Testimonial: The Horror Virus

Since we got home, my phobia is that a person with a cold or a stomach bug will come into my house! Can you imagine breastfeeding 2 babies who have a completely blocked nose? Or who dehydrate and want to drink every hour? No thanks! Stay at home with your germs!

But hey, you can't live away from society for months!

It's early February, my boys are 2 months old. I don't know how I got hold of this horror bug, but I caught it: super intense sore throat, fever, headache, vomiting, and stomachache. The package deal killed anything.

And it always seems that the symptoms start the day when you have 2-3 appointments scheduled on the agenda: I vomited at the osteopath, I vomited at my postpartum appointment with the gynecologist.

I called my mother-in-law in a hurry to come and take care of the guys while I collapsed in bed.

For me, there is no question of stopping breastfeeding. In my opinion it is so much more advantageous than a bottle: I give the best food to my guys, I save $400 per month in formula milk and I save myself the hassle of washing/sterilizing/preparing 16 bottles per day.

So, my mother-in-law comes to wake me up from my misty sleep every time my guys ask for me, and darling takes over at night. I was 48 hours without being able to eat. My milk production dropped drastically after 24 hours. Easy to guess, my guys were still crying from hunger after feeding. Ok, I'll supplement with formula milk: there's no question of leaving my guys hungry. In addition, I lost visible weight, I lost 5 lbs in 2 days. By choosing to breastfeed my 2 babies, I set a weight limit below which I did not want to fall, otherwise I told myself that I would give up breastfeeding. I was only one pound over that weight limit. Here, it's important to understand that one challenge living with CF is maintaining our weight; with food malabsorption, it's easy to have a low weight. CF, the virus and the milk factory at the same time, it beats all dieting!

I am recovering from this virus after 72 hours and antibiotics (well, ok, it wasn't a virus!). Luckily, no one else at home caught this horror bug. And luckily, when I was able to start eating again like a teenager in the midst of a growth crisis, my milk production started again.

Now I understand when we say that it is the “after pregnancy” that is difficult with CF: with 2 boys who have to build their immune systems from scratch, millions of horror viruses will enter my house, and I will catch almost all of them. It will be difficult for my health and for my couple, because darling will have to make up for both of us from time to time. But we knew what we were getting ourselves into. We wanted these children.

I accept that happiness has a price to pay, that of usury.

That's also life.

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