly, and four weeks in, still leak. And my letdown is a dull, uncontrollable ache, followed by intense leaking. Greeaat.
(And to the people who are pleased that people are being honest about pregnancy, oh HA HA, drop by my place sometime, and I will tell you ALLLL about how much I hated pregnancy. Every minute of it. We are not alone!)
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Wait until you’re several weeks or months past birth and, if you’re still nursing, you’re standing in a dressing room changing and, somewhere in earshot, a baby (not yours) cries.
Your let-down reflex will kick in.
It is not pretty.
Even more difficult to explain to the saleslady,
The wet bra thing is kind of squicky, isn’t it?
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Your pregnancy manual was OBVIOUSLY lacking!
My boobs regularly soak me to the waist, all in a moment. But you know, that comes with the breastfeeding territory.
I remember being pregnant with Amy, I was standing in the middle of town and BAM, my boobs started to leak. I don’t know who went redder, me, or the group of teenage boys standing a few metres away. I was about 38 weeks pregnant at the time though, so at least I had a good excuse! Nowadays my boobs just let down willy nilly, whether my baby is about or not.
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lol! When my boobs started leaking Dr Google told me I had breast cancer and I freaked out! None of my pregnancy books said that the leaking could start at 22 weeks! yeesh!
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Yeah, this happened the first time with my oldest after DTD. It kind of surprised me a little. No one told me most of the horrors of pregnancy. I literally felt like I wanted to kill myself for most of the process, but now that I am not pregnant, I miss it a lot!
Enjoy your leaky breasts. It’s a beautiful thing! :)
You can do all sorts of crazy things with boobs that produce milk. I squirted my sister across the room after feeding my baby. Do not cross a nursing mother. I know, I’m gross. -
So I just stumbled upon your blog today and started reading. I am not a writer, I’m a horrible story-teller, gosh I can barely get out my scatter-brained thoughts to my husband without frustrating myself. Let alone him. So I really appreciate it when someone else can write about experiences that just so happen to be very similar to my own. I just had a baby boy two months ago. I totally know what you’re going through! It’s so fun to read your blog…it’s like I’m pregnant all over again.
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I just saw that you stopped by my new blog! One of about 3 people now! I came to check yours out, and stumbled upon this post about leakage. I just wrote about that today. That is the ONE thing that I just still can’t get used to. I feel for you, but it is nice to know that I’m not alone in the not-quite-sexy wet t-shirt look of new moms, or moms-to-be. I wish I could tell you it gets better, but nope! It does become more humorous though. You find ways to laugh through the nipple-leakage tears. And nipple pads don’t work (not the reusable kind anyway), but it at least gives you the sense of being pro-active.
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That is funny!!! I experienced the same nasty continuous leak and when you are not prepared for it is a very hard thing to wrap your head around…at least it was for me. I wasn’t prepared for pregnancy period….I thought I was at the time, but I was wrong…the continous 10 nonths ( lets be real…where did 9 months come from) of puking has cured me from pregancy for a very long time….I hope! Congrats on your upcoming bundle though! It is an experience to top all experiences!
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I’m just catching up on reading your posts, having just discovered your sight. I have to agree with the one who said you should consider writing a pregnancy book. Seriously….had I been able to read some of this when I was pregnant, I wouldn’t have felt so weird and alone. So please consider the book idea. There is a publisher out there who wants to publish a tell-it-like-it-is pregnancy book. I promise you! And now that you are focusing on drawing positives into your life? It’ll happen! :-)
By JestheBes on April 02, 2009
Wow! I am really starting to doubt my desire to bare children. Adoption is looking better every day. : )
Seriously though, thanks for sharing.