2 Months

Baby P is 2 months today. Can't believe it's been two months, it feels like ages ago that we rushed to the hospital. The past 2 months has been a real rollercoaster ride.

My folks came over for a wedding yesterday, so today we celebrated baby P's monthsary and our bunso's birthday. Hubby was away. At dawn, I saw my mommy sleeping beside me and baby. As soon as baby woke up, mommy was all over him. Daddy soon followed as well as my sister who stays in the province. It was nice seeing them fawning all over baby P.

And my, P is being responsive to all the doting. He is starting to stare and coo. He still likes to "tangad" though - crane his neck way way up high and "look up." In between all the fawning, mommy kept teaching me things to do with baby. Mommy can be makulit at times but she really knows a lot about babies. Sigh, I sometimes wish Pangasinan is just a hop and skip away.

We had a belated lunch at Pinac at UP Town Center. Food was okay and affordable. Afterwards, I had to go to Medical City SM Annex for my breast ultrasound. I got the result but the radiologist did not interpret it for me. Ugh. Check up again tomorrow.

Valentine's Day 2015

So how was your Valentine's Day?

Mine was spent in Medical City for surgery, specifically incision and drainage for my mastitis. Yes, my plugged ducts developed into full-blown mastitis. Sigh. I chose to be sedated so one minute I felt the doctors cleaning my left breast, the next minute I was in the Recovery area.

So I am on house arrest this week. Last Monday and yesterday, we went to the surgeon so he can clean the wound and change the dressing. He also taught hubby to do the cleaning and dressing which we did earlier. I am also pumping milk despite the wound because plugged ducts recur. Again, I never thought breastfeeding can hurt this much. 😞

P.S. For someone who was never hospitalized prior to giving birth, my trips to the hospital are rising ha. Sana tumigil na. 😞 gusto ko check-up check-up lang, please.

On Breastfeeding

Who here thinks that breastfeeding is supposed to be easy? *RAISES BOTH HANDS*

Yes, I thought breastfeeding was going to be easy breezy. How hard could it be to plug your wee babe to your boob?

How mightily mistaken was I. The first three weeks with baby P was okay. He'd wake up to feed every 2 to 3 hours. I slept when he slept. My complaint then was not getting enough sleep, among other household concerns. 

Suddenly, he was feeding every hour on the hour. He'd detach himself from my boob and be all asleep but when I'd  lay him down in the crib, he'd wail as if he was hungry and not feeding in the first place. So I'd feed him again. And again. For a few days, we'd be nursing for five hours straight.

They say you're supposed to nurse a baby equally from both breasts. For some reason, my left breast started hurting. It got engorged that it really really hurt when my baby nursed on it. I bore the pain for a week until I got a fever and chills. I was rushed to the ER where they diagnosed me with mastitis. I was given antibiotics for 2 weeks. Then, we started giving baby formula to add to my breast milk.

I also started expressing milk. I'd get 1-2 ounces from my good breast and a few drops from my left breast. So frustrating. The first few times I fed my baby formula because he was still hungry and I was already drained, I felt like a failure.

Two weeks passed and my left breast was still one hardened mess. We went to a pedia who's a lactation expert and she said I didn't have mastitis, only plugged ducts. I had to put warm compress, breastfeed, pump and take another week of antibiotics. She also prescribed lecithin to thin out my milk or something.

At the moment, I am on my second to the last day of antibiotics. My left boob is still all plugged up and I only get a few drops when I express from it. Thank God my right one is still okay. I lug around a small cooler and manual pump on the LRT to work so I could express twice in the office. Did I mention that I just moved to a new office so I am still adjusting?

Now my life can be summarized as: work, pump, breastfeed, wash and sterilize all pumping paraphernalia (manual and electric), breastfeed, try to sleep while baby is sleeping, and repeat.

Don't get me wrong, I want to give my child my breast milk. Heck, I'd even donate all my excess milk. But I never imagined it could physically hurt this much. Sigh. I hope my defective boob gets well soon. :(

38 Weeks and Baby Out!

Hello, hello!

I'm alive and I've given birth!

In my last entry, I wrote that the OB was psyching me that I might give birth in January. I had my next check-up on December 20. Per gestational age, I was 38weeks and 3days then. OB performed her first IE on me and remarked that my cervix was still high or something so I won't be giving birth anytime soon. Oh well.

EDIT:

I even had this post in my Drafts dated December 19:

Despite the declarations of my OB, I'm playing the waiting game. The past couple of days, I've been experiencing hardening of the tummy, some cramping and stabbing pain down there. As always, I talk to balong and tell him that should he decide to come out, sana early morning so it won't be traffic going to Medical City. Ha.

I want to give birth na. The hardening of the tummy makes me worry because I've read about painless contractions and all along, I've been thinking that pain is the one unmistakable sign of labor. But I haven't experienced any other signs, i.e., bloody show, water breaking, etc. So, waiting game.

Anyhoo. Hubby and I were to attend a birthday party that night, and instead of heading home, we decided to go to Trinoma. I remember walking around a lot and buying a gift at Toys R Us where there were lots of people. Then hubby and I had frozen yogurt at Red Mango before heading to the party.

We were early birds at the party. I ate spaghetti, rice with pakbet sabaw, a prawn, salmon, lechon, and buko salad for dessert. I think I also had cake. Gluttony, I tell you. We got home before midnight.