Week 2

The end of week 1 was fun and the start of week 2 was definitely learning experience for me.  We had a really nice weekend.  Got out on Saturday for a few hours and enjoyed some time out of the house after several days of being snowed in.  On Sunday we joined friends at Shawn and Brenda's for the Super Bowl.  It was nice to see everyone and hang out.  Holden did really well.  We took his bouncer, so we really didn't interrupt his schedule that we've established too much.  He looked super cute too!  He wore his "Daddy's Rookie of the Year outfit," so of course daddy was happy.

Sunday night is when the learning process started.  I had noticed before we had left Shawn and B's that my left breast felt really sore, not the typical soreness, but pretty painful.  I didn't think much of it though.  When we got home, Holden was a little off schedule.  He normally eats around 8:30-9 and then goes down for his first round of sleeping and I hit the sack too.  But instead, we fed again when we got home and he was up for a little while, so it wasn't until almost midnight that I got into bed.  But as I was feeding and rocking him I started to feel really awful.  My neck and shoulders were stiffening up, my head hurt and I got the body chills so bad that I could barely stand up to put Holden in bed.  When I got in bed, I was shaking so bad that it woke Chuck up.  I told him then that I had the chills the night before as well, but just thought it was because I was cold.  The chills were do bad Sunday night that my body physical ached and was sore.  When I woke up at around 3 to feed Holden again, my muscle felt as though I had done a strenuous workout or something.  I still felt really bad.  So when we got up Monday morning, I felt as though I had the flu.  I've never had the flu and I had gotten a flu shot a few months ago while I was pregnant at the recommendation of my OBG.  I was really scared that if I had the flu that Holden could get sick, which terrified me like no other.  I had calls into my OBG, the pediatrician and my regular doctor, trying to figure out what I should do.

The pediatrician office called me first, the nurse I spoke with said that if I had the flu that I needed to immediately stop feeding Holden and pump and dump and supplement with bottle feeding in the meantime.  This crushed me.  I was not ready for this.  I had pumped a little the first week to help get milk production, but only had a few ounces, I knew that wouldn't be enough and I definitely wasn't ready to introduce a bottle and formula. I was so upset and crying.  It's one thing to be told that your baby needs to put on more weight so to help with that you need to supplement with formula, but its another when a mother feels that its their fault.  So amidst my tears, my sweet husband kept encouraging me to stay strong, that he and Holden both needed me to be strong and that everything would be OK.  He again suggested that I call his sister.

Man, I'm so glad I did.  Stephanie, my sister in law, is a L&D nurse, but more importantly is a breastfeeding mommy of 2 as well.  When I spoke with her, both her and her nurse friend said they would keep feeding b/c their are antibodies in breast milk which should keep anything from getting to the baby.  Secondly, she asked if by chance either of my breast was sore unlike normal.  And yes, my left one began hurting around the same time that I got all these flu like symptoms.  I had been running over 100 degree temp too.  So, her diagnoses was mastitis and suggested that I call me OBG back and advise that I had fever and that I thought I had the infection.

So, after a follow up call and discussion with by OBG, he called in a prescription of antibiotics for me.  AND my pediatrician apparently refers all messages and charts for calls that nurses return.  Dr. Kim discovered that the nurse that returned my call had advised me incorrectly and she immediately called me and advised that I was NOT to pump and dump, that the most important thing for me to do when I am ill is to continue to breastfeed as this is what will keep Holden from getting ill and will also help me get better quickly.  I'm very grateful for all the wonderful support I have around me, especially my husband he kept me calm when I was so upset, my momma who kept checking in with me and doing some research and asking others about my symptoms, my mother in law who tracked down Stephanie for me since I couldn't get her on her cell and of course Stephanie who gave me the best mommy to mommy advice.

I spent the rest of Monday napping with Holden, trying to keep my fever under wraps and applying heat to the chest.  By Tuesday morning, I was back to about 90%.  My fever had broke and had not returned and some of the pain was gone from my chest.  Still work on that, but at least I feel human again.  Man, that was a tough day, at least I know what to expect if it occurs again.

2 WEEK STATS

Tuesday turned out to be an AMAZING day.  We had tooters 2 weeks check up and all went wonderfully.  He weighs 7 lbs and is 20".  No more signs of jaundice and he was a trooper for his second newborn screening.  Such great news to know that mommy is doing something right, my sweet boy is getting plenty of milk and nutrients from me.  We then had lunch in Addison as a family and went and saw Pop at his job site in Addison.  My dad hasn't seen Holden since the day he was born, so it was nice to hang out with him for a few hours.  Plus, the sun was shining and Holden needs some vitamin D!

Holden has been staying awake more during the day, which makes his evening feedings really easy.  So we figured it was time to break out the play mat.  Daddy spent this morning putting it together and Holden spent about 15 minutes laying there staring at the side of it.  He'll get the hang of it soon enough.

Hope every stays safe today in this second week of crazy Texas winter weather.  Holden has seen more snow in his short 2 weeks here than most people have their entire lives.

Love everyone!