Goth Nipples

 I haven't gotten around to posting my breastfeeding drama(s) yet, but I just had to post this.  Naturally, I plan to nurse Tyoma exclusively for the first six months and I ambitiously hope to continue for one whole year. It's something you do for your child that will impact him/her for the rest of their lives. Well anyway, after a few extra days in the hospital with attendant  nursing problems, I came home and worked on developing a painful case of mastitis. 

Did I say painful?  Heh. Thrush is painful.  Mastitis, meh. Got thrush two weeks ago on a Saturday and liked to have died. Bless icepacks and Diflucan. And bless Sarah Seamstress, who took care of my agonized self at nine in the evening.

Two weeks on the antifungals have passed, and I was still itchy/burny so I called my lactation consultant for help. She suggested more Diflucan and painting my nipples with Gentian Violet. Gentian Violet is like iodine, except it is purple-black and it smears and stains everything.

Since I have lost all modesty with the birth and breastfeeding, so I'm tempted to post a pic of my grotesque deep-purple nipples for your amusement. But I am restraining myself. Egor observed me painting my  poor  monstrously huge nips and laughed, "You've got Goth Nipples!" That struck me as being outrageously funny.  That's all. :D

Happy Grandparent's Day!

Happy Grandparent's Day Momfiend and Dadfiend!I can't thank you enough for all of the help that you have given us! The shopping, the cooking, the babysitting, the panicked phonecalls, the cranky phonecalls, the moral support--the list goes on! I appreciate you and love you very much!

Thrush

What a miserable night! One problem with a woman taking antibiotics is developing a yeast infection. Thankfully, I haven't had one of those in years. Until now. Did you know that yeast infections can occur in a breastfeeding mom's nipples? I'd heard of the dreaded nipple infection, thrush, from a former co-worker who struggled with it for four months. She was agonized by it. Out of fear I gobbled acidophilus tablets and guzzled yogurt while on anitbiotics. I suspect that I have been developing an infection since Wednesday, but it hit full force last night. Zow, what pain!

How can I describe the pain? Well, it was about an eight on my pain scale--an intense shooting, stabbing pain that took my breath away. Ibuprofen could not take off the edge of it. I slept with icepacks on my boobs. Unbelievable! Sarah Seamstress rescued my miserable self with a prescription for a powerful antifungal late yesterday evening. Although the medication didn't stop the infection in its tracks, the icepacks she recommended allowed me to sleep. Whew!

Mastitis

Last night I started shivering at nine in the evening. I continued to shiver with increasing violence until two a.m., when I became alarmed and woke up Tennisfiend. I took my temperature while he made me some hot tea. Naturally, I consulted our medical library and diagnosed myself with mastitis.

Breast pain? Check. Chills? Check. Fever? Check. Headache? Check. And so on. First thing in the morning I called Gretta Granola who confirmed my suspicions. She gave me a list of self care suggestions and told me she'd call me in the afternoon to see if I was any better. I shook and sweat all day. Since I just felt worse, she called in an antibiotic prescription for me. This sucks. The last thing I wanted was to start taking meds while I'm trying to breasfeed. Anyway, there should be no problem with nursing with this antibiotic, it just sucks to be sick.