Another chapter begins in our journey from preemie to baby to crawling to walking I can’t even think about how many hurdles we’ve jumped recently over the last few months I guess I’ll start with the most recent and walk myself back.
- She said her first sentence ever! “its a baby duckie!”
- She started to recognize mama when she says it- everything has been mama up until yesterday.
- She walked- assisted by our little grocery cart.
- she has tried going to breast!!!!! And i have started to produce milk again and am working on trying to bring it up so she can come off formula.
- She started talking more. Little words here and there.
- She’s officially a race car driver- she’s crawling so fast!
- She now has Daddy as a full-time stay at home parent.
- I am working as a EMS dispatcher with prospects of getting my paramedic (again) and going out in the field or working towards my nursing degree after.
- I met the most wonderful Lactation specialists in AZ
- I overcame Severe mastitis and sepsis
- I started supporting some mothers who are/have gone through similar situations so that they know its not just them
- fell in love with learning how to do acrylic nails and the art that goes into them
- Learning so much about how nursing/pumping can affect a mother as well as those around her- especially a baby
With all this said I can now say that the journey is worth it. I wake up early every morning just to go out to the living room in our one bedroom apartment and see that sleeping little face. We are moving into my Husbands parents house soon and I will have a garden and so much more space for baby girl to zoom around in. I honestly can’t wait for baby girl to play in the garden.
With everything going on I hadn’t been able to blog in forever and I have so much to share with you my friend! I have felt so stifled since I started work.
Well with all this being said I will start my story from 7.5 months postpartum- oof.
By 3 months I had been told I had dried up. No more milk and to not even think about the medication that would help because according to the lactation consultant I saw there was no point. I had received a pump from my husbands insurance at the time, I had thoroughly researched it – (or at least I thought I had) only to find I 1. didn’t have enough help to support pumping and 2. my daughter had severe tongue and lip ties- which they don’t look for in the hospital at all and ICBLC’s are not allowed to talk about it. so for the first 3/4 months of my daughters life we struggled breastfeeding. I ended up with clogged ducts to the point when I returened to the work place I ended up septic thanks to severe mastitis and infection in the breast tissues.
I never realized I was so sick I can remember being so tired and cold all the time even though it was over 100 degrees outside I would be wearing a sweatshirt and long pants because I was so cold. My mind was always foggy. I found no relief from anything. when I finally had enough I ended up emailing my midwifes- the angels of mercy that they are! They pointed me towards a woman coordinated through the ICBLC network who was able to get me in touch with the most wonderful woman and ICBLC I have come to know.
After hearing our story and all the things that ended up going wrong she directed me to start a regimen of turmeric and Arnica with Ibuprofen for the swelling and the pain.
After that things got slightly better but not by much. After a week she came to the apartment to meet us and with all said she convinced me to try again and see what we could do about restarting our breastfeeding journey. She sent me to the AZ breastfeeding medicine and wellness center for ultrasound treatments for making the clogs break down quickly. I ended up pumping crystals and pus for a month, after a month of pumping that I was able to get some antibiotics and antifungals to kill the infection. It was a night and day difference I thought due to all the people I had talked with who were supposed to be experts in the field of breastfeeding that I would dry up like I had been told after 90 days of no pumping- no one told me the pain wasn’t abnormal, and no one heard me when I said I had clogs previously.
That’s all I have for now, and I will try and write more often.
Proud Preemie Mommy 