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Any way to predict labor onset from feeling in breasts?  

post #1 of 8
6/16/05 at 7:29pm
Thread Starter 
OK, this is a goofy question and I've never read anything about this anywhere... but have any of you who are in for your second birth or more noticed any breast changes close to labor's onset?

I know from reading that our breasts are preping for the baby throughout the 2nd half of pregnancy, making colostrum and all that. With my first pregnancy I noticed that my breasts got bigger and were more sensitive but I didn't notice any other changes until after the baby was born.

This time (after having nursed my son unti 26 months) I'm a lot more conscious of breast "feelings" and in the past few days I've been noticing a couple of different sensations. One has been more of a feeling of fullness and the other has been kind of like the sensation of "let down". I noticed the "let down" feeling when cuddling my son. I also noticed that milk drops come out pretty easily if I squeeze either nipple.

I'm 36 weeks and 3 days and according to my Doctor's visit today the baby is 8 pounds already. I'm wondering if the breast sensations might be any indication of labor coming any time soon. Just wondered if any of you had any opinions on this.

Or, maybe you can just tell me that I"m thinking about this baby too much.
post #2 of 8
6/16/05 at 9:15pm

bs"d

Hmm... I don't know. I haven't noticed any let down feelings so far. I am 35 weeks today. I nurse my dd still, but I haven't felt the let down since she was much younger.

I do have other weird breast sensations. One is that whenever I feel even slightly cold (I mean *slightly*!), my nipples feel like knives are stabbing them. It's like the usual uncomfortable cold nipple thing (nipple gets hard etc.) times a million. As I get myself warmed up, they feel like they are thawing in an incredibly painful way. It hurts SOOO badly. This past weekend, I was walking outside and my breast began to hurt in this way, and it was so bad I started to cry. I wear a winter coat inside my house and sit in front of our heaters regularly to try and prevent any chill. I can't eat cold food (not even ice cream, just cold from the fridge food) without being bundled up, or it becomes too painful. The other breast thing I have noticed is that nursing my daughter gives me BH contractions that can become very uncomfortable. I nurse my daughter to sleep at night, and I usually have BH for an hour of two afterward that keep me up because I cannot get comfortable. The BH have increased the farther along I get, but the cold breast thing has been happening since I was about 3-4 months pregnant.
post #3 of 8
6/16/05 at 9:29pm
If so, that would be awesome. I woke up this morning and seriously thought my milk had come in!!!
post #4 of 8
6/16/05 at 11:43pm
Hmm, I have never noticed any breast changes before my labors before. So I have no idea.
post #5 of 8
6/17/05 at 11:00am

vasospasms

[QUOTE=BinahYeteirah]One is that whenever I feel even slightly cold (I mean *slightly*!), my nipples feel like knives are stabbing them. [QUOTE]

I'm just visiting from the August Due Date Club, but I wanted to let you know that this condition is called vasospasms. You can read more about it at http://www.lalecheleague.org/NB/NBJulAug99p120.html.

Hope the info helps - this can be very uncomfortable as you have found.
post #6 of 8
6/17/05 at 11:10am
Well, my boobs have been itchy the last couple days. But I think that's just because of the heat
post #7 of 8
6/17/05 at 4:56pm
Thread Starter 
I've never heard of the vasospasms condition. Sounds miserable. Kudos to you for hanging in with that for all these months.
post #8 of 8
6/18/05 at 6:34am

bs"d

Wow, thanks Candy for the info on vasospasms. I'd never heard of it. I have had people tell me I might have yeast, too, but I knew it wasn't that because it is so obviously correlated with a feeling of cold. The article you linked does describe the coloration of my nipples at times (white and purple). I don't know of any issues I have with circulation. Hmm. I guess I have just been toughing it out, and hoping it would go away after I gave birth. It doesn't affect my breastfeeding relationship too much. Dd knows that if Mommy is cold, she can't nurse until I get warmed up. She does get upset, but is old enough to wait. I doubt a newborn would be as understanding. I hope it goes away. I wonder if I should expect it to resolve with the end of pregnancy, or make serious plans for treatment now. I don't want to take any drugs, but it wouldn't be fun to live with this forever.

Off to do research!

Thanks again!
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