The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk by Diana West

She latched on straightaway and I sat there marvelling at my baby and the fact I could provide everything she needed. In December 2014 I gave birth to my first daughter, Karis. I told my midwife and health visitor about the name of my condition and the breast augmentation but they didn’t seem to think it would be a problem. I became pregnant in early 2014 and was overjoyed. I met my husband and got married shortly after the surgery. I will always be grateful for the GP who listened and the resulting operation. The surgery improved my self-esteem immensely. At the time I thought, ‘So that’s what it’s called’ but he offered no explanation. He addressed the students and said, ‘This is the lady with tubular breast syndrome’. I remember lying on my hospital bed and the doctor who was on the ward that day came and pulled open the curtains round me.

Time passed, and the day after the surgery came. No one had explained what the shape of my breasts before the operation might mean to breastfeeding. The surgeon said, ‘If you could breastfeed before the surgery, you’ll be able to breastfeed after it’. I was told that the surgery would be performed so that the implant was placed under the muscles, away from any ducts, and that the incision would be made on the underside of my breasts, preventing any nipple damage. All the way along I told everyone, ‘If I ever have children, I would like to breastfeed’. I was told that I might be eligible for breast augmentation. For me, this was validation that I was not going insane. The doctor took a look and said that he could see what I meant. I eventually decided to speak to my GP about my concerns, even if it was just to be reassured that all was normal. I seemed to have very large nipples on the end of small tube-shaped sacks with a large gap between them. I was born blind and never went around feeling other people’s breasts so I couldn’t be sure, but from the fact that I never filled the top of a bra cup and from comments made by others about different women’s breasts, I really began to wonder. I was never confident that my breasts were ‘normal’ growing up.

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The Breastfeeding Mother's Guide to Making More Milk by Diana West