All you males who read our blog will want to just go ahead and stop reading here. This is not going to interest you at all, and you might even regret reading it.
I have avoided writing anything about this for a long time. I have hinted at having problems, but never explicitly stated it. This is a bit personal, and it talks about an area of my body that I would rather not talk about, and I am especially hesitant to commit it to writing. However, I know I cannot be the first person to deal with this, and I need support. I am out here a flight away from a doctor and a 4 hour train ride away from fellow mommies. When I tried to talk to the national ladies about it, they wanted to send over some old women to do something to me that sounded so painful that I would rather keep the infection that follow their advise. Plus it was not going to be done by a doctor and it sounded a bit superstitious. No thank you. Now I will tell you about it because I am at my wits end and I am asking for prayer.
Before AB was born I decided that I would nurse her for 1 year. I read nursing one year is best for the baby, and I figured why wouldn't I do it? Within a few days of AB being born I had a crack in one side that just got bigger and bigger. My position and AB's latch were both evaluated, and they were both fine. I went topless; I used my milk, tea bags, lanolin, and anything else that books and websites recommended. Ultimately my doctor said I just had very thin and weak skin. After a week of tears from extremely painful nursing I started pumping from the side with the crack, feeding it to her with a bottle.
About a week later I developed a crack in the other side. I was afraid to pump that side as well since AB might develop a preference for bottles. However a few days after my mom left, when AB was 2 weeks old, I started feeling awful. I thought it was hormones since I was uncontrollably crying and did not want to get out of bed, but when I undressed one evening to take my shower I saw something awful in the mirror. I went to my computer and looked up photos of Mastitis, and they looked like what I saw in the mirror. I went to see a doctor and was given medication for Mastitis. I was so glad that my craziness was mostly due to the Mastitis. I probably acquired the bacteria that caused the Mastitis through the crack from AB's mouth, so I decided to also pump from that side until it was also healed. At 2 weeks and 4 days AB was exclusively fed breastmilk from a bottle. I constantly prayed that she would not reject me once I was better.
Fortunately I eventually healed, and AB hated the bottle a little more each day we gave it to her. So, when I was ready to nurse her again, she did not hesitate nursing from me. What a relief!
Now AB is 8 months and a few days old. I have had Mastitis 4 times, and I have to very painfully work a clog out of my breasts at least once a week. AB has been treated for Thrush, and now we are being treated for an inter-ductal yeast infection. We have been battling this yeast infection since mid-June.
It all started when AB had Thrush (mid-June), and while she was being treated for it I developed Mastitis. Apparently me taking the antibiotics just made things crazy, creating the perfect environment for a yeast infection and now we can't get rid of it. I have spent probably several days worth of time reading about this on the internet. I changed my diet, washed everything everyday in either bleach, vinegar or boiling water, I used creams, and once again went topless (which is amazingly what is recommended for most problems having to do with breastfeeding - maybe the ladies in Africa are really the smart ones).
I mentioned that last week we had to go see a doctor for medication. I am taking a ton of Diflucan, probotics and am using a topical Nystatin. AB is taking Nystatin. Although I have been taking them for almost 2 weeks and have not seen any improvement, I am still hopeful...but, this past Thursday morning I had a bump in our road to being yeast free. As soon as I woke and sat up in bed I knew something was wrong, and I immediately went to the mirror. Yep, there they were, not one but two red blotches, one for each breast- apparently that's not supposed to happen, but it did. I did not want to take the antibiotics again! I wanted the yeast infection gone for good. I cannot verbally express to you how painful the yeast infection is, but I will say there is a lot of burning in the boobies going on. Unfortunately we had to board a quite uncomfortable 4 hour train Thursday morning, and as the day went on it became more and more clear to me that I had to take the antibiotics again. Whenever I see a western doctor they give me extra antibiotics because they know my tendency to get Mastitis and that I live in the middle of nowhere. I dug into my stash and started taking them. The next morning the red spot stopped spreading, and my body started hurting a bit less.
I am going to nurse AB for a little less than 4 more months. I must get rid of this yeast infection. AB also needs to get rid of her yeast infection. My yeast infection caused some open wounds on my breast, which is probably what gave entrance to the nasty things that caused the Mastitis. I also need to stop getting Mastitis so that I will not have to take so many antibiotics (that I am so grateful for).
Please pray for us. I am doing all that can be done with the medication. Now I need the Ultimate Healer to do what man cannot do and take this infection from our bodies.
No comments:
Post a Comment