Baby product 'endorsement' part 2- Nipple Shield

Medela Nipple Shield So its sounds weird and perhaps borderline creepy. Nipple Shield. the word nipple is weird enough.... but this thing has been a life saver in terms of breast feeding. With Jacob, breastfeeding sucked shortly after we got home from the hospital. It would hurt so bad that we would fight the evening feedings- I'd be crying and shouting and Jacob would be crying from hunger and then Joshy would storm into the living room because we woke him up. He'd hafta hold Jacob and practically forcce him on my boob. My nipples bled a little, it wasnt fun. Luckily it didnt last long. If it wasnt for the fact that my sister bought me a breast pump- which are hella expensive- I wouldnt have stuck it out... I didnt think we would have that problem with Amelia, since my boobs had already gone through it once. We didnt fight it, but I def was in some pain and cried through some feedings. Not to put a visual in your head, but my boobs were scabbed and would stick to the nursing pads. Kinda gross. Joshy said we could go to formula, but when I've got free boobie milk- whats the point? Formula is just too damn expensive! Lanolin helped keep it from drying and soothed it a bit but it didnt prevent it from hurting... So I did some research and learned about the nipple shield. (I read about it with Jake, but I was a little leary). @ only 9.16, I decided it would be worth the purchase, so while Joshy was on his way home from work I sent him to wal-mart to pick it up for me. (This dude buys tampons/pads AND nipple shields, I say thats a quality dude-- lol). You pop that baby on and the baby can still nurse and it gives the girls time to heal. Only took a couple of days- thank goodness. And since Amelia is an EATER/sucker- like occasionally on the boob every hour or so (it better be a growth spurt), I can use it occassionaly to get a 'break'. I only have 1 problem with this little sucker- it doesnt come with some sort of storage case. Its 100% silicon, therefore clear- I keep it in a sandwich baggie but since its clear, Joshy has accidentally thrown it out once and almost thrown it out again multiple times. I'm tempted to pull out my food gels and dye the sucker..... If you plan on breast feeding, you totally need to keep this thing in your stash. Its a godsend!