Nursing Woes...Again

I have never had so many problems with nursing. I've had more problems with Kenna than with all three of the others combined. As you may remember, we had 8 days of utter frustration when Kenna was a newborn not wanting to latch on unless we had experienced an hour's worth of screaming first. Once we got past that, things were fine.

Then Kenna got thrush. We treated that (why, oh WHY did I not demand that the pediatrician give me something too?!) only to find that as she got better, I got worse. I had to make a separate appointment for me to go to Family Practice, see a doctor for all of 2 minutes, and get cream to treat myself. OK, OK, so I was a little lax last week when we were in Idaho, but I got right back on it as soon as we got home.

Now Kenna's got it again. Unfortunately, there isn't a refill available for the prescription she had, and of course it's all gone. I called the pediatric clinic yesterday for a phone consultation, and after 3 separate calls and 2 people taking notes, I still don't have any resolutions. Last I heard they were going to try to get a doctor to sign off on the prescription so I wouldn't have to drag all 4 kids out for an actual appointment. I was busy getting ready for a stamping event last night, so I didn't realize how quickly time was going by until it was 5 p.m. and I realized I hadn't heard anything back from the clinic. And of course today is a holiday, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to hopefully get some resolution.

As if that weren't frustrating enough, it would seem that I now have a plugged milk duct. I noticed yesterday in the early afternoon that I was tender on my right side. I thought it was because Kenna hadn't really nursed well on that side--we noticed earlier that she would only nurse well on the first side when she was dealing with thrush before. So I tried nursing her again about an hour later. I felt a bit better, but I realized I was getting really tender. Immediately I began praying that I would NOT get mastitis...I had that once with Arden, and it was terrible.

I've been starting Kenna on that side...I took a hot shower last night...I've been taking Motrin...I've been putting hot packs on it...and I guess I'll just have to keep trying. I may even start pumping in between Kenna's feedings, which are about every 3-4 hours or so. Next time she nurses I'm going to try a different position.

It's so utterly frustrating! I had planned a 6-mile run today since Ted's off work, but there's no way that is happening. Sigh. I just pray this will resolve quickly and that it doesn't develop into mastitis.