My friend told me a story about when she was pregnant and her milk suddenly showed up unexpectedly. She was out to lunch with her husband and mother-in-law when she suddenly realized everyone was staring at her chest.  She looked down and was horrified to see that her breasts were leaking milk right through her shirt and everyone at the table was watching, wide-eyed.  Without warning, her mother-in-law burst into tears of happiness, announcing to the whole restaurant that her soon-to-be-born grandchild would indeed have milk to drink.  My friend was a little horrified, but at the same time was glad to know that she wasn’t going to have any problems with her milk.

My milk didn’t show up until after my baby was born, but I did have some warning signs that it was on its way. My breasts getting bigger was the first sign, but I think it was when I was around seven months pregnant that I started feeling soreness in my breasts that I had never felt before. It wasn’t necessarily painful, but it felt like something was going on. Changes were happening, and I was happy at the prospect of the milk getting ready to make its appearance.

When I was closer to my due date I noticed what looked like dried colostrum on my nipples. There wasn’t a lot of it and it wasn’t bothersome, but I was really happy when I noticed it. I think I was afraid that my milk might not ever show up and I wouldn’t be able to nurse my baby, but seeing this let me know that it was on its way.

I never did have a moment when any milk dripped out before I had my baby. Believe me, though, when I say that it didn’t take long after labor until suddenly my breasts were huge and I had more than enough milk available. If I hadn’t been looking for the signs beforehand then I may not have noticed all the changes my breasts were going through. For this reason, I urge you to not panic if you don’t notice any huge changes to your breasts indicative of milk on the way.

After all, if you’re anything like me you’ll have plenty of opportunities after the baby is born to have your milk leak while at a restaurant with in-laws.

If you’re planning on breastfeeding your baby you have probably heard the term engorgement tossed around by doctors and lactation consultants. You may have thought to yourself that it sounds like a relatively unpleasant – albeit intriguing – process that you’ll figure out when the time comes.

I can only speak from my own personal experience, but I can tell you a little about this interesting phenomenon. You see, your breastmilk probably won’t start right away when your baby is born. Instead, you’ll feed your baby colostrum, which is more of a rich, yellowish liquid. If you’re anything like me, though, you’ll head home and then suddenly your breasts will get HUGE and you’ll feel like they may explode if you don’t get the milk out pronto. I got too big to pump, and my daughter actually had problems latching on because my breasts were so swollen. When she did latch on properly, it was honest-to-goodness the best feeling in the entire world just to relieve some of the pressure in my breasts.

So yes, engorgement can hurt. I couldn’t wear a bra and I’ll never forget my grandmother’s horrified expression when I walked into the baby’s room to nurse and my shirt was soaked, and it was obvious where the wetness was coming from. There was no hiding what was going on.

I’ve heard about various methods to relieve engorgement, but the only things that helped me were nursing as much as possible and waiting it out. I don’t remember the real pain of engorgement lasting much longer than a day or two, and I didn’t even have the same problem with my second baby.

Don’t let the fear of engorgement stop you from nursing your baby. It’s merely a brief bit of discomfort you may or may not have to endure, but your baby will benefit greatly from your milk. Besides, if you’ve ever wanted to see what you might look like with a breast augmentation, now is your chance.