I was having horrible pain in my left breast. I couldn't even stand a shirt touching it and holding the baby was difficult because if she touched the breast I crumbled. Pumping was excruciating, I feared the next letdown. I swore it was a clogged duct, but couldn't find the lump to massage it out. After 3 days of this pain getting worse and worse I decided maybe it was time to give up pumping, and with it the dream of breastfeeding my baby once she was able. I sobbed as I prepared the cabbage leaves to place on my bra, feeling guilty for being so selfish. My husband said ending the level of pain I was in was not selfish. He said he'd watched me give birth naturally to 2 of our 3 children without so much screaming and crying. That he couldn't understand why I was still going with so much pain. He said he would have quit the first day and he couldn't believe how strong and dedicated to our baby I was.

I put the cabbage leaves in my nursing bra and went to take a nap, I was physically and emotionally drained. After a 2 hour nap I woke up and felt the familiar tingle of a letdown beginning. I waiting to be over taken by the horrendous pain I'd grown to expect for the past 72 hours....NOTHING! Just the same old letdown burn I always feel. No stabbing pain, no nausea inducing pressure. So I pumped, for 15 mins. Still no pain!

Instead of the usual 8oz, I pumped 4oz. Thank the lord! With the decrease in my supply the pain disappeared. My breast is still a little tender but that's due to the inflammation of oversupply. Exclusively pumping and having a highly reactive milk supply caused me to make so much milk my breast couldn't handle the pressure. It's been 24 hours and everything is still good. Motrin is helping the tenderness, but that should be gone in a couple days. If the issue comes back I'll deal with it then. But the most important part is I don't have to give up my dream of nursing my little girl for 1 year just yet!