Un-FUCKING-believable.
May. 14th, 2005 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivkaMy mastitis, which was resistant to the first antibiotic I tried, is apparently also resistant to the second antibiotic. I woke up this morning with an immensely painful and redder breast, and by noon I had developed a fever and a general whole-body malaise.
Now I'm on a third antibiotic. They've got to be fucking kidding me with this.
I can't believe how sick I feel.
Back to the lactation clinic today. Alex has gained another three ounces. She continues to have real problems with a weak suck. The lactation consultant and I agreed that it is time to make bottle feeding more difficult for her, or she may never be motivated enough to get all the calories she needs from the breast. So we're switching her from bottles to a Haberman feeder. Apparently the Haberman is more similar to a breast in terms of how the baby needs to suck. It's got three levels gradated suction - you can turn the bottle to make it easier or harder to get the milk out. As we encourage Alex to work harder at the Haberman, she'll develop the muscles she needs to suck properly from the breast. So goes the theory, anyway.
Just from her first couple of feedings with the Haberman, it seems to me that Alex's behavior is much more like it is when she's breastfeeding - taking a few sucks and then stopping, and seeming to get worn out partway through. She got most of the feeding down through the intermediate level, although I did have to keep giving her little tastes of the easy level to motivate her to keep working. I didn't put her at the hardest level at all. We'll work up to it.
Yesterday and today she had two painful reflux episodes per day. So it's not entirely better, but it is improving.
On the phone this evening, my father - who was a pediatrician for 35 years - told me that he didn't remember any mother in his practice ever working harder or having a rougher time than me. That made me cry.
Now I'm on a third antibiotic. They've got to be fucking kidding me with this.
I can't believe how sick I feel.
Back to the lactation clinic today. Alex has gained another three ounces. She continues to have real problems with a weak suck. The lactation consultant and I agreed that it is time to make bottle feeding more difficult for her, or she may never be motivated enough to get all the calories she needs from the breast. So we're switching her from bottles to a Haberman feeder. Apparently the Haberman is more similar to a breast in terms of how the baby needs to suck. It's got three levels gradated suction - you can turn the bottle to make it easier or harder to get the milk out. As we encourage Alex to work harder at the Haberman, she'll develop the muscles she needs to suck properly from the breast. So goes the theory, anyway.
Just from her first couple of feedings with the Haberman, it seems to me that Alex's behavior is much more like it is when she's breastfeeding - taking a few sucks and then stopping, and seeming to get worn out partway through. She got most of the feeding down through the intermediate level, although I did have to keep giving her little tastes of the easy level to motivate her to keep working. I didn't put her at the hardest level at all. We'll work up to it.
Yesterday and today she had two painful reflux episodes per day. So it's not entirely better, but it is improving.
On the phone this evening, my father - who was a pediatrician for 35 years - told me that he didn't remember any mother in his practice ever working harder or having a rougher time than me. That made me cry.
before antibiotics
Date: 2005-05-15 11:05 am (UTC)It's a horrible horrible sickness, and fever, and Rivka, you are doing so well to remain compos mentis enough to think about Alex and post as well. You'll be fine, it will pass, and Alex is a lucky girl.
And the silver lining is that some things that throw mothers of toddlers for a loop if they've had an easy time up until then, will seem simple and ordinary to you after getting through this.
Be well, and heal
Emma
Re: before antibiotics
Date: 2005-05-15 04:36 pm (UTC)Ah yes, I neglected that one. Lancing abcesses is probably a technology that's been around for a very, very long time. You don't have to go very far back in books on breastfeeding to find the possibility of abcess mentioned. Abcesses were more common in the days when women were instructed not to feed with the affected breast, though, which was the standard advice throughout much of the 20th century.
Much as they're subject to abuse, I'm *very* grateful for the existence of antibiotics.