Breastfeeding and Surgery

At nearly 17 months old Virginia is still nursing: morning, night, and after any time we've been apart for several hours - like when she gets home from day care. Oh, and also in the middle of the night if she ends up in bed with me and John.

One of my biggest concerns going into the surgery was what would happen to our nursing relationship. I know Virginia eats well enough that it wouldn't be a big deal if she stopped nursing, but I want it to happen naturally, when she is ready. Plus, I think the antibodies are key since she gets sick pretty frequently from day care germs.

At my pre-op appointment my doctor said I couldn't nurse for 24 hours after being under anesthesia, but the pain meds she was prescribing were fine to use while nursing (same stuff c-section mothers get). I was glad to know all this ahead of time. I pumped a little milk for Virginia in the days leading up to the surgery so John could hopefully pacify her during the first 24 hours. Then I pumped and dumped when I couldn't nurse her.

This was a difficult time for both of us, but we got through it and Daddy was a life saver!

So, after 24 hours my milk wasn't toxic, but how was I supposed to nurse my 20 lb toddler when my abdomen was full of CO2 and I had three recently stitched up wounds? My solution was to put a pillow over my belly. Virginia sat on my lap facing me and leaned over the pillow to nurse. I also didn't offer to nurse her if she came to bed with us in the middle of the night for a couple of nights. Thankfully, she felt contented enough just being near me and John.

This arrangement was okay at first but after a couple of days I realized the milk wasn't fully draining from my breasts and my nipples were getting sore, so the pillow was probably causing a bad latch. I started letting Virginia nurse without anything between us and I was just really careful. Her leaning her body on me turned out to be not bad. I just had to avoid hands or knees jabbing me. After I got more confortable laying on my side I let her nurse in bed again, too.

So now we are pretty much back to normal, although I am still recovering. Yesterday Virginia asked to nurse an unprecedented two times between our normal morning and evening feedings even though it was Saturday and we spent a lot of time together.

I think she is missing other ways we are usually close that are hard for me while I am recovering. I can't hold her for a long time because I have to hold her up high over my incisions. I can't rough-house with her on the floor and fall down theatrically when she nudges me. I can let her sit in my lap but I'm wary of her throwing herself backwards into me - so we do that carefully.

The hardest thing about all of this has really been not being able to snuggle her as much. But, thankfully, she is still nursing as much as she wants to and we should be able to keep going strong until she is ready to stop.

Cyst Update

When I finally talked to my doctor again she said she had talked to that specialist (specialist in what?) and she was back to wanting to do laproscopic surgery, but with the specialist present. And if she saw anything troubling she would do a larger incision.

At this point I had already made an appointment to get a second opinion and, of course, I started second guessing myself. She was backing off the more invasive surgery. She had probably overreacted about the blood-test results but this specialist had set her straight, etc. But since I had the appointment I decided to go and see what another doctor would say.

This appointment was yesterday. Frist of all, I had had to obtain my records in order to do this and the office failed to include the record of the second ultrasound of my ovary, so they continue to let me down.

But beyond that, I was just so much happier with this doctor. She said she never would have done the blood test because it is not a good indicator of anything unless you are already known to have cancer (exactly what I read online). She still recommended surgery (which I kind of expected at this point) but she said she can do anything she would need to do laproscopically. Since my other doctor was so quick to jump to the more invasive surgery before, I have concerns that she may be trigger happy. I don't want to put John in the position of having to give her permission to make a bigger slice while I am under anesthesia.

This doctor also ordered another ultrasound (since the most recent one wasn't in my records) and the ultrasound tech was great! She was cheerful and funny (asked me if I had named my cyst). And after the ultrasound the doctor came in and looked at the images. Imagine that. She actually wanted to see what the cyst looked like instead of just relying on a write-up.

Long story short, I am changing doctors. I have many complaints about the office I am leaving. But I think the most important thing here is that I can go into surgery without wondering how big of a scar I'll see when I wake up.

It is still a stressful thing to deal with but at least I don't have to feel as stressed about my doctor.

PS Thanks to my SIL for the referral. ;)