Mastitis, Congestion and Finals...oh my!

The first 10 days of Andrew's life were great except anything related to breast feeding. I was having an extremely hard time with it and had talked with 3 lactation specialists to try to help me through the process. The problem began right when he was born. Andrew was born "tongue tied" - it's when the tongue is connected to the bottom of the mouth too close to the edge of the tongue. It's hereditary and I had it when I was a baby. It's an easy fix, but prevented him from sticking out his tongue, opening his mouth wide or latching on properly when it came time for feedings. He had a Frenectomy done when he was 2 days old to fix the issue. The process for fixing it is literally numbing it and cutting it. Very simple and it was done in about 20 seconds. However, those 2 days before it was fixed created a habit for both of us that was making it almost unbearable for me to feed him. Not to mention, my milk did not come in for over 5 days which made our poor guy lose almost a pound of his birth weight.

By the third lactation specialist, I had almost given up entirely and was going to pump exclusively. However, she met with me and gave me hope that we could make it all work. However, the very next day, I started feeling quite a bit of pain in my chest. Within a few hours, I was suffering from unbelievable chills, a fever of 102.1 and my left breast was tender and bright red. The next day, I was diagnosed at the emergency clinic with Mastitis and was told I was going to have to be admitted to the hospital for 48 hours to help me get better. I was a mess. My parents had left the day before and I was crying like a big baby. After getting in touch with my OB, I was told I did not have to be admitted and that I would need to start antibiotics immediately.

While this was going on, Jeff was taking up the slack for me being down for the count. He was up for ALL the feedings, changings, etc... Problem was - he had 3 finals within 2 days and was not getting any of his studying done. It was crucial that he make certain grades in these classes or he would be prevented from moving forward with his nursing school pre-requisites. He was stressed, I was sick and Andrew was getting a cold. AAAAGGGHHH. We got Jennifer to come out and stay for 2 nights with us and help me while Jeff studied. It all worked out great! Jeff took his finals, made the grades he needed and I am now back to normal. Thanks Jenn!

As far as Andrew's cold - it's just some congestion and yes, I did take him to the doctor. I'm definitely "that mom" who rushes her new child to the doctor at the first sign of something weird. What the heck do I know? The doctor's visit was totally worth it because they taught me how to use the bulb syringe to clean out the boogers from Andrew's nose. NOW - if you are in the mood to do something absolutely disgusting - suck some green boogers out of a kid's nose. SO GROSS and heart breaking because it makes him so miserable as you do it. Between my gags, his screaming and Jeff asking "is this normal" - we got it done. WHEW! Now we have a happy baby again.