A Fungus Among Us

*sigh* The never ending drama of pain for Angie...

When Skittle was 3 weeks old I developed mastitis in my left breast. I'm sure her latch had something to do with it but that's besides the point. I was miserable with a fever of 103.2 that lasted over 24 hrs. I was given antibiotics for a week and while I did take a probiotic, apparently I didn't take it long enough or enough of it because I ended up with Thrush. For those that don't know, Thrush is a yeast infection on the nipples that is spread to the baby by her mouth. If it isn't treated properly, the mother and baby can continue to pass it back and forth. Well, at Skittle's two month well baby check up, she had a yeast rash on her bum which was attributed to Thrush. Although she showed NO signs of it in her mouth, my nipples were constantly ON FIRE and it was extremely painful to nurse her. I gave up breastfeeding when she was 5 weeks old and decided that pumping was the way to go. Now, pumping is HARD work and most annoying but I'm glad I can still provide Skittle with breast milk even though she's not getting it directly from my breast. Please don't flame me for not breastfeeding her! I'm doing the best that I can...

I've been dealing with the Thrush now for 7 weeks. 7! My nipples are terribly itchy and red and hurt like nothing else. I've been on meds for over two weeks now. Skittle was treated for Thrush too and now shows no signs of the infection. She's off the oral meds but now I'm on them. I get to take TERRIBLE nasty tasting yellow glop (or in other words, Nystatin) five times a day. I've been doing that for 5 days now and I'm still having issues with my nipples (they are still cracked, bleeding, and very itchy!). I just hope there is an end in sight...I'm not sure how much more I can take!

In the beginning I was worried about Skittle's weight gain. She was 6 lbs 15 oz and 19 inches at birth. At two months she was 10 lbs 1 oz and 22 inches. Ten days later (when we had to go back to the doc for the Thrush) she was 10 lbs 7 oz and 22 1/2 inches. Today when I weighed her (5 days after her last check up) with our home step on scale it said she was 12 lbs! She IS growing! :)

I wish I could post some more pictures but they aren't on this computer! Next time....