Li'l Goth Chick

About a month ago I went on a round of antibiotics to treat a rotten case of mastitis. Did you know you can get mastitis just by sleeping too long on one side? It compresses the breast and the ducts get clogged. That's what happened to me, dammit. The antibiotics passed through the breast milk right into my kid's mouth, where they promptly killed off all the good bacteria that were keeping her digestive system in check. Result: she developed thrush. Two bottles of Nystatin did nothing, so I finally caved and picked up a bottle of an old-fashioned antifungal, gentian violet. Apparently people have been using this stuff for generations to cure oral thrush, although the fact that it's an "old fashioned" remedy doesn't reassure me; people used to take baths in mercury to cure syphilis. Gah.

Anyway, gentian violet is essentially violet dye, the color of mimeograph ink. It stains everything it touches. Everything. So I picked up some cheap black towels at WalMart and wore black today. Fi is wearing black too. The typical course of application is once daily for three days. Here's the clincher: mom has to apply it to herself too. You guess where.

I look like I'm wearing purple pasties.

Fi has been on a "nursing strike" since she developed a post-vaccine fever a little over a week ago -- she arches her back and cries whenever I bring her anywhere near my chest, which makes me feel a little like a leper, minus the illness and total social seclusion -- so I have to give her all my breast milk by pumping. Result: lavender milk.

This had better work, that's all I can say. In the meantime, I'm trying to find the humor in the situation by taking photos of my little goth. I need to approach the situation like my friend Hilary, whose son has to wear a helmet to keep his skull from flattening. Instead of downplaying the whole thing out of embarrassment, Hilary sent around pics of Nicholas wearing his helmet, which is decorated with kicky graphics. The pics are hilarious and boost Nicholas' lovability by a factor of 10.

So, now that I've posted a pic of Fi in her silky finery (below), I'm following it up with a pic of her stained with gentian violet. If she ever needs headgear, though, I think I'll have to ask her permission before posting photos.