Weekend Tidbits

-Mastitis is 95% gone.  No more systemic symptoms and just a little bit of discomfort left.  I'm guessing I could kill a vampire just by walking past him with all the raw garlic I've been swallowing, but HEY, no antibiotics needed.  And antibiotics are awful, so that's good.  TAKE THAT Mastitis!

-Jack is still stable... he's off the ventilator which is awesome, but since then there have been few improvements except that he's been able to spend a bit of time actually nursing.  They tried taking him off the prostaglandin again but, again, it didn't go well.  Matt and Lynsey are in it for the long haul.  But man, he is freaking cute and has amazing frosted-tip hair.

-Am I the only person who thinks people who post full-body pictures of themselves in their bathing suits on Facebook are incredibly vain?  "Hey, look at me, I'm 24, single, and have never had children so I am a stick figure with amazing abs, and obviously I want all 457 of my friends to know it!"

-I love cosleeping.  You wanna know one big reason why?  Because one night your kid will sleep almost 9 hours straight, which is amazing, and the next night he will be up every 2-3 hours all night, and you know what?  It's not a big deal.  It's just not nearly as disruptive when you don't have to actually get up out of your bed.  Also, when he decides to spend 40 minutes awake at 4am, it doesn't really matter, because instead of sitting upright in a rocking chair holding him, wishing desperately that I could be horizontal, I can just lie in my comfortable bed with my eyes closed and hold his hand - and he doesn't cry because he's not alone.  And it also makes it so that he's used to falling asleep without nursing or rocking.  Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

-I have to go to bed now, because even though it's not nearly as big of a deal when your baby wakes up every 2-3 hours all night if you're cosleeping, it still makes me want to go to bed at 8.  And it's almost 9 now.

Mastitis

Jack update - he is still on a ventilator following the surgery on Wednesday.  One of the risks of the surgery was that he would have a stroke, but he has full movement in his body so thankfully this didn't happen.  After the surgery to open his pulmonary artery, they tried to take him off the prostglandins that are keeping the pathway that closes after birth open (the one that is still allowing him to live, since his pulmonary artery was blocked), but it didn't go so well so he was put back on.  They are just beginning to tube feed him breastmilk (up until now he has only had an IV glucose solution, except for his first day of life before anything was discovered and he was nursing).

***

So, as the pickle on top of the giant crap sandwich that is my week, I have mastitis.  I have no idea why this is happening, but it is.

At the end of last week I had clogged ducts in my left boob.  They went away after about 24 hours after me applying warm compresses and massaging and nursing as often as possible.

Then on Tuesday I woke up and my engorged left boob hurt more than it normally hurts in the morning (it's always incredibly full).  I nursed Noah (that's his side) and it still hurt and the lower part of my boob still felt about half full, but without a really obvious lump.

As the day progressed I had the chills, my skin hurt all over my body, and I was exhausted.  I was pretty sure I had mastitis, so I started swallowing raw garlic, taking extra Vitamin C and probiotics, ibuprofen, and trying to empty that side as frequently as possible.

On Wednesday my boob still hurt but I didn't feel like crap anymore, so I thought maybe it wasn't mastitis after all.  I stopped doing the garlic and vitamins thing.

On Thursday the pain and fullness in my boob started spreading along the outside of it, and my skin started hurting, I had the chills,whole body muscle aches, joint aches, a headache, and was exhausted again.  I started up the garlic and vitamins again.

Today my skin and muscles hurt again, I'm sooo tired, and my boob has finally gotten red over part of the painful full area.

I really don't get why this has happened, since my left side is Noah's side and it gets drained very well several times a day.  I shouldn't have gotten a clogged duct to begin with.  It's a mystery.

I really really REALLY don't want to take antibiotics, so I'm doing everything I can naturally to get rid of this - even if it takes longer.  Today is a snow day, and Justin has prep last period so he's hoping to come home around 1.  He's cancelling his 3:30-4:30 client, and then it's the weekend.  Hopefully I'll be able to get the rest I need to kick this stupid infection.

Update on Jack

Since there is no sense in me rewriting this, the following update on my nephew, Jack, is from an email written by Matt, my brother:

***

Just so that everyone knows some of the details. Jack was born on Monday, February 4th, at 8:39 a.m. weighing in at 7lbs exactly and 18 inches long. He appeared healthy until before our discharge when a pediatrician listened to his heart and heard an abnormality. So... 

At that point a lot of things happened quickly and we was quickly diagnosed with a blocked pulmonary artery due to the fusion of the valve between it and the right ventricle. This prevents deoxygenated blood from getting to the lungs to be oxygenated. This also leads to an poorly developed right ventricle. Fortunately, there exists a connection between the aorta and pulmonary arteries that exists during pregnancy that they have been able to keep open with medication. This stabilized him and gave him that much needed oxygen that he was having difficulty getting, since the connection begins to close after he is born. 

 Today he is in SickKids in Toronto after a quick transfer from L____'s [their hometown] cardiac department. He is stable and very happy, warm and comfortable. He loves to have his full head of hair played with and will smile if you sing at him and do it. So, lots of fun there. Everything else with our little man is just right, and he's a awesome little dude we are excited for you to all meet and fall in love with him too! 

Today at around noon he will be having a procedure done to open up the valve between the right ventricle and the pulmonary artery using a catheter. This is a minimally invasive procedure that we hope will successfully treat his condition so he can continue growing and become a member of the V's [my maiden name] baseball team we are forming. We really don't know anything beyond this procedure, and doctors cannot give us a timeline for anything. Since he is so small, how his little heart reacts to the opening of the valve is unpredictable. We will likely be at Sick Kids into next week, and depending on complications and success, perhaps weeks. 

The procedure has a very high success rate, but the risks are also great, as all things are around newborns and their little hearts. We pray that you can give extra prayer for little Jack, and keep him in your hearts as we move forward. He could be in the Catheter Lab for the procedure for 3 to 4 hours, so you got lots of opportunity to give a shout out to the Big Man. He is the great healer, and only through His saving and regenerative grace have we been able to make it this far. 

Also pray for Lynsey as she is recovering from a difficult delivery. We are trying to force her to sleep, but she is proving a difficult patient ;). But she is doing better and better every day, and is able to help Jack out in her own way. Pray for both of us to keep going with energy and optimism as we battle with frustration, exhaustion, and basically all the emotions that you can think of. 

***

Poor little man... this makes me cry. But even with all those tubes and wires, he's really adorable, isn't he? He rivals my own newborns (and blow's my older brother's not-cute-newborns out of the water :) I wish I could be with them, but since they are over 3 hours away and I have my own two kids to care for, it's just not possible...

Baby Jack

My brother, Matt, and his wife, Lynsey, had their baby boy, Jack, yesterday morning (2.5 weeks early).  They were planning to go home today, but this morning they found out that Jack has a blocked artery and is being transferred to SickKids in Toronto.  I can only imagine what a nightmare they're going through.  Please send some prayers and/or positive thoughts their way!