Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Mastitis for 100 Alex

Since leaving the hospital, I pretty much have taken ibuprofen every 6 hours like they told me to.

Saturday I missed a dose by a few hours and noticed I got the chills. I took my temperature and sure enough I had a fever. It was only 100.1 but enough to make you notice it.  So I took my dose of ibuprofen.

Monday I missed a dose again (one week out of the hospital) but didn't think anything of it since I was one week out. Again I noticed I had the chills so I took my temperature and it was 100.5. I really didn't feel well at bedtime and was up sweating and having the chills a lot overnight.

Tuesday morning I decided to call my OB-I was getting worried that something with my VBAC wasn't right. I talked to my doctor around 10am and she told me to discontinue the ibuprofen for the day and to keep an eye on my temperature. My last dose of ibuprofen was around 4am or so.

So I felt good most of the day Tuesday-checked my temperature on and off and it was 98.6-normal as could be. Around 3pm I started to feel freezing so I checked my temp-it was up to 101.1.  I called the doctor and they didn't get back to me until 5pm-they wanted me to come in on Wednesday.

Today I went in and since they had no idea where the fever was coming from, they had to do a full exam-just what you want to do one week post partum!  Thankfully it wasn't too painful and everything with my old c-section scar seemed normal. 

The verdict? I have mastitis. I did notice one of my breasts was a little red underneath, but it wasn't painful at all and I just thought it was red from my bra strap. I guess when she examined them, the one that was red also felt a little lumpy which means I have a clogged duct (which is what causes mastitis in the first place).  I know a few people who have had mastitis and their symptoms seemed way worse than mine. Maybe I caught it in an early stage? 

Now I'm on antibiotics for the next 10 days and hopefully that takes care of it!  I'm just glad it wasn't something more serious!

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