Bronchitis, Vomiting, Santa (almost), Florida / Thanksgiving, Disney World & Mastitis

BRONCHITIS

It has been a crazy two weeks. The Wednesday before Thanksgiving my throat started to hurt and I just knew I was getting sick. I got sicker by the day and by Sunday I was cough and blowing dark mucus (TMI?). Since we were about the leave town to visit my parents in Florida in a few days and I wasn’t sure when I would have time to go to my doctor I went to a local after hours clinic on Sunday afternoon. They were nice enough and gave me an antibiotic. The nurse practitioner I saw knew I was breastfeeding (I had Leland with me at the appointment) and assured me that the antibiotic was safe for him and would not cause any problems with breastfeeding.

The weekend before Thanksgiving was spent resting, packing, and trying to get better. I used the vaporizer, the netti pot sinus cleanse, gargled with warm water and salt, took hot showers - every home remedy I could think of. In my spare time, I was clearing Leland’s nose and praying he did not get sick too. My nose was so red I looked like Rudolph.

VOMITING

Monday before Thanksgiving I went back to work. Robert is a teacher and had the whole week off work, so Leland was home with him. Monday, just after lunch, Robert called and said Leland had thrown up. I only half believed him. I questioned him about how much and was it just a lot of spit up rather than actual throw up. By the time I got home from work Leland had thrown up a few more times and Robert had thrown up some too. (The smell of throw up makes Robert throw up). When I got in Robert and Leland were cuddled on the sofa with Leland asleep, both drenched in Leland’s throw up. Robert had changed both their clothes several times that afternoon, but after the last round Leland fell asleep and Robert did not want to disturb him.

I called the pediatrician on the way home and picked up some Pe.di.alyte. Once home, we bathed Leland and then I tried nursing him. He did great, but about an hour later he threw up again. I gave him two ounces of Pe.di.alyte and he fell asleep for the night.

SANTA (ALMOST)

Tuesday morning I was supposed to be at work again. And, at noon we had family photos scheduled at JC Penny for Christmas pictures and pictures with Santa. I wasn’t originally going to take Leland to see Santa as that’s not really when Christmas is all about. But the day we scheduled our Christmas pictures happened to be the day Santa would be at the studio so I figured it could be fun to get a traditional Santa picture for Leland’s first Christmas.

I gave Leland Pe.di.alyte and he held that down. Then I nursed him and he seemed to be fine. Still I decided to call in sick to work and to cancel our Christmas pictures so I could monitor Leland’s progress. I was hopeful it was just a little 12-hour stomach bug.

FLORIDA / THANKSGIVING

Since Leland seemed to be doing well and I had called into work, we decided to get an early start to Florida by late Tuesday morning. At this point I was still fighting a nasty case of bronchitis, but feeling a teeny bit better than I had over the weekend. Leland did great in the car for the first stretch. We made it about 200 miles and he slept the whole way. Then we stopped for a bite to eat. Since Leland had not vomited in 16+ hours I resumed his normal feeding schedule. But, not long later, he threw it all up! The second half our out trip to Florida was marked by hourly (approx) stops to change Leland’s wet clothes and to offer another 1-2 oz of Pe.di.alyte to keep him hydrated. I have to note that the odd thing about the stomach bug was that other than the vomiting Leland had no other symptoms, he was his usual happy self. We staying in touch with our pediatrician through this whole ordeal and he just said we had to ride it out and keep him hydrated.

We spent a lazy day Wednesday visiting with my parents. Leland continued to vomit on and off. He would be fine for a few feedings and then he would start throwing up again. We would start back with Pe.di.alyte and then transition to breast milk with no problems. Then he would throw up again. During this ordeal I was pumping to keep my milk supply up during the times Leland was not eating. I figured the upside to this mess was that I had increased my breast milk stash substantially.

Thursday morning – Thanksgiving – a light bulb went off. It had to be my antibiotic that was making Leland throw up. Nothing else made sense. I had considered it earlier in the week but didn’t think it was the answer. But by Thursday, it was the only thing left. Without access to my freezer stash at home, Leland spent Thanksgiving alternating between Pe.di.alyte and formula, neither which he was at all happy about. I figured 24 hours would be enough to get the antibiotic out of my system, and was able to successfully resume nursing at bedtime on Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving morning I made pancakes with my dad. My dad makes the best pancakes. He doesn’t cook at all, but his pancakes are a rare specialty. Sadly my dad is suffering from unspecified dementia, with some Parkinson type symptoms. It’s getting harder for him to do simple tasks like make pancakes, so I am savoring every last tradition I have with him. We watched the parade and when over to a family friend’s house for Thanksgiving dinner. My parent’s loved showing off their newest grandbaby (he is grandbaby #10) to all of their friends and we had a really great time.

Friday morning Robert, Leland, and I ventured out to Toys R Us for some mid-morning black Friday shopping. We got a Fisher Price Jumperoo for $45 (Reg. $100) and a Fisher Price Space Saving High Chair for $30 (Reg. $60). Thankfully the store wasn’t too crazy and we got both items we wanted. Friday afternoon my Mom and I went shopping at the Coldwater Creek clearance center in Orlando. I was in desperate need of work clothes since I am still about 20 pounds above my pre-pregnancy weight. I spent about $170 on clothes and got 4 pairs of pants, 2 suit jackets, 3 t-shirts, 10 blouses / sweaters. Mornings will be so, so much easier now!

Friday also confirmed my suspicion about the antibiotic causing the vomiting. With it out of my system Leland did not throw up at all. That was the good news. The bad news – I had to dump 50 OUNCES OF BREAST MILK! I cried a little.

DISNEY WORLD

Saturday both Leland and I were feeling much better. We ventured out to spend the day at Epcot with my parents. I have always wanted to go to Epcot at Christmas and it was so beautiful. We skipped the stroller and just went for a front carrier and backpack. It worked great. Everyone pointed and commented on Leland in his little sunglasses. Soon after he was born I ordered baby sunglasses. I never go out without my sunglasses so why would I want to strain his eyes?

We had a relaxing day wandering and eating our way through the countries. We had churros is Mexico, pastries in Norway, roasted nuts in France, Bratwurst & soft pretzels in Germany, chocolates in Italy, and fish & chips in England. We would just get one of each item and split it. It was so much fun. In the past at Epcot we have gone to a different sit down restaurant each time. The sit down restaurants are nice, but you only get to experience one type of food. Eating / snacking our way through the countries was a lot more fun.

We were also able to see several shows and ride several rides. Epcot has several continuous movement rides and slow boat rides that were a lot of fun with Leland. He just rode in the carrier. His favorite was probably the Nemo ride because of all the music and digital effects. (Anything that looks like a TV screen fascinates him these days). We had a really great day overall. We left the park about 7 PM and we were all asleep by 9 PM.

MASTITIS

Sunday I woke up feeling awful. I was so tired and just ached all over. I assumed that spending the day at Epcot the day before had been harder on me than I had expected. I was burning up, drenched in sweat at church, and I could barely keep my eyes open. I was feeling nauseated and a bit dizzy too. Something just wasn’t right. After church, I took a nap while my mom and Robert packed the car. I had also noticed that my left breast was tender. Similar to being tender when I first wake up in the morning, but it did not go away with nursing. It got more painful as the day went on. I felt so awful, Robert drove the entire trip home. Thankfully Leland slept the entire way, waking only once to eat. Sunday night I assumed the breast tenderness was from so much pumping and that the exhaustion was from the busy trip. After all I had never made the trip before with an infant.

Monday, I barely dragged myself out of bed and to work. Honestly, if it weren’t for Leland I would have called in sick. But the thought of caring for him at home all day seemed more difficult than taking him to daycare and going to work. Thankfully I don’t have any scheduled court this week. By lunch Monday I realized there was a serious problem. My left breast was bright red and very swollen on one side. And it was so, so painful. I called my doctor and scheduled an appointment for Monday afternoon. As I had worried, it was Mastitis.

I started a new antibiotic Monday night praying it would not cause Leland to throw up. Thankfully, he is doing well. Unfortunately, the antibiotic caused me to have an excruciatingly bad headache. It felt like my brain had swelled to twice the size of my skull. I spent most of yesterday huddled in my office in the dark just waiting of the hours to pass so the antibiotic would get out of my system. When I got home last night, I nurse Leland and put him to bed early. I then got in bed by 8 PM.

Today I am feeling much better. I have stopped the antibiotic and am waiting to hear back from my doctor’s office about what I should do from here. It’s been an eventful first major holiday, with some stressful stuff and some really fun, memorable stuff. I will try to post some pictures soon. Thanks for hanging in there with me through this really long post. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!