Week 2 Hangover!

My doula came to do our post delivery checkup last Thursday, and I told her that so far everything had been so easy I was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Well....ask and you shall receive! 

I would say starting on the weekend...my nipples were hurting SO BAD! OMG! I was having to psych myself up for every latch on! I know that's part of the 1st 2 weeks, but all of the sudden it was severely painful..even on my "good side" so to speak and lasting after the first "latch on" which wasn't the case up to this point so far.

By Monday, I was really not feeling well. I called my doula to ask a couple of things about breastfeeding, but we played phone tag for most of the day. Then all of the sudden in the afternoon, I came down with cold chills so bad that I shivered nonstop for almost half an hour..and I felt overcome with flu like symptoms - my whole body ached, I was weak. I checked myself for fever and was running a low grade fever. Then I noticed my "good boob" had this red streaky spot on it. I decided to sleep on it and see how I was in the am - I was still suffering through bouts of chills and the red spot was now starting to spread around to encompass my entire boob! It was hot and sore to touch too! Argh! I did a few Google searches and looked in my breastfeeding book and self diagnosed it as Mastitis. I talk to my doula and she agreed, so Tuesday morning I called Dr. Gunby for antibiotics. His office called me in a prescription that afternoon - a Z-pak since I'm allergic to penicillin and I started taking that and advil to help with the swelling, pain and fever.

By Wed morning - the redness had already started to retreat and I felt much better! Thank GOD because overnight Tuesday night - Riley became ill. He threw up all over his bed during the night - Kelly went in there to his cries and took care of it all and didn't even tell me! But needless to say - Riley had to stay home with me and Conley for the next 2 days. Thank goodness I was feeling better, or there's no way I could have done it! Either way by the end of Wed after having both of them all day, I was WORN out! Thursday was a little easier...but to be honest, all 3 of us just stayed in my bed and watched freaking NickJr ALL DAY! OMG! I watched multiple episodes of Dora, Wonder Pets, Blue's Clues, Max & Ruby, OMG! Calgon TAKE ME AWAY!!! That damn Wonder Pets song is STILL stuck in my head!!! 

Luckily for me, Nancy had sent yummy baked ziti and chili over Sunday which covered Sunday and Monday when I first became ill. Then Tuesday, Angie brought yummy chicken and spaghetti and texas toast over with snacks of apples, string cheese, yogurt and chocolate chip cookies, and magazines just in time to cover Tues & Wed of me and Riley both being sick! Thank you both! You SAVED me! And maybe more importantly fed my husband too! :) 

Luckily, Riley was all better and super excited to go back to school today! And I feel almost back to normal! Ironically, Conley had his 2 worst nights the 2 nights I was most ill, so that was a double dose of week 2 hangover those nights and the following days! Hopefully we've turned the corner now though! I did breakdown and start using a nipple shield during this time because the mastitis was so painful...so now I have to muster up the nerve to stop using that once I am completely healed of the mastitis. It's more of a mental block than physical, but still! 

Bless Kelly's heart for having to go to Babies R Us and buy nipple shields and nipple shells and all sorts of stuff...sort of like asking him to go buy tampons! LOL! But he's a super trooper and did it without ever complaining!