When sitting in the NICU cheering and fighting for every mL Chase was taking in, I never thought I'd be having to worry about more afterwards. UGH!
However, now that I have time to sit around and pay attention to things like sharp, stabbing pains in between feedings, I realized that I may need to look into things a bit more. Kaely completely spoiled me- I was in the place of blissful ignorance with her- I just kinda of "winged" it, and things worked. However Chase thinks it's fun to keep me on my toes ;)
I started noticing last week that I had brief, but recurring, quick stabbing/electrical feeling pains in my chest/breasts in-between feedings (in addition to the soreness/pain associated with any pressure like a hug, or trying to lay on my side or stomach), and out of curiosity I "googled" it (I should know by now not the best idea)... so what came up was "thrush" - and the only thing I could think of was I think I was given antibiotics immediately after the c-section, and maybe that triggered it? But looking at Chase, he didn't really have any symptoms either- except I did notice "Epstein pearls" - which is something else I had to google.. go figure. Then he had a really fussy night the other night, kind of gassy I guess, so I started to worry maybe it was something like thrush, and we needed to be treated.
If that wasn't a pain, I couldn't figure out which doctor to call- the pediatrician? the OB? my primary care physician? I ended up calling the OB, and got in with a nurse practioner yesterday afternoon. After having a screaming (hungry) baby boy scaring all the pregnant ladies (muwahahaha- preview), I sat in the exam room nursing him, and had to don the paper gown. Shockingly (sarcasm), the pain/discomfort is being chalked up to the "fullness" from stopping the pumping routine (thank goodness for now), and my over-abundant milk supply. Apparently people aren't supposed to have rock hard boobs all the time nursing- hmmm- really? I didn't realize they aren't supposed to constantly be full- or leaking at the slightest provocation- (sorry again for the TMI)... so of course thrush was (fortunately) taken off the list of issues, but discussions about making sure to prevent mastitis came up, since being so full can lead to blocked/clogged ducts and eventually infection if left. UGH!
Then, his fussiness? Well, of course that can be attributed to being a preemie, something I ate, etc- so (haha) then I google things to avoid when nursing- and this is the list that one website suggests (almost my entire diet):
- Coffee
- Chocolate
- Citrus Fruits
- Broccoli (and other gassy veggies)
- Alcohol (more than 1 drink a day- duh)
- Spicy foods
- Garlic
- Peanuts
- Wheat
- Dairy Products
- Corn
- Shellfish
- Eggs
- Soy
- Fish
- Peppermint
- Parsley
Seriously???? Okay, so a lot is due to potential food allergies- so they recommend keeping a food diary- the peppermint & parsley is due to decreasing the milk supply- but I think I've had almost that entire list in the past week alone. So depressing to consider eliminating almost everything (obviously in extreme cases), but also knowing I'm hurting him (his stomach) by things that I'm eating by trying to help him (the infamous list of what I need to eat in order to produce enough)- talk about a fine line!!!
Oh well... so at the end of the day I guess we're both fine, I just have to hang in there while my body adjusts to his feeding demands (which is less than the pumping), and try to get his night/day schedules flip-flopped... He had a quiet night last night, as I tried to be careful about what I ate yesterday, I guess it is situational- which is better than something more serious. Never a moment without some worry- I swear!
His updates? Another quiet day I hope- planning on an in-home photo session today- so that should be fun, and I can't wait to post the amazing photos I know will come :)
I <3 our Jen :)
No comments:
Post a Comment