25-10-2015, 08:33
So confession: this month I wasn't very good with my pumping and the pumping seems to be what is contributing the MOST to my growth!
I thought maybe without the bcp that my body would feel the full effects of all the herbs in my program, but it seems that massage and pumping really are key!
The last four days of my cycle I have been pumping for two hours instead of one hour as I had done in the past and I am FINALLY seeing some really really great swelling which I haven't seen in a while!
I have a new method:
I massage with oil for ten minutes prior to pumping. Lately, I have found that avocado oil gives me the greatest swelling. I guess it's because it's a fatty oil.
Once I start pumping, I don't take the pumps off for breaks. And Id say every 20 minutes or so I'll pump each breast with 1-2 pumps more to heighten the pressure a bit BUt I make sure my breasts do NOT turn purple.
Then I massage for 5-10 minutes more after pumping.
Yesterday, I wasn't able to pump so today I pumped for 3 hours and OMG the swelling was unreal! My nipples were popping out of my 30E bra that was just slightly too big on me before pumping. And my 32D bra fit very well. But the 32 band is clearly too large. Even my bradelis 30 bands have already stretched too much on me
So I don't wear them much. Need to buy a 28 band soon.
I just started my period today -a day early but considering I'm not on bcp anymore that's pretty good.
Program Tweaks:
Since pumping is clearly super important, I am going to take more collagen. I'll take 6g every day of my program instead of the 6g in follicular and 3g in luteal.
My skin has become oily again - not sure if I am growing tolerant to spearmint capsules (?). Is that even possible? lol. But I might just cut those out completely and find out another reason why my skin may be oily.
My mood has been much better. I think the vitex extract helped. So definitely looking forward to using that in luteal.
ALSO, I decided to start taking my temperature like chiyomilk did. This week it's been a steady 97.9 each morning surprisingly. About one degree too high but that's okay. Once it goes up, then I'll know I am entering my luteal phase and I can adjust my program accordingly.
I thought maybe without the bcp that my body would feel the full effects of all the herbs in my program, but it seems that massage and pumping really are key!
The last four days of my cycle I have been pumping for two hours instead of one hour as I had done in the past and I am FINALLY seeing some really really great swelling which I haven't seen in a while!
I have a new method:
I massage with oil for ten minutes prior to pumping. Lately, I have found that avocado oil gives me the greatest swelling. I guess it's because it's a fatty oil.
Once I start pumping, I don't take the pumps off for breaks. And Id say every 20 minutes or so I'll pump each breast with 1-2 pumps more to heighten the pressure a bit BUt I make sure my breasts do NOT turn purple.
Then I massage for 5-10 minutes more after pumping.
Yesterday, I wasn't able to pump so today I pumped for 3 hours and OMG the swelling was unreal! My nipples were popping out of my 30E bra that was just slightly too big on me before pumping. And my 32D bra fit very well. But the 32 band is clearly too large. Even my bradelis 30 bands have already stretched too much on me
So I don't wear them much. Need to buy a 28 band soon. I just started my period today -a day early but considering I'm not on bcp anymore that's pretty good.
Program Tweaks:
Since pumping is clearly super important, I am going to take more collagen. I'll take 6g every day of my program instead of the 6g in follicular and 3g in luteal.
My skin has become oily again - not sure if I am growing tolerant to spearmint capsules (?). Is that even possible? lol. But I might just cut those out completely and find out another reason why my skin may be oily.
My mood has been much better. I think the vitex extract helped. So definitely looking forward to using that in luteal.
ALSO, I decided to start taking my temperature like chiyomilk did. This week it's been a steady 97.9 each morning surprisingly. About one degree too high but that's okay. Once it goes up, then I'll know I am entering my luteal phase and I can adjust my program accordingly.