Saturday, October 29, 2011

Bathing an Infant

Holding your newborn in your arms for the first time is an exciting, yet extremely terrifying experience. Neonates just seem very fragile, and you feel as if one wrong move or position could hurt them tremendously.

As if carrying them is not enough of a feat, you find out that you have to bathe them too - and this entails taking off their clothes putting soap and water all over their tiny bodies, which makes them really slippery. I cannot stress the word SLIPPERY enough. It's like holding jelly in your hands. Very slippery.

Bath time!


Sunday, October 16, 2011

Premature Labor


As I had mentioned before, I had been on strict bed rest for pretty much the whole duration of my pregnancy. But even if did try my hardest to stick to it as faithfully as I could, it still did not stop me from experiencing premature uterine contractions.

When I was about 25-26 weeks pregnant, I experienced contractions accompanied by vaginal spotting. They came pretty frequently, but they were all painless.

I debated whether to consult my doctor for this because I knew they could only be harmless Braxton-Hicks contractions. But the vaginal spotting convinced me to go to the ER.

Good call, I suppose, because they brought me into the Labor and Delivery Department right away. They hooked me up to a monitor and it showed that, indeed, I had moderately strong, regular uterine contractions. They had my husband prepare money for reservation of a thermal blanket, in case my baby really wanted to come out that day.

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Milk Blisters

What are Milk Blisters?


Over one year of breastfeeding, and only recently have I experienced this problem. Milk blisters might sound really weird, but they are simply what they sound like - a blister containing milk inside. It happens when skin grows over the opening of the milk duct on your nipple. It appears as a white spot on the surface of the nipple, much like a pimple. If you want to see how it looks like, you can click here.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Fibroadenomas

What are Fibroadenomas?


Fibroadenomas are masses or tumors of the breast tissue. They are moveable, painless, and usually have very well-defined borders. They can be detected by doing breast self-examinations, ultrasounds, or as in my case, incidentally by annual school or work health examinations. Now, all these might sound scary, but fibroadenomas are actually benign or non-cancerous growths.


Can I Breastfeed Even if I Have Fibroadenomas?