Thursday, July 16, 2009

Cabbage filled bra, a month without Patxi, and the taste of spit up

Yup, Patxi will be gone for a whole month and I'm somewhat daunted by the task of caring for Valin alone for that long. Well, mostly being able to shower it what worries me. I think I'll be fine but I really do miss him and really realize how much he helps out.

The thing about the cabbage...well, as you know I stopped pumping. With Patxi being gone, I would really struggle with pumping and attending to Valin's needs plus getting Mastitis was really the last straw. Well, Sunday my patience crumpbled and I was determined that the sooner I stopped pumping the sooner I would be dry. I was slowly takeing out pumping sessions but it wasn't until Sunday that I finally ended it. So I was in tons of pain by Monday morning and my WIC breastfeeding counselor called and said that placing cabbage leaves into my bra will help with the engorement. I didn't want to believe her but I was hurting so much so I tried it. At first it felt wonderful because the leaves were cold. But then that wore off after 20 mintues. But by Monday night, my pain was greatly redued, so smuch so that I could sleep on my side that night. I continued to fill my bra with cabbage and by Tuesday night I only felt pain if I got a straight shot, but the best was the fact that I could hold Valin. I'm still engored but it doen't hurt very much now. I've only stopped because they started to make me itch. But it was amazing and weird all at the same time. It's kind of crazy but I recommend it.

And lastly the taste of spit up. Well, I of course was planning with Valin, throwing him up in the air. Well, I'm sure you've guessed it, but he spit up on me when my mouth was open. Needless to say it was disgusting. I still feel a little queasy whenever smell his formula.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Some cute pictures -wow, he just turned 5 months!

Valin being cute and sucking on his bottom lip.

Eating some oatmeal cearel.

Trying on Patxi's army berret.

With his aunt Seren.

Valin in Grandma Waite's Jonny jump up. The Nelsons were to wonderful and bought us one so this is him at home.

Happy 4th of July!



Here mom Valin is in the outfit you bought him. Thanks!
We went to Independance, OR for awesome fireworks display. It was great. They lasted for a good half and hour.

That is it! I'm FINISHED!

Those were the words I was saying to my self as I sat on the couch in pain and shaking from having a fever of 101. My goal for pumping until he was six months was thrown out the window when I got Mastitis this last Sunday. Yes, that's an infection in my milk ducts (my left to be precise). It meant terrible pain, chills, pain, nausea, pain, exhasion, achiness, and more pain. I'm done pumping!

It started Saturday morning. Well I guess I hhave to say for background info that about two weeks ago I stopped pumping at night. I reasoned to my milk suppy that it would be as if he was sleeping through the night, but I would have to make sure that I was draining it totally in the morning. But for some reason I guess it didn't totally Saturday morning. I noticed that my left was sore (more than usual) but I pumped again and drained it and thought noting of it. But of course Saturday was the 4th, so I went way too long without pumping that night. When I finally did pump I notice that I didn't get much from my left. This should have been my tip off (the milk dust were clogged), but I still continued with my schedule (not pumping at night).

Then while I was leading the music in Sacrament Meeting Sunday morning, it really started to hurt, and I mean really hurt. I could feel it swelling and it hurt so much I couldn't fold my arms. I was on the brink of tears which means alot since I hate to cry in a public place. After Sacrament meeting I had a thought it could be Mastitis but I didn't have the symptoms of a fever that comes with it. Then halfway into Sunday School, I started to get the chills. I was cold and shaking like crazy -even though it was in the 70s. The crazy thing was that I couldn't go home because I had to teach in Relief Society. Oh man, did I pray that I could get through my lesson and that my hand writing would be legiable since I was shaking so much.
Finally I got home and tried to get a hold of someone to tell me what I needed to do. I was told to drain it which could take 24 hours because the duct were clogged and to start taking anitbiotics.

Well, I was suck to that terrible mechine for the next 5 hours with a fever of 101.6 shaking, achy, sweating, and in the most pain that I've been in since I had Valin. Yes, it hurt, but I could easily take it, but dealing with this fever was terrible. I also got a whole lip full of cold sores from that sinking fever.

But finally I got it drained. The milk was a sickly gray color and it had this dark green dregs toward the bottom and then when we washed the container there was a sick mucus residue. Oh, it was disgusting. I thought about taking a picture but thought that you might not want to lose your lunch. Here is a picture of what it looked like almost 24 hours after I got the infection.
The bottle on the left is there to show was normal breastmilk looks like.

Anyway, my fever broke around 6 Sunday evening after I got it drained, took a nap, and started taking antibiotics. I was ten times better after that. The soriness slowly stopped by Thursday which was also when my milk started to run white again. But I have an appointment next Tuesady to bring my pump back to WIC. So I'm finally going to be free from that machine! That calls for a celebration dance!

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Preparing a house to sell and sucking on toes

First of all, I want to say sorry for not posting in a while, But things havebeen quite busy as of yet. Actually if anything happens to you it all to happens at the same time. So to start, The Nelsons are moving in Septmeber and put their house on the market last Friday, which means major de-clutering to get the house showable to persective buyers. In the Nelson's house, the cluter seems only to move from room to room and then end up on the back porch. It seems to also "magically" find it's way back inside (Wanda has a hard time letting go of things). Today we had two appiontments to show the house so it had to be spot-less. It was quite a job because last weekend we had over twenty people here to the Fourth of July and as well as relatives contining to stay in the house. Plus Wanda and Merle were both sick and couldn't really do anything. It was crazy and we were rusting out the job at five passed, but it got done.

Valin is in this phase were he will suck on almost anything. It's almost automatic -as soon as he gets something in his hand it goes straight to his mouth. Once while he was drinking from his bottle he grabbed my glasses and automatically brought them to his mouth even though he was busy eating. Well this also rings true for when he gets a hold of his toes. Here a picture -he is actually sucking on them!