I almost wanted to give up...

Yesterday was a tough one. Baby K was cluster feeding most of the day. Every hour and a half she was nursing and my nipples were starting to get sore. At around 11pm I told her that if she continues eating this often Mommy is going to have to feed her a bottle with…… dundundun…formula! Thankfully she went from 11:30 to 4:30 and even then I had to wake her up for a feeding, but she only nursed for a few minutes before going back to a deep sleep. I tried to feed her again at 7:30 and she woke up somewhat to eat and then was just content starring at the wall.

So, I don’t truly plan on giving up (nor did I relly want to), but I may have been broken had she continued cluster feeding the entire night as well. Today is a new day, and I’m back and ready to go.

Another Battle, Milk Fever.

Argh! I thought I was good to jump off the Motrin - an obvious FAIL! I mentioned it below in the previous post under MOTRIN, but after making that post - it only got worse...way worse.
After taking the Motrin to get back on it, I felt better for a few hours. As night set in - Everything went down hill. I had another battle with my left breast. It was terrible! That breast was swollen to a massive state that I actually cried hard thinking "this is how I'm going to die. My breast is going to explode and I'll be the newest segment on 1000 Ways to Die!"

My fever shot up again to 101.3, and later to 102.5. I'm not a huge fan of ER visits, and although I felt like I was dying - I kept telling my husband (through my tears) that I wasn't ready to go yet.
Now, when I say "through my tears," I mean I'm full out balling because I felt terrible. You know the feeling - Cold Chills, High Temperature. Entire body aches from head to toe - the worst sickly feeling ever, with a throbbing pain of exploding breasts added to it.
So, how did I get to feeling better?

My husband helped me into the shower. I cried and ached and massaged my breasts under the warm water for almost a full hour before relief began just a touch. Once I got out of the shower, I went to the TV room and set up the recliner...and after a few minutes my fever dropped dramatically, my aches began to subside, and my left breast began to look and feel "normal" (for a breastfeeding mom) again.

My DR appointment was yesterday. He didn’t feel the need to check my breasts after I told what had happened. He said it was probably Milk Fever, but I was feeling well at this point. He said to come back when the baby is 6 weeks (4 weeks) and he’ll do a head-to-toe exam. I’d be a little more comfortable if he just would have taken a peak to make sure he doesn’t notice any warning signs. My husband said he hasn’t noticed any pink/red spots on my breasts…but still – I’d like the DR to look. Does that make me crazy?  

What is Milk Fever? I looked it up and found several sites to list it as an outdated expression for the term we’ve all come to recognize as Mastitis...a term I learned from the blog of BJG (See Lactation Disaster for links)

I hope I’m not the only one having all these difficulties. I’m pretty sure I’m not since everyone tells me that the first month is the worst, but with each day I can feel we are making progress – the last 2 days have been as wonderful as they could be.

Breast Feedind Tip Results -

I’ve had a few days to do my best to take care of this Breast/Nursing issue of lumps and pain. Everyone has advice, so I decided to test some theories out….Here is my thoughts…

1)      Nurse the baby – YES, Obviously! If the baby is hungry – you know the breasts are full! Relief should be just around the corner. Although, engorgement is apparently a normal process that we all must experience right at the beginning when the milk first comes in and “let’s down”.  

2)      LANOLIN – GET SOME! Help keep your nipples safe and as pain-free as possible. Be sure to let the nipples air dry before applying. IF, you DO NOT have Lanolin you definitely WANT to be sure that your nips air dry before covering them up. They will stick to the nursing pad, bra whatever cloth you put up against them when they are wet. They need to air dry so you don’t lock in moisture and risk getting a yeast infection, or another type of infection in your breasts.

3)      Warm Compress – This was my last thing to try, but I’m bumping it up the list. A Heating Pad DOES NOT work! I tried it, and all I got was some steaming boobies to the touch. A dish towel ran under HOT water and applied to the lump/sore area of the breast – not only relieved the pain for a much longer time, but it also reduced the lump giving me a lot more comfort than I had felt in days.

It was VERY helpful when I gently massaged the breast WHILE nursing Baby K at the same time.

4)      MOTRIN – Can be your best friend, as I found out today. I had been feeling pretty good everywhere but that left breast, so I decided to “take a break” from the pain meds (like I said, I was not taking the narcotics, so if you’re on something stronger than Motrin you may want to switch to Motrin first if it was prescribed…but I’m no doctor, just trying to figure this out too!)  

After about 6 hours I noticed cold chills starting to creep on me. Soon after, my eyes started to burn and my 97.6 degree temp at 11:30 that morning had danced to 99.7. (It’s good to monitor your temp at home.) Popped a Motrin, and started to feel better right away. My appointment is Wednesday – so I figured I would call tomorrow (Tuesday) when the office is open and ask if I should be concerned.                                                      

5)      Cold Compress – I read that a cold compress should be used for non-nursing mothers to help ease the pain. However, I have found the cold compress after a feeding to be a great tool to slow down the supply of milk that my body thinks it needs to reproduce right away. I’ve used a bag of ice (leaky) to those gel filled cold packs with a towel around it, and a bag of veggies… All of which have slowed the “full” feeling.

6)      Warm Shower – Yes, get in the shower to wash the sticky milk that dribbled through the towels and on to your skin after a feeding. Let the warm water pelt down on the breast and gently massage, letting the extra milk drip out. The heat helps any blocked duct (if that’s the case) release and you should feel better.

7)      Breath – My mom told me to take some slow deep breaths like I learned in Lamaze class. It’s not more than a few seconds of relief, but it did take some of the pressure off while I got the baby ready to nurse when it felt like they were about to explode. (And while I frantically try to finish typing this post before I wake Baby K for next feeding.

8)      Pump- This is last on my list. It was recommended (and followed) for desperate immediate relief, and I was instructed it would not increase my brains signaling for “supply and demand,” because my body knows the difference between a nursing baby and a machine…so not the case for me. I have been playing catch up and was left with no other option when the throbbing pain became unbearable. I was not interested in Mastitis, so I pumped and pumped and pumped – and now I regret, regret, regret. You MUST make the right decision for you, but from someone who pumped – try to hold off if you can.

There you have the tips and tricks that I have worked with in the first 11 days of motherhood. Try them and see what works and does not work for you. It’s important to remember that every body is different and each of our bodies will respond differently. PLEASE – Post anything that you found useful/not-so-useful  in the comments section, and I will be sure to pull them into another post at a later date...plus I'm still looking for tips and tricks.

Lactation Disaster

I mentioned previously that I had rough time with the nursing, and a whole lot of pain once the flood gates opened and the milk came in. I cried the first night in the hospital, but finally got them pumped down enough to have some relief. I’m not sure if the nurses on-duty found me annoying, or if this was a semi-normal situation for them…the only thing I knew for sure is that these two were not very educated on engorgement.

Katelyn was brought in to me later in the night so that I could continue to nurse her once the solid masses in my breasts were softened up a bit. With her nursing, I was able to stay on top of the engorgement until Sunday afternoon. When again, I was reduced to tears. All I had was a hand pump and a baby having trouble latching on. I admit, I was pretty frustrated and the streaming tears didn’t help.

Chris felt about as helpless as he could, and because my parents, sister, and nephews were in town to greet us when we got home – he was able to jump in the car and head to Walgreens to either rent or purchase a breast pump. They didn’t have what he was looking for, so he headed 30 minutes out to the next town to find one on a Sunday.

Everyone at the house was trying to comfort me and to be understanding, but I felt like they were just witnesses to my failure…which made me cry again as soon as the frustration tears began to slow down. After the embarrassment tears began to clear up, I began to cry because I feared getting Mastitis.

{MayoClinic – Mastitis}  {National Library of Medicine - Mastitis} 

I had just undergone major surgery – the last thing I want is another surgery anytime soon.

*********

I went from a plan of breastfeeding exclusively to spending an entire day pumping exclusively. Chris enjoyed this because it gave him a chance to bond with Katelyn in a way he hadn’t been able to those first couple days. Although, he was upset about my pain and frustration over the entire deal.

Thankfully, I had a friend obtaining her Lactation Consultant certification message me, yelling through email – “DON’T PUMP!” I listened to her, and since then I have only had to pump once, for about three minutes just to get the lump forming in my armpit down while the baby got ready to nurse. I’m not disappointed that I had to pump again for this short time, but I am glad that Jessica reached out to me without me having to say anything. She just knew as a recent new mom herself what I was going through.

It was because of her message that I haven’t felt like a failure since. Support really is the best emotional medicine around. So, if you are a breastfeeding and you feel like a failure – just know that it is a very common place for breastfeeding moms to be. Everyone tells me that the first month is the worst, and I believe them when I say it does get easier.