It wasn't her teething (nope, those still haven't appeared) that has been causing me so much pain...it would be the thrush that we contracted. Yep. Ouch. Culprit seems to be the mega antibiotics she was on over the holidays. That hideous diaper rash she had? Likely early signs of thrush, too.
Evil. Antibiotics are EVIL I tell you.
So, while I've been in tremendous pain (really, I liken feeding/pumping lately to what giving birth through your nipples must feel like, but as I went the pop-top route, I couldn't say for sure), Zoe's remained relatively unaffected since her rash cleared up. Zoe's pediatrician confirmed she has it too, but only in a couple of tiny spots on each corner of the inside of her lips. After a few days of topical meds, they seem to have cleared up for her already - simple as that.
Diagnosis for me wasn't quite so simple. I won't go blow-by-blow - I've gathered that some of my posts can be a little depressing ;) - but I will say that it took literally ALL day last Friday to 1) get it diagnosed and 2) to get my hands on the #$%& medicine to help me. Thanks to an apparently lactationally-clueless Nurse Practitioner in my Dr's office. Her helpful input, to quote: "well it's not mastitis"...which of course was no where near my mind because I was pretty certain it was THRUSH!!! Anyhoo. Despite supposedly being called in at 10am the Rx wasn't in the pharmacy's records at 7pm (my doc's office blames the pharmacy, but my verdict is still out on that). So. I kind of lost it. At that point, after a long day of very frustrating Dr.'s appointments, hour-long bus rides, presentations and an all-day staff retreat, I was exhausted and in a ton of pain. A million desperate calls to various after-hours services later, and I finally got in touch with some good karma. The relief was almost immediate, thankfully.
Unfortunately, I'll be taking my meds for three weeks, healing is slow-going, and this makes weaning both urgent and troublesome. Seems that flare-ups are more likely when you pump/nurse AND when you get engorged. Kind of like being in a rock (my boobs!) and a hard place...
Today was a turn in the right direction I think, though. I've stopped pumping all together (Say it with me: YAHOOOOOO!!!!) and Zoe took one great big feed first thing in the morning (OUCH!) and then her cup for the rest of the day up until bedtime when she took another pretty good feed. This bodes well for the 12 hour interval I was aiming for. Next phase will be getting it down to morning feedings only which should be fairly easy given that Zoe skips 9 out of 10 bedtime feeds lately. And the morning feeds can go on for however long Zoe and I feel the need.
I did end up putting a call in to the UW's lactation consultants line to get some advice about lingering thrush-related ailments vs. weaning. EXCELLENT service by the way, to any of you Seattle-area moms who might be reading this. Tip o' the day: cold, crushed green cabbage leaves in your bra help to slow down milk production AND act as a cold compress to thrush-aching boobs! Just so happens that we have green cabbage in the fridge so I've tried it out - so far, so good! And who says there's no dignity in motherhood?!?
Ok, enough about me and my boobs (again - but hey, when you're in pain, there's reason to get obsessive!). Zoe is doing great lately. I think she's getting smarter by the day. Today, I think she learned the sign for 'cheese'. She didn't exactly imitate it, but she certainly knew what it meant after I showed her the sign and a piece of cheese! I'm so glad! Actually communicating with Zoe is so much more fun than just guessing/fussing. I'd been feeling like we'd kind of dropped the ball on signing for a while - it's hard to remember to do it among all the other things you're busy doing with a baby let alone when you've got one or both hands full of baby or baby stuff! My latest tactic has been to introduce the words I find myself saying to her over and over. So far, pretty good.
She's also a busy busy little girl. Everything is worth investigation. And she really never misses a beat. Until she's tired. Case in point:
Too funny!! Dave and I were dying trying to keep our laughter quiet! These pix were from Monday morning (I hear you, bug, Monday's are tough!). She was so tired that Dave managed to undress, re-diaper and dress her while she snoozed. He tried to gently rouse her to no avail, so he finally laid her down on the floor. It wasn't until we turned on the light and took a bunch of pictures that she finally snapped to!
Zoe continues to play beautifully on her own, too. She loves interaction with us and with the other babies in daycare, for sure, but she does such a great job of entertaining herself for impressively long stints. Our girl knows how to play!
Ok, bad examples of playing alone because those are two activities in which she DOESN'T play alone. We promise :)
1 comment:
Hope that you're both feeling better soon! :)
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