Once I found out I was pregnant, I did a lot of reading, listening to Podcasts and talking to Mommy friends. I quickly came to the realization that I wanted to try my hardest to exclusively breastfeed my baby, for as long as I could. But, I have to admit, it was also one of the things I was most nervous about because I had read and heard of so many moms having trouble with breastfeeding. I bought the book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding which helped me mentally prepare for what I should expect.
Luckily, Emerson and I had a quick connection and we really have not had too many issues with nursing. Yes, I was sore for the first few days and had quite a bit of pain when my milk finally came in but that is all very normal and expected.
It wasn’t until this week (10 weeks post-partum) that I had my first real complication. {I am going to be talking about my boobs for the rest of the post so if that makes you uncomfortable, please just skip to the end!}
It started on Tuesday night, right before bed, I had some pain in my left breast; it felt like it was a little engorged but I had just fed Emerson so I didn’t think that was possible and I went to bed. At 2am I woke up with intense pain and my boob feeling incredibly full so I got up and pumped to relieve some of the pressure. It didn’t work. My boob continued to ache and felt really hot. I laid in bed googling my symptoms hoping whatever I had would not affect my milk supply so I could continue to exclusively breastfeed Emerson. In the morning, I nursed her and my breast was feeling better but my body ached liked I had done an intense workout (if only!) and I had a wicked headache.
I continued with my plan for the day and went and met up with my Moms Walking Group but felt off the whole time. On my drive home I called the doctor to speak with a Lactation Consultant to get some advice and guidance. Based on my breast pain she thought it might be a clogged milk duct and suggested I do a hot compress and massage the breast to hopefully get the milk flowing. I immediately did that when I got off the phone with the nurse. But about an hour later I came down with chills and nothing was feeling better. I took my temperature and it was at 101.4. So I called the doctor back and they had me come in to get evaluated at suspected I had mastitis. Before going to the doctors I did take 600 mg of Motrin because I was feeling so terrible and that made me feel like a new person. It was amazing.
At the doctors they took my temperature and blood pressure and evaluated my breasts. My left breast had redness but she couldn’t really find a lump or mast caused by a clogged duct. However my fever and the redness on my breast was enough for her to conclude I had mastitis, which is an infection in your breast, and she put me on antibiotics to get rid of the infection.
I was prescribed Dicloxacillin and have to take it for a full 10 days, four times a day. It is not that sweet. It leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth but I’ll take it if it makes me feel better. I was nervous about taking the medicine while still breastfeeding but the doctor assured me it would be OK and I’m Emerson should not have any reaction.
On my way home from the doctor I picked up Vinnie early from work so he could take care of Emerson and I could rest. I really did not feel great until Friday. It was hard to be home on Thursday all day without any help but my parents came down Thursday evening which was a huge help. I was able to get a nap and rest a little. They were shocked at how hot i was to the touch and how much of a fever still lingered. I was shocked at how crappy I still felt. My boob continued to be incredibly tender even though I had been doing lots of hot compress and massage. Luckily, Emerson was such a good little girl while I was feeling sick. It was almost as if she new mom wasn’t feeling well.
I didn’t start feeling better until Friday. I finally had a little bit of energy and my fever was gone it my left breast was still tender. And, I did still have a really bad headache but that didn’t seem like much compared to how I have been feeling. Saturday Vinnie and I were able to go out for a couple short walks. But then Sunday I was down for the count again. I don’t know if I pushed it too hard or if I had a little bit of a relapse but I was exhausted, felt incredibly weak, my head was pounding all day and my boob still ached. I reached out to some friends I knew who had mastitis to see if this was normal and decided if it didn’t get better by today (Monday) call back the doctor.
Luckily I woke up this morning and I’m feeling better. I was able to meet up with the moms in my walking group and I am feeling closer to normal than I have in a while. I cannot believe how much mastitis kicked my butt. But I am happy that I was able to continue to breastfeed Emerson throughout the whole thing and because I had to nurse or pump every three hours I contributed significantly to buy milk storage due to the late night pump sessions.
Sorry this is so long, but I am hoping to sharing my experience I may be able to help another new mom. I know I wished to read more stories of how moms felt, healed and cooped with Mastitis.
Have you ever had Mastitis?
What do you do when you are feeling really really sick?
