Let's take stock here.

Melissa and Lucy's Big Breastfeeding Adventure

10.21.10 - Lucy is born! Seems to sort of latch ok in the hospital, but Melissa is largely too tired to notice. Lactation consultant (LC) comes when Lucy is sleeping, never to be heard from again.

5 days old - Visit the pediatrician, Lucy is down 9 ounces from birthweight, despite nursing nearly every second of every day. Discuss latch issues. Purchase nipple shield on the way home.

6 days old - Melissa realizes she has Raynaud's (AGAIN) and trundles down to the local CVS to fill a Rx for nifedipine. This makes her face flush, knees hot and creates a constant low level headache. Meanwhile, Lucy's latch is shallow and she won't latch on the left at all. Nipple shield continues. Nipples bleeding. Melissa finally admits nothing in her bag of tricks is working and sees a local LC. Lucy is diagnosed as being classically tongue tied to the gumline. Very painful for me, frustrating for her, and dangerous because she can't transfer milk to grow. Referral to ENT for frenotomy.

8 days old - Lucy's tongue is clipped. Breastfeeding is now possible. Lucy transfers milk and begins to gain weight. The heavens rejoice. Melissa must massage under Lucy's tongue at every feeding. The angry, fuzzy turnip screams at me every time.

12 days old - Pain resumes. Spent the last 4 days re-teaching her to latch correctly but something isn't right.

14 days old - Back to ENT. Frenotomy has scarred down, retethering her tongue. Must repeat procedure and commence tongue massage for next 5 days.

3 weeks old - Something is still wrong. Latch looks good, but Melissa still in pain and crying during feedings. Boppy cover is stained with mascara drippings from crying while feeding. Visit a LLL meeting. Leader says latch looks good, thinks it's thrush, but neither of us have symptoms. Melissa goes home defeated, but continues to work on deep latch techniques and lots of nipple sandwiches.

3.5 weeks old - Ok, maybe it is thrush. Get probiotics. Begin taking them myself and coating Lucy's mouth with them. Woken up by feeling like glass is being driven through my nipples.

4 weeks old - Page UNC midwife in tears. She advises to page the UNC LC's "warm line" who will have me come into the hospital, provide a breastmilk sample which they will culture and then give me an Rx. Oh, but it's Sunday, so she doesn't know how responsive they will be. Page the UNC LCs, who never call me back. Call in a favor from a friend and Lucy is prescribed a Nystatin wash for her mouth.

Yesterday - Give up on UNC midwives, call the birth center and speak to a helpful nurse. She gets a midwife to call in an Rx for Diflucan for me, but says I must be seen in 24 hours. Begin taking Diflucan, continue with Nystatin for Lucy and the probiotics for us both. Latching is still awful, especially on left.

Today - See NP at the birth center. She agrees it's thrush. Continue all protocol above, but add grapefruit seed extract and lotrimin to nipples after every feeding. If it's not remarkably better next week, then we still have a latch issue and we need to be seen by their LC (who is wonderful). Agree to call on Monday with an update. Continue to fight through every feeding. Latch, relatch, latch, relatch.

So, here's the lineup:

Nifedipine - 3x/day, for Raynaud's, take indefinitely

Probiotics - 1x/day, Melissa and Lucy for a month

Diflucan - 1x/day for 2 weeks

GSE - wash nipples with this after every feed

Lotrimin - apply to nipples after GSE

Prenatal - 1x/day

Vit. D - 1x/day, Melissa and Lucy

Nystatin - apply to Lucy's mouth 4x/day

Advil - 600mg as needed for pain

Every night, boil all pacifiers, pump parts and Nystatin syringes. Throw everything away after 2 weeks. Wash all clothing in hot water with vinegar for two weeks.

And oh yeah, don't forget to breastfeed every 2-3 hours around the clock, care for your newborn, care for your toddler and be some semblance of a spouse. Showering optional.

I'm so hoping this is the last issue I have to deal with while nursing. We haven't tried a bottle yet, but it's been super tempting. And I know, it would still be breastmilk, but I just don't want to introduce any other players into this train wreck yet. Good news is, Lucy is growing like a piglet. I'm the only one struggling, she's none the wiser.

Mostly this is for my record in case someone else faces something similar. But, if you are reading this - the take home message is to be kind to a nursing mom. If you see one, smile at her. Not a weird, hoping to catch a glimpse of some nip smile, but a kind smile. If it's your sister, friend, aunt, cousin, whatever, ask her if she needs anything. Offer her a drink of water. Sit with her while she nurses. Squeeze her shoulder. Encourage her. She may look like an experienced, confident mom but she may well be going through complete and total hell.