By the time I returned home from our field trip, my breast ached and it was very painful to nurse the babies. I knew by then that I had a plugged milk duct. I've had them many times before. Usually I can get them to go away very quickly but sometimes they persist and I develop mastitis. And this time that's exactly what happened.
Within minutes, I started to feel dizzy and ill. Next came the rapidly rising fever. I ushered the children back upstairs from the basement where we were doing school lessons. By the time I got everyone upstairs and sat down, the room was spinning and my head was throbbing. I remember talking to a friend on the phone but can't remember exactly what I said. I was confused and sick.
I took my temperature that afternoon and it was 105.5 degrees. I didn't even know that your body temperature could go that high without killing you! I thought for sure that I was going to die. I became delirious, crying out for Jason. The kids tore into the cabinets, fixing snacks and helping themselves as I lay crumpled on the couch. My nephew came over and kept the children under control so that I could rest. I don't know if I actually slept at all or just writhed in agony the whole time. I nursed babies on the infected breast constantly, trying desperately to unclog that duct.
I am starting to feel a bit better now, but still have a golf ball-sized lump near my armpit. My fever is gone but I still feel weak, shaky, and sore. Because of my experience working with so many other breastfeeding moms, as well as my own experience in the past, I'm confident that things will clear up on their own. Either that or my boob will just rot off.
All it takes is one day of illness to wipe out my New Year's resolutions. No shower, no time for myself, and certainly no running. That should just about do it! I didn't even make it through the month of January. Can I get a do-over?
I made the executive decision to hire a "mommy's helper" finally. I am still hoping to get respite care from the military, but in the meantime I am going to use some of Jason's extra combat pay to hire 2 teenage girls to help me. One will come on Monday afternoons for 4 hours and one will come on Thursday afternoons for 4 hours. I'm paying them $10/hr to help out while I'm here working (and hopefully taking a shower.) Is that a reasonable rate? These are teen girls from our local homeschooling group and I am not sure what the going rate is since I've never hired a babysitter before.I've got my fingers crossed that we get some good news next week. As of right now, we still don't have a tenant for our house in Georgia. The current tenants are moving out in a few days so I'm starting to get nervous! I am so not cut out to be a landlord. My sanity can't handle it.
Have you checked out my Get Clean review? I extended the giveaway for these awesome products because I was on my deathbed the day the giveaway was supposed to end. If you haven't already, leave a comment for a chance to win!Also, I recently read the greatest book about twins. If you have twins, are a twin, know twins, or just want to learn more about twins, you should read One and the Same. I can't say enough good things about it! I'm going to let everyone in my family read it. This book made me think about things that had never even crossed my mind when it comes to identical twins.
After reading One and the Same, I was even more curious about the research behind identical twinning. A lot of people ask me about the odds of having 2 sets of identical twins. My own family has wondered how on earth it happened. Heck, I ask myself that everyday! I emailed the author of the book, Abby Pogrebin, and she emailed an expert and asked him for me. What he said can be read on her blog, but basically this was his answer: If you have 2 sets of identical twins it's most likely that one set is not identical (not the case with us), the mother did IVF (not me!), or it's just a big coincidence. Yep, that's my kids-the big coincidence!
I'm going to go try to get this golf ball out of my boob. Here's hoping that everyone has a great weekend!
