Tit Zit

I'm sitting here typing one handed and no, not because I'm NAK (nursing at the keyboard), which sounds hilariously dirty. But I'm not NAK, rather I'm holding a hot, wet cloth to my nipple. This is not some bizzare way for me to get off, thanks. It is The Leaky Boob treatment for a milk blister. There's a photo of a milk blister in that link there and mine looks very much like that. I considered taking a pic to share here but I don't want to get into blogger trouble so no full on nip shots, mmmkay? With no pic of my milk blister, also called a bleb, nipple blister, or blocked nipple pore (BNP?) just the on-going story of my tit zit.

The milk blister hurts. It didn't at first. Now it does. I had one with the baby before this and it wasn't painful and eventually just cleared up on its own after I did the hot compress a couple of times. This time has been a different story. I've had it come and go over the last 10 weeks. When it first appeared this time it was like a little stinging sensation when nursing, I checked it out and figured it would be no big deal. I re-read the info on kellymom.com and gave it a go. No luck. Instead, the pain increased. People, that sucked. Pun intended. I hate pain when nursing, so does not help the bonding experience. The darn thing stuck around for about 2 weeks before clearing up the first time and I thought that would be it. Oh the things we dream. Within 3 days it was back! And it has been like this ever since. We're going on three weeks this time and it hasn't cleared up. It has gotten smaller only to grow in size. I've tried everything. Manual expression, hot compresses, nursing, nursing in the shower, and swearing up a storm. None of them have worked. So I decided to try scraping it with my finger nail. First a hot compress, then a hot shower, then the finger nail to the boob. Now, when one is desperate for relief it can be easy to loose all sensible reasoning skills. Sure, the website suggested it as a way to clear up a milk blister but seriously, STOOOOOOOOOOOPID! I tried once, nothing happened. Hmmmmmm, maybe I didn't scrape hard enough. If only I had thought about those words before proceeding. I'm not scraping my nipple hard enough. It is already painful and sensitive but let's this again, shall we? Maybe, if we're lucky, I won't pass out! And if that doesn't work, we can just take sand paper or a needle to it next, won't that be fun?! Ugh. Anyway, so I tried again. I yelped. Nothing happened other than my yelp that brought my 11 year old to the bathroom door to ask if I was ok. Try explaining that one. But I wasn't done. Oh no, not going to give up, I want the pain to stop even if I have to cause more! Yay me! Examining my little blister in the mirror I decide that it looks like it is going to blow like a 15 year old's white head with just the slightest pressure. When I try some manual expression it bulges forward like a cartoon eyeball on Looney Toones. Since it looks like a pimple I decide to treat it like a pimple. After all, it may be called a milk blister but it is the same basic idea as a zit anyway. Deciding that I have a milk zit on my tit (oooh, I rhymed!) I revert to my teenage self and decide to pop that sucker. I decide to try and pop a pimple on my nipple. O.M.G. No, I didn't yelp again, I didn't even scream. Nope. I gasped. For about 10 seconds I couldn't breath. My eyes watered, my nose ran, my neck and face became molted shades of pink, red, white and green, and I clutched the sink nipple zit still intact. I shuddered and sat down on the closed toilet. This was way worse than a pimple in your nose, no, this was like needle nose pliers on, well, ON MY BOOB! Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

I'm back to hot compresses. Hopefully this thing will release soon but my fingers aren't going anywhere near that thing now.