Oh wise ones,

I have a mom who was induced for 1.5 days before she finally ended up with a
C/Section.  I honestly don't think I've ever seen anyone quite so edematous as
she.  Induction was because she was borderline hypertensive.  She says that
although there was a little swelling in her feet during the pregnancy, it is
nothing like it is now.  Both her feet and her hands look as though they are
going to pop.  She has large breasts with everted nipples (normally).  Right
now they are flat; invert on areolar pressure, have meaty areolas that are
almost impossible to grasp, and when you apply compression, the areolas
dimple, almost like "orange peel" type skin.

And, of course, she has a boy.

Needless to say, we aren't getting anywhere with latching.  Today is day 3; no
evidence of milk volume increasing, though she's been pumping faithfully.  Her
husband brought in some cabbage and wrapped her legs with cabbage and an ace
bandage.  The swelling diminished slightly, but not appreciably.  Her hands
are still tremendously swollen.  She has pockets of swelling around her neck.

In my experience, it seems as though milk doesn't really "come in" in these
ladies until the swelling goes down.  We have her drinking lots of caffeine in
hopes that it will help her diurese.  The OB's opinion is that this is normal,
he's never heard of it interfering with breastfeeding, and it will just take
time for the swelling to go down.  At least he's admitted it does happen with
Pitocin -- most of them deny even that much!

So my question is, is there any way of hastening the diuresis?  Any
suggestions for what to do with her nipples?  Has anyone tried cabbage
directly on the nipples & areola to diminish meatiness from Pit?

I'm getting really tired of dealing with problems with breastfeeding that are
directly related to interventions during the birth process.

It's getting to be time to open that bookstore.

Sigh.

Jan Barger, in sunny & cool Wheaton, IL