A Bump in the Road

I have been so extremely lucky with breastfeeding so far. I feel incredibly blessed to have had essentially no problems getting it started with Baby Steven. Except for his first day in the hospital when he was just so exhausted he didn't want to eat anything, we have been exclusively breastfeeding since Steven was born. And I really haven't had too many issues. We had a ton of awesome support from St. Luke's nurses and LCs as well as friends and family. Steven and I have been getting more comfortable with breastfeeding as time as gone on and have even been able to add to our list of positions we know to grow our confidence and flexibility.

Well this weekend, I experienced the first bump in the road...the dreaded mastitis. I had heard a lot about this breast infection from friends and others and from all the horror stories I was sure I did not want to get it! Turns out I got it.

It all started last week when I started feeling a burning sensation after nursing or when my milk was coming in. At first it was just a tingling feeling but after a few days got worse and started to be painful. I wasn't sure what to make of it, and hadn't heard that was a symptom of mastitis so I didn't think that was what I had. (Well it is a symptom, thanks for nothing, Google.)

Then, on Saturday, when I woke up I felt not so great. I was super tired, had a headache and was just kind of achy all over. I thought maybe I was just overtired so I took a nap. After my nap, I felt way worse. I was still pretty exhausted but now I was really feeling super hot and my headache was way worse. By the afternoon I was pretty sure I was coming down with something.

We had planned a dinner at my in-laws that night, so we went to that. I started to get really chilled while we were there and by the time we left I was shaking. Now, we have been having a serious heat wave in St. Louis and it was probably 90 degrees outside when I was feeling this way. Poor Steve, I made him turn off the AC on the way home in the car because I was shaking so much. When we got home, I took my temperature and it was 101! I was freezing and shaking and now I knew something was really wrong.

Steve called the doctor for me who said right away that it was mastitis. I was worried if I kept nursing would I give the infection to the baby, but he said no that Baby Steven couldn't get the infection. He also said part of getting rid of it would be to nurse and pump as much as possible to keep my milk flowing.

So we did just that. The doctor also called in some antibiotics and I've been taking those. Steve was so sweet on Sunday, and took care of me. He watched Baby Steven so I could sleep almost all day and that really helped. He brought him in for feedings and that was pretty much it. I think I slept till 2pm that day! But it was exactly what I needed and really helped me to feel better. Today, on Monday, I feel so much better. I still have a slight headache and a little pain in my breasts but that's about it. My fever broke Sunday, so that was a big relief to not be freezing one minute and burning up the next. I will continue the antibiotics the rest of this week and hopefully be back to my normal self soon!

So I survived my first and hopefully last round of mastitis during breastfeeding. It was kind of scary at first because we didn't know what was wrong. But I really only felt super bad for 1 day and now I feel much better. So overall, I think I'm still pretty lucky with this breastfeeding thing. Let's hope my luck continues!