It seems like every day we learn more fun facts about the human body, and pregnant women more than anyone know just how your body can surprise you. That being said, we're not sure the internet was ready to learn about "pitties" — lumps or swelling in the armpit as a result of engorged breast tissue from breast milk. Now that they know, some people will never be the same.
The tweet that shocked the internet was posted on April 19.
User O_O__O_O shared the post on Twitter, which originally was shared on the Legendairy Milk Instagram account.
The photo shows a woman who's going through some serious swelling.
The anonymous woman in the photo has two large lumps in her armpit. The Twitter user also included a screenshot from one woman in the comments, who wrote in on the original post and shared the unique nickname she gave the condition, "pitties."
"This exact thing happened to me," the woman wrote. "When I pressed on my armpit, milk would seep out of it. It was borderline traumatizing at first."
Eventually she was able to find the humor in the situation.
"I found it hilarious," she added. "I called them my pitties. My kids call their armpits their pitties."
On the original Instagram post, another woman wrote that she too had experienced an "arm tit."
"Me," the woman wrote. "I was so freaked out! I was even LACTATING from my armpit. One of those crazy pregnancy things no one tells you about!!"
"I thought I was the only one lol," a third person chimed in. "I told my sister that my armpit had milk coming out of it and she thought I was lying, until I showed her."
We can only guess that O_O__O_O was just trying to process this whole "pitties" thing, which led to posting the photos on social media. But that person wasn't the only one who had an extreme reaction.
Of course, some people online were freaked.
"Reason #87 on why kids will not be coming out of my body," one person wrote on the thread.
"So pregnancy is cancelled," a second commenter agreed.
"Everyday i see something bizarre about pregnancy," a third person commented. "Is this a sign Lord?"
Other people were thankful to be learning a thing or two.
"People have been getting pregnant and having babies for too long for there to be so much we don't know any pregnancy," one commenter pointed out. "At this point, I'm convinced it's intentional cause the more I learn the less I'm down with pregnancy."
"Just what I needed to see just had my baby less than a week ago and I have this under my armpit plus painful engorged breasts…thanks for the info though. I now know what exactly it is," a second commenter wrote.
It made a third person uneasy as well. "It’s baffles me how little I know about what happens to the female body with the whole process of growing a child in us and giving birth," the commenter wrote. "I’m a woman and even thought I an no where near having kids, [it] scares me with how little things like this is talked about."
But the question remained: What the heck is going on here?
According to the original Instagram post, which has been liked over 2,200 times, this is what happens:
"Breast tissue can extend into the armpit, and it has a special name the 'Tail of Spence.' During engorgement or at the beginning of lactation, you may notice lumps and swelling in your armpits. It’s also possible to have extra breast tissue that is not connected to the breast both in the armpit and in other areas of the body."
CafeMom wanted to get a second opinion, so we spoke to an expert.
Ashley Georgakopoulos, International Board Certified Lactation Consultant and Motif Medical lactation director, confirmed to CafeMom that this "accessory" mammary tissue "is not connected to the rest of the breast tissue network for proper milk release."
Georgakopoulos says that this only happens to a small percentage of women.
It's a slight variation on the body's "normal development, following under the same phenomena as third nipples or lack of an areola."
Some woman even develop small nipples in their armpits.
That's according to Leigh Ann O'Conner, another International Board Certified Lactation Consultant whom CafeMom spoke to. She tells us that when her clients are experiencing swelling in the area, "I have them use ice to reduce swelling and sometimes a poultice of herbs such as peppermint or sage."
The lactation consultant adds that most likely the condition will resolve itself.
If it happens to you, you should know that it's benign. "In rare cases, mastitis can develop but that is not so common," O'Conner tells CafeMom.
It's completely understandable that the condition would be a shock to people — there's so much about pregnancy that remains a mystery.
Although the tweet was obviously published for laughs, we do think it was educational. More than 20,000 people liked O_O__O_O's tweet, which means that thousands of people now know the joy that is pitties.
