Last week on Monday evening Kevin started to feel a little ill. He was complaining of an upset stomach, but he thought it had something to do with the eggs he ate earlier. We went to bed expecting him to feel better in the morning. I woke up around 2:00 when Julia wanted to eat. I got her out of her bassinet and took one step away when I heard a noise. It sounded like a man had just cleared his throat very loudly downstairs; I froze. Then I heard it again. So I quickly ran into our bedroom loudly whispering Kevin’s name. When he didn’t respond to his name I went to the bed to shake him awake. As soon as I realized he wasn’t in bed my heart slowly returned to beating the normal speed. I took Julia into the other room where I change her diaper and nurse her and discovered Kevin was up with flu symptoms. As I was sitting and nursing Julia I started to feel a little queasy myself, but I thought it was all in my head since I kept hearing Kevin get up. I still told myself the same thing when I went back to bed. By the time daylight came, Kevin and I both had flu symptoms.
Chloe did very well entertaining herself that morning, but neither of us could hold Julia for very long because any way we tried to hold her we had too much pressure on our stomach. I wasn’t too worried about Chloe -- I didn’t want her to get sick, but I knew she’d be okay if she did. I was very worried about Julia catching the flu from us; I was afraid we were going to end up at the hospital before the week was over. I finally managed to convince Julia that she was being held while I was lying on my side on the couch. I put one arm under her head, turned her towards me (just far away enough that she wasn‘t touching my stomach), and put the other arm across her almost like a hug. I was so grateful that she bought into that scenario and slept. The downside was that I couldn’t sleep because she was right at the edge of the couch. Kevin asked one of the ladies of the church if she would be willing to come over and hold the baby so we could rest. That was the best idea even though I felt bad asking somebody to come into our house while we were sick. By Wednesday I was feeling fine. Kevin wasn’t completely back to normal for a few days, but he had much more sever symptoms than I had.
Thursday I started having problems of a different sort. It was painful to nurse Julia; actually, I was in pain all the time. By that evening I was running a high fever and felt absolutely miserable. I called the lactation consultant at the hospital on Friday and was told to call my doctor to be seen. He got me in that afternoon and diagnosed mastitis. Luckily Kevin was basically feeling fine and my mom was coming in for the weekend. That gave me lots of help around the house. I still have six more days of antibiotics, but I am feeling much better.
Yesterday we went back to the doctor so the family could be seen. Only Chloe and Julia had appointments for check-ups, but the doctor wanted to know how I was doing with the medicine and Kevin had a question for the doctor about an ailment. Both girls are still healthy and growing like weeds. Chloe weighed in at 28 pounds 8 ounes (75th percentile for her age) and measured 33 ½ inches (50%). Julia gained a pound and a half over the past two weeks and now weighs in at 11 pounds 1 ounce. The doctor isn’t worried about how many times Julia nurses in a day anymore and gave me permission to feed to her demand (which I already had been doing). I just wish she’d demand more during the day so we could sleep all night.
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