A Blocked Booby.

OK. So I'm going to skip the post about our trip to La Conner and instead write about my recent trip to the ER. I'll post about the other trip next time.

So I've been struggling to get Babe into some sort of regular sleeping pattern. Currently she needs to nurse to fall asleep and then again (just for a minute) every time she wakes - which is about every half an hour throughout the night! And naps seem to be completely unpredictable. In an attempt to wean her from using the booby as a comfort tool I started nursing her before bed and then just trying to cuddle her to sleep. Then I rub her tummy when she would wake and only feed her twice. It was working until we went away on our trip. We were in a different room, a different bed and we were with the grandparents so the bedtime routine and the non-nursing plan went out the window.

I started again when we got home and she was just learning to fall asleep on her own when...my booby broke. The good one (I've since given up on the runt as it is slowly dying no matter what I do). Ever since the runt died I've been worried that something might happen to the good boob.

On the day it happened I was unsuccessfully trying to get Babe down for a nap at her new scheduled time, without the boob. It wasn't working and this time, because I was so tired myself, I did something I know from my experience as a nanny you should NEVER do in any discipline scenario - I gave in. I caved and said "F**k it," and I let her skip her nap. I gave her to J, which is a new treat now that he is done school and not yet working, and I went down for a nap myself.

When I awoke an hour later something was wrong. My breast felt really, really full and a little sore. I figured I just needed to nurse Babe and went to it. But Babe got frustrated quickly and I realized that no milk was coming out. After repeated attempts to nurse failed I tried pumping. Also a no go.

Now I was starting to panic because Babe won't drink from a bottle and of course it's not like I could just give her the other breast - damn you runt boob!

So I jumped in the shower and massaged the breast in the hot water, then tried again to pump and nurse. Nothing.

Envisioning the horrific freak-out Babe was sure to have when she realized that her precious booby was dead I raced off to the ER in desperation.

Like usual the ER was a zoo but I did get seen quite quickly, probably because the very lop-sidedness of my chest combined with the look of pain and irritation on my face was making everyone else in the waiting room uncomfortable. I guess there is something about a woman with one boob the size of a volleyball and one the size of a pancake that is more terrifying than a severed digit.

I think that doctors presume that a woman who has recently given birth has absolutely no shame or dignity left and are therefore perfect learning tools for medical students. I was seen by a couple of them before the "real doctor" finally came in. My personal favorite was the kid who took my medical history and asked me if the cesarean I had "was for the baby"?

This kid doesn't know a cesarean from an appendectomy and I'm supposed to entrust him with the great responsibility of ensuring my tit doesn't explode?! I think he could tell by the look on my face that it was time to get his supervisor.

I waited for another hour before a nurse found me in my room and realized that I had not been discharged as was written on my chart or whatever. No wonder no one was coming. And after a lot of confusion on the part of the male doctors (who by the way were all young and not at all skilled at hiding their disgust at the sight of my deformed breast) it was finally decided that a female OB should come to see me. So they called her and then promptly forgot about me again. I waited a couple more hours before the OB was able to sneak away from delivering babies and come help me out.

By this point my breast was very big, very sore and very lumpy. I could hardly move my arm because of the pain and I was feeling quite sorry for myself. I was also feeling lonely because of course J was at home with Babe and I was worried about her too. (She ended up drinking frozen breastmilk from a cup that night.)

When the doctor arrived (with another med student in tow) she said something that chilled me to my very core. She determined that she needed to get a breast pump and on her way out of the room she paused at the curtain and said, "I warn you, there is no pleasant way to fix this". Awesome.

Bless her soul she spent an hour rotating warm compresses, painful massage and pumping. I was offered morphine but when I heard that it would be administered through an IV that was the end of the pain management discussion. So I just closed my eyes and tried not to envision a giant zit popping, which I was assured would not be the case.

Only a little milk came out and after an hour the doctor had to go back to the maternity ward. So I was sent home with antibiotics and instructions to pump every hour or so.

After a lot of painful massage, pumping and compresses with a heating pad Babe actually broke the seal at her four am feed. She wasn't getting anything and then all of a sudden...she was choking on the milk it was coming out so fast! What a relief.

Now it's been a few days and I'm still pretty sore but at least the milk is flowing again and my right breast has reclaimed its title as "the good boob".

Thanks to my medical-field-friends S and L who gave me lots of advice and support. In fact L sent me some very helpful links on Mastitis and blocked ducts which I'll pass on below:

http://kellymom.com/bf/concerns/mother/mastitis/

http://www.breastfeedinginc.ca/content.php?pagename=doc-BD-M

Drugs and Lactation Database (LactMed) - "A peer-reviewed and fully referenced database of drugs to which breastfeeding mothers may be exposed. Among the data included are maternal and infant levels of drugs, possible effects on breastfed infants and on lactation, and alternate drugs to consider."

And just a note for any moms who might have the misfortune of getting blocked ducts or mastitis in the future:

A lot of people have told me about using cold cabbage leaves to relieve the pain. You place the big leaves over your breast like a bra. I've heard it works well, but the OB at the hospital told me that cabbage can actually dry up your milk supply and a better solution is to use refrigerated, grated potatoes. They give the same relieving effect but without the risk to the milk.