A Trip to the ER
Thank you so much for all your sweet comments, your prayers and your patience with me as I recover and get back to normal! It has meant so much to come on to my blog and read through each of your comments. 🙂
I promised to fill in more of the gaps of what's been going on so here goes…
Last Wednesday (a little over a week ago), I came down with a throat infection. It was pretty severe and painful right from the start, included some fever and chills, and I was a bit miserable in general. I started doing everything I could do to boost up my body to get rid of it, including eating oodles of raw garlic and taking Oil of Oregano (for their antibacterial and antiviral properties), lots of fresh vitamin C, herbal teas to boost my immune system, lots of fluids and as much rest as I could manage. The fever and chills went away after about 2 days, but the sore throat remained as bad as ever.
Over the course of the week, my throat remained extremely raw, sore and began to get swollen. Eating, drinking, swallowing and sleeping became very difficult. I started to rotate using Tylenol and Ibuprofen to take the edge off of the constant pain, so that I could attempt to sleep and consume enough fluids and calories to make enough milk for my baby. By Sunday, things were quite bad and I decided on Monday morning to see a doctor. He took a quick look and informed me that it was viral, not bacterial, and that there was nothing to do besides rest and get lots of fluids. He commented that my lymph nodes were a bit swollen but that it was fairly normal, and then he sent me on my way.
Thinking I must be overreacting, I tried to continue on with the things that I was doing to boost my immune system and just wait this virus out. But it was getting harder and harder to get fluids and food into me, as I was starting to lose my ability to open my mouth very wide to take bites, and each swallow as I ate or drank was agonizing. I knew that I wasn't producing enough milk for Johanna, who was acting hungry and fussy. The Tylenol began to not even take the edge off of the pain enough for me to sleep at night.
Early Wednesday morning, after tossing and turning from about 12:00-3:00 am as I tried in vain to sleep through the pain, I decided to call the local nurse hotline. I could barely speak on the phone because my mouth sounded like it was full of marbles. She suggested that I either go to the ER immediately or see a doctor first thing in the morning. Since I couldn't sleep anyways, and was feeling desperate, I opted for the ER. I woke Ry up, told him my plans, packed up Johanna, and went to the hospital.
After about 2 hours, I finally saw a doctor. He spoke with me and took a look at my throat, and told me that he knew exactly what the problem was and that he would have me feeling significantly better within several hours. I was so relieved I could have cried! He said that I had a peritonsillar abscess, which is a fancy way of saying that my throat infection (which was an acute case of tonsillitus) had created a secondary infection on my right tonsil, which had filled a pocket of flesh inside my mouth with infected fluid. It was no wonder I could hardly swallow and only with excrutiating pain- it was very raw and inflammed and nearly the size of a golf ball!
The kind doctor (who had once had a peritonsillar abscess himself, so he was very sympathetic!) informed me that I would need to immediately be put on IV antibiotics, as well as anti-inflammatories to bring down the swelling and reduce the pain. I asked whether the antibiotics were truly, 100% necessary. I am opposed to taking them unless it is truly a necessity for my well-being, not just a way to feel more comfortable or get better a little sooner. Antibiotics are very harmful to the beneficial bacteria in the body and are not something to be taken lightly as it can take months and even years to rebuild the body and replace the bacteria and digestive balance that they destroy! He said that unfortunatley they really were necessary since my infection was so severe, so I consented to receive them.
Before receiving the IV, I made the quick decision (something that I had already been contemplating because I knew this was a possible outcome of my situation) that I would not be nursing Johanna as long as the antibiotics and other medications were in my body. Putting antibiotics into her immature system would destroy all of the good bacteria and immunity builders that she had been receiving through my colustrum and these early weeks of breastfeeding. I am not willing to compromise the foundation for good health that has been being established. So I gave her one last feed, as much as she would take, and then received my IV.
I called my husband and asked him whether he could arrange for his sister to meet me at the hospital in a few hours in order to breastfeed Johanna, as she also has a young baby who is still nursing and she lives near the hospital. He said that he would, and also arranged for our brother-in-law to drive him to the hospital to be with me, and for his sister to watch the older children who had been sleeping up until this point.
While I was waiting for Ryan to arrive, the doctor came back to see how I was doing. The IV had helped to reduce the shooting pain (as the pain had been radiating up my jaw and into my ear), but it really hadn't reduced the pain in my throat. He said that we needed to do a simple procedure to drain the abscess. Honestly, I was really scared of it, especially without Ryan there, but there was no choice and I felt God's peace and comfort in the situation. Fortunately, Johanna slept as they transferred me to a private bed and prepared for the procedure. Basically, they first injected a needle with freezing medication (similar to what the dentist uses) straight into the abscess (ow, ow, ow, ow, OW!). Next, he inserted an emtpy, sterile needle into the abscess and drew out as much of the infected fluid as he could until I couldn't handle it anymore. I couldn't believe how much he got out, and I couldn't believe how immediatley I felt 100 times better and I could actually swallow. Wow. Mercifully, Johanna slept through the whole thing, beside my bed in her carseat.
Ryan showed up about 30 minutes later, with a cold smoothie in hand for me (sweet man that he is). We had to wait for me to finish receiving some fluids through my IV (they were also giving me several bags of saline solution since I was somewhat dehydrated from lack of fluids.) After that, I was free to go. They kept the IV in my arm and covered it up with gauze, because I am still receiving my antibiotics through my IV every 12 hours at the hospital. I had never heard of this before, but it is a more agressive approach to really severe infections, and in a day or two they will switch me over to an oral antibiotic to finish things up.
So where are things at now?
I am feeling much, much better. I am pretty tired, but that's mostly because I didn't really sleep for one night, so I am still catching up a bit. Other than that, my throat is still a little raw and sore, so I am only supposed to eat cool, soft foods, but it is getting better. I think that all those natural things I did to help with the virus actually did get rid of it, because once the abscess was gone I realized that my sore throat wasn't really there anymore (but rather it was the abscess that I had been feeling the last few days when I thought it was still the virus). I am sleeping well now, even with the IV in my arm, and in a few more days I think I should feel back to normal.
As for Johanna, she has been off of my breastmilk since that last feed before my IV. Since then she has been nursed by my SIL, given milk by a friend, and last night we got her started on formula. This is not my ideal. At all. I've always wondered what I would do in this kind of a situation and when it actually happened, I knew in a heartbeat that I would rather give my daughter inferior milk for a week or so, than to wreak havoc on her little system through the use of unnecessary antibiotics that she would receive through my milk.
In the meantime, I have several darling friends who are pumping for Johanna, providing her with up to 3 feeds a day of breastmilk, and I am going to try and see if I can get a little bit more. For the other feeds, we are using an organic cow's-milk based formula. It had the cleanest ingredient list I could find in a pinch, and included two ingredients (lactose and coconut oil) that the Weston Price Foundation specifies as being extremely important in their FAQ page on formulas. I am using their enriched formula recipe, by adding lightly cooked organic egg yolk as well as cod liver oil to the formula, and my own addition of Udo's brand of infant/toddler powdered bacterial cultures, which includes bifidobacterium infantis, an extremely important culture found in breastmilk.
I really wanted to do the raw milk homemade formula recipe (all of these recipes are also found in Nourishing Traditions), but on such short notice I could not pull together all of the necessary ingredients and sufficient quantities of raw milk to make it happen, and so we went with the stopgap method of using the enriched formula recipe. It is not a perfect option, but I feel at peace about it, especially as she is receiving some breastmilk every day in addition to the formula and it's a very temporary situation.
I am also pumping (and dumping) in order to maintain my milk supply for when the antibiotics are finished. I am also taking advantage of this short nursing break to do a mild cleanse, to help clean my body out a bit of any toxins that have built up. Since I am usually in the cycle of pregnancy-breastfeeding-pregnancy-breastfeeding, I thought that this was a perfect opportunity to do a little "housecleaning". 🙂
Right now, life is busy! My days are full, with hospital visits for IV therapy every morning and evening, having to prepare formula and wash and fill bottles, feeding Johanna by bottle (for some reason, it's taking her about twice as long to drink the same amount of milk), pumping to maintain my own milk supply, picking up donated breastmilk, and just trying to keep my head above water with simple meals, basic laundry and the children's needs. Phew! I will be so relieved when this is over in a week or so and life can get back to normal (whatever that is!).
Thank you for your continued prayers for a quick and full recovery and also for Johanna to be able to handle this change in the milk that she is receiving and that we would be able to re-establish breastfeeding quickly and easily when this is all over. I will post on my blog as I am able to and hopefully will soon be back to my regular posting schedule!
I enjoy your blog immensely and think you are very wise. I do, however, want to tell you that I disagree with you on this particular issue. I was diagnosed with Lyme Disease when my second child was just six weeks old (we later found out that I had gone undiagnosed for about four years). I was immediatley put on long-term antibiotics and continued nursing my daughter while making sure I took plenty of probiotics, ate a lot of yogurt, etc. My daughter is now five years old and is in very good health. We have not had any problems with yeast or candida and her immune system is strong. I think the greater concern really should be that the people who are donating their breastmilk to your daughter could very well have underlying infections or illnesses that they don’t even know they have. I am confident your daughter will be just fine as long as you are consistent with taking probiotics and other immune boosting supplements.
Glad things are looking up. I can hardly believe how tenacious you are to supply your daughter with the best. I had a situation where I was hospitalized and on meds (surgery and pain killers) and I just gave her regular old formula for a few days. So far, the child is five and healthy as a horse.
I’m glad you are feeling better, but honestly I’m kind of shocked at the breastfeeding issue. I was on antibiotics several times with both babies and nursed them through with no problems…providing them with probiotics as well as taking them myself. There are lots of risks to your supply to go from nursing to pumping exclusively, and in my lactation studies I’ve never seen a contraindication for this except in the most extreme circumstances, not to mention the emotional and psychological implications of your young baby being ‘weaned’ from your breast so very abruptly. Physical nutrition isn’t the only thing provided in nursing. Dr. Hale lists many safe antibiotics and medications that, while certainly not ideal, are not mutually exclusive with breastfeeding.
Which is all fine and dandy, and this being your personal decision–trading one kind of inferior milk for another kind–I wouldn’t bother commenting at all except you are widely read and I’d be horrified if other mothers who DIDN’T have your options and such were frightened away from nursing. Especially in instances of mastitis, which practically require nursing to draw away the infection. I mean, young as she is, if the most necessary thing for her was to be on antibiotics for some reason, would you refuse to give it to her? I hope not! And I hope others wouldn’t either in a similar situation. Normally I find we are very on par and I really respect your decisions even when they differ from mine, but this was extremely concerning.
My spouse had breast cancer and she was forced to wean our four month old son within a week. It is a very difficult decision to have to make and a difficult process to go through.
I see you are getting a bit of flack in the breast feeding department. I know you to be a very thoughtful person so I am sure you researched this and have made the right decision for YOU.
Your story is amazing and I am so glad that you are on the mend.
I felt I had to add, I hate hate HATE to stir up dissension or participate in uncomfortable discussions online. My policy is, in general, live and let live when it comes to things like this! We can agree to disagree etc.
However, again, I’d really feel sad if other mothers followed suit inappropriately at the cost of their milk supply or their baby’s ability to nurse, plus whatever else happens. As another commenter noted, who knows what is in the milk? Certainly, a different chemical make up than what they are used to (and different foods), I fail to see how that is all less hard on their system than going through the illness and antibiotics with you, but that’s neither here nor there.
The point is, I really hope others in a similar situation will think twice before resorting to such extreme and potentially unnecessary measures, especially given the questionable benefits of one versus the other and ESPECIALLY if they aren’t so fortunate to have donor milk immediately available.
If you are determined not to nurse at all during this, are you at least pumping and dumping while you are on the antibiotics to keep your supply up? I nursed our son while I was on narcotics after surgery, as well as our daughter while I was on antibiotics for mastitis. I did take probiotics, eat lots of yogurt and such and had a doctor who prescribed a medicine for a yeast infection simultaneously as the antibiotic so I wouldn’t get one and our daughter wouldn’t get thrush. I’d nurse through it again, but as I said, if you aren’t, I hope you are pumping.
You are a wonderful mom! Thank you for your godly example. There will always be people who disagree with your choices, but you have obviously done research and are doing what you think is best. If your husband is ultimately leading you in these decisions, then you can rest fully knowing that the Lord will lead your husband to lead you.
My prayers are for your peaceful and quick recovery!
Wow! You are very blessed to have other nursing friends who are able to pump and save breast milk for your sweet baby girl.
I’m glad you’re starting to feel better. 🙂
Have you checked out the Yahoo group MilkShare to seek out donor milk? I’ve donated several times and it’s an amazing, supportive group of moms. Good luck on your road to recovery!
Feel better soon!
Oh, I’m so glad to hear that you are doing better. I have been praying and thinking about you so much lately. I just kept thinking that this had to be so hard for you to go through with such a little one who is still exclusively breastfeeding. (I’ve been dealing with somewhat of a similar issue lately with trying very hard to avoid antibiotics in a certain situation because of my nursing baby) Stephanie, I’m sure whatever decision you made was prayed over so just rest in God’s peace, okay? Thank you for what a help and encouragement you are. Praying for you!
I have been praying for you and very glad to hear how God has been answering those prayers! It is very encouraging that he has directed your steps and given you peace about what you should do. My daughter is 3 months and is exclusively breastfeeding and I think I would try to do something very similar if I was in your shoes. I recently had a tick bite that required me to think through some similar decisions. Fortunately for my situation I was able to avoid the high powered antibiotic and do a different natural treatment. But the if the antibiotics would have had to been necessary I would have probably tried to do something similar as I also would not like to have my daughter on antibiotics as high powered as you are taking. Thank you for posting what you did as it gives me some alternatives to look at if I ever needed to do something similarly. I will continue to pray for you and Johanna.
Here is a partial list of antibiotics that are safe for use while breastfeeding, from kellymom.com, a breastfeeding site Stephanie has rightly recommended before:
http://www.kellymom.com/health/meds/aap-approved-meds.html#Antibiotics
Again, just to be clear, I’m not trying to create an issue out of what Stephanie did so much as make sure that other moms take care in their decisions regarding it. Remember that an exclusively breastfed baby has a ‘virgin gut’ in a sense, and adding ANYTHING different to it, whether water or herbal tea or medicine or another form of milk, creates a load on the system. There are emotional and psychological implications for abrupt weaning as well, and this should also be taken in to account. Also, especially the earlier stages of breastfeeding, any kind of disruption can greatly, sometimes irreparably, affect milk supply or the baby’s ability or desire to suckle. It’s definitely not a decision to be made quickly or flippantly. If you ever have a question about medication safety, I also recommend Dr. Hale’s forums:
http://neonatal.ttuhsc.edu/lact/medicationforumspage.html
Hi Stephanie!
I am so glad that you are feeling so much better – it is really an answer to prayer. I would just like to give you a note of caution on the bottle feeding though. If you turn a standard bottle upside down then the teat allows milk to flow out through it. This is what it is like when the baby tries to feed – they get a mouth full of milk with very little effort at all. With breastfeeding they have to put quite a lot of effort in (anyone who has put their finger in a newborn’s mouth knows how strong their suck is!). I just wanted to make you aware that after a few weeks on the bottle I have seen some babies who have found it hard to go back on the breast because their suck has become ‘lazy’. There are specialist teats on the market which mimic the let down as if a baby was feeding from the breast. I know that you must have so much to do at the moment and these teats will be more expensive than standard but I really do think that they are so very important to restoring nursing in the future.
I have never commented before but have really enjoyed reading your blog and seeing all the efforts that you go to to keep your home. It may sound silly but since you have been so generous with your time and energy in maintaining this blog I didn’t feel that I could let this situation pass without contributing my part!
Please feel free to ignore what I have said as I would hate to feel that I obligate anyone to do anything but a good lactation consultant would also be able to help you during this time.
Thank you again,
Sarah , England
Hello Stephanie! We are glad that the LORD has you on the mend. May He give you wisdom and rest in this time of healing. When you get time… (HA HA!!) could you maybe tell us about your cleanse?? I am wanting to do one myself (and maybe even my teens too) and I am a bit afraid of doing one (will I feel really bad??) Is the one that you do really harsh?? Like I said… when you get some “time” maybe you can share about the cleanses that you would recommend!
God bless you and your family,
Cynthia
Hi Stephanie,
I’m very encouraged to hear you are feeling better. I don’t know anything about breastfeeding but I just wanted to say that I’m sure all your readers would understand if you needed to take a break from blogging for a little while, while you heal and recover! I’m not sure if thats helpful, but I felt like I should say it!
God Bless 🙂
Glenda
Just get yourself better-
Your little one needs a mother…do not worry about the breastfeeding…it’s not the end to the end for not breastfeeding…
healing is…
I agree with Glenda above – take the week off blogging next week! Rest up, be at peace, and know that God is with all of you guys.
Prayers on the way,
Jamie
Stephanie,
Glad you’re on the road to recovery. I’ve often wondered what I would do with a nursing baby if I was faced with a similiar situation. Recently, a friend and I agreed we would nurse each other’s babies if the need ever arose. Having dealt with health problems in my children arising from antibiotics that came through me I sympathize with your position. I’m sure your baby won’t have a problem going back to full-time nursing because she is still being partially nursed and her break from you looks like it will be short. Thank God for the wisdom He gives us in dealing with life’s situations and for giving you such a wonderful husband. Take care.
So glad you are feeling better I have been praying for you. You are an encouragement to so many of us other mothers. I think you are wise and know to make the right choices for your family, we all have to do whats right for our family. It must be such a blessing to have mothers who are pumping and lending their milk to you, I think that’s wonderful. I hope that you can get lots of rest so your recovery is fast. Blessings to you and your family!
I’m so glad you’re feeling quite a bit better and the doctor figured out what the problem was. I know it must be so hard to pump and dump and give your daughter some formula but you have wonderful friends to supply you with some breast milk – that’s wonderful!
Continued prayers for healing and recovery.
Dear Stephanie~
I am so glad to hear you are on the mend! I’ve been reading your blog for a while but have never commented. I am a HUGE advocate of breastfeeding ! However, I think you are making a WISE decision in keeping the antibiotics out of your precious baby girl. Personally, we have been working through problems with my daughter’s “gut dysbiosis” for over a year now. We think it was caused by my poor diet earlier in life. It is no small thing as it is a lot of work and involves a lot of detoxification (read misery for whole family:()and avoiding certain foods and other things I wish my 3 1/2 year old didn’t have to deal with. I think you are wise to use donor milk and enriched formula for a short time. It is worth it esp since it sound like you are on some very strong antibiotics which could wreak havoc on her! Obviously, some people have had no problems nursing while on antibiotics, but some have so it is a choice the family needs to come to on their own.
If you lived closer I would gladly hook you up with some of the obscure ingredients for the raw milk formula since we’ve helped other families obtain them through our buying club. Although I never made the formula myself, I know it has helped many other families.
You may find encouragement as I have many times in Jesus’ promise to give rest to the weary who come to him. May you find spiritual rest (and hopefully soon physical rest as well) in our savior and May God give you a quick recovery!
~Jessica
Glad to hear you are feeling better. After my (unfortunate) c-section with my first I had a 6-inch long abscess near the incision. Even though I had healed enough from the surgery to be mobile again, I was in so much pain that I was doubled over and had to use my stroller as a crutch! I had let it go for almost a month before it got to this point. Luckily it was not infected and all the pain was from the pressure it had created! The doctor sent me home for a day to see if it would drain on it’s own before he had to drain it. Luckily that night it did and, like you, there was instant relief. I cannot imagine having one on my throat. I can imagine that you were indeed in a lot of pain!
As for the antibiotics, you’ve got to do what you think is best. I’m sure that some antibiotics are not as harmful as others, but it sounds like you are on some pretty strong ones. My friend went to Thailand a few years ago and got an infection while there. She saw a doctor who prescribed her an antibiotic. She became so ill that they almost did not let her fly home and she had to be wheeled onto the plane. When she got back she went to the hospital and they told her that the antibiotic she was put on was so strong that it had completely wiped out all of her good and bad bacteria. I do not remember the name for the illness that results from this, but she had to spend some time in the hospital to rebuild her body’s defense system. This is obviously an extreme example, but you still can never be to careful with what you give yourself and your baby!
Sorry this was so long! I hope you are feeling better soon!!!
Hi Stephanie, so glad to hear you are better, was praying for you. I see there are some people graciously voicing concerns and I believe they are doing so because they care. I cannot speak to what is right for you and encourage you to trust how God led YOU and your mama’s gut! While this might not be the answer for everyone, God knows you, and your baby and might lead you to do something He might not someone else. He alone knows the future and we can trust His leading, even if it doesn’t make sense to others or us for that matter. Make sense?
I also see that you have tons of comments so this might get lost, but if you have a chance would you mind sharing what you are doing for a cleanse. I too am usually breastfeeding or pregnant and with my recent miscarriage and severe adrenal fatigue I was intrigued by what you might be doing. Thank you
wow, stephanie. glad things are looking better and i’ll be praying that you’ll be able to quickly re-establish your breastfeeding routine with johanna. i, too, have always been in a pregnancy/breastfeeding cycle and have wondered how well i would handle it if something like this prevented me from nursing my baby. you seem to be handling it with grace and peace and wisdom, and LORD willing, all will be well and back to normal very soon. take care–and rest! no need to blog anytime soon–we can wait! 🙂
Hi Stephanie! Hope you are feeling better and continue to recieve God’s healing. As for the breastfeeding issue, you, through God’s wisdom and direction, have made a decision that is best for you and your family. I think you are a very good mom; we should all have so much concern for our children! It is refreshing to see a mother PRAYERFULLY consider the best options for her child, instead of jumping on the first and most convenient option for her own comfort! Thanks for being an inspiration to me.
I am so glad that you are feeling better. I had to bottle feed my son because he could not latch on for he was a premie. It’s not the end of the world. You can do it! Blessings to you and your family.
You certainly made the right choice to go onto antibiotics…these types of things can get VERY serious! I once had IV antibiotics for a Kidney infection LONG ago…what a blessing that if we NEED it…it is there! Hang in there…don’t get stressed over what is not getting done…lots of time to play catch up later…no worries!
Blessings,
Camille
How blessed Johanna is to have such a resourceful mama!
During my nursing years I too donated milk to my baby cousin who was not breastfed by my aunt and was suffering from RSV. It was the best decision for us. I believe those who read your blog know they are capable of choosing what is best for their children.
Bless you for faithfully updating and please take a break and recharge.
-marisa
doula in oregon
Glad you are feeling better and I will continue to pray.
Really, do take some time off from blogging if you need to. All of us will be here when you come back. I know you did that last Christmas for a while…it worked out fine. We all MORE than understand. Your family and the health of all of you matters much, much more than the blog. (Just wanted to encourage you, I hope this doesn’t come across the wrong way…its hard to express in words what I mean but I mean it to be a blessing).
Wow! Such a contoversial topic! I thought it was very wise of you to be concerned for your baby to be receiving meds through your milk, and as for the naysayers- whether you are “right” or “wrong” about the antibiotics being worse for baby than formula, I think they’re missing the point. You made the best choice for you and your baby. Period.
I think it’s sad that so many people think it’s more important to point out how they think you’re wrong instead of offering you support in a descision that was obviously difficult for you and so clearly not what you had planned.
Not to mention, I think that babies are much more resiliant than we give them credit for.
When I was sick, in the hospital after having my first baby, the nurses gave him formula for a few feedings that they let me sleep through (in order to recover). I was very upset at the time that I found out the nurses had gone against my wishes to exclusively nurse.
Looking back however, it did my son no damage. He has always been super healthy and even after this happened, he was sleeping through the night (no tummy troubles).
I hope you get well quickly and that you are able to get back to nursing asap- but in the mean time, be thankful that you have a network of moms to share breastmilk with you and remember that formula is not “bad”. It’s the next best to the breast.
Our prayers are with you and your baby as you recover.
Praise God that He is healing your body and you are feeling better!
How wonderful it is that God has blessed us all with free will and the ability to make decisions that we feel are the best for our families and ourselves!! I might have made different choices then you have in regards to this unfortunate turn of events, but I certainly respect and do not question your decisions. Thank you for sharing with us and God speed on your recovery!!
Blessings!
Oh dear! I hope you feel better soon!
If there was a good way to get the milk to you, I would definitely pump some for little Johanna, too! (If you know of a way, and want some, let me know. I occasionally pump extra to give to Gen, in addition to nursing Enoch, so I know there’s plenty!) 🙂
Blessings,
Michele
Praying for you and your recovery and that the transition back to breastfeeding will go very well. With all the stress your body has been through, you need to get a lot of rest (take care of those adrenal glands!). Thanks for such a wonderful and informative blog!!
Wow, what a situation! How miserable. I’m so sorry to hear you were in so much pain & misery…yikes!! So glad the doctor knew what was going on and was able to help you. Blessings to you & your family…hopefully you’re back up and at ’em soon! 🙂
My heart goes with you Stephanie. My littlest one is four months old and I could not imagine “wean” to put myself in a medicine program. I truly really admire your determination on the pumping because for me, it’s very hard to pump milk out of my breast. I’ve tried it before and I just could do it with my doughter (who is Abby too :)) only in the mornings. My prayers are with you and your family. I really empathize with you and your family story. My husband was misdignosed with limphoma cancer three years ago and we are still strugling with his health. I could really be blessed if you could give me advice and encouragment about how to be the wife of a “sick” man. Usually is the wife who is sick, but with you and me is our husband who is struggling with his health.
I hope eveything gets better soon. Remember, his GRACE IS MORE THAN ENOUGH!!!!
I hope you get all better very quick! Your story was a little scary to read but Thankfully God was there taking care of you all!
When you say that you are going to do a cleanse, what exactly do you do?
Bless your heart…in so many ways. What a rough time.
i’m so glad your feeling OK again.it’s great you can do a cleanse too ,while all of this is happening.i was sick for two weeks in august.i didn’t go to the doctor,for i was afraid he would put me on antibiotics.i do believe it involved my tonsils it was a little bit different then a sore throat.i did get over it ,but it took almost a month.i found your site about a month ago.i absolutely love your inspirations.
Hang in there! You should really be proud of yourself for your quick thinking and good decision making. You are a great mom and your family is lucky to have you.
Hey; you rose to the (nasty) occasion and made decisions on what you felt was best for all those concerned. Doesn’t matter if others agree or not, I think you did a wonderful job at orchestrating for you and your family’s needs when a crisis hit. CONGRATS!! You are awesome.
ugh–I had the SAME THING happen to me many years ago. I was also turned away by our family physician (“you have large tonsils!”) and ended up having the same emergency abcess draining. Mine came back a few weeks later and I ended up having my tonsils out. I hope yours stays away for good! What a horrible thing to have to go through with a young baby to take care of! Feel better!
Pumping and dumping is hard, but def best for your baby…I had to do that for 10 days, when my baby was nine days old due to a blood clot and some supposedly safe, but undesireable and I did not want them in DD’s system! Praying for your full recovery quickly!
Hi! I appreciate your openness about what you’ve gone through. It is so hard to be mommy and be sick. I’ve been there three times since my latest baby’s birth in July. (Mastitis, yuck! Praise God for garlic!!)
I did have a question for you that I hope won’t cause discouragement or controversy!
I am wondering what you would recommend moms of infants do if they don’t have the options of having a “wet nurse” or the ingredients to make the whole foods formula that Sally Fallon has a recipe for? I too am against antibiotics unless absolutely necessary. I have been in a situation with both of my children (one just a month ago!) that required me to take antibiotics. Like you, my situations have come up very quickly with no time to plan. I opted to continue nursing because I do not want to feed my baby store-bought formula.
Do you think there is any way to better prepare for situations like this? My only thought is to begin pumping regularly once the baby is born to build up an emergency store. I don’t pump now because I don’t bottle-feed. I now wish I had been doing so from the beginning.
Thanks for your time!
Wow, what a situation! How miserable. I’m so sorry to hear you were in so much pain & misery…yikes!! So glad the doctor knew what was going on and was able to help you. Blessings to you & your family…hopefully you’re back up and at ’em soon! 🙂
Peritonsillar abscess also known as Quincy really sucks im dealing with it now. Ughhhhh antibiotics in hope it goes away