4 months in a week! Yay!

So Moosa has been an extremely good baby Masha Allah. He and I are bonding while we establish a routine and set expectations for each other. 4 Months is big because we can start cereal! Can't wait cos that means I can leave him for more than just a couple of hours if I have to run any errands.

I fell sick a couple of weeks ago and it was hard. Not just the physical challenge of having to run the house and stay sane with the three but also the overbearing thought of having to take antibiotics and not breastfeed Moosa for ten days. As many moms who exclusively breastfeed their children will understand, ts very hard to not feed your baby and watch them cry in hunger. Moosa is adamant on No formula. so were my other kids. The fear that I may get worse, the fear that the children may catch it. The fear of anything containing germs getting anywhere near the baby was taking a toll on me.

My congestion and headache was getting worse. I then got a bad toothache which made me rush to the dentists office with an emergency appointment. The dentist asked if I had sinus issues because she found nothing wrong with my teeth, thankfully. I said 'yes'. For some reason she prescribed amoxicilin which of course I never bothered to go get.
I thought I should see my physician if I get any worse. I did. I had a sinus infection which the doctor said was very bad. I was prescribed Augmentin 875 mg every 12 hours for 10 days and a saline nasal spray. The co-pay alone for the antibiotic was $35. No breastfeeding. I put the bottle of pills on the counter top and stared it. Many times, before I left to the doctors I was contemplating on whether I actually needed to go because I was feeling better than I did a day ago. Lets just get it checked out since I have some time today, was my thought process. It was a very windy day and I was worried about parking and walking with Moosa because I did hear a slight wheeze from him. I called the pediatricians. Both pediatricians on duty told me that Augmentin was ok while breast-feeding. One told me to take plenty of probiotics which was great advice. To me, this doesn't really make sense because there will be an unnecessary war going on in my body. I did some research online and then called my gynecologist who also said its safe. I checked with my brother who is final year med student. At this point I had already taken one pill. He said he would advice me not to just in case the baby had diarrhea and got dehydrated. The pharmacist also said it was not the safest. I was getting paranoid. Within 30 minutes of taking Augmentin I both threw up and also had loose motion. All day despite many visits to the bathroom my stomach felt awfully weird. Moosa just wouldn't take any formula. So I had to nurse him praying the whole time that he would be ok. Reading drug facts online was the last thing you want to do but I did and I bumped into this article by chance CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/getsmart/community/for-patients/common-illnesses/sinus-infection.html

I decided immediately that, that was it for me. Yes I know its bad to stop once you have started but I though one pill can't help or harm me. Better stop now rather than 3 days later so gave I it up and I'm glad I did. Little by little my symptoms were disappearing. I inhaled steam and had the humidifier on 24 hrs. Before I knew it, I was on a journey towards recovery. I was able to sleep peacefully and wake up without feeling heavy in y head. I am thankful to Allah for helping me recover without antibiotics It could have been a lot worse and  may have just got lucky but I have always been phobic about medicine and I guess this time it helped me.