Stau

One of my favorite German words is Stau. I learned it when my host-mom in Vienna told me a story about when she had her second child. She got so much Stau, or congestion, or a clogged milk duct, that she had to be hospitalized for a week. To this day I'm not sure why she told me that story. It was very out of the blue. But after that I always remembered the word Stau and started to hear it on the radio in traffic reports, too.

I've had a clogged milk duct twice now: about a month ago, and yesterday/today. It's miserable! It was too painful to have him eat on that side, so I pumped about every two hours and I put a heating pack on it the rest of the time (this includes during the night...Zzzzzz...soooo tired...). I also popped the ibuprofen whenever I could and drank lots of water and massaged the area, which is all pretty textbook for relieving clogs.

Nothing happened though! Almost nothing would come out when I pumped, and there was no pain relief. This morning I took a nap with a heating pad on it, and thanks to some advice, let Joshua eat from that side again.

Immediate relief! I've decided to rename Joshua...Drain-o.