“real”

Somebody ‘gently’ reminded me that the title of my blog is ‘Real’ Mommy Chronicles.  The reason they reminded me of this was because I was so vague about having something happen medically that prevented me from posting.  The truth is that I had Mastitis, which is directly related to being a ‘Mommy.’ This person obviously had an excellent point – if I am going to do a blog with this title I really should be open and honest about things like that.

The funny thing is that I think several years ago I probably would have just not only said what I had, but explained every little detail.  I mean, my nickname growing up could have been ‘Open Book Annie.’ God, I love nicknames. In my Senior year high school yearbook I listed like 8 nicknames for myself.  Then I had to go back and take six of them out because my best friend totally called me out and reminded me that nobody actually used those other nicknames, I just wished they did.  Gotta love friends that give you reality checks.  Anyway, sorry I am officially waaaay off topic.

So, I was always extremely open about every little detail of my life until about nine years ago when I started dating someone (don’t worry, my husband won’t be jealous – it’s him) who might be the most private person in the entire world.  Over the years we have both moved a little toward the middle, which means I have started holding some things back and being slightly private, on occasion, every once in awhile- okay, a few times a year.   And he is sometimes willing to tell people something crazy like his middle name or where he grew up. In any event, all of that is to explain what made me hold back from giving details about what exactly was wrong with me.

Back to the Mastitis. I realize this could be an embarrassing thing for women to talk about. I mean, they could do something about the name of it for starters.  C’mon.  Mastitis? Really? Do you think they are aware of what word is in there?  Then, you find out that it is a breast infection, which again, just sounds so terrible. And don’t even get me started on the horrific images they show on Google images. Why do they do that? The images on Google images of any medical issue are always so insanely grotesque, extreme and frightening. Ladies, if you haven’t yet gone through breast feeding, please know that I can say first hand that Mastitis does NOT always look like that!  In fact, I didn’t notice anything visually. I started having chills and a fever and was achy all over.  I called my doctor and she immediately told me to take my shirt off.  (She is so frisky!)  In all seriousness, she asked me to look for any red areas and there was one somewhat pink area.  I just want women to know what the symptoms can look like and how you could even check before you call the doctor.

Lastly, the best way to prevent getting this is to nurse, nurse, nurse, and nurse some more.   Actually, that is the best way to help fix it as well. The issue begins with a clogged milk duct and can turn into an infection (hence the fever, etc.) so nursing can help unclog the trouble spot.  It happened to me probably because I have a ‘sleeper.’ Carlitos was (and IS) such a non-sleeper and such a voracious eater that I see why this didn’t happen with him.  However, John Xavier LOVES to sleep and I actually have trouble waking him up to eat! I think I let myself sleep through one too many nighttime feedings instead of forcing him to nurse .  It was just so tempting because I am so exhausted and it is so amazing to have a baby that wants to sleep!  I have learned my lesson the hard way and I hope that all of this can prevent someone else from going through this because it is really terrible.

Update: My doctor prescribed me antibiotics and tons of nursing.  I felt better after about 24 hours and then let myself get a little lax with the nursing again. (One extra hour of rest is just so tempting when you are this tired! How did I not learn?!?)  Today I relapsed and spent about 5 hours dealing with fever, chills and pain again.  Additional lesson learned? Just because you are on antibiotics doesn’t mean you can back off on the nursing!

Okay, I hope that was all ‘real’ enough for everyone.  Probably too real for some of you, but that’s life. Life in the ‘real’ world. hehe

Here is some additional info for any nursing moms or soon-to-be moms:  Mastitis info