My boob was eaten alive!
Vicky Doxat, 37, Portsmouth It was spreading and slowly killing me... The docs had to act fast
Propped up in my hospital bed, I beamed at my newborn baby girl and boy.
‘I can’t believe we have twins!’ I beamed at my hubby Paul, then 36.
It was January 2016, and Corin, 6lb 7oz, and 5lb 4oz Maeve had arrived 10 minutes apart.
I was thrilled as Maeve latched on to my breast, guzzled down milk. Then it was Corin’s turn. I’d done the same with
my eldest, Austin, then 3. It was a wonderful bonding experience.
Still, I knew that breast-feeding twins would be different.
Back home, three months of sleepless nights followed.
‘I just wish they’d sleep,’ I said to Paul.
Maeve was grumpy, and she’d set Corin off.
And breast-feeding was a chore. Having them on rotation left my nipples red and cracked.
As the months rolled by,
I became exhausted, run-down. My breasts were constantly aching and sore. Plus I felt like I had the flu. ‘I think I might have mastitis,’ I confided in my friend Katie one morning when the twins were 7 months.
I’d experienced it with Austin and recognised the symptoms.
Suddenly, I turned as white as a sheet, felt faint.
‘I think I might pass out,’ I told Katie.
I went straight home, and then Paul took me to the doctor’s.
‘Yes, it’s mastitis,’ my doctor confirmed.
He prescribed antibiotics and rest. Tricky when you have three kids under 3!
And as the days went on, I got worse. My left breast was
now so painful that it hurt when my clothes brushed against it.
I was still breast-feeding with my other breast, but as the twins weren’t getting enough milk they were constantly hungry.
Two days later, I went to the out-of-hours clinic in agony. ‘I can see a bruise on your breast,’ the doctor said.
We assumed that I’d done it trying to express my milk.
The doctor prescribed stronger medication and when that didn’t work I was admitted to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth.
Paul looked after the kids while I had tests. But doctors were baffled. And over the next two
Before long, it was the colour of a bruised banana