Infections, Infections, Infections!

Anna has pink eye.  It started in one eye and moved to the other.  We noticed it in the first on Sunday night and she saw the dr. on Monday.  We got the antibiotic drops and started them immediately.  Has it clearned up?  No, not really.  Just moved to the other eye and is possibly started to infect Emilie.  We put drops in her eyes, too, just to ward off the infection.  I think it's working, but I'm not very trusting right now.

Around the same time we noticed Anna's pink eye, Charles noticed a pimple looking sore on his thumb/hand.  He messed with it a little to try and drain it, warm compresses, etc.  It became severely infected so he went to the dermatologist who took a culture of it and told him not to touch the babies.  What?  He HAS to touch the babies!  So Dr. Kraus said he could wear surgical gloves to touch the babies.  He was supposed to hear the results (possibly Staff) by Friday.  Has he heard back from them?  Nope.  Go figure. 

Earlier in the week I felt a pea sized bump in my breast.  I was told by the doula and the lactation consultants (not to mention every book and online article I could find) to contintue to pump to unblock the duct.  So I did, which caused a bruise.  Now that bruise is much bigger, and is not just a bruise....it looks like black rotting flesh.  Nice, I know.  My entire breast also burns very badly (a typical symptom of Mastitis), on occassion I feel flu like symptoms, but not very often, and I do feel nauseous quite a bit.  Before these symptoms I called the oncall Dr. on Tuesday night to start on some antibiotics because I had heard about Mastitis, and I surely did not want to get it.  She told me if it wasn't better by Thursday to call them.  I couldn't wait, I called Wednesday night for pain.  The night nurse we hired for that night told us at midnight that I was going to need pain meds, that it was the worst case she's seen.  Great.  So off Charles went to pick up my prescription at 2 am, and the oncall Dr. said to go see a breast specialist the very next day.  I did, and she said it is a very very severe case.  She had it recently, but hers wasn't this bad.  Makes me feel g-r-e-a-t.  Anyhow, long story short, I have a "very very severe (that's what everyone keeps saying, along with the "ewwwwww, you poor thing") case of Mastitis along with what seems to be dead, rotting, black skin on my areola (sorry if TMI, but after having a baby all modesty goes out the window).  I really want to take a picture and post it so you can all see how awful it is, but I will spare you the uncomfortable moment.  So here I am, in the hospital again on iv antibiotics, waiting for the 12 hour mark which will tell us if the antibiotics are working or not.  My breast is very red and tender, feels like a really bad sunburn, and is SUPER swollen and engorged because I can't pump to express the milk (causing engorgement) due to the area of black rotting skin.  Fun times. 

In the meantime, my mother has been doing just about everything at home with the babies, and her friend Terry DuPree came over a few days ago to help with a few feedings, and is now back to stay the night with my mom to help with the babies.  It's too much for one person at this stage in the babies lives.  Thank God for Mom, and thank God she has great friends like Terry,  AND her friend Kathy is coming to stay the night Saturday to help with babies.  Double score because she is trained in infant feeding.  Let's see if she can give us some tips to get these babies to eat faster so we can all sleep! 

Well, I wish I had pictures of our week to share, but we weren't having a whole lot of fun recently.  St. Patricks Day was Thursday so I'll leave you with a picture of the girls in their shamrock sleep n play outfits. :)

Anna (not enjoying her pink eye)

Emilie